Fawesome, a deeper look

Some weeks back, I took a quick look at the Fawesome app. It's another free streaming app, ad-supported app with some good selections and some bad ones. It's one of several that you can find for different streaming devices, and I said before that it's one I would probably keep and watch from time to time.

Well, I did. And I will still. But I don't want to give the impression that it's an exceptional app. It's not. But it is a good app. By that I mean I have experienced a lot of apps that were not as good. This is better than most of its type.

The quality of the app is fine. The drawbacks are common to these types of apps. The selection of movies isn't great, but it's okay. It's not up to that of Crackle, for instance, but it's okay.

The commercials play every 10-12 minutes of movie time, and can run 2-3 minutes. That gives you 10 minutes of movie, then 2 minutes of commercials, another 10 minutes of movie, another 2 minutes of commercial, another 10 minutes of commercial, another 10 minutes of movie, and so on. And the breaks are pretty hard breaks. They'll interrupt a sentence, or a word, and play a commercial. When the break is over, the movies picks up with a few seconds rewind. Not great, but I've seen worse.

If you haven't noticed, most of the positives I've mentioned are along the line of "I've seen worse." That doesn't seem to speak highly of it, and I suppose that's correct. But, the reality is that there aren't a lot of better apps of this type.

Another thing I don't like is that the app plays the next movie automatically. There's no way to turn that off, and it's one of the things I hate most about apps. I'm okay with autoplay in an app, since some people like it. But I don't like it, and if it's there, I want the ability to turn it off. A lot of apps don't allow that, and I tend to not use those apps as often.

So, after using Fawesome for a bit, I've concluded that I may still use it some, but not often. It's still on my Roku device, and it'll probably be there for a bit. And it'll stay there until I decide to do an app cleanup and decide I haven't used it in a month or more. So, yeah, it's still a part of my Streaming Life, but I'm not sure for how long. Should it be a part of yours? Maybe. I say you should give it a shot. If the things I don't like don't really bother you, then it might be an app you use a lot.

How to watch the bowl games: Day 15

There are 44 college bowl games/playoff games this year. The first two were on December 17, and the last one, the national championship game, will be on January 10. In all, 86 schools will have played games this post-season.

Streamers used to have a difficult time watching the games live -- at least legally -- but that changed in the 2015 season when the first live streaming service, Sling TV, launched. Now, there are several live streaming services, and you have lots of options when it comes to watching bowl games.

The Games

One bowl game, the last bowl game before the championship game next week, is scheduled.

Tuesday, January 4

TaxAct Texas Bowl

9:00 PM on ESPN

Louisiana State (6-6) vs. Kansas State (7-5)

How to Watch

Today's game will be on a streaming service that carries ESPN. Here are the services.

ESPN/ESPN2

ESPN carries the most games. A few are carried on ESPN2. All services that carry ESPN also carry ESPN2:

• Sling Orange ($35)
• Vidgo ($55)
• YouTube TV ($65)
• Fubo ($65)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70)
• DirecTV Stream ($70)

The cheapest way to watch all of the bowl games is Sling Orange ($35).

Back to basics

I have a problem. Not with cord cutting, since I've been doing it, and doing it successfully, for over a decade. And by successful, I mean that I've saved money and watch as much TV as I want. That's may goal: save money, watch what I want. Still, I have a problem.

The problem is that I'm eleven years removed from the questions that a new cord cutter might be asking. And in those eleven years, the questions have changed. And for the questions that have not changed, some of the answers have.

The problem is compounded by the fact that even if all the questions and answers were the same, I'm no longer in the same confused mindset that someone totally unfamiliar with cord cutting would experience. While I know the answers -- that may sound arrogant, but it's true, I know my stuff -- I can't always anticipate the questions.

Here's where that gets worse. Many people new to cord cutting -- including me a dozen years ago -- didn't even know what questions to ask. I've become so familiar with cord cutting that so much comes as second nature to me. The more I'm immersed in the cord cutting world, the less I'm able to relate to the world of cable TV. Oh, I remember having cable and paying big bills, but I haven't personally dealt with it on a day to day basis for over a decade. I need a way to keep the experience fresh. And for Christmas, I got that. I think.

Out of the blue, I got a telephone call from a cousin who was looking for some advice about a particular alarm system. He was looking to install a system, and was gathering information about different ones, and knew that I had personal experience with a couple. I answered his questions, mentioning that the location would need Internet access in order to monitor remotely, but that only Internet service was needed, not cable.

That led to him asking me about watching TV with just Internet, not cable. Cord cutting. He knew about it, and knew that I did that, but never asked because he didn't know what to task. So, we had a little chat, and it became apparent to me how much different his experience was than mine. I cut the cord based on how things were in 2010. He's cutting the cord based on how things are in 2022. And in those years, things have changed a lot. I didn't realize how much different things were.

However, I now have a better appreciation of the obstacles and questions that someone wanting to take the step to cut the cord has today. I hope to put this new realization to work and improve the suggestions I make. That's not to say the suggestions I've made were wrong. They weren't and aren't. But, they may not be applicable to your situation. There's a lot that could be involved with cord cutting, depending on what you want to do. At its simplest, it is really easy. However, with all the questions people have, it can get complicated. Like with anything, it boils down to how fancy do you want to get? And it also depends on what's most important to you.

If you're not a cord cutter, you can be if you want. I truly enjoy my Streaming Life, and it may be that you would enjoy yours too.

The problem with posting ahead

One of the things I like about Blogger and other platforms -- I'm also quite familiar with WordPress and others -- is the ability to write a post ahead of time for it to appear at a scheduled time. I can schedule a post to appear whenever I want. I certainly don't wake up every morning and write a post at 6:00 AM. I write them ahead of time and schedule them to show up then.

Often, I write the day or night before, but sometimes, I write well ahead of time. There are a few different reasons for this.

One is that I want to write about something, I have the time and have done my research, but I don't want to wait. I'm ready to go, but I don't want it to show up just then. I'll write the post, then schedule ahead of time. This is very common in blogging.

Another is that I'm going to need some time away, but I don't want this Website to sit dormant. I want content to appear, and will write something that isn't time sensitive, or if it is, schedule it accordingly (see previous paragraph).

A little bit of both has occurred recently. My schedule was difficult to pin down during the Christmas holiday period, and I wanted as much flexibility as I could. I have family that lives a few hours away, but there have been some sickness going around, so I didn't know with certainty that I would be able to make it. Even if I did, I didn't know when my schedule would allow me to drive the few hours needed.

In November, Thanksgiving plans were canceled while I was en route to visit family, because of illness. That remained a possibility during Christmas. However, with the bowl games, I was able to write up posts about that days games, tell when and on what network, and how to watch the game streaming. That made things easy right? Well, no actually.

Some games were canceled, or teams changed, or both. I had already written the posts, and with my schedule, I wasn't always in a position to make a change ahead of time. I spent the Christmas visitation time focusing on the family, and never once turned the TV to a news or sports channel. The little ones wanted to see Frosty or Rudolph or Charlie Brown or even Ralphie and his official Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time. So, the TV went to where the kids wanted. After all, as Ralphie's Old Man said, "It's Christmas, why not?"

What all this is leading up to is that you may see that some games in posts I listed were not actually played. The post was right when I wrote it, but then life happened and things changed, and by the time the post appeared as scheduled, the facts were no longer the facts. If I found out and went online that day, I made edits. I usually just did a strikeout on the incorrect text and added correct text to fix it. The reason for that was to show that it was a change. If someone said, "Hey, I thought Texas A&M was playing! Why does this say Rutgers is playing?" The text for that game showed Texas A&M, but lined through, with Rutgers next to it. The idea was to key the reader that it was a change.

As Allen Saunders (not John Lennon) said, "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." Life happens. And when posting ahead, life will sometimes mock you. And that happened. But you know what? We got through it. Kinda like 2021.

It's a new year, assuming I made it to today. After all, I'm actually writing this ahead of time, as my New Year's Day plans are still up in the air. So, unless life really did a number on me in the last couple of days of 2021, I'm looking forward to 2022, and seeing what the year brings. I may regret saying that. I may not. That's the thing about life. But, rather than get to philosophical about life, I'll keep my focus on where it should be: My Streaming Life. And yours.

How to watch the bowl games: Day 14

There are 44 college bowl games/playoff games this year. The first two were on December 17, and the last one, the national championship game, will be on January 10. In all, 86 schools will have played games this post-season.

Streamers used to have a difficult time watching the games live -- at least legally -- but that changed in the 2015 season when the first live streaming service, Sling TV, launched. Now, there are several live streaming services, and you have lots of options when it comes to watching bowl games.

The Games

Five games are scheduled for today.

Saturday, January 1

Outback Bowl

12:00 PM on ESPN2

Penn State (7-5) vs. Arkansas (8-4)

Vrbo Citrus Bowl

1:00 PM on ABC

Iowa (10-3) vs. Kentucky (9-3)

PlayStation Fiesta Bowl

1:00 PM on ESPN

Notre Dame (11-1) vs. Oklahoma State (11-2)

Rose Bowl

5:00 PM on ESPN

Ohio State (10-2) vs. Utah (10-3)

Allstate Sugar Bowl

8:45 PM on ESPN

Mississippi (10-2) vs. Baylor (11-2)

How to Watch

All of today's games will be on a streaming service. Here are the services for each network.

ESPN/ESPN2

ESPN carries the most games. A few are carried on ESPN2. All services that carry ESPN also carry ESPN2:

• Sling Orange ($35)
• Vidgo ($55)
• YouTube TV ($65)
• Fubo ($65)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70)
• DirecTV Stream ($70)

ABC

If you have an antenna, you can watch for free. If not, and you decide to go with a streaming service, you have some options:

• Antenna (free)
• Vidgo ($55)
• YouTube TV ($65)
• Fubo ($65)
• Hulu+Live TV ($70)
• DirecTV Stream ($70)

If you have an antenna for the broadcast networks, the cheapest way to watch all of the bowl games is Sling Orange ($35). If you don't have an antenna, the cheapest way to watch them all is with Vidgo, at $55.