Nothing Happens: News at 11:00

Every year on April 15, local news stations somehow get the idea that the fact that some people are mailing their tax forms at 11:59 P.M. is newsworthy. Somehow I was under the impression that news was supposed to be interesting, covering a variety of topics that are out of the ordinary. Do we see daily stories in the LA Times about traffic on the freeway or stories in the New York Times about how one nefarious ne'er-do-well or another has hopped a turnstyle on the New York subway? No...of course we don't- because these things happen all the time.

We all know that every year a certain segment of the population is not going to begin working on their taxes until sometime in the afternoon of April 15. We all know that those people are then going to have to drive down to some remote post office 50 miles out of their way and wait in a long line in order to get their forms postmarked that day. Do we really need to watch Paul Moyer or Hal Fishman pretend to be interested in some reporter explaining how many cars are waiting in line? Further, do we really need to see the reporter try to get an interview with some of the drivers asking them why they waited so long?

"Excuse me, sir! Why did you wait so long to do your taxes?"

"Well, I've just been kind of busy."

That's some cutting edge reporting there!

Other residents of Los Angeles will no doubt agree with me that our local NBC affiliate, channel 4, is one of the worst culprits in this area. This news cast, anchored by the aforementioned Paul Moyer, is filled with well-crafted stories of the banal.

Perhaps if something out of the ordinary happened to these people while they were waiting in line to drop a freaking envelope in the freaking mailbox, it might be newsworthy. Like if one of them had accidentally backed his car into somebody else and the driver of the second car ended up being Al Sharpton dressed in clown makeup or something...that would be interesting. But watching people drop envelopes into mailboxes...not interesting in the least.

Of course, I did just spend 366 words writing about this...so I guess there must be something to it.

In other news, I am anxiously awaiting the release of Wilco's next album, A Ghost is Born, due out on June 22. The entire album is actually currently being streamed on Wilco's website, so if you have any sense at all you'll go take a listen to it. Pay particular attention to the ten minute opus, Spiders (Kidsmoke).

You may have noticed several new names popping up in the comments. Apparently, several friends from days of yore have stumbled across my blog in some way or another. First and foremost, Rick and Jessica Baldwin are two friends of mine who currently live in Las Vegas. Rick is one of my closest friends from high school, in spite of the fact that he hates my guts. Out of all the people who hate me, he hates me the most.

Additionally, Jeremy Baker has found his way here. Jeremy is a friend from the mid-to late 90s. For a period of two months, he was my roommate...we shared a modest townhouse in Vista in 1996, along with another person who can only be described as...interesting.

Oh...and our neighbor kind of looked like Hitler.