Day 27
Thursday March 27th
I write.
Thursday March 27th
I write.
Gerald Olin: "You do drink don't you?"Mike Enslin: "Of course. I just said I was a writer."
Day 26
Wednesday March 26th
Wednesday March 26th
I have been spending a lot of time in the park lately. It is nice and quiet. On a beautiful spring afternoon there is nothing quite like curling up in the park or on the beach with a good book, mug of chai and maybe the box scores from last night. Speaking of which, the Sox are off to a start kicking off the season with an extra innings opening day victory in Japan. Explain this one to me though; the Sawx play two games in Japan to start the season. There is all this hype and everyone gets psyched up for the start of the season. Then they fly here to LA to play three spring training games-- ie. three games that mean absolutely nothing to anyone because the season has technically started already. In fact one of these games is going to be held in the LA Colesium with a third base line approximately 200 feet long. Little League fields have larger left fields. It is going to be a crazy contest with Manny, Big Papi, Youk, Tek, and the rest of the crew teaing off on second NL pitchers. With only 200 feet between home plate on the left field wall, I bet even Coco will go long three or four times! Consequently 115,000+ plus fans are expected to show up. It'll be crazy as only LA can do crazy! So then they rest up a bit and the season starts again sometime next week in earnest? What am I missing here?
Anyhow back on topic, I spent a rather lazy afternoon up on the hill with Ms. Bowler and her cat. We hung out and relaxed in the afternoon sun telling stories and laughing over all the dumb things we have done in the last four years. To say we simply laughed is an understatement. After a mellow stroll we watched this funky documentary called "Does Anyone Have a Plan?" It was made by a Bulgarian crew of three. It explores the controversy of Kosovar independence from all the affected viewpoints. It is a pretty intense illustration of the various emotions tied up to that small piece of rock. Even though I fell asleep half-way through. It is certainly a monumental film. I plan on watching it again and again and again hoping to pick up on all the intricacies of the region and their various politics.
Anyhow back on topic, I spent a rather lazy afternoon up on the hill with Ms. Bowler and her cat. We hung out and relaxed in the afternoon sun telling stories and laughing over all the dumb things we have done in the last four years. To say we simply laughed is an understatement. After a mellow stroll we watched this funky documentary called "Does Anyone Have a Plan?" It was made by a Bulgarian crew of three. It explores the controversy of Kosovar independence from all the affected viewpoints. It is a pretty intense illustration of the various emotions tied up to that small piece of rock. Even though I fell asleep half-way through. It is certainly a monumental film. I plan on watching it again and again and again hoping to pick up on all the intricacies of the region and their various politics.
Sox in first, Yanks in the cellah'!Day 25
Tuesday March 25th
Tuesday March 25th
A week or two ago Sholly got a late call in the office to be in a radio station focus group. They were going to pay $60 for an hour of your time. She handed over the info to me to see if I was interested. It sounded like fun so I gave them a ring. It is kind of ironic actually since other then the catching a Red Sox game in the summer or NPR during the morning commute, I can not remember the last time I listened to the radio. The funny part is that in order to meet their demographic you had to list out your favorite Ventuckey or LA radio stations. Like I said other then NPR I can not think of a single station out here. So in jeopardy of losing out on the easy money, I put the marketer on hold and googled Ventura radio stations. Sure enough a whole list popped up of local radio stations. I got back on the phone and read off the list. About half way down I finally hit it, KBBY and I was in.
So the day of I grabbed a quick bite to it and drove on down to the harbour to collect my cash. The place was packed, mostly with 20-somethings and their various body piercings. There were about 60 or so folks in the focus group from all walks of life. This is a guess though honestly because they all looked like they were unemployed. The other guys there looked and sounded like they spent their days playing X-box and skateboarding. The skirts there looked like they spent their days at the mall or napping on the beach. Everyone had tattoos and ridiculously large sun glasses. Uggs abounded as did bejeweled cell phones and valley girl accents. I felt very out of place. Looking around at my fellow focus groupies, it was easy to see why many call our generation the forgotten generation. Other then a million different ways to color our hair, it doesn't look like we have really left behind anything to be remembered by.
The survey itself wasn't so bad. I can say that now that it is over. During the survey I could have gouged my eyes out with a spoon had one been readily available. We had to listen to 10 seconds of 502 different songs and then rate them. We were given the choices of "F" for favorite, "L" for like, "N" for neither like nor dislike (but would not turn the radio station to another if we heard the sond), "D" for dislike, "T" for tired (songs we used to like but for one reason or another felt we overplayed), and finally "U" for unfamiliar. I would like to think I have a pretty broad musical taste with genres and influences all over the spectrum. I found though that I only marked a dozen or so of these 502 tunes as an F.
The majority were most definitely D's or T's. There was a lot of Madonna, Don Henley (Don Henley solo? seriously?), and a lot of screaming angst-ridden chicks and screaming angst ridden dudes. They all sounded the same to me. After the first 250 songs I was over it. It was mind numbing honestly. The scan-tron bubble sheet in front of me was starting to swirl. It was getting harder and harder to keep my eyes open. I was so tempted to take a picture but security had been very very clear on the whole NO PHOTOGRAPHY! point. I am not sure if it was just because I was tired of it all, but I noticed the last 100+ songs or so, the majority I had marked "T". Hmmmm...
When all was said and done, we turned in our scan-trons and #2 pencils and picked up a plain white envelope. Inside the envelope was cold hard cash, incidentally my favorite kind. That is not too bad for about 90 minutes of "work." I wonder if they have any other focus groups coming around? I am sure there are oldies stations or country stations out there looking for my insight... Do you think Sam Adams or Sierra Nevada has focus groups? I would most certainly volunteer for that! I will have to do a little digging...
So the day of I grabbed a quick bite to it and drove on down to the harbour to collect my cash. The place was packed, mostly with 20-somethings and their various body piercings. There were about 60 or so folks in the focus group from all walks of life. This is a guess though honestly because they all looked like they were unemployed. The other guys there looked and sounded like they spent their days playing X-box and skateboarding. The skirts there looked like they spent their days at the mall or napping on the beach. Everyone had tattoos and ridiculously large sun glasses. Uggs abounded as did bejeweled cell phones and valley girl accents. I felt very out of place. Looking around at my fellow focus groupies, it was easy to see why many call our generation the forgotten generation. Other then a million different ways to color our hair, it doesn't look like we have really left behind anything to be remembered by.
The survey itself wasn't so bad. I can say that now that it is over. During the survey I could have gouged my eyes out with a spoon had one been readily available. We had to listen to 10 seconds of 502 different songs and then rate them. We were given the choices of "F" for favorite, "L" for like, "N" for neither like nor dislike (but would not turn the radio station to another if we heard the sond), "D" for dislike, "T" for tired (songs we used to like but for one reason or another felt we overplayed), and finally "U" for unfamiliar. I would like to think I have a pretty broad musical taste with genres and influences all over the spectrum. I found though that I only marked a dozen or so of these 502 tunes as an F.
The majority were most definitely D's or T's. There was a lot of Madonna, Don Henley (Don Henley solo? seriously?), and a lot of screaming angst-ridden chicks and screaming angst ridden dudes. They all sounded the same to me. After the first 250 songs I was over it. It was mind numbing honestly. The scan-tron bubble sheet in front of me was starting to swirl. It was getting harder and harder to keep my eyes open. I was so tempted to take a picture but security had been very very clear on the whole NO PHOTOGRAPHY! point. I am not sure if it was just because I was tired of it all, but I noticed the last 100+ songs or so, the majority I had marked "T". Hmmmm...
When all was said and done, we turned in our scan-trons and #2 pencils and picked up a plain white envelope. Inside the envelope was cold hard cash, incidentally my favorite kind. That is not too bad for about 90 minutes of "work." I wonder if they have any other focus groups coming around? I am sure there are oldies stations or country stations out there looking for my insight... Do you think Sam Adams or Sierra Nevada has focus groups? I would most certainly volunteer for that! I will have to do a little digging...
The one (and only) frame before security trounced me.
Cold hard cash, I ain't too proud...
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