WEEK IN REVIEW: Reporters’ notebook
On Monday morning, a Review-Journal reporter covering the International Consumer Electronics Show interviewed rapper/actor Xzibit. They were chatting about which video games he liked the best (first-person shooters), when as a joke, she asked him whether he played World of Warcraft.
His reaction was priceless.
After emphatically saying "No!" three times, he started laughing, a real deep-down-in-your-belly chuckle. Then he said, "My credibility is going to be all the way out the window! World of Warcraft, really? With a wizard hat and rolling the dice?"
Just had to ask.
LAURA CARROLL
We interrupt this Reporter's Notebook for a technical question: If Xzibit makes an appearance at an event such as CES, is he required to get an Xzibiter's badge?
HENRY BREAN
During Tuesday's short lunch break at CES, the same R-J reporter sat on the floor of the media room, next to a journalist from Beijing.
The Chinese fellow was eyeballing her turkey sandwich, so she asked him how he liked his "Asian wrap." He quickly looked at the large mass of stuffed flour tortilla in his hand and his expression transformed into pure confusion. The man proceeded to say he had never seen any food item like that before, and it "definitely" wasn't Asian.
"It's so square," he lamented.
LAURA CARROLL
Ah, acronyms. They save us time, help us remember things and provide an easy way to boil down complex issues.
But when acronyms go wrong, the results can be unnerving.
Consider the Nevada Department of Transportation's recent use of the classic and friendly-sounding ABC.
In a news release last week, highway officials said they would be using a technique known as "ABC construction" to save time and money on an Interstate 15 project in Mesquite.
According to the people we trust to build highway bridges that won't fall down, ABC is short for "Accelerated Bridge Build."
Um, no it's not.
HENRY BREAN
