After wasting hours attempting to link my Flickr photo feed and my blog feed through my Facebook profile in an effort to maximize efficiency between the various social networking sites that I use, I’ve come to the frustrating conclusion that Facebook continues to make it harder and harder for any such interactions to take place.

Facebook’s obvious attempt to control social web interaction and content is not unlike Google’s — and Microsoft’s before it — futile attempts to monopolize the web.

Facebook is the next evil empire.

Well, that is the obvious conclusion. But Yahoo, as it turns out, is just as evil. It just tried to hijack all of my personal information and take control of my social networking when I attempted to link my Flickr (now owned by Yahoo) account to Facebook.

Spam began spitting out onto my Facebook wall. I put a quick end to that but not before probably accidentally marking one of my dear friends as a spammer in the process.

I’m afraid that in all of this excitement to interact socially in new ways, I’m destined to be locked in an eternal tug-of-war, clawing to hang onto a bit of control.

Clip from India footage from 2004.

Poolside July 4, 2010.

Clip from India footage from 2004.

I had a dream that I was attacking the Fire Nation in a hot air balloon with Aang. It was wild and dangerous and there were fire balls whizzing by my ears.

It’s clear that I’ve been watching too much Avatar. It’s a bitter sweet moment for me. The final DVD of the series is in the mail and on its way. I’m eager to watch it, but of course this means that the journey is coming to an end.

Aang, the Avatar, is learning how to firebend from a master. Soon he’ll have mastered the four elements and he’ll be ready to defeat the evil Fire Lord and end the war. Wow, did I really get sucked into a television cartoon meant for 8-year-olds?

Well, technically, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is a hybrid of anime and American cartoons. And according to the ratings, I’m not the only one outside the 6 to 11-year-old demographic to get into it. It turns out the popular, Emmy-winning Nickelodeon television series is critically acclaimed and loved by millions.

It also turns out that M. Night Shyamalan made a full-length movie based on the show titled “The Last Airbender” due out next year. I was completely caught off guard by the preview recently when I was waiting to see G.I. Joe last month. (Yes, I saw G.I. Joe). So that will be a movie to look forward to.

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” is an epic, 13-disc, animated action series that aired over three seasons from 2005 to 2008. It’s directed by The first season is currently available as a streaming download on Netflix.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. And although it’s not nearly as good as some of my favorite anime series, this is one that I will remember…and perhaps even dream about again.

I’m playing fantasy football for the first time ever this year and decided to follow some football players on Twitter. It turns out that nearly half of the players on my team are plugged in to Twitter: Andre Johnson, Roy Williams, Bernard Berrian, Matthew Hasselbeck, Vernon Davis, Earnest Graham, and Hakeem Nicks.

But I have to admit that following these guys hasn’t exactly given me the sort of fantasy football edge that I envisioned. In fact, only a handful of them actually tweet with any regularity.

New York Giants’ rookie wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, for example, only has one tweet: “very excited to be a new york giant.” And that was from five months ago in April. Not even a peep last week when he suffered a foot injury.

A few people like Williams, Hasselbeck, and Berrian have some interesting things to say but there’s nothing here that really jumps out. So your daughter did a mini-triathlon today and you’re proud? That’s kinda cool I guess. I suppose the world cares more about your family than mine Matthew Hasselbeck.

It’s kind of interesting hearing about what restaurant some of these guys are eating at in real-time. That would be especially useful information if I were a stalker.

But I guess I’m looking for something more. A glimpse into a superstar’s mind, a controversial revelation, a scoop.

Then I found Chad Ochocinco.

Based on the unending volume of his tweets, Ochocinco must have his iPhone buttoned to his wrist. And it’s a good thing because the electrifying wide receiver provides hours of entertainment. When the rest of the world is quite, Chad Ochocinco is still tweeting the night away.

One fan describes him as the voice of the NFL.

Ochocinco’s game-day ruminations are the sort of insider observations that sports writers drool over. The Associated Press wrote a story about Ochocinco’s widely tweeted promise to do a touchdown leap into the crowd today against the Green Bay Packers. In the past he’s even done some reporting of his own when he scooped the press by tweeting about a first-round draft pick signing. You can read more about that here.

Ochocinco has been butting heads with the NFL over Twitter and he vowed to find a loophole in the league’s Twitter policy that restricts tweets to before and after games.

While challenging the league’s social networking privacy rules, Ochocinco manages to provide amusing and revealing heart-on-your-sleeve tweets about all sorts of things. Before the game today he wrote:

“Headed to the stadium on the bus sitting next to coach Lewis as usual, those damn butterflies are coming in my stomach right now. Hate that!”

“Butterflies are the worst right before kickoff and don’t go away until you get hit or hit somebody then you relax.”

Here’s a sampling of some more of Ochocinco’s recent tweets. And then you can head over to his Twitter headquarters and follow him for yourself.

“The damn police escort is going to damn slow, we still driving on 41 north, get there already damn, that’s why you guys have sirens!!!!!!”

“Great win for us as a team today, much respect to my dudes 4 life, Al Harris and C. Woodson and all packer fans, much love from Esteban!”

“Wow Madden and Bush at the game, yall think Obama will come and watch me play, that’ll be awesome.”

“@BarackObama don’t mean to be a bother but can you attend the game against the bears please, I’ll invite through my celebration this week ”

“RT @BrianVaughn93: @OGOchoCinco Obama talks the talk…Ocho Cinco walks the walk….Lambeau Leap!”

“Listening to the Three Tenors: Jose Carreras, Lucianno Pavarotti and Domingo, favorite song is turandot:nessum dorma and Mariã!”

“@britneyspears there might be a lockout in 2011, I’m available for that back dancer if you need me holla, my number is 513 621 3550″

“Damit I just posted my phone number!!!!! People please don’t call I’m on a minute plan, I used up my weekend minutes already, thanks”

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