Vacation!?

Not really, but I am heading back to Springfield today to attend my very good friend, Jason Devall's wedding. It's bitter sweet, I tell you. First, this is my first time returning to IL since moving to Tulsa. One of the reasons I moved here was so I could travel back home more often, yet I have been so boned for money that I haven't.

Second, this now means that I am they only one in our clique who is not married. I am sure that is the way it will be, so I am now making plans to join a Taoist monastery deep in the Japanese wilderness.

Third... For whatever reason my car get horrid gas mileage. Well, I am pretty sure I know the reason, but it's just expensive to fix. Anyway, I did some calculations and I have come to the conclusion that it will be cheaper for me to rent a car to drive to Springfield, then it will be for me to drive mine. Since it's a holiday weekend, gas has jumped about 25¢.

(edit: Or not. Stupid Tribune Bank. Since when does a payment for 8/31 mean 9/1? Fuckers.)

Anyway, so I am heading out today and returning on Monday. I'll bring lots of pictures of everyone else being in love except me.

I'm not bitter, honest.

The Week In Review

Monday:
There was a homicide this weekend in Tulsa. So what better way to celebrate than by doing an unrelated neighborhood crime story! Sorry, the cynic in me made me say that, but in reality we profiled the most effective neighborhood watch in Tulsa. FOX23's Abbie Alford brings us the story! Some of you might know her, as she used to be with 49 in Springfield and 17 in Decatur!

As an aside, things went haywire and I ended up editing someone else's story and they edited mine and did the live shot. But he managed to get in a couple of the cool shots I shot!

LINK TO VIDEO!

Tuesday
Drugs in the schools! OH NOES! Actually, these drugs are a problem as they are the misuse of prescription pills but punk ass kids wanting to get high or get down or whatever. Dumb kids. Why can't they just be like we used to be and sniff magic markers or lick frogs?

Anyway, Noelle and I take a look into the world of illegal prescription drug usage by talking to a former addict. There's a group home for women here called 'Love For Life' which helps they get off of the junk through womanly love (not that kind) and the power of God (yes, I will admit God can be used for good on occasion). It's a great organization and they are really good about talking to us when we need someone to profile.

LINK TO VIDEO.

Wednesday
HOLY SHIT! WATER BAN!

Water pipe broke, so the city of Broken Arrow (no relation to the John Travolta movie which is actually pretty good...) needs to fill the reserves so that they can fix the pipe. So they ban outdoor water usage! And they mean business. $500 fine if you violate the ban. Oofda!

Anyway, I was having a miserable day this day as my camera was broken and I was doing all I can to even slightly give a damn.

LINK TO VIDEO.

Thursday
My Friday! Yay! I always seem to get annoying stories on Friday's. Annoying for no other reason than it's mostly file and other people's video and the whole story was a real stretch.

As a warning, if you are looking to move from a large market to a smaller market, or are about to hire someone who is doing that... Don't. Nothing you do will seem newsworthy.

We do so many stories that I would have just laughed about in Vegas. Oy!

LINK TO VIDEO!

Economic IMPACT!

What's better than doing a baseball story? Listening to all the baseball references the producers write into the intro and teases!

Neat story, the American Legion World Series (Semi-Pro baseball maybe? I thought it was little league until a guy who was like 23 years old interviewed with us.) is in Bartlesville, OK - a nice little town about 45 minutes north of Tulsa. We're doing the story of economic impact on the town! Yay!

Anyway, LINK TO VIDEO!

POWERBALL Mania!

300 million dollars. Time to buy the Powerball tickets. If I win I will give everyone who reads my blog $1,000. But I think it's only fair that if I lose, you have to give me $1,000... Yeah?

LINK TO VIDEO

UPDATE!

I didn't win. I will have a paypal account set up to collect your payments soon.

Well That Was Annoying...

Yahoo, you get +3 Wrath from me! Damn you! Anyway, blogs fixed again! Yippie.

Construction Zone Enforcement!

81st and Mingo. Knocked down to 1 lane each direction with no turn lanes. I go through it often and find myself screaming and yelling at people who are trying to make prohibited left turns, since it keeps any of the forward moving traffic from moving.

So when Noelle told me that we were going to do the story on how TPD was enforcing this, I was thrilled!

The story turned out about speeding and I didn't get anyone on camera being a jackass and making a left turn, but I think it came out pretty well. Glad I didn't have to do a ride a long, considering these were motorcycle officers!

LINK TO VIDEO

Black Lagoon

It seems like I am changing my list of favorite anime at least once a season. My top two never change, but the rest do. As contender for the #3 position on my list, an anime that almost snuck past me. Luckily one of the people I play with on EVE pointed it out to me.

Black Lagoon.

Hot chick who kills people for a living and probably gets some kind of sexual high from it! What's not to love? If you want (need) to go farther than that, the show has some very interesting characters and a very strange case of Stockholm Syndrome at the beginning.

Anyway, the first season is out on DVD, so you can go rent it on Netflix, or better yet, buy it from Suncoast. The second season is either airing or has aired in Japan. I am unsure if it's licensed, so I am not going to provide you with a download link. Not like it would be hard to find.

By the way, the wild ass tribal style ink Revy has covering her arm and neck has inspired me. I wonder how many people at the annual Thanksgiving gathering I could give heart attacks to with something similar?

Mandatory DUI Holiday Story

With a twist though. Instead of looking for the victim, we found a cop who takes DUI's personal. I am sure a lot of you know exactly what I think of drunk drivers and exactly what I would like see happen to them. I'd like to ride along with some at night and get some good video of the fucks being arrested.

LINK TO STORY.

There are a couple of shots I really like in this story, some not so much. I notice I always tend to over shoot what I don't end up needing and undershoot what I do. I don't know if this is me, or my reporters writing poorly and not writing to video.

This is why spot news is so much easier. Action and flashing lights galore to cover nasty jump cuts.

Well Duh...

From the 'No Shit' file...

Clock is Ticking on Las Vegas' Water Supply

The news coming from the Southern Nevada Water Authority Thursday about the valley's future water supply is worrisome. Unless we act quickly, there will be no water for hundreds of thousands of Las Vegas Valley residents in just three years.

Read the rest of the article on Las Vegas NOW (KLAS).

A major metropolitan area in the middle of the desert and mountains is short on water?! Whodathunk it.

You would think someone would have though about this before they allowed two million people to move there in under ten years. I feel bad for the Las Vegas natives, as they are going to have to pay for city, county, state and even federal improper management of the massive influx of people to the area.

And yes, it is the government's fault. The feds (BLM - Bureau of Land Management) sold off all the land they owned for private development. The county and the cities just hand out building permits like they were candy, with no regard to the strain all these people are having on the areas infrastructure. (Drive down Blue Diamond Road, if you can. Classic example of building 67321200182 homes before bothering to increase the road to 4 - 6 lanes to handle the traffic.)

And of course the state could give a damn. More people, more sales tax and casino revenue.

Nice knowing you, Las Vegas. There is of course one positive. Maybe this will kill off about a million or so Southern Californians! Of course those snobby bastards only buy bottled water, so it will probably only kill their lawns...

Defending The Homeland...

CNN is reporting...

National Guard Deployed to Battle Storm in Texas. See, this is why we need to send our troops to the Bahamas. Fight these storms over there so we don't have to fight them over here.

All political snarkieness aside, I did indeed find the wording of CNN's headline hilarious, and it spurred a comical Photoshop!


"Right in the eye, muthafucka!"

Where Did I Screw Up?

How do I end up doing the same old mediocre crap like stolen air conditioners and shoplifting sprees, and people like Angie get to go into an airplane with Buzz 'Mother Fuckin'*' Aldrin and float around?

How the hell do you get out of GA and in to KA?

*Not to be confused with Mother Fucking John Glen. If you don't get this by now, time to log off!

6 Day Work Week...

This has been an ass of a week. Scripts coming in late, being shoved out the door the second I walk in, grumpy assignment editors and so much PGA that I want to find the nearest golfer and jam a sand wedge up his ass.

Seriously, if you're golfing and see me coming, run fast.

• SUNDAY: Dealing With PGA's Traffic


• MONDAY: PGA Parking Security


• TUESDAY: PGA Traffic in Neighborhoods*


• WEDNESDAY: People Stealing AC Units**


• THURSDAY: MASSIVE FUCKING POWER OUTAGE!!!!!***


• FRIDAY: Tulsa Co. Health Department Working on Stopping West Nile!****

*Couldn't get our live shot out. Damn trees and hills and tall buildings!
**97% file video. I don't even want to go into what kind of cluster fuck this story was...
***Poor Noelle. She worked 10 and a half hours without any break. She was a real trooper this day.
****More file video! This story started out easy, became a cluster fuck, then somehow fixed its self, recluster fucked when the laptop in the truck went FUBAR, then became good again when we were able to send back raw and one of the editors filled the holes in my mostly completed package (we needed video of spraying, which they don't do till 7, except for this day when they told us to be there at 7 but actually left at 6:30...)

I Don't Like John Farrell

For the record, this post has a lot of swear words in it, even for OtakuPhotog. Reader discretion is advised.

If I were to come up to you and say, "Dude, you're bitchin'!", would you assume I was telling you that you were being loud and complaining a lot, or that you were really cool? If I told you that you were "illin'", would you think you were getting sick?

No.

"You gotta be shittin' me!" does not imply that you are crapping on my head.

Know why?

N + Apostrophe.

Bitchin', illin', rockin'... All examples of it. You change the meaning of the word when you N + Apostrophe.

Which brings me to my point. Fuckin' and fucking are two different words. Fuckin' = good. "Fuckin' awesome!" Fucking = bad. "Fucking women drivers!" Expand it. "Mother fuckin' awesome!" Much better than just 'fuckin' awesome.' "Mother fucking female drivers!", much worse than just 'fucking female drivers.'

Now that we have the semantics of the word down, let's go into something.

When I first met John Farrell in February of 2005 I was like 'who the fuck is this dude?' But as the time went by and I got to know him more, I learned who he is.

John is an interesting fellow. He's got 172 scanners in his car and this really cool voice, which in all honesty, if he called me on the phone in the middle of the night I would probably scream and hide in the closet. But John is more than just that.

John is the best photojournalist I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He's a hard worker who knows how to do the job and do it well. John knows more about news than most of the 'news professionals' at any given television station. John knows Las Vegas better than the mayor and he knows more about the law than the sheriff probably does.

Despite all this it some how took him 45 minutes to get 2 blocks from the Speede Mart to Starbucks.......

Anyway... The more I worked around John, the more I looked up to him. John once told me that he referred to me as 'the John Farrell of Channel 8', and despite the fact that I didn't tell him this, I really took that as a sign that I had achieved something in Vegas and that I was actually, finally, good at what I did. While I could never actually be John Farrell - no one can - the fact that he considered me to be as good as him (or he was just telling me that to boost my self esteem) really meant something to me.

I respect John more than I do anyone else I have ever worked with. To go all emo here, if I got nothing else out of my two years in Vegas, the fact that I met John made it all worthwhile. Don't get me wrong, I met lots of wonderful people out there, but there was just something about John that.. well... more. He was not my competition, but my teacher. I probably never told him this but he taught me every day. I watched John... The way he interacted with people showed me a lot and I'd like to think that I am actually better at what I do because of that.

Finally, John was many things. Competition... Co-worker... Topless Woman bragger... But more than anything else, and the most important thing at all... Mother Fuckin' John Farrell is my friend. That right there is the most important thing John is.

To this guy who posted a couple of months ago:

...and so has John Farrell, but what's the story with this John Farrel dude? Is he someone you don't like or is "Mutha Fuckin'" meant with affection because you do like him? A little confusing as you mention him a lot but keep referring to him as "Mutha Fuckin' John Farrell". I don't know the guy of course but you sound like you like him and don't like him all at the same time. Sometimes you seem happy, frustrated, pissed off and trying to be positive but are actually depressed all at the same time.

I don't like John Farrell. I love that man. Not in the way of the ancient Greeks, as even if I was of that persuasion, John's too old for me; but as man loves his brother or as a kitty-cat loves a cardboard box.

I don't think I will ever be able to pay John back for what he's taught me or the kindness he showed this fat ass Midwestern schmuck, so the best I can do is keep mentioning him here.

He's Mother Fuckin' John Farrell. And that's that.

Filipino Jails Ain't So Bad...

The Filipinos embrace prison overcrowding. We Americans could learn something.



:)

Panhandlers Beware!!

TPD, right before the PGA of course, decides to round up homeless people. Panhandlers to be exact. TPD says if they find homeless who are not panhandling, not drunk and not doing anything else even partially illegal, they will be left alone.

I've seen these stories done in Vegas. They almost always end in the ACLU or some other homeless advocacy group (who IMHO usually do nothing but ensure the people stay homeless) going ape poopy.

So after interviewing TPD, we skirted across town to talk to a homeless shelter director, both Noelle and I expected to hear him blast TPD and call for the hanging of the chief of police.

Imagine our surprise when he not only approved of what TPD was up to, but applauded it. He went so much further as well. Watch the story, it's interesting.

One of the things he told us is that a majority of the panhandlers are not 'homeless', and if they are, they are homeless by choice. He is probably right, as he would understand homeless people better than us, being as he's dedicated the last 20 years of his life helping them.

When we went around with TPD we found one dude who was wasted off his ass. TPD asked him where he lived and he was 'no where.' He was indeed homeless. So could both TPD and the pastor we talked to be right? The homeless man claimed he could make between 20 and 60 dollars a day panhandling. When asked what he spent it on, he said 'beer, cigarettes and food.' 'In that order?' He was asked. He nodded.

The pastor explained that the majority of homeless people are homeless by circumstance and that they want to correct the situation. He talked of those people having their reputations sullied by the panhandlers.

It was not something that could be fully tackled in a single story, but we did our best. For the record, you might get motion sick from the live shot. As well, because I had to hurry back out to get the roundup, I some how managed to edit the package, from track to it hitting the server, in about 26 minutes. Not a feat to be cheered normally, but our editors are ass, and most the time I think tape to tape would be easier to use.

LINK TO VIDEO!

Sales Tax Holiday!

I almost gave myself heat stroke doing this story! Ish!

Wal*Mart also censored us, but their store, their rules, I guess.

LINK TO VIDEO!

Cops Prepare for PGA!

TPD prepares for the PGA championship coming to town! Random neighbor in 3... 2... 1...


LINK TO VIDEO

PGA Illegal Vendors

Vendors not paying there taxes and selling illegal PGA gear and ice cream! TPD is on it!


LINK TO VIDEO