Sunday, November 6, 2011

BlackThumbJournalism

Well, the gauntlet has been thrown. Some NHL journalists recently recognized a common trend I had noticed. After the tragic death of IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon, there were a bit too many retweets and carbon copy mentions of the same stories over and over again. One could argue that this was an inevitable fallout from the 9/11 era. However, I posit that this trend was born from the social media era. This began some time thereafter. I have noticed way too many typos, broken links, and other trends in mainstream web media. In short, it appears that the push for instant relevance has given way to journalistic integrity. There was an argument in the NHL world that too many of the insiders (read complacent accredited journalists) relied on the breaking news from their BlackBerries, and the usual media melees with the players and analysts, to make their stories. I tend to agree with this. As a bit of background, I was a HUGE Dallas Stars fan from 1995-1999, and was lucky enough to obtain a team press pass thanks to an innovative group of web journalists from the website lcshockey.com LCS was an exercise in pushing the boundaries of the NHL news coverage of the day. In short, the editors threw in honest news, opinions, rants, etc (a little bit of this, a little bit of that) and as a consequence molded a template for sports journalism in the web era that is unknowingly being copied and followed to this day. Fast forward to my contributions. LCS put out a simple email roll call for any and all team-specific fans to become official team report correspondents. I answered the call for Dallas. I combined newspaper columns, watching games via tape, attending games, and an honest attempt at intuition to derive the current state of the team, the vibe from the players, guessing coaching moves, etc to form a holistic "state of the union" report for the team every two weeks or so. In so doing I experienced many a priceless moment both on the scene, in Reunion Arena and the locker rooms, and off the scene from my trusty computer, recapping the trials and tributations of my boys, The Stars. While I did get way too detailed and verbose in some team reports and feature columns, I felt it was the least I could do to repay my LCSHockey brethren for the honor of having a press pass. To affirm an earlier point, I spent an average of 3-4 hours or more sweating every detail, quote, and punctuation of every article. Indeed the LCS editors pretty much got to the point where they would be like "dude, just submit your.report already!" Where is this heading? I think too many "professional" journalists have lost their way, and are relying too much on technological and editorial crutches to be "first" to report something, anything. Too bad they are in line with a dozen or so other journalists to succumb to the same pressures to deliver instant, freeze-dried news over something personal, unique, and intuitive. Anyway, that's the view from this seat. To think, I did everything I did to compose team reports as a volunteer. I wasn't payed any beans at all, except for a press pass, and I felt honored, obligated, and privileged to report for.my favorite team to an anonymous group of fans and other correspondents. Something must have got lost in the translation during the social media era, because old school journalists have become distilled, to a degree. The new journalists are not being held to the same standard as some of the traditional fellas. It's not too late, the two schools of reporting can still compare notes and meld the best of both worlds to provide both timely, accurate, and original news for a given team. I have faith. Now, put down the smartphones and pick up a notebook, and pay attention to the team you areop.privileged to be covering. Make me.proud Blast from the past: http://www.lcshockey.com/issues/109/dal.asp

Friday, October 21, 2011

La Dolce Con Niente

Yes this is an obvious reference to the movie "Eat, Pray, Love."

However, this phrase has grown to be more of a mantra to my current state of mind.

So I selfishly seek your indulgence as I perform this public reverse psychoanalysis.

I have always considered myself to be a very observant person: in my early years I had little in role models to derive what and who I should become. Therefore my only recourse was to be a mimic of sorts. Due to the then-unknown challenges of being a sole child from a broken home (while I do have three sisters, it seemed as if we were rarely together, and when we were, we all had our personal crosses to bear: effectively leaving me alone as a man-child to face the world) I did not enjoy the privileges of having a steady home, school, nor friends.

For a point of reference, this occurred mostly during the mid to late 1970s.

Since my parents were divorced and involved within an unfortunate and ugly legal battle, it had always been stressed upon me that I must now be the man of the house and be responsible, mature, and most of all forgiving.

For this responsibility to be thrust upon a child who had barely had a chance to enjoy the frivolity of youth, it was a heavy burden, indeed.

Luckily I did have a welcome refuge of sorts, and it was television. Before anyone even knew what the term had meant, I had effectively led a "virtual childhood"

So with the usual mix of good times, welcome back kotter, all in the family, etc I had discovered Star Trek.

This show would become my eventual savior of sorts.

Thanks to the cold logic and lack of emotion shown by Mr Spock, I had finally found a role model worthy of my attention. For it was the lack of logic and reason within my own life that led me to identify more with Spock than any other characters, real or imagined, that I had ever met.

And indeed the show, as well as the character, served as a needed buffer in my life for the erratic chaos I had to endure from day to day life.

While this led me to technology and an inherent understanding of same, indeed this path led me eventually to a career that has been very interesting and rewarding, I had failed to consider one important and inescapable fact: I never learned how to be human and how to interact with my fellow homo-sapiens.

I found them on average to be an emotional and irrational lot that "had no clue" as to who I was and the world I lived in. I did not live in the present, as it was too full of distraction and grey noise.

Fast forward some twenty years later. I found myself most patient, analytical, and the proverbial voice of reason. Since I did not know how to emote with and relate to those I valued or sought to have known, I put it upon myself to always ask others what their issues were, and applied cold logic and reason to help solve whatever problems stood in their way.

This worked and gave me a false sense of value for many years. Yet I still ignored and neglected one person: myself.

After awhile the burdens of stress, lack of genuine fun, and sense that I must live for others before myself began to take their tolls.

As I reached my late 30s and approached my 40s, my id had had enough.

I had discovered a coworker who I had felt had an idyllic life, and we had a common interest in high performance sportscars and technology, etc.

I found myself living vicariously through him. And without realizing it, this had awoken the long dormant beast inside of me that needed to be uncaged.

As you can imagine, the unreconciled "fun" part of me and the logical cold part of me had butted heads for quite some time.

While left unchecked, this internal war of the hemispheres of my brain led to collateral damage, for myself, my friends, and my family.

I was no longer able to be the same person, and I had to walk away from a job I had coveted. And, I effectively sabotaged a friendship that was positive and rewarding, but ultimately left me frustrated.

I deconstructed my life as I knew it. It was both scary and sobering. However, somehow, deep inside of me I knew this was necessary, regardless of the aftermath.

So, after hours and a post that is way too verbose and rambling, we finally have come to the point of this post, long since lost.to minutiae.

I have taken a long sabbatical, and am only now finding my way to the path that will lead to an eventual conclusion to the aforementioned battle for my very soul.

While I do not have all the answers, and I have no idea where I am going from here, I do know that the "joy of doing nothing" has been the most important and healing decision I have made thus far.

This leads me to a favorite phrase of mine: "when in doubt, punt!"

The ball is in the air. Who knows who will catch it, or how far they may return it.

The point, I guess, is: I will be watching from the sidelines with a calm curiosity I have not had in many years.

Friday, September 2, 2011

New Camaro convertible

OK, so those that know me realize I am bonkers for the new Camaro (5th Gen). Unfortunately, my means do not currently allow me to own one - YET.

Therefore, although I am quite happy and proud for Chevy/GM that I see at least 4-5 of them everyday, the little green monster sometimes takes over. I cant help but grumble, sigh, and mutter "soon" every time I roll past one.

Today marked a turning point in this less-than-graceful response: I saw a spanking new red SS convertible parked in my apartment garage. it looks GREAT, and I might just get one. This would be the very first vert I've ever owned.  For now, I will just repeat my "soon" mantra and be content they are available, and friggin awesome. I will post a pic of it later.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Intermission

Whilst I am working on new content, check out my YouTube channel for some Creamy Goodness.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ybdiffrent

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Ayrton Senna

So, all my car-nut friends are familiar with this, but I wanted to extend this info to those that are not. Simply put, Ayrton Senna is widely regarded as one of the best Formula1 (F1) race drivers to ever live.

Many F1 peers and industry folk still refer to him as an example of excellence and as an extraordinary human being as well.

He was killed in a tragic accident due to a mechanical failure at a race in 1994, amidst great controversy (he was very vocal regarding safety rules, after he saw that too many drivers were put into harm's way for TV ratings, ticket sales, and "thrills" for spectators). He is also a national hero in Brazil, and many speculate that had he lived, he would now be running the country.

There is a new documentary now showing in limited release around the US. It has been widely hailed as one of the best documentaries ever, and is thrilling not only race fans, but casual moviegoers as well.

I highly recommend that anyone that enjoys racing, Senna himself, or just a riveting, well-made documentary check it out!

I will be seeing the film myself on August 26th at the Angelika Theatre in Dallas. See you there!

http://www.sennamovie.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayrton_Senna
http://angelikafilmcenter.com/angelika_comingSoon.asp?hID=7915&page=Coming%20Soon


Hello World!

Well, I've decided that a better place to post all of my random musings/opinions/rants are on a blog, as opposed to social media sites.

Rest assured that as this idea of mine grows, so will my content.

Until then, stay tuned, and be ready for a mediocre ride into the mind of an eccentric techie!