I Love Terry Gross

I've been completely won over by Terry Gross. There. I said it.

It was a three step process.

1. I slowly realized over time that her "I'm a stammering ninny" act was simply a way to get people to open up a bit more. I can dig that. Does she still fawn over certain celebrities? Sure she does. But I can live with it. Terry can do no wrong.

2. Her interview with Maurice Sendak. Amazing.

3. Seeing her get interviewed by Stephen Colbert. Of course, I knew what she looked like but seeing her in action made everything make complete sense to me.

I love Terry Gross.

This recent interview is proof positive that what used to drive me crazy now makes me smile. I used to want to kill her and now I think it would be a lot of fun to hang out with her and talk to her about things like shopping for shoes.

The interview was with a professor who has just put out a book titled The Daily You: How the New Advertising Industry is Defining Your Identity and Your Worth. All um, ahs, and and all but one giggle are not included.

GROSS: So I am unaware, usually, of how I'm being targeted by advertisers, on how I'm being tracked by advertisers. But one thing I am aware of, since it's very hard for me to find shoes that fit, I'm on shoe websites fairly often, sometimes I'll be on a site and suddenly all the shoes I've recently looked at are kind of circling around on a carousel, as if they're saying to me: Hey, you looked at me, you looked at me, you said you might buy me, so like buy me, like here I am, like buy me.

TUROW: That's great.

GROSS: Like you looked at me. And they just keep circling and circling and circling. Not such a big deal. I'm sure you can top me.

LATER ...

GROSS: When advertising started on the Web, you know, it was like banner ads, and now we've seen so many different kinds of ads on the Web. And it's becoming increasingly frustrating to go to websites because you have to sit through videos. Pop-ups are not only there when you go onto the Web, but sometimes they just keep popping up as you read, and you feel like you're swatting away flies or something.
TUROW: Part of it depends on where you go, but you're right.
GROSS: And sometimes - yesterday I got one where I had to make it go away three times, and there was a voice that kept saying: Are you trying to get rid of me?

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

GROSS: And I was thinking, yeah, I'm trying - definitely, like please, go away. And also, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to find the little X that you click to get rid of the ad.

TUROW: Absolutely.

GROSS: It's like you have to go search for it now. And I never pay attention to those ads. So it's just a nuisance. Now, I understand that sites need to make money, and I'm totally sympathetic with that. I mean, we fail - I mean, everybody who has a revenue...

TUROW: Stream.

GROSS: Stream, thank you, like understands that. And I know how newspapers have been struggling and everything. So I'm kind of sympathetic for the need, but then as a user it's frustrating. But anyways, talk about some of the new kinds of ads that we're seeing on the Internet

Absolutely brilliant stuff! Thank you Terry Gross.