Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Isn't it ironic?

• Chris Long
• 8 Jan 07, 05:13 AM

Now THIS is ironic - although, knowing my luck, having just written that there is a very good chance that what actually happened isn't the precisely the dictionary definition of ironic.

On Saturday myself, Richard (the show's boss), Spencer (presenter) and Mikey our cameraman were shooting bits and pieces for the programme. We'd got permission to shoot in the Venetian ("Resort, Casino, Hotel") - truly a monument to Las Vegas architectural hyperbole and spent a long afternoon traipsing around a pretend Venice, resplendent with a canal, gondolas and singing gondoliers.

Shooting in public is a bit of a chore for not only us but the public - there we are very "we’re in TV darling" standing in the way asking politely for people to move out of shot, making people do the same thing over and over again and, well, just plain being a nuisance.

But the public do get their own back amongst its number are shouters. That is: people who shout when they see a TV crew filming. Alas, they don't shout anything useful - like "look out there is a grand piano passing the 15th floor heading your way" or "why isn't the full version of Click on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ 1 or Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ 2 at a sensible time?" or even the wonderfully cryptic "Baden Loves Noo noos."

No, it is just a loud incoherent yell guaranteed to ruin a take - but why?

Some guys did just that in the Venetian - as they went down past us on the escalator one guy just shouted at us a loud "hey" mixed with "yahoo" (although it may have been MSN)

Perhaps he was a Mac user who believes that the real CES is going on at Macworld - on the other hand maybe he was just an idiot.

We are here at CES to celebrate human invention, the undoubted genius of our species. We are seeing devices that are small as they are smart, shiny as they are sophisticated, and we are also seeing people just shouting at a TV crews for no conceivable reason.

Doesn't seem logical to me.

By the way the irony was I wrote all this on a Palm device that I had taken with me on the shoot - and then when I booted it up this morning it had all gone - I'd lost it all.

So maybe these pieces of kit aren't so clever after all - but they sure ain't as dumb as people. #

Now, that IS ironic, isn't it??