Things That Annoy Me, Vol. 1

Web Posts in Video Form (that don't have to be):

It may be that I'm off base here, that the increasing use of nightly news-style video sound bytes is merely the transitional stage between TV and the Internet, that in five years or so there won't be a difference between the two, and I'm just getting annoyed over something that no one will remember down the road.

But it bothers me when I see a headline, on Yahoo, for instance, and I click on it, anticipating a standard news story, all typed up and ready for me to quickly read in between projects at work, or to return to at my leisure.

Instead, I'm plunked down in front of a video that takes fifteen or twenty seconds to load, at which point I'm treated to a short commercial, before reaching the actual news item. When I finally do get to the video, it's formatted like a traditional segment on a news program, with the silly reporter doing silly reporter things, wasting my time with scene setting and background.

Meanwhile, since the only reason I'm actually clicking on this link is because I'm at work and therefore have plenty of time to kill, this isn't something I would actually ever care about if I was at home, I'm scrambling for my earphones so that I don't miss the the story that I came to hear. The entire process ends up taking 5 minutes, for a story that I could have read in twenty seconds.

I use the Internet to get information because it's infinitely faster and more convenient than traditional news and information sources. I use it because it doesn't make me wait for the segment of the news that I care about, it doesn't make me wait until after the next commercial break.

And perhaps that's why these annoying video clips have become so prevalent, they allow the news provider to once again exercise at least a modicum of control of the viewer, forcing them to sit through even a brief commercial, forcing the viewer to hear the news the way that the reporter wants the news to be heard. But that's why I stopped watching TV news in the first place.

In a related item: I love Bill Simmons, the so-called "Sports Guy," who has been writing a humor/sports column for ESPN for years now. Extremely funny, plenty of pop culture references, a man's man. Even when he writes about the NBA, about which I couldn't care less, he manages to at least squeeze in some slightly off-topic paragraphs for which I'm usually willing to scan through three pages on the upcoming draft or something in order to find. I look forward to a new column from Bill to an alarming degree, a new "Mailbag" or "Ramblings" makes a day at work go that much more smoothly.

Having said that...the "B.S. Report?" C'mon. Instead of a written column, it's an audio webcast of Bill talking with a friend/celebrity about whatever pops into their heads. I'm sure they're funny and worth listening to, probably chock full of everything I know and love about Bill's columns. But when I'm at work, I don't have fifteen minutes to sit and listen to this. I can read his columns in five minutes, or even print them out and take them to the bathroom (and I know I'm not alone in that), but to devote fifteen or so minutes while at work to listening to these guys having a conversation? Is a transcript to much to ask for?