Binge watching is the new standard

August 27, 2025August 27, 2025 ~ SA Otey

I have all but quit watching TV shows when they are broadcast. I believe I stopped watching live TV shows when Friends went off the air before DVRs were a thing. I don’t like commercials and with Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, and other knockoffs, you can watch an entire season rather quickly. Once the streaming services became available it made it too easy to watch what I wanted on my schedule. There are some shows that I like to keep up to date on so I will wait about a month until they get at least 4 shows in the books before I begin watching. Then there’s that awful waiting period for them to get another 4 episodes in the queue.

The problem today is we’ve been tricked into watching commercials again. Now each service has a “premium” tier with no ads. They’ve gone back to releasing shows every week so no more binge watching when a new show comes out. That way you can see more ads. Unless you pay!

Enough with the end credit scenes!

July 30, 2025July 22, 2025 ~ SA Otey

The mid and end-credit scenes are just a way to get you to read all the names of the people who made the movie. That, and see job titles that didn’t know existed. You will then wonder how much an assistant food dolly gripper makes and if it’s the right career move at this point in your life.

The end credit scenes have never been so good that it makes it worth the wait, and yet I still watch them all. Just leave the theater! Then go read a fanboy website that will explain and or theorize what it all means. Then hear them rant about people being bandwagon fans, and they didn’t read the comics when they were growing up. Well, you are right. I was too busy pitching no-hitters and hitting home runs in Little League when I was a kid. Now I can just watch the movie.

The new Superman movie’s end credit scenes are not worth the wait. Just go back and watch Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and the Snyder cut of Justice League.

Man shaming in commercials

June 29, 2025June 26, 2025 ~ SA Otey

Why are so many companies choosing to throw men under the bus in television commercials? Not sure what the motivation is to make men seem like the lowest levels of animals and that they are worthless. There is probably more examples and more that needs to be said but here are just a few.

Panera Bread

Two males eating delivered sandwiches because they can’t even do that simple task? Or maybe it’s a passive-aggressive shot at women because they are not there to make them sandwiches?

Nationwide

A man can’t eat in his new kitchen? The women are cleaning up after him before he even gets a chance too. Some men like to clean, stop stereotyping, Nationwide.

Allstate

A man wants to do a home improvement project but the wife laughs at him is the most condescending way? Getting a bonus check for not using your insurance turns into a fat-shaming incident because she wanted a refund for his gym membership? Wow.

Nutrisystem
I’ve written about this before, but calling men fat pieces of garbage on the couch “so to speak” and stop shoving our holes full of pie might motivate some dieters, but abuse is no way to sell your product. Yes, I’ve tried Nutrisystem and you can do just as well by eating the cardboard it came in.

There are numerous other commercials for home improvement projects where the woman is humiliating the man in front of other people.

Disney’s Pirates Ride Controversy: A Closer Look

June 9, 2025June 9, 2025 ~ SA Otey

Remember when Disney had the “human trafficking” scene in the popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom? Yes, the ride that features pirates. Just look up what real pirates have done in the past. So if you really think about it, the whole ride should be shut down. This scene was removed and replaced with a lady pirate with red hair trying to move Rum to keep the men drunk. However, the war-mongering, torture, arson, thievery, drunkenness, and domestic violence toward men scenes will stay.

Please just leave the rides alone.

How to talk during a movie.

June 5, 2025June 6, 2025 ~ SA Otey

marketing man person communication — Louder for those in the front

It’s okay to laugh or cry, but how do you properly converse during a movie? Well, you don’t. When you go to a movie, you sit and enjoy the film and do not run your mouth. We are not paying to hear your commentary. If you don’t shut up during a film, you should probably wait until the DVD/Blu-ray/VHS/Laserdisc is released. There are people who are sitting near you that are on the edge of dumping a soda in your lap. Yes, I purchase the option for free refills.

The Benefits of Reserved Theater Seating

May 13, 2025May 14, 2025 ~ SA Otey

Don’t reserve the seats outside the theater

Why does something get compared to sliced bread whenever it’s considered the best new thing? With a good knife, bread is easy to slice. However, if I had to pick something as the best thing since sliced bread then I’m going to go with reserved theater seating. I’m so glad that my local theater has deployed this method of sitting. Using your smartphone to pick the seat you want as soon as tickets go on sale is super convenient. It allows for dinner time beforehand without the pressure of waiting in a line that snakes out the door. It also allows you to skip the 20 minutes of previews that you’ve already seen on Youtube. During that time people have polished off their trough of popcorn so you can skip the part where it sounds like everyone around you is eating wicker furniture.

So what happens when you get to your seat and someone is perched there? It hasn’t happened yet, but in our age of entitlement and equality, it’s only a matter of time before someone complains that it’s not fair that you got the best seat in the house. You know, because you planned ahead.

Why Star Wars’ May 4th Joke Has Lost Its Charm

May 4, 2025April 30, 2025 ~ SA Otey

May ordinal number 4 be with you? Well, that doesn’t make sense. That’s because we live in a society where grammar no longer makes sense. I know it’s supposed to be a play on “May the force be with you” and it was cute when it first started. However, now that you see it posted for every Facebook friend you have, the luster is lost. I mean I guess if everything else can have a day, why not Star Wars? Why not release a Star Wars movie every year on May the 4th?

The Decline of TV Durability: A Look Back

March 20, 2025March 20, 2025 ~ SA Otey

Remember when you would visit your grandparents and they had the huge oak box with a TV in it? You go back to visit 20 years later and the same TV is still playing reruns of Andy Griffith. What happened to those quality-built TVs?

In 20 years I’ve owned a bunch of television sets. Every single one has failed me. You can’t get them repaired because replacing a button costs $500 and a new TV will cost you $550. So just toss it into the landfill and get some new tech.

I bought a $4,000 HDR UHDTV recently and it has been worth every penny of digital currency. If granny were still around, she would probably fuss. She would complain about me sticking my face so close to the screen to see those glorious pixels.

Man standing next to the wooden box that will eventually make his coffin.

How to turn Netflix autoplay previews on or off

March 13, 2025March 14, 2025 ~ SA Otey

Dear Netflix,

Thank you for providing us a way to turn off the automatic music and previews when we browse for shows. The auto preview usually flashes up the most gratuitous violence or critical plot points. I understand having the theme song or overture for the movie, but this made-up music is terrible. It gets even worse if you share the same music across different movie titles. Yes, I know there is a mute button, and I’m glad there is finally a way to stop the mini trailers.

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/2102