Sunday Mop Up 09/03/06

My alibi for not blogging

Okay, I did a really lousy job of keeping up with posting this week. I blame this fact entirely upon my job and the beginning of college football season and the NFL.

See, my job gets hairy at this time of year because part of what I do is co-ordinate content of sports events and productions in association with the University of Texas for an exclusive subscription channel on the cable system. All UT sports, all the time. Video On Demand. We call the channel BEVOD ( Bevo, the school mascot, + VOD, video on demand, = BEVOD). Wanna watch our team win the Rose Bowl and the National Championship last year? We have that game, and a bazillion little segments leading up to it and after it, all for the viewing pleasure of our customers, available whenever they want.

And not just football. We follow the basketball season of both the men and women, the UT baseball season, women's volleyball, we carry tennis and a little track and field as well. But, without question, football season is when viewership and subscriptions crank to their highest levels and the pressure is on for my department to churn out content like a well-oiled machine. And, at this time of year, my department needs a serious blast of WD-40.

So, the first UT football game of the season was this weekend, and preparing for the roller coaster ride that ensues had me totally pre-occupied this week. Well, not TOTALLY pre-occupied. I was also consumed with preparing for a pre-season NFL game that the cable company was given exclusive rights to show and insert local commercials into. This ratcheted the pressure up another 10-fold. Being able to tout to the public that you can catch a Houston Texans football game only on our cable system is like gold to our Marketing department, not to mention the Media Sales department, who can charge big bucks to local clients to have their commercials included in the telecast. That game was Thursday night. I'm telling you, it was a hellacious week for me.

The game Thursday night was a real challenge. Master Control became a REAL television switching center: we had the network conference-called and took our cues to roll our breaks from countdowns delivered by a silly bitch in a production truck sitting in the parking lot of the stadium. Hey, live tv is a clusterfuck behind the scenes, to be sure, but the boneheaded female who was there to keep the affilliates abreast of what was going on and what to expect was an obvious virgin at the orgy. At one point, she actually jumped onto the phone and shrieked, "We're way behind on our local breaks! Affilliates, take Break 15 NOW! NOW! (pause, 2, 3, 4...) Wait, nevermind, cancel that!" It was like that the whole game.

I hope to get back into posting more regularly next week.

Jimmy's Video Stash (very bottom of the page, amigos):

Have you heard of Bob Schneider? He's an Austin musician and performer who has been around forever. The hardest working man in the Austin music scene, I swear to God, Bob puts together bands and projects more often than some people change their underwear. Back in the day, when Sandra Bullock lived here, he was more known as "Sandy's boyfriend", which was a fucking crime because he is such an amazing talent. They broke up a few years back. Her loss.

Well, Bob has a new cd out. It's called "The Californian" (click on the title to see the cd and have access to snippets from each track) and I am loving it. Recorded in just four days, with minimal overdubs, this record is raw and rocks and I haven't been able to get it out of my cd player in my truck. Corrine Bailey Rae has been replaced by Bob. -Move it on over, baby, I love your shit, but Bob has just pulled his cock out!-Anyway, there are no videos out yet for anything on the cd, so I thought I'd dig out the videos from his LAST cd ("I'm Good Now") and post them, just to give the uninitiated a taste of what this badass motherfucker is capable of. If anything for this latest album ever surfaces, I assure you I'll link you to them.

For what it's worth, Bob is an excellent example of why "American Dildo", "RockStar: PretentiousTurds", and "The Vaginal Discharge Formerly Known As Paris Hilton" make me sick. Here's a guy loaded with talent, charisma, and savvy who doesn't fit the mold of "The Next Big Thing". Although handsome, he doesn't rely on his looks to advance his career. He's in it for the music. His music. Music HE fucking creates. He has worked his ass off in small little venues, honing his craft and flexing his creative muscles, and still does. When he breaks big, it will be on his own terms and he will shine like a Star. I can't wait.

Hey, speaking of waiting, laundry and housework waits for me.

I'll talk to you later.