Trail Baboons seem to be starting 2015 united in the belief that their lives are not compelling enough to document on video – as confirmed by comments on yesterday’s Ask Dr. Babooner post. Apparently nobody who reads this blog (except tim) feels even as interesting as Kim Jong Un, while at the same time acknowledging that the Dear Leader is truly not very interesting at all.

I beg to differ, of course.

Ordinary lives can be fascinating. Sometimes the more ordinary they are, the better.

The producers of the podcast “Reply All” just dealt with this very topic when they were able to connect with one of the originators of the concept of the online examination of ordinary lives, Jennifer Ringley of the late ’90’s sensational and now-defunct website “Jennicam”.

Interestingly, the most curious thing about Jenni now is how successful she’s been in walking away from fame and removing her current self from the Internet.

And to think that for her to become known in the first place, all it took was a camera in an unexpected place, and some gumption. As the number of places where we don’t expect there to be a camera dwindles, we’re going to find out how long that formula works. It still has not lost its appeal, as witnessed by this charming video trip up a tree courtesy of a larcenous squirrel. Thanks to Clyde for forwarding this!

If only Mr. Nutsy had taken the camera back to his nest and set it up so we could watch the mundane everyday-ness of cracking nuts and grooming your bushy tail. Now THAT’s real celebrity!

You have a camera to place anywhere in the world. Where would you put it?

Today is the birthday (in 1925) of Johnny Carson, the undisputed king of American talk show hosts.

Carson is famous for being a very private man who succeeded beyond all expectations in a very public job.

The talk show is a curious institution.  No one could have imagined a need for it in the years leading up to its invention.

Before radio and TV came along people had to provide entertaining late-night talk for themselves.   All that was needed was a bonfire and at least one person with enough self-regard that they couldn’t stay quiet.

Now the many available cable channels and every aspect of the internet work furiously to maintain a steady stream of chatter for everyone (or no one)  to see, hear and read.

What no one produces is a little bit of relief.

I wonder how long it will be before some beleaguered content producer, charged with the monumental task of developing a  multi-platform presentation with the capacity to surprise an exhausted  audience, will at long last hire a cast of bright, attractive people to sit quietly in each other’s company, saying nothing?