Picture this

Picture this:

I’m at my daughter’s school awards night and yet another prize winner is announced. The man in front of me raises his camera and videos the still picture of his daughter that flashes up on the big screen (a version of the one he no doubt bought back in January when school photos were taken). As an afterthought, he grabs a quick shot of the back of the minuscule blob on the faraway stage that is the real, live girl, receiving her engraved torch/photo frame/cup.

So, when he watches it on his netbook later, he'll watch a screen displaying a video of a big screen showing a copy of a photo of a girl. Am I the only one who can see something wrong with this picture?

Also, picture this:

I’m at Carols by Candlelight and a speck that is allegedly Damien Leith appears on stage. The woman behind me leaps to her feet to film – not the speck – but rather the big screen to the right of the stage on which he appears.

Question? Why didn’t she just wait for the broadcast on tellie Christmas morning and video the plasma screen in her lounge room? It would have saved her a trip to the cold, dark park.

The only thing worse than this kind of cinematic idiocy is people who hold their wedding a second time, solely because the video of the real ceremony didn’t come out.

Come on, guys. By all means, create mementos to share. But what will you really get out of hours of this meaningless digital tripe?

Image: Michal Marcol