Twinkie, Twinkie, I'm a star
By Todd Stadler · Sunday, November 26, 2000 7:01pm
For some strange reason, I have experienced a rash of Twinkies fame recently. In past days, I have talked to C|Net radio (something only a geek could consider fame), the Learning Channel, and Carsey/Werner productions. The latter apparently were producing some "best of the web" TV show, but I didn't end up signing the contract as days after they contacted me, the show was cancelled after one episode. The people at the agency were sadly optimistic that they would be able to sell it to some other channel, but after seeing the review it got on CNN, I really hope they don't. I can't understand why anybody would watch a TV show about the Internet. If there is anything good about the Internet, it's in your ability to control what you experience. This doesn't exactly filter through the TV. It would be like watching someone read a book about some wacky people. Whee! Besides, if you're really interested in the Internet, you're probably already on it, following some list of links from someone you trust.
The Learning Channel production sounded only moderately better. It was a series called "Best Kept Secrets", and the T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project was to appear on the "Best Kept Secrets of the Internet" episode, natch. What a dumb title. It's clearly not a secret, since it's a popular enough site to earn the attention of somebody working on the show. And once you air it on the Learning Channel, I doubt it's really all that much priveleged knowledge. But, hey, they're letting me in on a secret...how fun!
As for the C|Net radio spot, I think I may have to consider not doing any more interviews. I'm just really bad at them, and they're all awful! I always assume that, now that the site is five years old (and getting older every day!), people might want to ask me more interesting questions than "so why did you do this?" or "what's your favorite test?". Sure, those are fine questions, but I can't pretend to be excited about the site anymore. I can't fake a laugh every time I remember joyfully what wacky things I did when I was in college. This interview especially grated on my nerves. She would just ask me to describe the experiments. Um, well, see, I already did that on the webpage, and it's probably a lot funnier than I'm going to be as I sit here in my cubicle at work, trying not to say the word "Twinkie" too loud so as to make my co-workers think I'm giving less than 100% for the team. Besides, in what is apparently only my opinion, what we did isn't very funny at all. Any idiot can - and has, repeatedly - done something stupid with junk food, some before we did our thing. If there's any value in our site, it's in the writing, but no one cares about that. As if to prove she was a bad interviewer, my pal at C|Net actually had the gall to call me back and ask me to say a quote that she had written. I just can't believe that.
I won't deny I love the whole fame aspect to all of this. It's a great ego-boost, and it usually makes for a nice story at lunchtime. But I have only lost respect for all media through my experiences.
Whine, whine, whine. Let's try to find a moral to all this. Hmm: if you want to learn about the web, go to the web. Sure, works for me.