A terrifying kind of fusion

I was reading the Onion from a week back or so and saw the Hater's column on the Hills, Michael Phelps and TiVo partnering with Amazon to destroy the universe as we know it.

In a nutshell: Apparently there's a TV show called the Hills - where one of the twenty-nothings was interviewed about a scene where she cried.

I'm paraphrasing here, but:

Q: When you cried, your mascara ran and looked SO great.

A: Yes. My mascara was [full name of product, including everything but the SKU]

Hater: Starlet - you are too fake for words.

This was contrasted with an interview with the mother of Olympic champion Michael Phelps' mom. This woman is clearly on her way to TV commercial fame - she managed to not only insert a plug for her clothing sponsor but seamlessly integrated the line "drapes, doesn't cling and is flattering for all body types" into her response.

"Flattering for all body types?" Who the hell even talks like that?

We've known advertisers are striving for a utopiawhere all scenery is replaced with enticements to buy their product - where a consumer's every thought becomes billable - but it's just getting sick out there.

The (dated) announcement of TiVo partnering with Amazon is the next big step towards financial oblivion. Your DVR will allow you to stop your TV and buy anything on your screen from Amazon.

Like Alton Brown's silicon spatula? Well, click it and it shall be yours!

As a usability guy - yeah - I think that's pretty seamless. As a human being, I think our televised landscapes are about to get a lot more logos.