These days, I just don’t get as jazzed about movies as in previous years. However, as a sucker for superhero flicks I can’t say just how stoked I am about the new Superman take, Man of Steel. I’ve mentioned it before, but seriously, this film looks crazy good. It actually looks like what a Superman movie should look like; awesome. The original Richard Donner offerings were limited by the technology of the day, and Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns was a cute try on his part, but this one actually looks like it’s finally Superman. You know… flying around all crazy fast, stuff blowing up, punching stuff, lifting heavy things, epic battles with other aliens and pushing buses out of ponds. I’ll be there in June.

If you are not a follower of comic book movies, then you probably are unaware that the sequel to 2012′s The Amazing Spider-Man is currently filming. The movie will be released in May 2014, but in the meanwhile the movie’s director, Marc Webb, has been releasing a photo, or two, a day from the set via his Twitter account. Some days’ images are better than others, but the image for today is pretty cool. I like Spider-Man as a kid, so if I were that kid… I would probably be pretty stoked right now.

Happy Mother’s Day to my beautiful wife, Jena. I knew she would be a great mother, but how great of a mother she has become since Cohen came into our lives  it has completely lit me up. Each day, it’s an inspiration to see her grow as a mother and to love our little boy the way she does. My son has absolutely no idea how fortunate and blessed he is to have such a wonderful mommy such as her. I think somehow he knows how amazing his mommy is, but what a day it will be when he finally comes to a more full realization of just how blessed he is to have her in his life. He’s only 20 months old… if she’s this amazing as a mother this early on, I can’t wait to see what she’s like in the years ahead.

Happy Mother’s Day, my love. Cohen and I love you, dearly.

The gentleman that you see in three iterations in the above graphic is none other than Abercrombie & Fitch CEO, Mike Jeffries. I’ve always had a beef with A&F and have never actually purchased anything from one of their stores. I can probably actually count the number of times I’ve browsed their stores on one hand. I take that back, I have owned a pair of their jeans once, but for in my defense I bought them from TJ Max for about $15. A&F has never been anything more than a symbol of status and the following article link I’m about to toss at your is living proof from the horses mouth. And, unfortunately, A&F has been a culture maker for years now and that’s the problem; society and our culture at large holds a view of beauty and value that is simply so far out of whack that most of us can’t even see straight. Take a trip to the local supermarket and peruse the magazine section, or skim the ones at the register and you’ll see the societal definition of beauty. It’s women and men who have been airbrushed to death. If you’ve never experienced the power of Adobe Photoshop, check this out. It’s a rip-off of a Dove ad from a few years ago, but still shows you what goes into making those cover girls stand out after the photographer is done.

According to Dove, maker of skincare and beauty products, their research shows them that only 4% of women find themselves “beautiful.” One would probably look at such a statement and surmise this to be merely a marketing tactic. The reality is the number is probably higher than that, but it’s not all that hard to believe that the vast majority of women today do not find themselves “beautiful.” It’s primarily because they’re comparing apples to oranges if we’re going off what we see in television, internet or print ads. And, in all reality, they’re not even comparing themselves with a real person, but someone who has had the living daylights edited and retouched in a computer application after they’ve had a team of people primp and paint them for over an hour.

Now, how does Mike Jeffries tie into all this? Well, I saw a link to an article about him earlier today on Facebook it basically whipped me into a frenzy. His views and his brand are merely perpetuating this erroneous definition of beauty that young girls and women of our age are being crushed under. It’s maddening to hear, witness and read about. Read this doozy of a comment from Mr. Jeffries about “hot people” and his marketing efforts from a 2006 article with Salon;

“It’s almost everything. That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that,” he said.

Additionally, in a recent interview for his book The New Rules of Retaul with respected finance and technology website, Business Insider, Robin Lewis received this little bit of insight about Mike Jeffries;

“He doesn’t want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people,” Lewis said. “He doesn’t want his core customers to see people who aren’t as hot as them wearing his clothing. People who wear his clothing should feel like they’re one of the ‘cool kids.’”

And the sad part is this mentality isn’t isolated to Jeffries, it’s cultivated in the training and culture of their stores as well. Maybe not all stores, but at least some. I can attest to this, second-hand, as I personally know people who have been asked to leave an A&F store because of their appearance. No joke. Jeffries also told Salon in his 2006 interview the following;

“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he told the site. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either,” he told Salon.

The subtle irony of this quote, and it’s genius (sarcasm) as well, is that if you flash forward to the middle of 2012 things for A&F were going horribly bad in the sales department. In fact, they were postponing the opening of stores because their sales had plummeted an additional 26%. And, as far back as 2009, A&F was rated as one of the worst brands to potentially weather the recession were were in the thick of at the time. Here’s a nice little read, again, from Business Insider about A&F’s 2012 financials. To further gain insight into Jeffries’ delusion read this one from Yahoo! Finance, here. There are 2 primary reasons why A&F is in a stitch financially; 1) They are horribly overpriced for the goods they are selling, and 2) their product is stale and over-branded. A&F isn’t offering anything new in terms of design, and they’re still selling it a a ridiculous price. The product is cheap and it doesn’t last long, yet it costs twice as much as comparable goods of the same build. We have some friends in London who visited the states a few years back and they were excited to visit an A&F store because they’d heard so much about them, and because A&F had plans to open a store in London soon. However, once they visited the authentic store here in the states, they experienced a huge let down because the design was stale and pricey for what it was.  Quite honestly, I can’t even stand walking by their stores and opt for taking the long way around them due to the insane volume of their music and the stench of their cologne oozing from every fiber of clothing in their store. I may sound old and crotchety, but I’ll go in a Gap, H&M or American Eagle store any day of the week and be fine with the atmosphere. And I can walk out without feeling like a cologne capsule has been lodged in my sinuses. And besides, what child of the 90s doesn’t remember that horrible song, Summer Girls, from LFO, right? Oh my that was just awful. Enough ranting.

The fact remains, dudes like this are shaping culture. A&F may not be the culture-maker that it once was, but they are still in the mix and contributing to the bevy of voices out there that sustain this ridiculous definition of beauty that society cannot seem to shake. If anyone believes that the state of modern marketing is weak, I would ask you to reconsider based on this topic alone. We’ve convinced ourselves to loathe ourselves because we just can’t square up to the image we see in the mirror, versus that of the ads we see on television, on the internet and in the checkout lane. Now, loathe could be a strong word here, but just look at Dove’s latest internet sensation to get my drift.

Sad, right? The reality is that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. It’s not a societal standard that we have to live up to and we have to soundly reject such a notion. If we continue down that path and let the Mike Jeffries of the world continue to dictate what is beautiful or what has absolute value, then most of us end up marginalized and living on the fringes. Additionally, if you’re an adult and you’re still living life based on status symbols like clothing labels and cars, you have my congratulations because you’re still living in a system used by high schoolers. It’s time we all straighten up a bit and drop the act. Dudes like this don’t deserve to have your ear, or your dollar. Sadly, as you can clearly see from the images in the banner above, Jeffries has a problem with his own self-image. Clearly he’s had plastic surgery performed on his own face through the years. This isn’t reality, it’s a child with too much money and time to stare into the mirror of vanity. I hate sounding so harsh, but I don’t want my child(ren) to grow up dealing with this stuff. I can raise, steward, teach and instruct them as much as I want to, but it’s just awful that kids of this age are subjected to the crushing and unrealistic standard of the world around them. It’s real, I’ve seen it. It’s not that you have to shelter yourself or kids from things like this, doing so only hinders your ability to graciously and lovingly approach issues like these to help change the perception. But the thoughts and opinions of men, and women, like a Mike Jeffries has to be soundly rejected on all levels. This is what ruins people.

So this is probably some of the most inspiring photography I’ve seen in quite some time. I’m a fan of landscape photography; it’s the melding of the creative process and the created world. And when it’s done well, it really speaks to the soul and makes you appreciate the artist and the muse. Alexandre Deschaumes seems to have an amazingly calibrated eye for landscapes, because his work is simply aims to take the breath right out of you. And, apparently some of his work has been captured for a documentary you can obtain for $10. Below is a trailer for the documentary and this gentlemen seems to be committed to the shot, as it were, raveling deep into the wilderness to obtain his images. Take a look at this collection as some of the shots are unbelievably amazing. The color and movement of the scenes he photographs is really grand. I can’t speak for Ansel Adams, but if he were alive I’m sure he’d give this man props for his work. Enjoy.

It could just be me, but I found this wildly hilarious. I literally laughed out loud at about the 1:48 mark where Mike whips out the reflector. I’ve never been one to Instagram my food; I may have done it once or twice in the 700+ pictures I’ve posted. It’s always a little odd when you hit on an Instagram user, or know someone, who takes copious amounts of food pictures.

A good friend of mine, Joe, was kind enough to give me the heads up on this video. Kudos to the creative department at Nike for this stellar promo for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team. Huge Buckeye football fan here, so this little video is two thumbs up in my book. Awesome retrospective as well with all the historical footage spliced in there. And it never hurts to see some Michigan players getting lit up like Christmas trees. If this video wasn’t so good, I’d say shame on Nike for getting us all riled up with college football still several months away. At any rate, enjoy yourself some OSU football. And… you get some music from The Heavy.

What follows is an open letter to First Lady Michelle Obama written by Huffington Post UK/Intent.com/Yahoo! Shine writer, Rakhi Kumar. It was published April 20th, so I apologize for sitting on this one for a couple weeks now. Regardless, I still wanted to post on it. Kumar’s issue with influential individuals, like Mrs. Obama, promoting Beyonce as a role model in a lot of ways mirrors my own. Truthfully, I think that at one time she was a fairly decent role model. In more recent years, however, I would retract that sentiment without any hesitation. At this point I think she has officially jumped the shark, as it were. If I’m being honest with you, and I am, I’ve never been a huge Beyonce fan. Sure, lady has some serious pipes and I will not discard her obvious gift of voice, but ultimately she’s another product of the marketing machine. For me there have been more than a few instances where other artists have alleged theft by Beyonce and Co., both songwriters and other performance artists. The similarities are… interesting. Besides, I liked Ryan Tedder’s demo of “Halo” better than hers.

Nevertheless, Kumar’s letter touches on a lot of issues that I have as both a grown man and as the parent parent of a young boy. My wife and I are excited about the idea of having more children, and the option of us having a little girl is obviously still on the table. If we were to be blessed and graced by a little girl, Beyonce just isn’t someone I’d be peddling to my little girl. I’d more so be pointing her towards Ella, Aretha and Adele rather than Beyonce if we’re fishing for role models in the pool labeled “Famous Singers.” For those three ladies, their music stands on it’s artistry alone. They didn’t need sex, glitz, glamor and hip thrusting in order for their music to be successful. They didn’t trot out in corsets and other get-ups typically found in places that grown men ought not be going. Those ladies just came out and let their instrument sell the records, t-shirts and concert tickets. Sadly, in this age the phrase “sex sells” is a generally accepted principle regardless of the lack of wisdom in “sex sells.” For those who believe it a credible sentiment with regards to advertising and marketing, I would refer them to Mad Men creator/writer/director Matt Weiner, via Don Draper. Youtube it if you must.

The reality of such a thought? Well, it sells alright, but at what cost to the people buying it and being sold in it? If you think the world of porn/fantasy is victimless, I have some acreage on Mars I’d like to sell you.The author of the open letter below, a well educated woman herself, brings up some finer points about what Mrs. Carter is selling when she takes the stage. Call me a prude, old-fashioned, or whatever else you want, but read the letter and then consider your own children or future children. I don’t want my son(s) to grow up objectifying women the way so many men in our present age do. I want them to treat women respectfully or like they would a sister, and to treat the woman they marry in the future like a treasure. And, if we are someday blessed with a daughter I wouldn’t want her to see it fit to be sold for her figure. Additionally, I want for her to seek a man who will nurture and care for her heart and her soul, first, and her body after.

I once remember hearing 2 boys talking about 2 actresses from a movie. They’re both adults, but I would consider them boys for the conversation that evolved between them. They were discussing the differences between the two actresses and that one was an “ugly dog” who better not ruin a movie because of it. Their words, not mine. And I remember just having this sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach because one of them is the father to a little girl. I thought to myself, “Man, if he overheard someone talking about his daughter like that, he would want to wear out a steel-toed boot on that dude’s teeth.” It’s interesting how little perspective we have and what little grace we exhibit on a daily basis. It’s also a thorough example of what we actually value in culture.

Additionally, as a former educator it was always my heart that kids know that they do have value far beyond what society would assign them. Teachers have a front row seat to witness one too many little girls starve for attention, and one too many boys looking to give them attention that is unhealthy, for them both. Some of these children suffering from daddy deprivation. So, as a daddy I want to lead my child(ren) well when it comes to who we look up to, what we value, and how we treat people.

Read the letter, it’s worth it. I’m sure some will let their rampant, unquestionable, and irrational support of Beyonce and/or Mrs. Obama get the better of them, and that’s fine. Politics and celebrity are the new choice drugs of the masses. Sure, one could make the point that Mrs. Obama knows the “real” Beyonce, not just the Beyonce on stage. Here’s the problem; you can’t separate the two. There is no split personality or duality there; one cannot exist without the other. The one consciously obliges to the other. And, at best you are making my case for me and taking it even further in that defending Beyonce is propping up and celebrating the facade or personality a person constructs for themselves for money. Sorry… not buying it, and neither should you.

Dear Michelle Obama,

I’m addressing this to you because I admire you. Because you’re smart and a mum to two young girls. And you’re the First Lady of the USA. And because you were recently quoted as saying that Beyonce is a great ‘role model’ to your two daughters, and because you recently tweeted, after the Superbowl, that you were ‘so proud’ of her. I’m writing because everything you do is admired and emulated by so many; but when you endorse a recording artist like Beyonce, I see the most misogynistic aspects of the music industry (that prefers girls to be no more complex than dolls) interpret your comments as a seal of approval for the thoughtless cultural currency that they flood the youth market with. I’m writing because I think it’s time to stop suggesting to very young girls that ultimate feminine success – in the music industry or anywhere else – comes with the need, or the expectation for them to undress.

When Beyonce kicked off her Mrs. Carter Show World Tour two nights ago, wearing her sheer bodysuit with nipples showing, to me she performed the final degradation of her talent; a retrogressive transformation that has taken someone stellar and otherworldly, and made them into something dreadfully familiar and sad.

Variations of Beyonce’s body suit can be found in brothels, strip clubs, and red light districts across the world – where sex is for sale and it happens to be dispensed through a woman’s body. That she is a human being with feelings and dreams, perhaps a sister, a mother, a leader, a teacher, a student – ALWAYS – a daughter – all of this can be forgotten. In those surroundings a suit like Beyonce’s would look far from glamorous. Maybe just downright heartbreaking as a woman somewhere becomes an object, available for the gratification of a desire – at a price dictated by her ‘managers’.

Next time you’re presented with a shortlist of people in popular culture who you should spend time with or commend, think about how many young girls want to be just like Beyonce: Beyonce who sings ‘Bow Down Bitch’ and wears sheer bodysuits and high heels, singing about making money and being independent.

Remember that in the USA, the average age of a girl when she is trafficked for sex for the first time is 13.

Remember that she’s often brought into the ‘life’ by drug dealers who promise her a celebrity lifestyle, clothes like the ones Beyonce wears, and situations where she can live like Queen Bey: looking hot, being desired by alpha males, wielding power over others with her body and sexuality.

Understand that in an obscene act of manipulation by the young men who will pimp them, for a very short amount of time – maybe only for a half an hour in one of their early encounters – young girls who are trafficked do actually get to taste the experience that they have identified as ultimate feminine success: they get given hot pants or body suits like the one Beyonce’s dancing in, they dance for men who find them alluring, and for a very short time, these very young girls are convinced that they’ve made it – only to be assaulted, abused, and sometimes murdered in the years ahead, by the men who they thought wanted them.

Beyonce, performing in sheer body suits, nipples displayed, mouth open, high heels and sheer tights, shaking her butt on stage, can no longer be held by world leaders as an icon of female success.

Because for as long as she is, we are feeding a demonic myth that women must make themselves sexually available to enjoy ultimate success. And it is demonic because the impact this myth has on those most vulnerable young girls who fall pray to, is unimaginably horrible.

It can take years of a young girl’s life away from her when she tries to escape a life of abuse at home by believing promises of money and glamor, sexual allure and power – a life just like the most successful women in the world; only to be sold for sex, beaten, and made addicted to drugs. It can take a chance of an educated, secure future away from her; and sometimes, if she can’t find an exit – it can take her very life away from her.

Beyonce is a singer and a songwriter. She doesn’t need to wear see through clothes or body suits to sing. We know that because we’ve seen her singing accapella in a hospital in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and – and she sounded like a celestial being from a different dimension.

She doesn’t have to do this. She’s choosing to. And she’s not the first or only one woman to do it. And like the many women who have played this game the way they have, her reasons may be economic, artistic, personal or even misunderstood. But whatever her reasons, her influence cannot be underestimated or misunderstood.

It’s time that young girls were sent a different message. A more refined, intelligent message. A message that engaged them at the level of their intellect and potential because implicit in our message to them should be the acknowledgement that they are naturally brilliant and that we believe that they are capable of everything – without ever having to undress to achieve their success.

The work here is to re etch the self image and self worth of young girls who think that sexualizing themselves is necessary to be powerful or successful.

So please, let it be known that Beyonce is not a role model.
She may have a lot of money, and she may have enormous influence.
But she can no longer be called a role model.

(Unless you think it would be really cool for Sasha or Malia to follow her example and sing songs for people on a stage whilst wearing sheer gold glitter bodysuits detailing the contours of their body, under the management of their daddy and/or their husband).

Instead, call out those who deliberately allow their sexual identity to eclipse the genius of their spirit and sacredness of their soul. Tell young girls that they are more than that. Engage with artists who sing, dance, write, design, perform – but whose presentation centers on showcasing the brilliance of their brain, not their body.

If I had daughters I’d tell them to pass on the Beyonce show because when you’re wearing a sheer see through body suit with nipples on display, no matter how much gold thread in it – I don’t see any light coming out of it. I just see a glowing ball of soullessness.

I’d say to my girls: all that’s gold doesn’t glitter. Let’s find something genuinely luminous…and take them to a Lorna Simpson exhibition, or a C.C White concert, or hand them a Zadie Smith book.

[Link]

Take a second and watch this ad from the folks at Apple.

This is a really nice ad from the folks at Apple. Namely because it demonstrates something you so regularly see; people capturing images with their phones. The smartphone, namely the iPhone, has become the most popular camera on the planet. And, rightfully so, it’s the one camera that you typically, if not always, have with you. There’s a now famous quote about cameras that says;

“The best camera is the one you have with you.”

Which is the complete truth. So often in the world of photography there is much chatter and back and forth about brands, bodies, sensors, lenses, pixel counts and other elements of a camera that the entire notion, and point, of taking photographs gets lost. A camera is merely a means to an end- the end being the capturing of a moment in time that tells a story. Sure, we’d all love to have a Canon 1Dx, Nikon D3x, or a Hasselblad or Phase One camera system to capture uber-high quality photos, but at the end of the day chances are you wouldn’t always have that camera on your person at the moment inspiration strikes. This is why that little camera on your phone becomes so ridiculously important. I don’t always have access to my Canon, thankfully since the birth of our son I’ve always had an iPhone in my pocket. Just last night, my wife and I unloaded over 900 images from her iPhone and many of those images and videos were of our son. From birth to the present day she had images and videos of him. You can’t put a value on that body of work, and that’s just from her phone. I have just as many, or more, from my phone and a whole other cache I’ve captured from behind the lens my Canon. I recently saw the work of one professional photographer who had taken to simply venturing out with only his iPhone, capturing images with it, processing those images on it, and then selling those images… and that was funding his travels and work. His work was truly amazing, and to know he did it all from an iPhone was inspiring.

Since the invention of the camera, we are now capturing more images on a daily base than ever before. We probably took more pictures last year alone, than in all previous years combined. And, I would venture to guess that a vast majority of those images are from camera phones.

So, what are you waiting for?

Let me first admit that I do have, and use, a Facebook account. As you can clearly see from that little icon in the upper righthand corner of this webpage in the navbar. While I initially fought the early adoption of Facebook whilst still at university, I eventually relented as it was a means to an end for me. While my lovely wife and I were on our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, we met a splendid couple from London, England who both used Facebook. Since it was 2007, iMessages and FaceTime were years away and Skype still wasn’t as widely used. Facebook offered a means for us to stay connected in a transatlantic fashion with messaging, wall posts and sharing pics. For me, that was the only reason to open an account, and today staying in touch with people is why I have yet to shut down my Facebook account. Anyone that knows me knows that I’m a Twitter-man. People like to accuse me of being an avid Facebook user, but if they would look more closely the bulk of the updates attributed to me come from my Twitter feed, or Jetpack pushing my blog updates over to Facebook. Sure, using Facebook for sharing my blog posts is a tad self-promotional, oh well.

I’ve railed against Facebook in the past simply because I think that most fail to realize that when it comes to Facebook, the user is the product. Despite how much Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, whom I affectionally refer to as “Zuck,” likes to talk and talk at length about how Facebook is all about connecting people, people sharing, people-people-people, the reality is that Facebook is a business, and a multi-billion dollar business at that. At times Zuckerberg almost seems indignant that people resist the urge to share things about themselves on Facebook, or exercise restraint in their usage of Facebook and the subtle irony is that Zuck has a profile which he barely uses, barely updates. The man is the epitome of privacy seeker, check out his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/zuck) which you can only follow. The updates are decidedly boring and uninteresting. He’s like 163 things. I know people so crazy about liking things on Facebook that they’ve liked businesses that aren’t even open yet. Zuck did announce his marriage to his longtime girlfriend via Facebook. However, they couple kept it the event a secret from family and friends for 4 months while they plotted and planned, then the fewer than 100 people invited to their home for the ceremony did so under the belief they were attending the new Mrs. Zuckerberg’s college graduation. Mr. and Mrs. Zuck pulled a switch-a-roo on their friends and family just to keep their wedding a secret. Really, Mark, are you truly that important? If dude really believed in “making the world a more open place” he would have been more open to letting the world peer in on a significant event in his life, such as say… the planning of his wedding.

So, how does Facebook function on the level it does and make billions? They sell ads. Lots and lots of ads. They also like to refer to them as “sponsored stories” which is a nice of way of saying… more ads. It’s cute that they allow you the opportunity to dismiss ads you don’t want to see in your feed or sidebar, but even then Facebook asks why? Give us a reason, that way we can target you with more targeted ads. The truth is Facebook is now a publicly traded company, which means other people’s money is involved and when that is the case those people demand that you are growing your business. For Facebook and Zuck, that means weaseling and rooting their way deeper and deeper into their users’ lives. Facebook is a lot like a drug dealer in that they want you addicted to their product to the point where you cannot function on a daily basis without their product. So, what is Facebook’s next strategy for growing their business?

Well, it was long rumored that Facebook was working on a Facebook phone, and while they still may be the case, what they revealed was that they had taken a step in that direction with something they are called Facebook Home. Now, according to Facebook it is not to be looked at as an app for your Android-enabled mobile device. Nor is it to be looked upon as a fork of Android, although that’s actually what it is since it circumvents the top layer of Android front eh get-go. Facebook Home is basically a layer overtop of the Android operating system and everything else. When you start-up/unlock your phone Facebook is the first thing you see and you have to take extra steps to get past it and onto your other applications. Facebook Home contains feed updates of various types, Facebook messages and a pipeline for text messages. Basically while it’s not the operating system, it somewhat behaves like one in that it more or less wants to operate with you in such a manner. According to Facebook it’s about “people, not apps.” Yea, it’s about people… rooting itself deeper into your every day life. Here’s a diagram of how Facebook Home works, which I don’t actually understand, because you have to dig through Facebook Home in order to get to your other applications, but it’s a decent visual aid.

And, here’s Facebook’s own commercial for Facebook Home.

Please don’t consider this as me making a case that social media is evil. I’m not doing that, what I am doing is postulating about what Facebook’s real intentions seem to be. Social media has it’s invaluable uses, but we all have to be careful not to let it integrate into our DNA. Try as hard as they might, Facebook will never be able to create the community of real people despite it being based around real people. Nothing can recreate the personal human interaction we were all built to experience. And, the problem with letting social media be so integrated in our lives is that it renders us so noncommittal in all phases of the human life. We can ignore messages, hide them, block them or straight up defriend them. This is all easier said than done in life, and rightfully so because that’s not what relationships are all about. And, simply put, life isn’t about selling you something, which is what Facebook is trying to do in it’s near limitless quest to grow as a business.

Right now Facebook Home will only be available for Android-enabled phones and tablets. Apple has no plans to adopt Facebook Home, and as an Apple user I am thankful for that. I don’t think you’ll ever see Apple adopt Facebook Home. They don’t run an open shop such as Google does with Android and the reality here is that Facebook Home presents them with far more problems than opportunities whether Google realizes it or not. Sure, Facebook Home isn’t supposed to deliver ads, but do you honestly believe you won’t find Sponsored Stories in your feed soon enough if you’re running Facebook Home? I don’t even have the Facebook app on my iPhone because it was so clunky compared to their mobile site. I think that’s improved since I deleted it over a year ago, but I just don’t want Facebook having an app integrated into my phone knowing some of their more dubious activities in the past regarding user data and collection. Within the last few months they started rolling out their own bolt-on applications such as Facebook Camera and Facebook Pages. Why do I need separate apps to upload photos and manage a Facebook page? I do some social media for the church where I work, but I don’t need an extra app taking up space asking for permissions in order to manage that information. I’ll do it from a desktop, so no thank you, Facebook peeps. Don’t even get me started on the debacle that Instagram is becoming since being bought out by Facebook. It’s bad enough that some entrepreneurs are working to bring Instagram competitors to market based solely on the idea of being a simple tool for content creation to which you own total rights to and the app developers own no rights to at all.

The fact is Facebook is always seeking new methods for extracting information from you in order to target you more with ads and stories, that is the sole-basis for the share-share-share mentality they push so hard. It’s the reason they want to put a layer over your Android device. There will be a certain sub-set of people who want this, because Facebook is a part of their DNA now. Overall, though, I think this basically becomes a problem that Google will duke it out with Facebook over. They aren’t friends, they are enemies. Google has wanted to knock Facebook off the social media mountain for years now. Check out Buzz and now Google+. The fact that Google has “allowed” this to happen is spectacular, but expect a response from them soon. Facebook Home puts a blanket over Google’s native applications and they won’t be very happy about that when Facebook Home goes live.

Dear Apple, let Android have this one. It only benefits you in the end. Bake a little bit of Facebook into iOS for those who want that, and let Android deal with Facebook Home. It’s going to be a mess for them.

For additional information on Facebook Home, Mashable has a decent write-up here.