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This does not reference the original. This isn’t an homage. This is the lazy man’s way of looking creative without actually being creative. It’s copying someone else’s work down to the smallest detail and hoping no one will notice.

Read my original post here.

This is one of those ‘bear with me’ posts, as I try (again) to make a larger point out of a small (and petty) one:
In a previous post I listed the various new technologies that made TV worse, starting with distorted video proportions. Due to different broadcast formats and various TV set proportions, it is quite common to see people on the screen which are ‘thinner’ or ‘fatter’ than usual, as the footage is distorted to fit the medium.
While this is temporary until the 4:3 aspect ratio will eventually disappear, it affects our visual perception in the long run. As people get used to these proportionally-incorrect images, today’s compromise becomes tomorrow’s norm, and ‘incorrect’ is the new standard. If you’re having trouble following my train of thought just think of the cognitive dissonance of airbrushed people featured in magazines versus people in real life.

With that in mind I have to say I was shocked, shocked I tell ya, to find an outrageously distorted image in Israel’s leading newspaper, Yedioth Ahronot, and on the front page of all places. Take a look at the original proportions (left) and my attempt to correct them (right):

You don’t have to be familiar with comedian Eli Yatzpan or singer Eyal Golan to realize that in real life they look more like my corrected version than the one that was delivered today to my door.

I don’t watch much Israeli TV these days, but when I do I am usually insulted by what I perceive as a general lack of effort. One specific trend that seems to catch on, be it within the actual shows or during their commercial breaks, is this notion that the creative people have decided to call it quits and just copy the latest viral video they stumbled upon on YouTube. Zero creativity, zero added value. Copy and paste.
This YouTube-Copy-and-Paste trend is in its infancy and so I am unable to eloquently dissect and analyze it, but suffice to say it feels inauthentic and corrosive in its nature – and yet very typical of this falsehood of a culture we are gradually becoming.
And so if all that I can do is point to it – pointing I shall:

Excerpt from show: Dancing with the Stars

Show promo: Shavua Sof

TV Ad: Shekem Electric

Note to self: Might need to watch these videos again.

PBS.org:

FOX.com:

ABCnews.com:

hulu.com:

NBC.com:

TheDailyShow.com:

Update: The following was added after the post was first published.

YouTube.com:

BravoTV.com: