Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Ironside]

congrats to tikay on the first page of his new diary?

anyone want to tempt me?

[pokefast]

Many congrats........who'd have thought you would have reached this landmark two years ago.

 

You dun half look like Carol Decker Claire! 

and you look like a, ahem, cock

In more ways than 1 

[Josedinho]

Great thread. Well done so far. Keep it up.

[spacefrog]

Haha.

When you start this thing Spacefrog was tadpole with no English. I try.

A lot of words. This is a good thing for many reasons, you enjoy this is the biggest. Me to.



Now I have learned English and you make 1000 pages. Merci.

[LLevan]

Haha.

When you start this thing Spacefrog was tadpole with no English. I try.

A lot of words. This is a good thing for many reasons, you enjoy this is the biggest. Me to.



Now I have learned English and you make 1000 pages. Merci.

Ou est le petit dejeuner?

Cuse my French in case of typos.

[tikay]

Haha.

When you start this thing Spacefrog was tadpole with no English. I try.

A lot of words. This is a good thing for many reasons, you enjoy this is the biggest. Me to.



Now I have learned English and you make 1000 pages. Merci.

Thank you Mr Frog, & all the other folks who left nice messages. They are much appreciated, thanks.

I really enjoy writing this, it's a break from all the Aggro, & it's generally a peaceful thread.

It's really "for me", but I confess, feedback, comments & questions are probably the fuel that keep it going. So if you stop the replies.......

[tikay]

I really need to get in a pow-wow with the Mods to sort out all the nonsense we've seen here this week - it's never been more aggro, ever - I suppose life is like that these days, everyone wants a ruck, & not only that, but they are prepared to chase round looking for it. It's really starting to wear.

My Poker life breaks into nice compartments - blonde, Sky Poker, APAT, &, I guess, playing. One of these days they'll all run good together, but that's almost unheard of.

Sky is always good, the variety, & the satisfaction, APAT - I'm much less involved due to work, but no less passionate - well the APAT DTD affair was superb, & blonde, where I've actually dreaded logging on some days this week. One day, they'll all run good together, but I fancy there'll be some nettles to grasp before then.

Anyway, enough of that, I'm gonna spend an hour updating some stuff. For me, it's nice stuff, fun stuff, & it briefly helps suppress the blonde headache. Sadly, it'll still be there tomorrow morning.

Doing the Live Show tomorrow, so staying at Heathrow again tonight. Then, as soon as it's finished, just after Midnight, I'm off down the M4, with Orford as Passenger, for Sunday's In-Poker. Monday brings a new chapter in extra work & responsibilities elsewhere, which I'm a bit nervous about, but it's do-able.

So, the last few days - been rather interesting, actually......

[tikay]

I've been helping out in the Studio as "stooge" for a bunch of Presenter Screen Tests. It's not just standing there, the stooge has to try & put the Auditionees - is that a word? - at ease, try & relax them, so that they give their best.

Judging by some PHA debates & Posts, the way to help people is to abuse them, to belittle them, rub their noses in it. Yeah, right. It DOES work for some, but every individual is just that - an individual - & they all need different buttons pressed in different ways. I struggle to understand why intelligent folks cannot grasp that - we all respond to different methods. In that respect, I think I did the job well. I do enjoy the psychological side of things, & I think I'm nearly competent in undersatanding the basics of irt.

Anyway, we did 8 of these Screen Tests on Wednesday, & another three this afternoon/evening.

The "test" piece is a short segment of a pseudo Show. Top of Show, Intro, Telephone Guest, Hand-Review, Out of Part One, then, intro to Part Two, when I was the subject of an Interview - about non-poker stuff - & I needed to respond in ways that would get the best out of the Auditioners. (Better word?).

Each Test involved doing that lot three times. First, a "Block-Through", (Technical rehearsal & familiarisation), then As-Live Rehearsal, then the real thing. So that's the same thing 3 times = 33 times in all. Boring? Not at all, beccause there's always the need to try to get the best of of the Presenters. It made me think about how Stage Actors, doing the same Show night after night - cope. The key is keeping it fresh I think.

The "range" of Presenters was very wide. Some were seasoned TV Presenters, others had never been in a Studio before. (And all were Female, if I recall correctly).

There is no formal scoring or grading method, but they all need to tick a bunch of boxes, some of which - technically, especially - are mandatory. A good poker knpowledge is worth SFA if they can't manaqe Autocue fluently, or listen to three different peeps (Producer, Director, & AP) down the Talkback simultaneously. Fortunately, I played no role in judging them, what a job that must be.

It's quite poignant, too. 11 folks wanted the job, only one can get it. That means 10 disappointed peeps, but I think that's part & parcel of TV work.

Great fun for me though. I got paid for it, too. Happy Days for me, not so for the unlucky 10. Tough world this.

[tikay]

I'm off blonde-Topic for now, more Sky Stuff to Diary, but before I do, but there was one warm ray of sunshine here this week - bringing back ITB.

I'm not sure why - we did have a bunch of grief a while back, on & off-Forum, & I was made to look rather stupid in fact - but both parties had to tango to get him back on, & for reasons I can't articulate properly, it really made me feel good.

The sun is always there somewhere, it just hides brhind clouds some days.

Now, for today - a really lovely day. Had some right excitement......

[Karabiner]

I've been helping out in the Studio as "stooge" for a bunch of Presenter Screen Tests. It's not just standing there, the stooge has to try & put the Auditionees - is that a word? - at ease, try & relax them, so that they give their best.

Judging by some PHA debates & Posts, the way to help people is to abuse them, to belittle them, rub their noses in it. Yeah, right. It DOES work for some, but every individual is just that - an individual - & they all need different buttons pressed in different ways. I struggle to understand why intelligent folks cannot grasp that - we all respond to different methods. In that respect, I think I did the job well. I do enjoy the psychological side of things, & I think I'm nearly competent in undersatanding the basics of irt.

Anyway, we did 8 of these Screen Tests on Wednesday, & another three this afternoon/evening.

The "test" piece is a short segment of a pseudo Show. Top of Show, Intro, Telephone Guest, Hand-Review, Out of Part One, then, intro to Part Two, when I was the subject of an Interview - about non-poker stuff - & I needed to respond in ways that would get the best out of the Auditioners. (Better word?).

Each Test involved doing that lot three times. First, a "Block-Through", (Technical rehearsal & familiarisation), then As-Live Rehearsal, then the real thing. So that's the same thing 3 times = 33 times in all. Boring? Not at all, beccause there's always the need to try to get the best of of the Presenters. It made me think about how Stage Actors, doing the same Show night after night - cope. The key is keeping it fresh I think.

The "range" of Presenters was very wide. Some were seasoned TV Presenters, others had never been in a Studio before. (And all were Female, if I recall correctly).

There is no formal scoring or grading method, but they all need to tick a bunch of boxes, some of which - technically, especially - are mandatory. A good poker knpowledge is worth SFA if they can't manaqe Autocue fluently, or listen to three different peeps (Producer, Director, & AP) down the Talkback simultaneously. Fortunately, I played no role in judging them, what a job that must be.

It's quite poignant, too. 11 folks wanted the job, only one can get it. That means 10 disappointed peeps, but I think that's part & parcel of TV work.

Great fun for me though. I got paid for it, too. Happy Days for me, not so for the unlucky 10. Tough world this.

Just give the gig to Georgie Thompson imo 

[tikay]

Before I go on to today's fun, I did something on Wednesday for almost the first time in my life.

I was due in Studio at 10.15am, 'Ling was my Boss, & I stayed over at Heathrow especially so I would not be late. Well I'm NEVER late (for work), but I did not want to get stressed sat in M25 Traffic & stuff.

I could not sleep, & got up at 5am. Had a leak, then laid doen for a few minutes. And awoke when I heard the 'phone ringing. At 10.15am......

It had 9 missed calls - everyone had been ringing me - "where are you?", are you ok?", aaarggghh.

I know what went wrong. My alarm clock is my bladder, & I'd got up at 5am &, as it were, turned it off.

I had to shave, shower, & iron a shirt -well, show the shirt the iron.

I arrived stressed out & breathless in the Studio 7 minutes later - it's SO embarrassing.

Mother Hen - Bless her - had a fresh Latte awaiting me - she knows I can't function without a morning coiffee - & I loved her for her thoughtfulness. Then she said - "& here's an ironed shoirt". I protested I'd just ironed the one I was wearing. "You look like a tramp" she said.

I soon settled, but jeez, I don't ever wanna be late for work again - I'm OCD about it.

[tikay]

Today was an odd experience, but let's do it backwards.I had to go to Sky at Osterley - it's MASSIVE over there, I don't recall ever seeing a bigger office complex.

Anyway, while there, I was having a bit of a wander.

And I came across this.....

[tikay]

Rent-A-Crowd!

[Claw75]

Rent-A-Crowd!

see that bloke just above the blue scarf, clapping? Anticipation?

[tikay]

and more....