That's News To Me

Some days it's hard to fill twenty-four hours with news. I cite the country's fascination with the "balloon boy" last week as a prime example. The fact that the discussion continues a week later about whether or not this was a staged event continues to beg the question: Why should we care? The answer us simple enough: Because there are still twenty-three hours and forty-five minutes of time to fill with "real news."
And just where would we go to find "real news?" Square and unbalanced Fox News? The most trusted acronym in news, CNN? How about a few more letters to make MSNBCMOUSE? I continue to get my "hard news" form Jon Stewart, mostly because it puts me in a very hip demographic. As long as news and entertainment continue to merge, why not err on the entertainment side? If Glenn Beck is more your cup of tea, that's fine too, as long as you keep that *comedian next to his name.
All of that brings me to my point: The Weather Channel has just announced that they are adding movies to their broadcasting day. The will begin, obviously enough, with "The Perfect Storm." Meteorologists and George Clooney fans, set your Tivos. They promise to follow that up with other weather-related hits such as the documentary "March of the Penguins," the thriller "Deep Blue Sea" and "Misery." They reckon that the snow in "Misery" qualifies it to be shown on The Weather Channel. Come to think of it, just about any movie I can think of has weather of some sort in it. Wow. What a great marketing ploy. But is it weather?
Back in the olden days, when cable TV was relatively new, as were VCRs, my friend's dad used to make four hour tapes of the new and meteorological phenomenon called The Weather Channel. And he used to show them at parties. "Wow," he used to enthuse to his inebriated guests, "have you ever seen a high pressure system like that one?" This marks my second favorite arbitrary use of technology, the first being the in-car coffee maker. Coming in third is twenty-four hour cable news.