On the News
April 18th, 2008Heather and I were asked to participate in a roundtable discussion with a local news show On the Record with Chris Vanocur. Link to our show is here.
I’d just leave it at that, but there are some issues. The technical issues are that the show runs long enough that the ad reloader on the video page will kill the program. Note to abc4.com devs: On pages with video longer than a few minutes, you might want to kill the force reloader script. It makes it super annoying when you want to watch a long show to have the page do a force reload so that a new ad below the video can be seen. Lame. Also, dayport video player techs, it would be nice to show a progress bar (see every other major video player online) so I can get back to where I was after being nuked by bad ad scripts. Usability, people. Brightcove does a much better job with its player… To be fair, the embed version shows a progress bar, but the player on the story page does not.
Personal notes:
1) I did an extremely short hand history of blogging which will likely be taken to task. I ask the reader to forgive me for not doing a better, more thorough job in 9 seconds of giving credit to those who had blogs before Blogger started in 1999. I am aware that people were doing it well before 1999. I used to read Justin Hall and Dave Winer back in the day.
2) “Best” of Utah blogs is likely shortchanging a boatload of other great sites. I’ll be wrestling Chris Vanocur in a TV time limit, no-holds barred cage match at a future date.
3) My gesturing is problematic.
4) It might be time for voice lessons.
5) This show has a wide range of topics and personalities. It’s not MTV, so cut some slack to the host if he seems newsy. That’s his job. Also, something that still is an issue is that blogging is not something that everybody knows everything about. My comments around being in the beginning are relative to that notion. And relative to your mom.
[video pulled to make life easier and quieter. Dayport, get your business together. NO autostart on embed, you goofs! Brightcove is cleaning your clock and your other areas!]
Be nice in the comments and thanks for coming. o
Tags: abc4, blogging, blurb, dooce, heather, local news, me, nerd pants
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April 18th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Oddly enough I found his newsy-personality quite endearing. I really liked the interview! And I took great pleasure in realizing for the first time EVER that Heather is a bit country, huh?
You guys are great.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Wow. ABC4 has serious technical issues with video. Seriously… WTF?
Great job both of you!
On a side note…
Would you be willing to teach me about the XML that Wordpress generates? I have an idea for a project but I want to learn more about it first.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:24 am
I’m more drawn to the video directly under the roundtable video.
“Sandy police arrest teens who cooked feces in convenience store microwave”
April 18th, 2008 at 11:36 am
You guys are so cute! It was nice to see two of my favourite bloggers speaking!
April 18th, 2008 at 11:42 am
To quote a Smiths song, Jon, you Oscillate Wildly. There was one point right before the second commercial break where you were really going at it! Talking with your hands could never be problematic… how else would I have known what you meant about the Terminator screen if you hadn’t run your finger up and down a few times?
I don’t quite believe that Vanocur really bookmarked your sites but perhaps it’s his newsiness in general that adds to the subterfuge. In any case, it was great to see you guys!
April 18th, 2008 at 11:52 am
I’m watching the vid now but I just have to say, isn’t everything relevant to your mom? Yeah, thought so
April 18th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Voice lessons for whom? I think we know it’s not you. As for gestures, are you sure you’re not Italian, or as Heather must say it, EYEtalian.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
You guys are such rock stars!
I only wish you’d brought a picture of Chuck balancing something on his head. Then again, he would have upstaged everyone and thrown the whole interview off balance, so it’s probably for the best.
(My only “note”: Heather, please sit up straight; you’re a tall, willowy goddess– wear it proudly!)
And I had to double-check to be certain, but Chris Vanocur is the fabulous Sander Vanocur’s son. VERY cool heritage.
Congrats all around on the coverage!
April 18th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I watched part of this on Heather’s site a second ago, but haven’t seen it all yet. So far so good. Also, wow. Sarah Nielsen really did have that guy wrapped around her seductive finger.
Sarah, lowering eyelids and speaking in a low, sultry voice: You should try it.
Chris, stifling a little erection: Mmmmm. I’ve actually done a couple. (and would like to do you)
April 18th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
What people tend to forget when they see themselves are that the voice they hear themselves speaking in, doesn’t resemble what they sound like. Recently Renee Zellwegger was unhappy with the Tracy Ullman impersonation of herself; forgetting that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but more important is the realization that you have to have a personality to begin with for someone to satirize. I found the gestures made you more playful and less geek. Heather was really pretty when she smiled. Your hair would look great longer on top (yeah, not in fashion, too bad.) What was funny was the groping comment how it freaked him out, but at the same time it was funny that Heather started talking about making money out of your bedroom and that seemed to be totally ignored. Was that on purpose? The part about making money and instead of saying at your desk, or computer she said bedroom to see what would happen?
April 18th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
hi jon,
just watched the entire show…on your site. thanks for the post. i find it interesting how some people end up so different in person than their blog personalities. it may have something to do with a camera staring directly at you. we all do it, but it’s kind of like meeting one of your favorite bands in person, and realizing they are not on the pedestal where you have held them. NOT that you guys are anything but cool and nice. i enjoyed the juxtaposition of your blog faces to your real voices. thanks for keeping it so real out there.
ps. got a pair of those KOSS earbuds. not bad. they hurt after awhile but probably just need to get used to them.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Best moment so far:
“They were talking about the Drudge Report.”
“Huh. Interesting.”
(Awkward pause).
April 18th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Well done on not actually saying out load “Matt Drudge is a flaming douche”. We all knew that’s what was screaming behind your eyelids, but very impressive on not saying it!
April 18th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Of course I meant “loud” instead of “load”, although “load” seems to fit very well when discussing Drudge.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I agree - funniest was the drudge exchange. Think he’ll link to the show?
Great interview - and Ms. Nielson is going to get quite the boost in her readership, think?
April 18th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Wow, he was really, really dry. Kind of painfully dry, actually. But he seemed like a nice guy (except for how hard he was crushing on Sarah… that was kind of creepy).
I wouldn’t worry too much about your abbreviated history of blogging. I thought you did the best you could with the time you had.
Anyway, great interview.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
OK, you guys ROCK. You did great Jon. Heather is right, you are a hottie. Your wife isn’t bad either. Congrats. Your fans love you!!!!
April 18th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I loved watching this - man, you’re techy Jon, but also way down to earth .. nice!
You and Heather make an awesome team!
Oh, and Jon, in case you don’t read it a couple hundred times already in Dooce’s comments, you’re HAWT. (and of course, so is your wife!)
thanks for sharing that lovely video!
April 18th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Nerd pants!
I have a new favorite expression.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Cool to see you and Heather live, as it were. I’m so glad I “knew” you and Heather before you became the media moguls you’re apparently growing into, and can bask in the reflected glory - at least to all my friends who have to listen to me talking about the Armstrongs as if I had something to do with your success. And congratulations on that success, by the way! I can’t wait to see what comes next.
And did you write some kind of product placement deal into the interview agreement? It looks like Apple should be paying either you or *On the Record* for all those beauty shots of the logo.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
You guys rock my world.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
This was really cool to see. You’re a very good speaker, and I completely understood what you were talking about.
I liked this more than seeing Heather on ABC before, because you all got to actually speak full sentences and didn’t have to try and fit your entire persona into 20 seconds of speech.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
You PLAYA!
The hands are cute, very earnest.
I’m a longtime fan of the blurbdoocery, and I hope this wild ride brings all good things to the Armstrongs.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Love it! And the fact we get to share this wonderful state with all of you, just might make me like Utah again. I should however apologize in advance for posting just yesterday that I have a blog crush on your dear wife….Keep the entertainment and amazing photos coming.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
hey - all of you did a great job!