Can't the camera focus on something else?

The Idol gods have spoken and it appears as though it was not to be for our fair Tatiana.  Everyone knows how I feel about her: I think she is effing nuts.  She plays to the camera as she goes crazy and gives the world the impression that she is both insane and hungry to be a celebrity.  Case in point: this week on Idol.  She gives a relatively decent performance (I know, it was hard to admit, but her voice isn't half bad) and then appears to be a normal adult, but only up until the judges note that they basically thought she was nuts and didn't understand why she wasn't nuts all the time.  It's possible that's the point where I started yelling "'Cause she's faking dumb arses!"  When she got back up to the "green room" she started her whole on-air persona, going on about america and dreams and BLAH BLAH BLAH.  Sure enough, last night, she brought out the crazy a bit as she went on about faith or America or I'm not going to lie, I totally spaced out.  And America didn't buy it and she isn't in the Top 12.  I got giddy.

But then something happened that just peeved me.  As the show ended, the camera kept moving from the three individuals who made it through to Tatiana, who was balling on the side of the stage, and all I could think was how horrible it was.  I know she displayed every emotion under the sun in a 10-second interview during Hollywood Week, but there was something semi-private about that moment and I really didn't want to see it.  And I'm not sure she wanted us to either.

During the 2000 NCAA Men's basketball tournament (stay with me here), Iowa State made it all the way to the Elite Eight, something that almost never happens for us Cyclones.  I can't remember who they played, but they held it together for most of the game.  As the timer wound down though, my Cyclones started to lose it and in the last two minutes pretty much laid down and died.  I remember this game for a number of reasons (if they had won they would have played the Badgers and that was going to be a serious conflict for me), the most vivid being camera work at the end of the game.  Instead of showing the game, the cameras focused on Paul Shirley, an ISU player who was so invested in the game he began crying as they lost.  I felt so horrible for him, having this incredibly personal emotional moment on national TV and I just wanted the camera to turn away so that he could have that moment to himself.

The same goes for Tatiana.  As crazy as I fear she is, that seemed like a make-or-break moment in life and I know she signed on to having that happen on TV when she chose to audition, but part of me wishes she could have had that moment to herself, away from the drama, whether she wanted to or not.

My camera phone won't win any awards, but it rocks my casbah.

Here's why.

I broke down and got a cell phone with a camera about a year ago.  My phone doesn't connect to the internet (every other gadget I own seems to) so that renders the camera slightly useless.  I basically can take pictures of my friends and have those pictures flash when they call.  Not that exciting (and now that I think about it, not that nerdy).  But a couple of months ago I figured out the best use of my camera phone EVER: a photo "to-read" list.  

Here is how this works.  I tend to end up wandering around bookstores a lot, mostly just trying to piddle away some time while I wait for someone.  I pass a lot of books that look interesting and I used to always forget their names so that when it came to picking out a new book I would have to sort of rack my brain for the titles of books I had seen.  My camera phone (plus goodreads.com) has totally solved this problem.  Now, I just wonder around the bookstore and snap a photo of every book that looks interesting.  Then I go home, go through my pictures, and put the various books onto my "to-read" list. 

I know this is kind of a lame use of technology, but each time I do this, I get a little excited 'cause seriously, it's one of the few ways technology makes my life just a little bit easier.  Someday I may get a more hi-tech phone, but in the meantime, I'm cool with just using the camera to keep my "to-read" list up-to-date.  And take photos of my friends of course.