"This is so great. I can finally watch the news again," a friend said to me shortly after the Inauguration of Barack Obama. It's a common sentiment lately, at least in liberal Cambridge where I work. Like many people, my friend disliked George Bush so much that he couldn't bear to watch the news during much of the last eight years.
As you all know, last Tuesday was a historic night for America. That night, for the very first time ever, a hologram appeared on CNN. Sure, a black man was elected President for the first time also, but let's not forget the holograms who had previously been relegated to cheesy sci-fi movies and British sitcoms. Now, though, as never before, holograms were on a serious and respected news program. Well, sort of serious and respected.
You know the nation's media has gone crazy when your name appears in the television news crawl -- either that or you're about to be arrested and no one's told you yet. Last week, I found my name all over sports media, because -- through blind luck -- I was the first to find Jose Canseco's new book about steroids.
In case you haven't heard, Time Magazine has chosen its Person of the
Year, and the winner is you. Apparently, you've been chosen "for
seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new
digital democracy, [and] for working for nothing and beating the pros
at their own game." In short, you uploaded tons of video to YouTube,
and Time has taken notice. And there you just thought you were goofing
off all this time. Next time, your boss catches you on YouTube, be sure
to show him this issue.
