Thursday, March 27, 2008

WHY GOD CREATED YOUTUBE™: The Amazing Ten Second Haitian News Team Psychodrama


Maybe the first time you watch this clip it will seem mildly amusing. I mean, it's Haiti, so yes, pretty much everywhere it's gonna be hot. Of course! But, as was so astutely pointed out by one commenter on the original Defamer post where I originally saw this video, you need to watch it a few times and really pay attention to the subtle interplay of the three characters. First off, you've got the weatherman who may or may not be suffering the effects of a nickel bag-induced "low pressure system." Then you've got the woman who cracks the jacket joke who seems to be deliberately provoking the weatherman -- check his immediate reaction to her before he starts to laugh. Then you've got the guy sitting next to the woman who seems to be telling himself over and over "Smile and nod, smile and nod, smile and nod" as he prepares to say his next line, obviously tense and hoping that whatever beef the other two have with each other won't explode into some on-camera mess that he'll be forced to clean up. Add the fact that the fashions and set design place this squarely at about circa 1982 and this sets the mind spinning. Where are these people now? Is Arthur the weatherman hanging out on a Port-au-Prince beach trolling with a metal detector and offering samples of only the finest ganja to tourists? Has the woman clawed her way to the top of the Haitian news corporate ladder, sitting in a cushy office, and doing one on-air editorial comment a month? Is the guy who was on the couch next to her now a shoe salesman at the Port-au-Prince Foot Locker? So many possibilities, so much drama, all in a brief ten seconds.

Truly, this is why God created YouTube.

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