Filed under: Basketball
I’ve been bounced around so much this past year that I’m somehow reminiscing about a beat I never even had. How does that work?
Lisa posted about running into Aron Baynes and Caleb Forrest at Hoopfest, so I won’t delve into that, though it was cool to talk to those guys again. I was once again reminded that I’m not tall.
The big Cougars news this week, of course, was the Charlotte Bobcats drafting Kyle Weaver. Here’s a press conference video from The Charlotte Observer in which we see Weaver all dressed up (something I’ve never seen before), holding a No. 25 Bobcats uniform and smiling that smile we all know. It’s great to see someone who’s worked so hard be recognized in such a huge way as playing in the NBA.
I posted a few days ago about the sprint boat races Lisa and I went to Saturday. Well, I was planning to edit the video Tuesday and have it online this morning, but that didn’t work out. The editing was not going well Tuesday.
So today I finished it up. Enjoy.
Filed under: Random
Just the other day, I was driving around listening to George Carlin on my iPod, and I thought, “Man, it will suck the day he dies.”
It sucks.
Carlin, 71, died yesterday of heart failure. The counterculture comedian was a hero of many generations, from the Boomers to X to Y to the Millennials. He got my friends and me through our “angry” private high school years, and I have all his books. I have mentioned before that I have been known to listen to his books on tape (disc? mp3?) while going to sleep. As raspy and invasive as his voice can be, it’s surprisingly soothing. A real radio voice (which is how he got his start).
When I was in Denver, I saw a promo for an upcoming performance by Carlin there. I’ve always wanted to see him in person. I think he came to Seattle a few times when I lived there. I’d be surprised if he ever came to Spokane. But now it’s disappointing to know I’ll never see him in concert. The closest I’ll ever come, now, is his famous HBO specials.
I guess he swallowed too much of his own saliva.
RIP, George.
Filed under: Baseball
The Spokane Indians started their baseball season Tuesday, which means for the next three months — at least while the team is in town — I will be at the ballpark every evening. For those of you who aren’t privy to the Indians, they are a short-season Class-A minor league team for the Texas Rangers. If you don’t know what that means … well, simply put, the Indians are pro baseball players, but play four levels below major leaguers.
I sit up in the press box at Avista Stadium and watch baseball. And crack jokes. And eat sunflower seeds. And keep score on one of these. And then scramble to write a story and get quotes before deadline at 10:15 p.m. Often I’m writing during the game, just to make things easier. It’s actually fairly stressful by the end of the night and I’m quite tired when I get back home.
But to me, having grown up a huge Seattle Mariners fan (they suck now, if you haven’t noticed), nothing says “summer” more than baseball. Warm nights, going to the stadium, eating a hot dog, watching for foul balls. There’s something very pure and American about going to the ballpark. And, so far, it’s been mostly fun to go every night.
There are drawbacks. For instance, Lisa works all day then I work all evening, so we barely see each other during the week. And deadline is so early that I’m rooting for 15-0 blowouts every evening, which doesn’t make for very exciting baseball; the close games are better, though five home runs in a night has its excitement factor.
On Friday night, after the game, they played “The Sandlot” on a big screen in the parking lot. It reminded me of days when I was a little kid, one of hundreds dreaming to someday be a professional baseball player. (Yes, I had that dream, though maybe for a much shorter period of time than other little boys.) It felt like summer.
Filed under: Random
I’ve been withholding a post like this for quite some time, not wanting to sound like a whiner when I still choose to drive around my beast of a Suburban. But these gas prices, if you haven’t noticed, suck.
You know how gas stations used to have a $75 limit per purchase at the pump? Well, I have to admit, I noticed the very week most gas stations raised the ceiling. Two or three months ago, I was maxing out that $75 limit, but usually filling my tank almost all the way.
Now the limit is $99. And it’s not like someone happened to tell me the limit is now that high. I found out for myself.
It’s really time for a different car.
Filed under: Adventure
Lisa beat me to the punch with a blog post. But she and I went on a nice little hike at Riverside State Park today. I told her next time I’ll taker her on a hike that old, fat people can’t also go on. Perhaps some elevation gain.
Regardless, we naturally took some pictures. She’s already posted most of the best, but here are a few unappreciated gems.
It’s been a rough past few years for the journalism industry. No, I’m not just talking about finances. First, Peter Jennings dies. Then, today, Tim Russert. Go get ‘em, and godspeed.
With every video I produce, I feel, I get a little better. Each video is a little more polished, and if you look at my first video and take a look at my latest (below), you should be able to see a bit of a difference. (If you can’t get through the Spokesman’s firewall to see the first video, take a look at my second one.)
However, my production time is still long as hell. Now, I’m not complaining here, just saying. The video below, on Spokane’s Avista Stadium, took me about an hour to shoot and 10 hours to edit (including laying down the voiceover). My two-minute video on the Swoop tryouts took me two hours to shoot and seven to edit.
Much of the reason this stadium one took me so long is because I tried two new things with it. First, I did a voiceover, which really wasn’t that hard. It just took some time. Second, I used still images, and had to learn how to put them in motion. Also, I color-corrected every shot.
I can’t imagine editing a feature film.
Egged on by Colin from work, I thought I’d share with you a little tidbit from the mascot tryouts at Eastern last Friday. And I shall censor nothing.
When I arrived 20 minutes early to the dance studio on campus, there was already someone dancing around in the Swoop costume. A cameraman from KXLY was taping it all. Odd, I thought. They didn’t start early, did they?
The dancing was, well, bad — it didn’t look like someone was seriously auditioning. Soon, the voice from inside the padded head started talking to the three judges, telling them how to react for the camera.
I thought this, too, was odd. I still really didn’t know what was going on. Was this some Eastern PR guy trying to get photos for the university’s website? I was still unpacking my own video equipment, so I was still only half paying attention.
But soon, Swoop took off his head. Underneath was this guy — Keith Osso, sports reporter for KXLY. He, too, was doing a story on the Swoop tryouts, but taking a completely different angle.
OK, it’s funny. A reporter gets into the suit and “auditions.” Har har har. Makes for a funny 30-second clip on the 5 o’clock news. But wait, Keith starts telling the judges how to react on camera. “Tell me, for the camera, how horrible my dancing was.” Essentially, fabricating the entire story, down to what the judges say about him.
Then, he asked for an Eastern basketball player to come into the studio. Keith’s idea was to put the Swoop pants on the player for a funny bit. Once more, complete fabrication. The player would not have otherwise been at the audition.
Here’s what KXLY ran on Monday.
Now, the report is presented in a way that makes it obvious Keith is not trying to do any objective reporting. And it’s obviously not about the people who actually auditioned for Swoop that day.
It’s about Keith.
And that’s a huge difference between TV and newspaper video. I don’t think any newspaper reporter would go to an event and make the story about them. It’s just not what we do. In TV, it’s all about the reporter, the on-screen personality.
Like Colin said, a TV station such as KXLY spends so long doing real reports of real events, building viewers’ trust in the station. Then it goes and airs a story like this, and loses ground.
(Also, you can see me in the background at about 1:35 in that KXLY video.)
UPDATE 6/13/08: Colin responds.
