Is it just me, or is the Washington Post’s video feature “OnBeing” completely baffling? It’s like some undergrad documentary project that’s not interesting enough to make it onto the 3 a.m. slot of a third tier cable network and not edgy enough to get noticed as modern art.

I know that the print media’s transition to web and multimedia is going to result in some strange experiments, but this one is a total head scratcher. I’ve watched three or four of these now, including the one about the nun, the one about the gay Mormon, and a couple of others, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out what the point is. They’re just random video profiles of nobody in particular. Yes, yes. I know the site says that “onBeing is a project based on the simple notion that we should get to know one another a little better. What you’ll find here is a series of videos that takes you into the musings, passions, histories and quirks of all sorts of people. The essence of who they are, who we are.” Well. Isn’t that just preschool self-esteem class nice? Apparently, though, the essence of Sam New (today’s entry) is that he’s… finicky and irritating? The whole thing is just a forum for him to make petty complaints about minor stuff he doesn’t like. Somehow this is Washington Post-worthy journalism?