]]>I'm sure there are opinions a plenty...do you all see this kind of shift to a more "professional sports" kind of recapping as some teams start amping the competitive level?
*insert some kind of innuendous joke here, I'm too damn tired this morning to do so*
~MizzC
I think you have a good point, at least regarding on-site announcing over the PA. Most sports on TV, including Olympic hockey and many other Olympic sports I've been watching this week have play-by-play calls (even curling!).
On-site sound systems tend to be difficult to understand even when the crowd is quiet. Once they start cheering, the PA system usually becomes so much white noise. On a video broadcast with dedicated audio channels for the announcers that diminish or cancel out crowd noise, that is not an issue.
Also on video broadcasts, the camera is not always pointing at the right thing or just has a bad angle, so the play-by-play bridges the gaps. And even if the video is good, it may be far enough away to make it difficult to distinguish skaters.
I've been gradually coming to the same conclusion myself, that the PA announcers should dial back the play-by-play because once the crowd noise picks up, they can't understand you anyway, if they can hear you at all.
Anyway, I was planning on testing these theories at WWS, since all my calls are PA. For WWS, there is one announcer pool strictly for PA, while DNN has procured a completely separate announcer pool for its own broadcasts.
- Bulldog ;]
I can't help but weigh-in on this. It's my personal opinion is that
the announces themselves are quietly (sorta) becoming an attraction in
and of themselves. I think the wild, raucous announcers are part of
derby's charm. I say this with all possible humility, but I know that
I am trying to be as entertaining and engaging with the public as
possible when I'm on the floor with the mic, and I think that is
itself a draw for the attendees. Think of Jimmy Fallon's character in
Whip-It. And I know a lot of you guys out there are developing a
gimmick of your own, whether it's costumes or character styles, and I
think this is great. Sure, we never, *never* want to take any of the
glory or attention away from the skaters, but I think if we can help
bring in people, or better yet, help develop committed fans, then we
are in a very real way, helping the girls.
But I digress. I know this is a thread specifically about the
play-by-play, and to address that issue specifically I think the
energy announcers pour into the jams can only add to the excitement.
Derby is by no means a sterile sport, and it does not deserve a
sterile 'explanation'. When a jammer breaks through the pack, we get
the crowd to their feet. When a blocker takes someone down, we get
the crowd to cheer. I think this is a good thing. Though I agree the
crowd is not always 'listening' to us, they certainly respond to the
dynamics of our presentation. We're like the bass player of the derby
(those of you who are musicians should know what I mean...). And I
think derby's stubborn refusal of traditional sports convention is
exactly why it's becoming so popular. I think baseball and
basketball, even at the pro level, are boring as hell. Whereas I
think two absolutely unknown teams playing an unknown sport in a dirty
warehouse on the wrong side of the tracks is the biggest breath of
fresh air US sports has ever seen. And, like it or not Mizz C's
friend, we announcers are a huge part of that.
My $.02
-Buster Hymen
Fairbanks Rollergirls
www.FBXRG.com
I was going to write a response, but my points ended up being so close to Buster's, I just thought I'd keep it brief and put in a crony-istic "YEA! What BUSTER said!"
I think that, at least in the more local levels of roller derby the announcer is an important part of the package. It's Do It Youself here, and the fact that an announcer can act as a bridge between the fans and the team is important. The fans can't pick up magazines and read about these girls, they can't check the internet and find out what their local rollers are up to when they're not skating a home bout, or decide from outside articles who their favorite local skaters are. The announcer ads flavor to the bouts, explaining not only what's going on on the rink, but explaining the context of the team and the game in relation to the local community and the local fans.
Big Daddy Voodoo
http://littlecityrollergirls.com
Johnson City, TN
This message endorsed by the JCOAIT (Johnson City Only Announcer In Town!)
]]>This is not to be confused with Pickle Surprise!
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This is a short video promo that I was asked to make for the ETSU Theater and Dance Department's summer East Tennessee Aerialist Workshop. I'm pretty happy with it.
It was shot on the eLearning Canon XH-A1 in 1080i high definition one afternoon in July. I was told about it on short notice and just shot everything I could think of. There is plenty of unused footage to make another promo this length. In editing, I darkened the instructor's dance to make it contrast against the windows better. Most of the footage was slowed down and the color slightly boosted.
I tried to use the movement of the subjects and the play of light and dark to illustrate students striving for perfection. The clumsy shots of mistakes and unsteady performers counter-point the amazing ability of the instructor and other students performing with grace and confidents as a matter of course.
This video was shot and edited in 1080p High Definition. To really get a look at it, watch it in YouTube HD.
You can also watch it at Vimeo, but I'd like to see everyone watch the youtube video because if it gets lots of hits they might ask me to make more!
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However, aside from the amazing steam-powered technology that defined the world of The Difference Engine, it was about people fighting against the powers that be. It was, first and formost, a punk story, it encourages us to not conform and to rise up against Authority.
Babbage's Difference Engine
Currently, the steampunk genre is gaining in popularity. However, the only bestselling steampunk book I can think of is Cherie Priest's wonderful novel Boneshaker. (I am not steeped in the steampunk community, nor am I obsessed with reading every scrap, so please, I would appreciate a list of essential reading in the genre, I am totally open to becoming obsessed.)
Keep in mind, most steampunky folks that I know are into costuming, so I see most of the steampunk obsessed through their dress-up association at cons and on websites. What I observe are people in love with the fashion, the Neo-Victorian style mixed with fanciful retro technological weapons and accessories made of bronze, copper, and wood with an mechanical scifi aesthetic. However, I am not seeing alot of PUNK.
I think the strength of the genre is that subversive anti-establishment message. Even the clockwork technology is a metaphor for taking control. The archaic technology and clockwork mechanics are accessible to anyone. They remind us of a time when anyone that wanted to sit down and understand a mechanical device could sit down and examine it's inner workings. It reminds us that H.G. Wells' Time Machine was designed and built by a gentleman in a room in his house out of parts that were custom cast. Every piece of that time machine would be instantly recognizable, the technology was indistinguishable from magic.
These clockwork constructs are totally under man's control, they are mechanical, and therefore self-contained. Unlike our current technology which is becoming more decentralized and invisible all the time, the clockwork technology implies that if we could just sit down and take it apart, then we could understand it, we could MASTER it. It's a rebellion against the loss of control we experience every day as technology becomes more pervasive in our lives.
;)
The Antikythera Mechanism c.200 BC was the first calculator in history!In steampunk, the mad scientist may be able to sit in his bunker and taunt the hero through a loudspeaker, but the contraption that will place that hero in danger, thanks to the rules of the mechanical technology will have to be directly controlled by the mad scientist. His arm must pull a lever and begin the physical process of destroying the hero, it's not pressing a button and then invisible tech detaches the villan from the process. There is a continuity between cause and effect that we can see and easily understand.
In the real world, I think we need to rebel. It's who we are, we all want to carve out our individuality from the hive mind. Steampunk is a clear opportunity to snap that message of fighting the good fight against the oppressors home for everyone. Maybe I'm still an anarchist at heart, but I love to see the MAN brought down a few pegs, even when he's in the right. Steampunk, when it's done right is every bit the punky message as cyberpunk ever was, in fact, ideally, they are two sides of the same idea. (It's no coincidence that the Difference Engine was written by two cyberpunk writers!
Remember cosplayers and second life steampunks, you should be true to PUNK first and the cool look of the STEAM last. If you just don't feel it, or are part of the Establishment and proud of it, perhaps you should consider yourselves Neo Victorian and reserve Steampunk for the more rebellious.
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from Wikipedia:
]]>Arthur C. Clarke formulated the following three "laws" of prediction:
- When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
- The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
- Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Asimov's Corrolary to Law #1:
"When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervor and emotion -- the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right."
Allow me to spoil the last episode of the first season of 1974's "Land of the Lost." This comes from the TV.COM episode guide....
Enik unravels a startling paradox. The Marshalls can leave only if replaced by parallel versions of themselves. 
A map of the Land of the LostSo even as Rick, Will and Holly at long last depart home through the mist of a time doorway - they once again arrive for the very first time in the Land of the Lost.
When I saw this episode as a kid, I thought it was one of the most brilliant, yet sad plots I'd ever witnessed on television. To some degree it remains true today!
Rick, Will, and Holly discover a parallel version of themselves in a permanent loop in the moment just before falling into the land of the lost. They never quite make it in because, of course, there are rules to time travel! By the end of the episode, they learn that the only way they can go home through the time doorway is if an equal amount of mass enters the Land! Timing it carefully, they step through the time doorway as the parallel versions of themselves reach the Falls! From there, depending on how you look at it, either the entire series repeats itself forever, or this unfortunate group of parallel Marshall, Will, and Holly have been stranded there for the rest of their lives as their predecessor doppelgangers escape to live the rest of their lives!
It forced my young brain to work. Despite the cheesy effects, and YES, they were even cheesy in 1974, the story was strong and it really worked as a meaty bit of story telling. Of course, the producers would undermine that brilliance by producing the show for two more seasons, but I like to think of this as the final episode of the series, just aired out of order.
Why do I spoil this episode of a 25 year old show? I think some of the folks that watched the premiere of Lost this week see where I'm heading!
After watching the first episode of this, the last season, Lost has, unconsciously, I'm sure, managed to stumble into what appears to be the same plot line. Keeping the details fuzzy, our heroes are simultaneously living in a world without the island as well as in a world on the island in present day. They had been falling over that waterfall until the explosion, then boom, they both escape and are inexorably trapped at the same time!
Will it turn out that the Powers that fought in the temple are remains of an advanced civilization and we, modern humans, are their idiot decendants of a war? (The Sleestak S'latch was an intelligent relic of the Sleestack PAST, instead of their future, as was thought!) Is the temple a pylon? Will there be colored stones that interact together to make super science powered effects? Will Hurley turn out to have been Chaka all along?
Don't feel bad if you never watched Land of the Lost. Except for a few good shows, you didn't miss much. Still, that episode, entitled "Circle" was an outstanding bit of storytelling, even if the writers unwittingly did it. It was so original, it took 25 years and a far superior show 6 seasons to even come close to it. Don't dismiss all cheap shows as bad, sometimes brilliant ideas can come with inexpensive price tags.
I don't think for a minute that J.J. Abram's took anything from Land of the Lost. (OKAY! For a minute, I pictured him sitting at the kitchen table as a kid having his mind blown by that episode the same way mine was and it stuck with him his whole life. But how often does THAT happen? oh. yea. Happened to me!) The story is going to veer wildly away from anything similar, I'm sure. Still, I got a hearty chuckle when I thought, again, just for a minute, that LOST might be a subtle, wry remake of LAND OF THE LOST all along!
Enjoy the rest of the season of LOST. I know I will!
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station abandoning it's musical programming on weekdays. The weekend lineup will remain pretty much the same with "Car Talk," "Mountian Stage," and the prolific, yet deathly boring "Prairie Home Companion."
Here is the interesting bit of the article, a quote from program director Wayne Winkler:
“Today, people have CD players and MP3 players in their cars and are able to program their own music listening,” Winkler said. “We’re seeing that people are tending to use radio more for news and information, things they can’t program themselves.”
At first, I thought, "oh yea, that makes sense, people can listen to music ANY TIME, so they can concentrate on the original NPR programming."
But...
After tweeting a reply to Dana Watcher of WJHL a thought suddenly hit me, "WAIT...WETS COULD BE PUTTING THEMSELVES OUT OF BUSINESS!"
Wayne said it himself, “Today, people have CD players and MP3 players in their cars and are able to program their own music listening."
True, but not in the way he meant. His assumption is that people can listen to music ANY TIME on their mp3 players, therefore, WETS needs to provide NPR content that is unique and will, presumably, bring in more listeners because it can't be found anywhere else.
The flaw in this reasoning is that this is not true.
Are you ready for the dramatic reveal? Make sure you have iTunes installed and click this link!
The link above will take to you a podcast archive of nearly every Public Radio International show that is produced. The shows usually hit the internet within 1 - 12 hours of airing depending on the show.
This means that not only can listeners load up their mp3 players with classical music they can listen to any time they want, they can also load it up with the same NPR programs that WETS is airing in place of the classical music!
Don't have iTunes? Read on.
I love "All Things Considered," but I have to admit that I'm not interested in EVERY story they report. The solution? I can go online and listen to only the stories I am interested in at the All Things Considered website!
Listen to BBC World Service all day, not just for the couple hours WETS programs it.
Listen to Diane Rehm an hour after the live show.
You get the idea.
It was the locally produced shows like "Roots and Branches" and "Blue Monday" that gave WETS it's uniqueness. It gave us a reason to listen to their station. There was only one place to find these shows, and now they are gone. To their credit, they are keeping Studio One, an amazing local music show that airs Saturdays at 1pm, so there is still hope for some original programming.
Without original content, the only reason to listen to WETS is if there is live coverage of breaking news or something up to the minute and topical like school closings or ETSU specific information. There's no reason to listen to WETS when we can download and listen to their content along with the music they have abandoned and do it on our own schedule.
Suddenly, our ipods have become better programmed than our local NPR station!
Once people realize this, why would they donate their support money to the local WETS NPR station? They could donate to the national NPR organization that produces the content and more directly support the shows! Suddenly, WETS is left with a slim slice of the fundraising pie and that will have to hurt business in the long run.
WETS hopes you won't realize that their station's programming will fit on your ipod free of charge as they make this change. Their business depends on it.
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