Ramblin' On: "Video Snacks"; Space--STILL the Final Frontier

Advertising. I can't get away from it. I end up watching more commercials than I do my favorite TV shows. I can't get through an issue of "Y: The Last Man" without a stupid Skechers ad ("We put the 'S' In action!" Right. Learn to Spell!) I get totally distracted by the glare of the light-up stupid FreshDirect billboard on the way to the Midtown tunnel. (Hey, great idea, let's take drivers' minds off the road!) Of course, every day there's a new popup ad on the Internet (yesterday's winner: "Does Bigfoot Exist? Click yes or no to win a prize!"). And, of course, I certainly couldn't have enjoyed the "Wedding Crashers" this weekend without a solid 10 minutes of Coke, Cingular and car commercials before the film started (never mind the %*#(!@ product placement throughout most of today's movies)--but I digress.

Yes sir, everywhere I go. Crestor ad here, Maybeline there.

And now it seems the cell phone shall fall.

Over on EETimes, they have a little article on 'video snacking,' a wonderful idea from a panel at the "Toy Tour" sponsored by Texas Instruments. These "snacks" would be commercially produced clips of no more than 10 minutes in length. Who knows what the content would be: mini soap operas, news briefs, celebrity gossip. And who cares. The point is, you know that coming right behind these videos--and right in front of them AND right in between them--will be commercials.