Today, the day after Thanksgiving, is "Black Friday," the busiest and most insane shopping day of the year. Every year the story is the same: We see the news reports about the lengthy lines at the major retail stores and all the "great deals" — and there's always inevitably a headline out of somewhere about how a fight broke out at Wal-Mart over $50 DVD players or something. (The $50 DVD player as a Great Deal, which led to a fight/headline a few years ago, is already a humorous anachronism; now $50 DVD players are a dime a dozen.)

I'm here to announce the painfully obvious, which is that Black Friday is colossally absurd. It's one of the most ridiculous examples of media/marketing-manufactured hysteria that I can think of. Retailers should be ashamed of themselves for encouraging this annual mess — far more ashamed, even, than for starting Christmas season on Nov. 1.

I will demonstrate this not with my usual rant, but with an anecdote. (Read more...)

The WGA has been on strike for nearly two weeks now. How long will it go on? Who knows? But I figured I'd chime in here with a few thoughts on the writers strike while it's fresh in everyone's mind. (Or, less likely, before it suddenly ends.) (Read more...)

For years and years and years, I've been a loyal customer of McAfee for their virus protection and security software. Lots of people swear by Norton, but I've never been one of their customers; just didn't happen that way. There's a saying in retail that if you can get a customer early in their buying days, you can have them for life because they'll practice brand loyalty. I happen to believe that's true, because if you're comfortable with something, why bother changing? (Read more...)

Okay, people. Enough is enough. Every year it starts earlier, and earlier, and earlier. Well, maybe not really — after all, I'm not seeing Christmas stuff in August yet, so there must be some sort of graduated push-back schedule. But I'm pretty sure that at some point earlier in my lifetime, Christmas season did not begin until around Thanksgiving. It has slowly gotten pushed earlier, and now Christmas begins as soon as Halloween ends. (Read more...)