I don't proofread my posts before I publish them... cause I keep my thoughts au naturale.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

My Movie Reviews: Manchester by the Sea

I have started a very relaxing habit of going to a movie by myself a couple times a month.  It is very therapeutic and I LOVE it.  I've had some Facebook friends say that they appreciate my reviews on my own page, so I figured I would share them here as well. I'm not giving a summary on here cause you can find that on IMDB.  If you want more details of the movie, go to IMDB.  I will let you know the rating I gave it. 

Manchester by the Sea
My IMDB rating: 6/10  Overall IMDB rating: 8.4/10
 
 So I was in Chili's taking my daughter and "daughter" to eat before we went to see Moana (which I gave an 8/10).  While we were waiting for a table, there was a group of women that I'm guessing were over 60, that were standing in front of me.  They were discussing the movie they had just seen and other ones they may go to next.  They had seen Manchester by the Sea, which I planned to go to.  I asked what they thought of it.  They said they couldn't recommend it because it was too depressing.  I chalked it up to the women being too fragile.

Nope, they were right.  It was SO FACKING DEPRESSING.  It was a good movie, very well-written, actors did amazing jobs, but man... I don't know how to erase the sad stuff from my mind.  I know it's just a movie, but damn...

The reason I gave it a 6/10 may seem foolish, but I feel like the story could have easily been told without this specific event.  A different tragic event could have replaced it, but this one was horrid.

If you want any spoilers, send me a message.

 

Mom Blogs Have Become Obsolete

(Originally posted 10.14.15)

If you're a mom blogger and you're reading this, you may be in denial.  If you are just someone happening by reading this, you're probably nodding in agreement.

Back in 2008 when I started my blog and social media presence, Mom Blogging was huge!  Companies scrambled to get their name and products out to moms with blogs in order to get brand recognition.  Search engine optimization was a newer concept and everyone wanted their name to come up high on the search engine sites.  Moms were blogging... more moms were blogging... and eventually moms that shouldn't be blogging were blogging.

That's when it started to become ridiculous.  Although I think the idea of blogging in general is a dying art, there are a few great ones out there that still get mass readers- and hooray for them!  They have found their niche in a dying art.  Generally those bloggers who rose to greatness have found themselves published in some format that has gained them more notoriety.  However, the vast majority were mom blogs that were inundated with reviews.  And to make things worse, they were flowery reviews on products that shouldn't even be given the time of day.  It started to make the reviews lose their authenticity and people were no longer looking to mom blogs to determine whether to make a purchase or not.

Here we are today: the mom blog is dead... and bad bloggers killed it.  Okay, and blogs in general are being read less and less.  People just don't have the time (or make the time for them.)  We need our attention to be caught in 140 characters or less... be in Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram.  If a headline or a picture catches our eye, we click.  Otherwise, most people don't spend time bookmarking or seeking out the blogs that they once read.

And companies have started to realize this too.  Less product samples are being made available.  And the PR firms representing these brands are not all keeping up with these trends.  For instance, many of the old mom blogging experts that were big names in representing brands and passing along product or review opportunities are still hung up on the idea of UVMs- unique monthly visitors.  How many people are clicking on links to your blog?  How many people just stumble upon your blog?  How many searches are coming up with your blog near the top?  Brands want people to click on links that lead them to their product page or a place to buy it.  They don't care if people go by way of your blog first.

So, I guess what I'm saying is not so much good-bye... I'm sure I will throw out a blog post here or there, but I hate being told what to blog about.  That makes it crap... you know, cause it's forced.  I am fairly active on my Twitter and Facebook accounts and mildly active on Instagram , Google+ and Pinterest.  I encourage you to follow me on those as I feel like I do contribute at least one piece of interest each day, but I make no promises.

I am only human and I do enjoy reviewing products, so you may see RARE posts on my social media sites from time to time that highlight a product, but don't worry, I've scaled so far back that I'm almost invisible.  I'll see you on the other sites!