Ah, the world of deadly dull public access TV meets up with the concept of amusing ourselves to death with a recent video that has popped up on YouTube.

It's Steve Jobs, alpha male, alpha executive, perhaps the greatest marketing guy in the history of the technology industry, quietly and seemingly modestly addressing the Cupterino (CA) City Council one recent evening. The Apple CEO appeared during public comment time, and very haltingly discussed Apple's recent decision to expand its physical presence in Cupertino, its home since its inception 30 years ago.

Is this mild-mannered, middle-aged nebbishy looking fellow the guy who was a key figure in the launch of  the entire personal computer industry? The guy who only had to tell us once that "1984 won't be like 1984?" The fire-breathing bane of generations of executives and suppliers who could never please him? The guy who won his heavyweight rematch with John Scully, started a major motion picture studio, and just played a key role in sending the fearsome Michael Eisner to the sidelines? And who invented the iPod, by the way, while he was at it?

The best word I can come up with to describe this video is "weird." Someone else described it as looking like the end of an awkward date. But in reality, it seems more like one of those polite conversations that family members who don't really like each other, but can't really pinpoint why, have.

Steve is clearly sending a message to Cupertino that it is damned lucky to have kept Apple, as he mentions the cost of doing so at least six times. Council members used to settling neighborhood disputes and approving police budgets, seem at first  flummoxed by what to say, as if they're either uneasy about the passive-aggressive lecture they're receiving or genuinely scared of one of the world's most powerful CEOs, but are able to shift gears into ritual, uninspired, fulsome praise mode soon enough.

In the final analysis, nothing to see here, it appears. Just another local business guy letting the public know he sorta likes the town and the people who run it. What do you think?

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmPdcwgO96c&search=steve%20jobs