2317 Media Heavy

I'm a media consumer. And like many consumers, I notice the changes that slip by or crop up in the ordinary course of events.

Like the other day I was listening to a traffic report on the radio and the traffic person said the traffic was starting to "heavy up."

Heavy up? When did "heavy up" become a phrasal verb? I can see "clutter up" because you clutter something. Or even "butter up" because you butter something. 

But heavy up? You heavy something? I don't think so. Something is heavy but you don't heavy it. My suggestion: Before it catches on perhaps we should lose the Y and heave it from our language.

Not long after that, I was watching one of those morning news and gossip shows on the TV. I'm not sure if it was the Today Show or Good Morning America or what. Whichever, it had Al Roker as the weatherman describing the path of a hurricane up the Baja peninsula.

Here's what got me. He was pointing to the moving graphic of the hurricane like you'd expect, but he wasn't standing in front of a green screen with the video computer-synched in. No, he was just pointing at a big screen TV. 

It was like the same primitive video/human interface I used to employ on my comedy show on cable access TV back in the 80's. Sure, TV's are a lot better these days. Bigger, more HD dense when it comes to pixels, and no refresh cycles of electrons causing screen flicker. But still, he was pointing at pictures on a TV and then playing it back on TV. 

How far we haven't come. 

Another thing: Al Roker looked different too. He's really starting to heavy down. 

America, ya gotta love it.