When NPR has a pledge drive (or plays opera), I change channels. I’d love a system whereby once you’ve donated, you no longer have to listen to the commercials. Sigh.
Anyway, while switching to AM, I found myself at a show that I’ve occasionally heard before, but never paused to linger very long. It’s about cigars. I don’t smoke ’em, so I don’t pay much attention to the show. For those who may recognize it, all the callers say, “long ashes to you” as a greeting, and they all seem to call the host, “general,” for some reason. I’m guessing it’s not ’cause he’s a general.
Anyway, someone suggested that the general, who has a Web site, put up a video showing how to properly cut a cigar. Makes perfect sense, and is exactly the kind of thing he should be doing on his Web site.
So the general said to wait a week or two, because he’s coming out with HD videos for his site. And that’s where he lost me.
Why in the world would these videos need to be in HD? I mean, how much visual detail do we really need when learning how to cut a cigar? All this does is make the download times longer in order to say that you’re cutting edge. But a show about cigars doesn’t really need to be cutting edge, does it?
It reminds me of businesses tripping over themselves to have Flash all over their Web pages. Flash, which sometimes is great and useful, in the wrong hands just gets in the way of the actual content the company wants people to see (and the content that visitors want to see). Same thing here. The content is getting lost in the craze to make it HD.
Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe these videos will be greatly improved by being in HD. I certainly won’t bother to check for myself, so I won’t have to admit if I turn out to be wrong.
You’ve definitely got this right. Cigar Dave (the general you heard on the radio) does a poor job of making the most of his website in general, and in particular the idea of using hi-def to show the proper way to cut a cigar is just silly. Flash over substance in the worst way. What will probably make it even worse (and less accessible) is that his fancy hi-def videos of how to cut a cigar will require you to download some proprietary, specialized video player that you don’t already have on your system and comes pre-loaded with some “toolbar” garbage that you have to figure out how to disable.
Simplicity is hard, apparently. We’ve been shopping for houses lately, and you can see it very well in that market. Builders try to tack on so much crap onto a house design, things that either don’t belong at all or should only be used sparingly, but they just throw on the gingerbread, the wainscoting, whatever else, and pretty soon you’re looking at something that’s supposed to be a “craftman style house” (as if there used to be 6,000 sq. ft. craftsman cottages) but it’s got so much stuff hanging off it that it looks like a confused victorian mansion.
I’m not as careful about design as you are (something I very much respect about you), but even I get ill with some of this stuff.
Now to get controversial and completely off-topic: Who in the heck does Chris Bangle think he is? And why has Toyota so fully incorporated his creased-up, bird-eye looking crap into all their new designs?
So you’re actually seriously gonna move? Wow.
I had to look Chris Bangle up. Cars. Not really my thing, though I see now I’ve been missing a hugely emotional war about whether he’s awesome or the angel of death.