Yo, Catherine! TURN THE PHONE SIDEWAYS!

13 Replies

Yeah. there’s a lot of other stuff to be said about this bit of poorly-recorded braggadocio.w3ztXvTl_400x400

But I thought I’d start with my own pet peeve: If you’re going to shoot video and inflict it on the world, turn the phone sideways! I really don’t want to see those wasted black bars at the sides, thank you very much.

As for the rest… Catherine Templeton has definitely chosen her bed, as both Tweets shown here demonstrate. Let’s see how comfortable she is lying in it going forward…

13 thoughts on “Yo, Catherine! TURN THE PHONE SIDEWAYS!”

  1. Ralph Hightower

    Maybe Templeton doesn’t know that her phone can shoot video in landscape mode. Last year, my wife and I were in Alabama and I was driving along the Tennessee River heading towards Huntsville. I had my DSLR between the front seats and my wife was shooting scenic photos of the landscape with her smartphone in portrait mode. I mentioned “You could probably get better photos if you switched to landscape.” She replied “Yea, you’re probably right.” and started shooting landscape shortly afterwards.
    I had already classified Templeton as a Trumper with her introduction of Bannon at that Charleston event. Trumpers are not going to get my vote; that includes McMaster and Bryant. A closet Democrat and a lifelong Democrat in the Republican primary?

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  2. Brad Warthen Post author

    By the way, this post has provoked a lively discussion on Facebook — about the turning the phone sideways, not the amoral way she is trying to stoop to conquer.

    Wesley Donehue said, “Wasted black bars? 90%ish of folks viewing that video will do so on mobile. I’ll Check the exact stats shortly. Your request would mean that 90%ish folks would see huge black bars on top and bottom. Time to conform, Brad.” Wesley’s been an active advocate for vertical for awhile.

    Ryal Curtis says, “Vertical wins out on mobile. And it’s almost all mobile these days.”

    My responses, all run together:

    “Mobile” for me usually means my iPad. And while I thought, when I first got the iPad years ago, that I’d want to view it in portrait, I found that for most things, it worked better in landscape. So I adapted. So for me, vertical doesn’t even work for “mobile.” I always have my iPad with me; why look at a phone?

    I recently signed up for a digital subscription to Foreign Affairs — great deal — and so of course I downloaded the app. It appears to work only in portrait! It’s the only news/commentary app I have like that. Drives me nuts. My iPad cover won’t even prop it up in that position, so I just have to hold it.

    Also, Wesley and Ryal, it doesn’t “win out” on a phone, either. Of course, I’m a journalist. I want to convey information. I want people to see as much as possible of what’s going on. I want surroundings, context. It’s so frustrating when someone shoots newsworthy video — say, of someone being beaten by cops — and all you can see is the victim, a bunch of sky above and some pavement below. You can’t see who’s doing the beating or anything else about the context of the incident. I want the info, and under most circumstances, only landscape provides it…

    Wesley replied, “Yeah, maybe. But you’ve lost that argument. This is the way people consume. That’s all I care about.”

    I think what Wesley is saying is that people who don’t subscribe to Foreign Affairs view things in portrait, and he’s trying to reach that much-larger group… 🙂

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    1. Jeff Mobley

      I watch most online videos on my phone, and I prefer landscape. It’s easier to tilt a phone from portrait to landscape for viewing than to tilt a tablet or laptop from landscape to portrait. I’m with Brad on this, though perhaps not as passionately as he is.

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  3. Brad Warthen Post author

    Continuing on the superficial aspects of this Tweet (I’ll wait until more of you jump in to discuss the moral and political implications of what she’s doing)…

    Viewing that video, I very much wonder about what I’m not seeing.

    I want to know: Is it possible this is exactly what it looks like — an amateurish video selfie that she just spontaneously decided to while she was walking down the street? (A dark street, I’ll add, which contributes to the amateurish look.)

    That seems highly unlikely. It seems much more likely that this is something discussed with others on the campaign, the words carefully chosen, and perhaps shot over several times until it had the right, insolent “I’m flipping you off” feel to it.

    If we COULD see around her, would we see campaign aides who contributed to the wording and the conception of the thing?

    Or is it really just her?

    If so, what she’s telling us (or trying to sell us) is that SHE is Trumpian. SHE doesn’t consult experts before putting out a message. SHE’s her own woman. SHE is no more careful and calculated than Trump himself, sitting on his throne in the White House head at 5 a.m., all alone, lashing out at those whom he perceives have wronged him.

    And you could see how, given the approach she’s taking, she’d try to make you think that. Of course, rational people who hope for careful, deliberate leaders will naturally shudder at the thought…

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    1. Bryan Caskey

      When do we get to the deeper analysis? The sideways phone controversy was interesting for about 5 seconds.

      To me, it certainly seems like Templeton is tacking away from the center with this move. Perhaps with McMaster having an association with Trump, she feels a need to shore up that flank. You can’t win the general if you don’t win the nomination, and maybe she’s seeing data showing her that Trump and Bannon aren’t a negative here in SC.

      I’m still waiting for her to show me something. Same with James Smith. They both have a quality that makes me willing to listen, but I haven’t really seen any moves from them yet that impress me. I think McMaster is really weak given the cloud hanging over him with Pascoe’s investigation that seems to be going on and on. Should be an interesting primary and general.

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      1. Barry

        James, at this point, is going around the state meeting with small groups of people to discuss issues and listen to concerns.

        He’s doing a lot of listening right now, as opposed to Bryant and Templeton’s talking.

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      2. Brad Warthen Post author

        “I’m still waiting for her to show me something.”

        Oh, she’s showing it to you, right now. This is her play, and she’s going with it. This is what you get. Sure, there has to be more of her — she’s a reasonably accomplished attorney, I believe. But this is what she’s going with.

        As for James, he’s just getting started, just ramping up. Still building his team, his website not fully developed. He wants to not mess up between now and the primary, but the real battle is going to be the general. That’s the uphill climb for him. And the way he needs to go at it will depend on whether Henry manages to hang on, or Ms. Templeton manages to take it away from him.

        Between the two, Henry has my sympathy. This woman will not stop at anything, and she’s showing that now.

        As for James, a lot of his effort now is in fund-raising, I believe, as well as doing the listening tour Barry is talking about. For him, the battle has not yet been joined…

        In the meantime, he gave a pretty good kickoff speech. Here it is:

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        1. Bryan Caskey

          “Oh, she’s showing it to you, right now. This is her play, and she’s going with it. This is what you get. Sure, there has to be more of her — she’s a reasonably accomplished attorney, I believe. But this is what she’s going with.”

          I really hope you’re wrong, since she’s got a chance to be our next Governor.

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      3. Jeff Mobley

        I am very disappointed in the Republican field so far, though I have been holding some hope that one of these candidates can run as a conservative without disgracing himself/herself in a game of “Who loves/emulates Trump the most?” I would think Bryant, for example, might realize that given his opponents, he could never win that game, and might try to distinguish himself by not playing it.

        But I’m afraid I might have been too optimistic in holding that hope.

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        1. Mark Stewart

          Well, being Kevin Bryant is a huge disadvantage as a statewide candidate to begin with. Hard to escape his record…

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  4. Mark Stewart

    I’m not opposed to vertical in this case. Doesn’t seem the same degree of wrongness as occurs when people are trying to shoot a panorama scene in vertical mode.

    However, I would say this; if this was a rehearsed and scripted campaign effort (which I clearly think it was) then in god’s name please use a short selfie stick. Her arm, like everyone else’s, is just about six inches too short to take a good close-up – know what I mean Vern?! And a little lighting would have gone a long way…

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  5. Brad Warthen Post author

    Oh, by the way: Embedded above in the main post, you can’t see the big black bars on the sides of the image. It simply enlarges to show you only the relevant part of the image. Here’s the way it looked originally on Twitter:

    black bars

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