Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Dave Rubin is a comedian and writer who has pitched shows to HBO, Showtime and Comedy Central. His cable access show, “The Anti Show” was secretly shot at NBC studios in New York. Dave lives with his gold fish, Fritz. Read more of Dave’s musing at The Daily Dave.

For any of those who ride the NYC subway, one thing you know is the amount of people who are constantly zoning out in their own world while listening to their iPod.  Frankly, if I could give every screaming moron on the subway an iPod to keep them quiet, I gladly would.  Unfortunately, the good people at Gadgetell don’t pay me quite enough to do that (yet).  Anyway, with the advent of the new iPod video, subway etiquette is changing right before our eyes, and thankfully, I’m here to report it…

See, one practice that is as old as the subway itself, is that if you are reading anything while sitting on the subway, the person next to you will automatically read it over your shoulder.  It doesn’t matter if you’re reading a magazine, a book, an instruction manual or the Holy Bible, someone will always be following you word for word.  Truth be told, I’ve read almost the entire Bible this way, though not in any specific order, so I’m a little confused as to whether Noah built the arc before or after the flood.  I’m guessing before, right?

Suddenly, with the iPod video, people are watching TV shows and movies and a new breed of people are trying to watching along with them.  Yesterday, I sat next to a guy who was watching “Daffy Duck’s Fantastic Island”, which is one of my favorite movies.  I kept looking over to follow along (though always moving my eyes when he looked to see if I was watching), and ended up watching all the way from 72nd Street to 14th Street.  I was supposed to get off at 34th Street, but that’s the price you pay to be a video-looker-person.  I enjoyed the movie despite the fact that I couldn’t hear it, mostly because of the great scene with Foghorn Leghorn.  Who would’ve known Foghorn was such a ladies man?  Or to be technically correct, I should say was such the chicken’s man.  Err, I mean rooster.  Yea, he’s was quite chicken’s rooster.  Okay, that’s it, he was quite the chicken’s rooster.  (Whoa, that took a lot out of me.)

As much as I enjoyed watching the movie, I couldn’t hear it, which takes the fun out of anything, especially a cartoon.  So, until cartoonists start animating better mouths for us to follow lips, I propose that it is time for the people who have the iPod videos to start offering one of their earphones for the rest of us to follow along.  Either that, or bring a small set of speakers so people on both sides can watch and hear the video.

Then and only then, will harmony be restored to the New York City Subway System.  It’ll be like in elementary school when we were taught to bring enough cupcakes for everyone on our birthday.  Or like in college when you only took a big hit of the joint only if you knew there was enough for all the stoners.  It is these very things that society it built upon, so let us today start sharing our audio.  If we choose not to, we choose complete and utter anarchy.

Read more of Dave’s musings at The Daily Dave.

Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →