Media Absurdities

Run, Lobster, Run! There is a new Red Lobster commercial with the song lyric "No where to run to, baby, no where to hide" playing in the background. The image is a documentary-style view of lobsters running along in a single file along the ocean floor [afficianados of public television know that is for conservation of effort and protection]. Then there are shots of lobsters being lifted out of boiling water, and a fork full of lobster plunging into butter. Now, I'm a lobster lover, but I don't really want to think about these communal creatures being scooped off the ocean floor and plunged into a pot of boiling water! Is this the image that Red Lobster wants to associate with mouth-watering lobster? Does this mean the Venison Board should advertise "Deer - the other other white meat" during broadcasts of Bambi?

Christina Agulara She had an MTV special where she used the word "LIKE" ... 40 times in 1/2 an hour. It was a 2 hour show - you do the math! This is a role model for, like, young women?

Show blower theft On of the local news shows was doing a story on the theft of snowblowers from open garages. After informing the viewing audience of their location in the city, they zoom in on a garage that has been "unwatched" for 5 minutes - clearing showing the house number above the garage. I thought, "Well, I guess the theives watching this would have to do a little bit of work to find this poor man's garage, but it could be done." And then ... they interview the homeowner and give his FULL NAME! [I could just hear theives scribbling on little notepads!]
Y2K Fun I was watching a local station out of NYC and the reporter wanted to show that on January 1st, 2000, that his bank account would give him $20, and his balance was correct. He gets the money out of the machine, gets the receipt, and starts to have the camera operator zoom in to see the date on the receipt. All I could think was, "Great, in about 3 seconds, we are possibly going to see this guy's account number, and at the very least his balance - let's hope there are no armed thugs nearby!" At the last minute, the camera operator pulled the shot back (I would love to believe the director was screaming in his ear "Pull back! Pull back!").