Riding with the window down…

A quick video before the end of the year

The title of this post was stolen from Jake Cordova who posted that as a comment when I uploaded this video to Facebook

The upcoming Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will launch, I think, sometime in March.  Until that time, they are putting out “videoblogs” online in an attempt to make this thing look like new media.  This production is the farthest thing from new media I have seen.  Not only are they pretending to be something akin to an amateur video production, they insult the intelligence of the audience with their attempt to act as if the show is off-the-cuff.

I’ve long been a fan of Jimmy Fallon, and I don’t blame him for taking the gig - hell, who would turn it down?  I mean come on - a HUGE budget to pretend to be a small budget production certainly takes all the pressure of actually being good.

Lesson to big “old” media attempting to catch the new media wave… it is NOT about being amateur - its about being REAL!  Until you figure that out, you will continue to be “old” media.  Using twitter to advertise your garbage does not make it cool.

And hey, if you want us to overlook this HORRIBLE attempt to obfusciate that you are anything but the same old crap, at least hire better writers - this stuff so far is extremely lame.

Okay, the film Frost/Nixon got me interested the “historical” interviews between David Frost and President Richard Nixon.  The previews of the film left me with the impression that the interviews and subsequent television special consisted of scathing, dramatic exchanges that painted President Nixon as a liar, cheater, and overall bad guy.  Because “true” films are rarely honest translations of what really happened, I knew it was on me to make my own decision.

I found a copy of the 88 minute PBS television special from 1977 and what I found was not a bumbling, evil, or corrupt President, but a bumbling, evil, and corrupt journalist.  These 88 minutes were culled from the original 28 hours of interviews and purposefully edited to show Nixon in the worst possible light - that is the FIRST sign of yellow journalism.  Mr. Frost took readings from official transcripts out of context, consistently attempted to twist President Nixon’s responses, and just generally attempted to lay traps and set up his interview subject.

Before you dismiss this as ramblings of a right-winger… read the years of entries on this blog and you will see that I am very far from a right-winger… nor am I a left-winger.  These ideologies both are fraught with tortuous stupidity and short-sightedness.  I am no fan of Richard Nixon, but also, I am no fan of “gotcha” journalism.  As someone peripherally involved in journalism, this piece by Frost embarrasses me and I assume that the dramatized film version will be that much worse.

I applaud the act of interviewing and giving tough questions to our elected officials (although it should happen while they are still in office) but I think that Frost did more to hurt journalism’s access to these people with this hack job.

Just a quick video to wish everyone a happy holiday season.

It was a joyous game for the fans of the Carthage Bulldogs as their team defeated the legendary Celina Bobcats in the final high school football game to ever be played at Texas Stadium. For the staff, fans of the stadium, and the media folks who grew up with the stadium, it was sad - the end of an era.

No rest for the weary however, as I have to catch some shut-eye before heading to Houston for two more championship games later today.

The final high school game played at Texas Stadium came to an end tonight with the Carthage Bulldogs defeating the Celina Bobcats 49-37.

As you may be aware, we do the video production work for the Lombardi Awards - we follow the finalists around for a day and half, filming everything they do. It is a great event that is highlighted by the athletes and dignitaries touring Texas Children’s Hospital as well as the M.D. Anderson Children’s Cancer Center. These giant men melt like a snowman in Southtown when they meet the kids in the oncology wards. It reinforces what the entire award is about. It’s more than great football players, it’s about raising money to fight cancer and for 39 years the Houston Rotary Club has raised millions through this amazing program.

In addition to the serious mission of the group, there is a lot of fun. When you see these guys play on your TV Saturday afternoon, it’s hard to remember they are just kids themselves. Each year, the groups have been, to a man, fun to be around. I was especially pleased to see Ohio State linebacker, James Lauraniatis return after being a finalist last year. It was good to see him again.

Oh yeah, one of the side perks is things like this:

Yes, that is Brooke Daniels, the 2009 Miss Texas USA winner. In addition to being extremely easy on the eyes, she is a witty, funny, and talented communications student at Sam Houston State. We talked about her career after college and I have a feeling she is going to go far.

Tonight is the big award banquet featuring dozens of high-profile sports figures and we are filming and producing the live video. Should be a lot of fun.