intrepid-asylum

[intrepid-asylum]

Thoughts and feelings about the first Live RiffTrax with Scener

People that write reviews sometimes go into incredible, thought provoking, wordy diatribes that round up their experiences to the subject at hand prior to writing their reviews. I’m a fan of RiffTrax. That’s kinda it. I don’t know if that means I can’t be objectively critical, so that’s why I’m writing my thoughts, and not a “review’. There’s no other way to say it really, it was a disastrous start. But our first jaunt into space would have been disastrous if NASA didn’t test if the modules could hold air. This was the first time using this technology. We’re human beings, we learn from disasters. And frankly the amount of adapting that was done, the amount of holding our attention until it was patched together, and their ability to come back and do what they set out to do in the end just shows how much they not only love what they do, but the audience that eats up every moment of it. Mike really pulled an audible here. He lost audio from the movie, Kevin and Bill, and just kept going. Just pulling stuff out of an invisible hat. Bill was upset at what was going on with the audio and left the call. I can’t blame him. I’m sure it was incredibly frustrating on his end. Kevin kept flashing signs to the camera and sending text to Mike (who admitted he left his phone in the other room). I think we got a Bridget cameo when she delivered it to him. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

Anyway, Kevin finally dropped from the screen as they were trying to get Scener working. I believe they were calling the developer to troubleshoot what was going on. I heard someone say they throttled back the chat and that seemed to help? Again, correct me if I’m wrong but that’s neither here nor there. Mike stayed on screen, and continued to be funny. Very funny. Rhyming “Stranger Things” with plots from other movies, “Lord of the Stranger Rings” for instance. My husband and I were laughing so hard. And then Kevin popped back in, and one refresh on Mike’s part later, they were bantering. And it was funny. They turned a disastrous situation into gold. They bought time because I’m sure Erik was running around like Chekov in the 2009 Star Trek movie saying “I CAN DO DAT, I CAN DO DAT!” getting everything fixed, working with the Scener developer.

I was very sad that Bill didn’t come back to be a part of the banter, but I think understand why. He was frustrated, and when you are a performer, you don’t want your people to see you frustrated, so he logged off. He did the right thing. Twice, really, because he came back and gave a FANTASTIC performance. I don’t know if they had to lead him out with cheese or the promise of a free beard trim coupon, or if they just said “Hey it’s fixed” and he’s like “Be right there!”. In the end, it doesn’t matter, because he did come back, and we as the audience were treated to three smiling faces, and a lot of funny lines.

I just hope that none of them feel embarrassed or upset or angry at what happened last night, nor soured to the prospect of doing this again. The entire thing kept over 3000 people captivated because they want to see them perform. And honestly, probably see them stumble, because they come up with some very funny things when they’re standing themselves up and brushing themselves off.

To conclude my completely broken and hard to follow thoughts, from beginning to end, my husband and I really enjoyed what RiffTrax did here. This was a chance they took, and I think they really benefited from it. I know we did. And yes, everything that could go wrong did. But they adapted, they held our attention, they fixed it on the fly, and they ultimately did what they set out to do, give their fans a live performance. 

I’m not an eloquent critic, I just know what I like.

[intrepid-asylum]

Some fun radio stuff.

I realize I did some complaining in the last post. That was a horrible 2 years of my radio career. But there were 8 others that existed where I had a ball. Example 1: Being Mr. Sunny. There was a point during my time as a promotions assistant where sales folks were requesting my Mr. Sunny. I danced, I knew how to interact with children, I knew how to interact with adults, I needed little supervision, yadda yadda yadda.  Here’s a video of me and Pepe the Penguin in a commercial that aired around the spring of 2001 for Sunny 95 and Kroger.

Example 2: Working with the talent at 99.7 The Blitz. I was the promotions assistant for the North American Broadcasting group from mid 2001 until around February of 2003. NAB consisted of 99.7 The Blitz, Eagle 103.9, and AM 920 WMNI. In this clip, I’m being bent every which way but loose by the one and only Ronni Hunter. Working with the talent of The Blitz was some of the most fun. Blazor, Ronni, Scoop, Fat Johnny... they were the best people. I threw up on at least two occasions at Ronni’s house after Christmas parties... anyway, here’s our promo for the WWE on UPN where you could win tickets to see the WWE live at the Nationwide Arena. We recorded it in the middle of BW3′s in January, 2003. I’m the mysterious long haired “bad guy” getting beat up by Ronni. Note that she puts on a PERFECT camel clutch and that I sell the hell out of it. 

I had SO much fun, and I wanted to let everyone know that.  Thanks folks!

[intrepid-asylum]

National Radio Day(?)

I’ve forgotten more about my 10 years in radio than I can remember. From 1998 until 2008 I worked in Promotions, Production, and Engineering. I produced two of the top rated morning shows along with live sports and a syndicated love songs evening show. I ran the board for marathons and fair live broadcasts. I wore the radio stations mascot outfit more times than I can count. I was threatened by both listeners and staff. I was in the center and around the outskirts of drama.I even had a morning show for one month. My husband would tell you, rightfully, that I was treated like utter shit. By managers, mind you. My DJ’s and my production people and my promotions people were, and still are, some of my greatest friends for which fond memories are all I can recall.

But then I remember the lowest of low points...

I remember the day I was called into the program directors office to be told that not only was I being passed up for one full time gig, but someone was being brought in from an Iowa affiliate to do one of the jobs I was doing already... and then I was told I was going to have to teach the kid from Iowa, who couldn’t even drink yet, how to do the job I was doing. Frankly, that’s the day I should have walked out.

I was being groomed by the Production Director to be his assistant. It’s what I had been hoping for, for months. And then, while my future hopeful boss was on vacation, management decided to transfer the current morning show producer into that role. I was angry, but still had a small window of hope that I would still be moved into his former position. And then in his next sentence he took that away from me as well.

“We’re bringing in a new morning show producer. He’s coming from Iowa, and will be here next week. I’m going to have you show him how to work the board for two weeks.”

I should have said no. I should have said hell no, go fuck yourself. I should have burned that bridge immediately. I mean, not only was I doing production while the Production Director was gone, I was still poised to jump into the morning show to produce it should the current guy need sick time. I was doing this 40 hours a week, part time.

We found old pay stubs in the basement this past Sunday. 2007, part time, 43 hours... so yeah, they really did treat me like shit.

But I was stupid for not just walking out. Instead I showed this child how to work the board, how to run the music computer, how to upload, how to web search on the fly, how to book guests... so on... things I knew how to do but management would rather send someone from Iowa over.

But I was never angry, never cross... I never complained to the new producer. I taught him everything I knew, showed him the ropes. Because I loved my morning show, and I couldn’t do anything less than my best for them.

After my two weeks, I told my program director I was done backup producing the morning show, and I’m just going back to the evening syndicated producing job and doing production. Find someone else or fire me, or find someone else and fire me. Whatever. He had killed whatever spirit I had left.

Four weeks later, the new morning show producer had to take a week off for, whatever. I got a phone call midday the 2nd day, requesting I come in and talk to my boss. I had no idea what was going on, I was on the opposite side of things and wasn’t paying any attention to anything but my work. So my immediate thought was, “well, my usefulness has come to an end, and I need to find a new job.”

The new backup producer lasted 2 days.

I walked into his office. The two morning show hosts were sitting in his only two chairs. I’m my normal “What’s up everyone” self. The program director requested that I take back up the back up producer role. I flat out said “No.” I apologized to the hosts and reminded my program director what he did to me, telling them for the first time what exactly had happened.

I was sincerely waiting for the “Or you’re fired” part. Instead, I was asked what it would take to bring me back. I thought why not aim for the moon... so I said $200 a morning show. You want me to come back, it’s $200 a morning show.

They were desperate. The hosts told him the current back up was a problem, and they can’t have him behind the board “melting down”. I could only imagine what that would entail, I didn’t coach him on the show itself and I wasn’t going to coach anyone ever again, frankly. I’m a part time employee, and I was done with 40 hour work weeks and being put into THAT position. I felt terrible potentially leaving the morning show hanging out to dry, but ffs I had to stop bending over backwards for management.

I wasn’t surprised that the morning show hosts said “Cool! Lets get him in tomorrow morning.” What shocked me is that the PD went with it. That next morning, 4am, I was at the studio getting show prep together. I was there 3 days, I did some normal duties after the show, was never there past 11am, and got paid. And for the following 2+ years until I was cut out of the budget and released in the winter of 2008, I worked maybe 6 weeks worth of vacation morning shows as well as live remotes which may have been two extra weeks.

I was so sad when I was let go. We had a morning meeting that day. It’s so weird looking back at it. No one looked me in the eye. The only person to talk directly to me was the “3 months into his job” as the new Program Director telling me I was cut. What’s funny is the person my morning show didn’t want to work with, is still working there to this day.

So, Happy National Radio Day. I can’t complain, really. I wouldn’t be where I am today without it.

[intrepid-asylum]

RiffTrax: The Mary Jo & Bridget Experience!

My husband and I have attended 4 of the VIP experiences with RiffTrax. Starship Troopers, Sharknado 2, Summer Shorts, and Krull. They’ve all been fantastic. This year, something extraordinary popped up in the Kickstarter list... Riffing with Mary Jo & Bridget. I became so excited over the prospect of being able to riff alongside these two amazing performers that I didn’t hesitate to hit that donate button.

It would be hard to review the experience objectively. I was on a cloud the entire time. Just the thought of being able to sit next to Bridget and Mary Jo and make fun of a short was almost euphoric. Also a little nerve wracking. But I must say, they coached us, went over what time codes were, how our marks were set up in our scripts, what the notes meant; it was like having one of those master classes, but with the unfortunate time constraint of 2 hours. 

In honesty it was quite different from what I had imagined, even though I tried to enter the experience with no expectations.

“What?! You pledged how much and didn’t set some kind of expectation?!”

Yeah... to most that seems kind of silly. But I��m a believer in RiffTrax. I have no reason to doubt that, with the money I pledge, they are going to give us an experience we won’t forget. People spend a lot of money for season tickets, not knowing how the season is going to go. I see it as the same kind of deal. I happily give them what I can because I believe in them.

Anyway, 8 of us sat at a table, were given two scripts for two separate shorts, and listened to Mary Jo and Bridget briefly tell us the how’s, where’s, and why’s. The issue of time codes seemed to be a sticky point for most. Our scripts were outlined with a specific minute/second when we should say our scripted riff with the dialogue that is said on screen labeled before the riff itself. Kind of like: 01:05 - (Where’s Ellen?) (Announcer Voice) - She’s on Weekdays at 4, on NBC!

So at one minute and five seconds, after the person on screen asks “Where’s Ellen?!” I would say in an announcer voice “She’s on Weekdays...”. The time code is shown at the bottom of the screen the video is playing on.

We each had 4-5 lines of dialogue a piece per short, and there were two shorts. Really, getting coached by the two, imho, out shined the riffing. Not that I didn’t love the riffing with them and the 7 others. That was great fun. But Mary Jo and Bridget were complimentary, gave advice, gave encouragement, and most importantly, they laughed.

Every time a new RiffTrax is released with Bridget and Mary Jo, we buy it. I love their chemistry and their timing.

I don’t like to toot my own horn, but the folks at RiffTrax inspired me during a low point in my life to take up writing my own riffs. On my YouTube page I’ve done several serials and shorts that are labors of love. It’s been over a year since I’ve attempted to write anything, and I’ve even left one riff, my first long movie .mp3, hanging in the wind. What Mary Jo and Bridget did for me this past Thursday was re-stoke my riffing fire. The experience I had sitting with them, learning from them, working with them for a brief time, hearing them say “That was a great take on that line” gave me confidence. It gave me hope.

“You gave them money, of course they’re going to compliment you.”

Maybe. But why think that? Believe me when I say, I’m cynical by nature. I don’t buy into things just because I’m told to. RiffTrax has earned my trust. They have shown me, time and again, that the money I donate to Kickstarter is an investment into a quality show and a wonderful product. I believe in RiffTrax.

I hope they continue to do this. Bridget said this was the “trial run”, and I hope they mark it as a success. I will certainly pledge to this next year. I also hope they allow us to do some script improv because there were so many things I came up with while watching the shorts dry that I thought were funny...

I hope that gives folks an idea of how my two hours were with Bridget and Mary Jo. It was worth it, and I’d do it again.  Thanks folks!