Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

TK Please do one thing.

Never stop writing.

Love this Diary and read it everyday. Its brill and actually feels like we are having a convo. Love It.

Keep up the good work.

Appreciated, thank you.

For better or worse, it's what I have to do for a large part of my job now, my role has changed, so I guess I'll write more, not less.

My Diary has had to change, too. There was some suggestion that it was contributing to the slow death of blonde, by taking arguably interesting threads away from where they belong, so I've had to address that. They may well have been correct. You'll have seen that Tom is doing the same, too. I'm really grateful to him for that. It may help blonde hang in a bit longer, who knows?

I want this Diary to continue, I enjoy it, but it'll be more of a personal slant now, what a Diary should be I suppose.

To me - not to anyone else, obv - my life is extremely interesting, & I get into some crazy spots because of my job. I self-analyse them endlessly - too much probably - but I can't help it. 

It also helps to write here to sort of find a haven of peace. I'm the villain of the peace a lot Next Door, what with the takover, & the 861 thing, I'm always on the back foot it feels.

Anyway, thank you.

[tikay]

TK Please do one thing.

Never stop writing.

Love this Diary and read it everyday. Its brill and actually feels like we are having a convo. Love It.

Keep up the good work.

Ditto..spend my lunchtime reading Blonde for the past 7 years now or so. Love it to bits and feel guilty about not contributing more.

Thanks Mr Dickie,

Same reply as befoie really.

No need to feel guilty, but if something tickles your fancy, feel free to post.

[redsimon]

Watched the SkySports4 show last night. Quite enjoyed it, though Mr ambo does tend to speak over people a lot!

Will all Sky Poker stuff be on SS4 from now on, including UKPC stuff?

[tikay]

Watched the SkySports4 show last night. Quite enjoyed it, though Mr ambo does tend to speak over people a lot!

Will all Sky Poker stuff be on SS4 from now on, including UKPC stuff?

Sky Poker TV will broadcast weekly - or most weeks - on Sky Sports. The channels will change now & then, as they label Channels "Masters Golf", "Cricket World Ciup" etc, but that's the general idea. Any Sky Sports Channel that is available that night.

Sky Poker UKPC will go on Sky Sports first, then You Tube, then Challenge TV. Challenge TV attracts monster audiences, amazingly high, far & away the highest we ever get.

There will be more Sky Poker Cash Games, as before, too.  And some stuff.

We now put put a ton of stuff on You Tube, too, I've just put one up, but not spammed it here. It involved JAKALLY, I gave him a right hard time. Quite right too.

[AlunB]

Watched the SkySports4 show last night. Quite enjoyed it, though Mr ambo does tend to speak over people a lot!

Will all Sky Poker stuff be on SS4 from now on, including UKPC stuff?

Sky Poker TV will broadcast weekly - or most weeks - on Sky Sports. The channels will change now & then, as they label Channels "Masters Golf", "Cricket World Ciup" etc, but that's the general idea. Any Sky Sports Channel that is available that night.

Sky Poker UKPC will go on Sky Sports first, then You Tube, then Challenge TV. Challenge TV attracts monster audiences, amazingly high, far & away the highest we ever get.

There will be more Sky Poker Cash Games, as before, too.  And some stuff.

We now put put a ton of stuff on You Tube, too, I've just put one up, but not spammed it here. It involved JAKALLY, I gave him a right hard time. Quite right too.

Umm, so why not go on Challenge first?

[tikay]

Watched the SkySports4 show last night. Quite enjoyed it, though Mr ambo does tend to speak over people a lot!

Will all Sky Poker stuff be on SS4 from now on, including UKPC stuff?

Sky Poker TV will broadcast weekly - or most weeks - on Sky Sports. The channels will change now & then, as they label Channels "Masters Golf", "Cricket World Ciup" etc, but that's the general idea. Any Sky Sports Channel that is available that night.

Sky Poker UKPC will go on Sky Sports first, then You Tube, then Challenge TV. Challenge TV attracts monster audiences, amazingly high, far & away the highest we ever get.

There will be more Sky Poker Cash Games, as before, too.  And some stuff.

We now put put a ton of stuff on You Tube, too, I've just put one up, but not spammed it here. It involved JAKALLY, I gave him a right hard time. Quite right too.

Umm, so why not go on Challenge first?

Morning Alun. Enjoy the 6 Nations?

Sky Sports insist on first dibs, they would not take it second hand. Add the views from Sky Sports, Challenge & You Tube, & it comes to a good number.

Even on You Tube, the lowest of the three, they get decent views. Some of the "Sky Poker Cash Game" You Tube uploads get up to 25,000 views a time, this one is an example, it has 25,808 views, & these just grow slowly, over time.




Somewhat entertaining to read the comments below it, awesome stuff as they second guess Matthew Ashton who, imo, can probably play a bit better than most. 

[tikay]

Tonight, I shall mainly be getting slaughtered.

Never before, never once, have I been nervous, or worried about a TV Show.

 

Well, blonde's lepidopterist-in-chief, how were the butterflies?

Eventually I got round to replying....

It went wonderfully well, far better than I dared hope.

Thanks to a bit of help, we managed to get James Akenhead in the Studio - a really good "name" for us, & Mr Ambo was in, too.

James was amazingly good front of camera. I know him pretty well, have done since our Gutshot days, but you never know how people will react in front of TV cameras in a "Live" TV Show. He was a natural.

Although the Sky Sports Show was not until 10pm, we had the same call times - 6pm in Make Up, 6.15 in Sound, 6.30pm in the Studio, then technical rehearsals to fine tune the techie & lighting stuff & to time the out-links.

At 7pm sharp, we began recording stuff for You Tube. Roller Final Table, Top of the Pots, some other bits & bobs. Without all the "calls to action" we had to do on 861 (sign up now, Welcome Bonus, etc) they were SO much crisper & sharper. Really pleased with them apart from one unforgivable slip of the tongue.  

Then I recorded 8 more snappy little pieces, one on one, to camera.

4 of the 8 were just 30 seconds & 4 of them were about 90 seconds each. No script, no autocue, just made it up as I went along, though I had my bullet points written down just in case. High energy, fast, pacey, shouty, (shouty by design, much as I dislike shouty), & the perfect length for that sort of thing. These are amazingly good for SEO.  

We took a break at 9pm, at 9.30 Ambo & James Akenhead came in the studio, more tech rehearsals, adjusted lighting, seating positions & all that stuff.

We went live at 10pm, & from then on, I was just a prompter & passenger, with Ambo & Akenhead in the studio, I could happily sit back, except to prompt them in a certain direction from time to time.

And in what seemed like 20 minutes, 2 hours had passed, & it was Midnight, job done.

Never been so happy to see the end of a Show, it felt like a whole weight had been lifted from my shoulders, & I went home & cooked my dinner as happy as Larry. Inevitably, I had a corker of an adrenalin hangover the next morning.

Why had I got myself in such a tizz & lather though?

That's the next reply, a backstory that stretches over the last 3 months, & a period of huge uncertainty, stress & discomfort for me. Each of the components was manageable as a single entity, but when they all ran parallel, it was horrible. And it all built to a climax in the last week or so, & as a result, I threw a few hissyfits. 10 years ago, I could spin all those plates & never worry, now, I don't seem able to. It's an age thing I guess. I self-examine every damn day for all the usual age things, mental & physical.

It does not help that I'm a worryguts by nature, & I can't change that.

It also, more & more, seems to me that I'm losing it a bit upstairs. Nothing too bad, I've not gone doo-lally, but I forget silly little things, put stuff off, make silly mistakes & unforced errors. I get cross with things & people too much lately, too. Anger pisses me off, it's SUCH a weakness & negative emotion which rarely achieves much except to make us look daft, & I abhor it when I can't control my emotions better.

I need more sleep these days too, sleep is an amazingly powerful thing, & I feel so much better when I top up the sleep tank to Max.

Enough of that for now. I did say the Diary was about to become a bit more personal.

[TightEnd]

will the call times be 6pm every week, so as to record all the online content?

so in effect its still a five hour show for you,

maybe slightly less gruelling for the first three hours but more gruelling for the last two as its important to build the new show...

[Machka]

Do you ever get nervous when you have guests on the show such as Neil and James and they get full flow into a story at exactly what they are going to say?  On the show Tuesday a lot of the stories turned into the sort of entertaining story you might hear down the pub (if I went into pubs).  I was almost expecting an expletive to slip out during the story telling.  I imagine that would go down well on Sky Sports 4!

Have you managed to banish the phrase Eight-Six-One from your vocabulary yet?  Must be so hard to remember not to say it during links.

[redsimon]

Is the "other" stuff straight to You Tube or stored up for future shows?

[tikay]

will the call times be 6pm every week, so as to record all the online content?

so in effect its still a five hour show for you,

maybe slightly less gruelling for the first three hours but more gruelling for the last two as its important to build the new show...

Yes, 6pm every week, though it's only due to a combo of odd circumstances that I got 3 in a row, the 861 "finale", the Sky Poker TV opening night, & next Tuesday, too.

With just 1 scheduled show per week, going forward I don't expect to do more than 1 or 2 a month, at best, may not even do any. I've also offered my next scheduled Show - next week - back to them so they can break the "3 in a row" run if they wish. It does not look good or right that I do all three, it may send incorrect messages. Ryan & Stu are still with us, & they are better at analysis by some way. Have to say, I was well chuffed to be specifically asked to do the first & last, so to speak. Does wonders for lack of self-confidence that they deemed me to be a safe part of hands.

The stress right now (as was) is part of what will follow in the next War & Peace reply. Broadly, 861 closes, the players get very upset indeed, all the stuff you'd expect (let's start a petition to save 861.....), & I take on the responsibility (gladly) of fielding all the flak. But the Business stressed "don't worry, Sky Poker TV will lbe GREAT, you'll love it". But the close of 861 was moved forward 2 weeks, & we had no time to prep the first "GREAT" TV Show. We had, literally, one day to prep - Tuesday, the day of the Show. But I had 6 days to fret about it, & get myself all het up, whilst all the time fielding all the negativity & some smartarse replies Next Door.

Weird thing with pre-recorded TV is it takes so much longer to do. Work fills the available time & all that. When we used to do the Wm Hill Show for Wm Hill, & Phil, it was a 1 hour pre-recorded Show that took 8 hours to record. Bizarre.

So we spent 3 hours on Tuesday thissing & thatting, & it seemed to go by quite quickly, but always, in the back of the mind, "we go live in x hours". Once we went live, it flew past.

Think the Diary was better off with concrete, bridges & monsta excavators.

Here we go.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Is the "other" stuff straight to You Tube or stored up for future shows?

Not straight to You Tube, it makes no sense to Upload it all at once, it needs to be drip-fed, daily, for best effect. If they Uploaded all the stuff we recorded in one batch, the view count would be way, way, lower. Its similar to whether a You Tube piece should be 20 minutes, or 10 x 2 minutes. The latter is much more effective & efficient. More bangs for the same buck.

There will be pre-recorded slots in future Shows, yes, but we have not recorded any yet.

EDIT - Just remembered, yes, we have some stuff "in the bank", a 6 part thing which has been ready a few weeks now. That'll probably find it's way onto the Shows, though in bite size pieces, to whet the appetite.

[tikay]

Do you ever get nervous when you have guests on the show such as Neil and James and they get full flow into a story at exactly what they are going to say?  On the show Tuesday a lot of the stories turned into the sort of entertaining story you might hear down the pub (if I went into pubs).  I was almost expecting an expletive to slip out during the story telling.  I imagine that would go down well on Sky Sports 4!

Have you managed to banish the phrase Eight-Six-One from your vocabulary yet?  Must be so hard to remember not to say it during links.

Very nervous, yes. The 2 lads were really relaxed, the stories were pouring out, & I was crapping myself that a profanity might slip put. Even stuff like "Christ almighty" must be avoided. I was a little nervous that James might get off-Message, I don't know him THAT well, but he was tickity boo.

Contrary to popular belief, Sky are way more prudent & strait-laced than even Auntie Beeb. One slip, off you go. Clarkson would have lasted 5 minutes there. The ghost of the Andy Gray thing looms large. 

Have I banished 861 from my mind, & tongue slippage? You bet, lol. 

That was part of the whole negativity thing Next Door. We all know "861" as a brand, & so the Business labelled the new Format "Sky Poker TV".

And it was all "so Sky Poker TV has closed down?" sorta thing. I'm sure some of them said it just to wind me up.

I had to, ever so gently, correct that every time. So no, no chance of tongue slippage there.

Some of the stuff got a bit personal. I sort of understand that, but I think it's bang wrong. You can't defend though, it's a one way thing, this being rude to, or about, a Business. They can say "you are a pile of poo", but a Business has to be polite in reply.

So when, for example, (in an earlier matter) I get described as a moronic imbecile by someone who has never done a days work in their life, there's no way of replying. That seems a pretty low thing to me, & I loathe those who do it, because they KNOW you can't respond. Brave buggers, them. They'd never say it face to face of course. It used to trouble me terribly, but I've hardened up a bit of late. I'm such a big girls blouse at times.

[MANTIS01]

Hey, had sky sports down the other day to film a pilot for a new programme called Golf Juice, being pitched to the bigwigs on Monday! If we get this it will be a right coup! Put in a word for us!!

https://app.aframe.com/links/8864f7dc064eb74d231204ec753cc912

[Redsgirl]

Hey, had sky sports down the other day to film a pilot for a new programme called Golf Juice, being pitched to the bigwigs on Monday! If we get this it will be a right coup! Put in a word for us!!

https://app.aframe.com/links/8864f7dc064eb74d231204ec753cc912

Is Keith Lemon hosting?