Finding a purpose, and a little about the editors

So, Mike called me out on the inane nonsense that has dominated this blog as of late. He read an entry, forwarded to him via Scott the Evil Producer, and mocked me mildly for its contents. He's right, I've been slipping, and what was once a proud and beautiful place to learn of the behind-the-scenes goings on of the news industry has devolved into my own platform for bad jokes, inter-office abuse, and links to junk you don't care about anyway.

So, let's talk about FOX23 News Daybreak. Today I want to tell you about the editors, Henry and Steven. These two guys are some of the first people I see in the morning, and their work and mine overlap many times over the course of the morning.

Editors are responsible for cutting the video and audio content to fit the needs of the show's script. This means seamlessly blending pieces of video together, making sure audio doesn't run too long or too short, and ensuring that every time the anchors are talking about something, you're seeing it (and not something else!) on screen. It's a busy and thankless job, and you'll hear "I need an editor to call the control room!" hollered over the PA system at least once most days. What you don't hear a lot of is, "Good job, Henry." So, let me go ahead and say it. Good job, Henry, and good job, Steven. You guys rock.

I see other editors over the course of the day, Winking and Newbury come to mind, but they're not on Daybreak, and this is a Daybreak blog, so we will conveniently ignore them. Maybe if Mike every starts his own blog (The 5and9!) he can talk about them.

And now we return to our regularly scheduled nonsense.

FILE UNDER:

Inflation:
You can now wrap your gifts in legal currency! These sheets of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and even 50 dollar bills cost more than a stack of the same number of bills. However, if you're wrapping your gifts in money, you don't care how much it costs. Also, you're probably an idiot.

80s video games rock:
Remember those awesome Nintendo games when you were a kid? Or maybe you were a 20-something? Heck, I don't know how old my readership is. Pre-school? anyway, here's some of the best poor translations from the old NES days.

Vinyl is making a comeback:
I guess Sleevefacers are some kind of new "too much time on my hands" movement, where people stand behind album covers and make it look like it's them on the cover! Or something! I don't really get it, but it's cool to look at.

Drinks on me:
Apparently, December 1st was National Bloody Mary day. Of course, it was probably overshadowed by World AIDS Day. How dare a worldwide movement to raise awareness of the tragedy of AIDS host its day on the same day as some tomato-based drink. Priorities, people! Okay, honestly, having a day for a drink is idiotic, and I hope you all donate to an AIDS charity. Once you've done that, though, have a drink.

Play some tunes:
Paste Magazine, which I've never heard of and is probably not about eating paste, has a best of 2008 music list. My version of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" did not make the list. However, other bands did.

The most depressing thing involving plumbers I've ever seen:
Words cannot describe the LSD-infused insanity of this artwork. Look at your own risk.