Runaway bore

Am I the only person in America who thinks it's bizarre that a woman ducking out on her wedding is front page news? For crying out loud, people, it's already been a Julia Roberts movie. Let's move on.

And yet, the evening news opened with footage of Jennifer Wilbanks being shuttled about with a blanket over her head to shield her face from the television cameras. What, she's Charles Manson now? There was less security at the Zacarias Moussaoui trial than at Wilbanks's homecoming. The President doesn't travel in a motorcade that large.

This morning, there are no fewer than seven separate articles about this non-event on MSNBC, one of the key news sites on the 'Net. For most of yesterday, it was the featured headline story there and at CNN. Is there really that much to say about some small-town girl taking the midnight train going anywhere? (See how bad this is? I'm starting to quote old Journey songs.) Are we so starved for excitement that prenuptial jitters now warrant 24-hour coverage?

I can hardly wait for the next development in this trivial trend:

"Chicken crosses road...film at eleven."