video: future of bookstores?

Keeping with today’s theme is this recent The Daily Show segment with Jon Stewart and John Hodgman reporting on Borders’ recent closure, the state of bookstores and what they can do to improve. I do love his summation of the state of the condescending nerd.

Bookstores employ a very special class of condescending nerd. These are the types of people who used to work at video stores before they went under. [Where were they before that?] Record stores, obviously.

It’s been a tough couple of years for condescending nerds. And if bookstores fall, America will be inundated with a wandering snarky underclass of unemployable purveyors of useless and arcane esoterica.

I’m finding that the only thing I don’t like about The Daily Show is the camera placement. Any of the “correspondents” who sit at the desk have to look to a camera in a location more off-stage than directly at Stewart. I am a fan, however, of Hodgman’s latest facial hair. Still, the end of his bit reminds me too much of The Onion’s “news” video about Historic Blockbuster:

It also makes me think of all the copycat ads that have sprung from Hodgman & Long’s “I’m a Mac/PC” ads. Especially one for Amazon’s Kindle where a woman is headed to the bookstore, where she will have to: leave her house, interact with the world, see actual people, talk to people and have some basic human interaction. But no, no! Silly woman, you could sit at home by yourself, click a button and download that new book thereby saving yourself effort, movement, hell even having to put on pants or shower. Isn’t that much better?! 🙄