Merry Christmas to y’all. I’m in a genuinely festive mood. My peacefulness meter is filled up, despite the fact I’m sitting around the house waiting on a Home Depot delivery of drywall and insulation that should arrive anytime today between 6:00am and 8:00pm. (It’s 10:00am currently, on the Wed. before Christmas.)
But there is a little something that has been nagging at me. I’ve recently come clean about my loyalties to the Dallas Cowboys. (This isn’t about that.) One of my guilty pleasures throughout the week is to listen to Dallas Cowboys’ podcasts here and there whenever I get the chance. For the last couple of months, these podcasts have been running an advertising spot for AT&T that I just can’t keep quiet about any longer.
The gist is that you deserve the best. You deserve something new. Why, the commercial rhetorically asks? Well, according to Mr. narrator voice, you deserve AT&T’s best deals because you converted your living room into your office AND your gym. Okay. Sure, fine. If the consumer public needs an excuse to buy a new phone, I guess this one would suffice. But that’s not where the commercial stops. Nope. Mr. narrator voice continues by suggesting this additional justification: you deserve a new phone for “teaching grandma how to video call…and teaching her again.” Then, a young, female voice actress ads this voice over, “It’s the button on your left, Nana. Okay, your other left.”
That’s it. That’s the basis for my niggling outrage. I know. You’re thinking the same thing the Wife said when I played the ad spot for her. Big, hairy deal. But it just ain’t right. This is ageism at its worst. So subtle that many of you probably didn’t catch it at first pass. Read that last bit again. “Okay, your other left.” Who are they kidding?
Last night my family made it’s first foray into a VR arcade (a place with virtual reality headsets you can rent on location). At one point, the tech assistant was attempting to help my youngest son navigate the main menu inside the VR world. His instructions? “Look to the left…no, your other left.”
That’s real life. My kids don’t know their left from their right. My mother certainly does. Old people might need help running a video call, but they certainly don’t need to be reminded of their left from their right. I get it. This sort of hijinks makes for a quick and accessible radio spot. But that isn’t good enough. If you’re creating ad spots for AT&T, the least you can do is make something relatable and true to life…or at the VERY least something sappy and true to the spirit of the season. Sheesh. AT&T could take a lesson or two from Chevrolet and their tear-jerking ad that features a daughter gifting her bereaved father her dead mother’s remade car.
(At least they didn’t insinuate that the mother had died due to becoming a crappy driver in her old age.)
Over Fifty Free Reads for the Holidays!
At the Desk This Week
I’ve finished my final run through of Season Three of the Green Ones. I think I’m gonna call it, Awaken. The scene that is sticking with me is far too much of a spoiler for me to share it here. It hits me in the gut every time I go back and read it. Now I have to figure out what to do with Season Three. Do I share it here on Substack with y’all? Do I push it out via Amazon in a more formal finished product version? Or do I do nothing with it for now? I haven’t been doing any marketing at all. Any formal publishing attempt at the moment would probably result in something like 15 sales. I’m just not up for that sort of time and soul suck at the moment. I’m really just writing to keep myself writing at this point. I have no formal plan. That feels weird in some ways. I’ve always had some grand plan (that would later not pan out). I suppose I’m trying to say that if there are enough of you who are looking forward to reading it, I’ll publish it here on Substack. That doesn’t take more energy than I currently have to give. So let me know!
If You Wish to Start Reading The Green Ones…
[Click here to start at the beginning.]
Thanks so much for taking the time to read these scenes of Boundaries, Season 2 of The Green Ones. I’ll be publishing FREE daily scenes from The Green Ones until…I die…or something terrible happens. Seriously, I’ve got over 100 scenes written so far, and I’ll be writing more until the story reaches its natural ending. You are totally welcome to read the entire story for FREE! If at any point you decide you would rather finish the story in ebook or print format, just click the buttons below and you can do that as well. If you enjoy reading the serial releases, BUT you would also like to support me as a writer (my kids need wine!) please subscribe to my premium content for bonus scenes, exclusives, and insider access to my process. And of course, I’d be grateful if you would share this post with any of your reader friends who you think would enjoy The Green Ones. Happy reading!