5.05.2005

Our local forecast

So, weird thing I noticed on the Weather Channel this morning. This disembodied voice for the "Local on the 8's" has changed his routine slightly. He used to introduce the segment with "Here is your local forecast." A bit unnecessary, I always thought, but to the point.

Now, suddenly, I find he is refering to it as our local forecast. "Here is our local forecast," he patronizingly entones at the start of the segment. A subtle yet jarring change. This kinda bothers me. I mean, he's clearly lying. Disembodied voice isn't from here. He's a disembodied voice, for goodness sake. But now, suddenly, he's going to be chummy with everyone in the country. Was there really a great yearning to feel closer to the disembodied voice on the Weather Channel? To feel like he was really a part of our lives, just a regular guy from the neighborhood? Who does he think he is? I know darn well this is my local forecast, not the disembodied voice's local forecast. Frankly, it bothers me to be lied to so brazenly. It seems rather demeaning, really. I was quite fine with him being a disembodied voice. I don't see the need to pretend he's a disembodied voice from Eastern Massachusetts.

Still not the weirdest thing I've ever heard from the Weather Channel's disembodied voice. That would be when he calmly announced the my local condition was "Smoke". It was true and all, it just seemed rather surreal to discover this from the Weather Channel. I wouldn't have thought of "Smoke" as a weather condition. Much less a weather condition with a pre-recorded announcement and graphic from the Weather Channel. I know wild-fires are common out west so I shouldn't have been surprised, but still. When you wake up and disembodied voice is announcing that "Currently, the weather is smoke," it just seems weird.