Funny Thing Happened To Me Yesterday...

So I'm getting ready to shoot an interview in this house in Monclova yesterday. There are six adults in the room that have come for the interview and two kids that are going to be part of my b-roll for this story about a new children's educational product.

As I'm setting up, I pull a microphone cable out of my vest pocket and start hooking it up to my camera. I hear a slight gasp behind me and one of the ladies say, "That just fell out of his pocket."

Let me give you some back story now. I earned my BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. I also earned a minor in sound design. One of the courses I took dealt with gathering audio while in the field. One of the tips my professor taught me was how to protect a shotgun microphone from the rain. A shotgun microphone is a directional microphone about 3/4 of an inch round and 6-12 inches long. Mine is mounted on my camera. The professor told us that in the rain, an unlubricated condom can be put over the foam windscreen that covers a shotgun microphone with only a 10% loss in audio to protect it. See where I'm going with this one yet?

Yeah, so I hear this lady say it fell out of my pocket. I look over on the floor behind me and see this balled up, off-white thing lying on the floor. It's kind of dark in the room and I can't really see what it is, so I don't think anything of it. Now I hear more whispers behind me. I look over at my reporter, Lissa Guyton, and she has this horrified look on her face.

The lady behind me taps me on the shoulder and says, "That just fell out of your pocket."

When I take a closer look, I see it. There in all it's glory is a half rolled, unlubricated condom strewn across the floor.

After some explaining we all had a good laugh. I did, however, get an awkward look from one of the ladies we interviewed when I asked her to unbutton her jacket so that I could put a microphone cable out of sight inside her jacket.

-Billau

Ben Konop Heckled at Presser

You may have heard on television lately or read in the local paper, that Lucas County Commissioner/Mayoral Candidate Ben Konop was heckled at a presser over the weekend. Like we stated when we started these things, the photog vlogs are to share video that we shot (Chris G. in this case) that didn't make it to our airwaves. Here's the heckling presser.



Thanks for watching.
-Billau

Wilkowski and Biden

V.P. Joe Biden was in town today. One of the people in attendance at his speech was Toledo Mayoral Candidate Keith Wilkowski.

Wilkowski's website states:
Inspired by Barack Obama's message of change and vision for rebuilding America's cities, Keith founded and chaired "Toledoans for Obama."

I guess the V.P. didn't remember him. Here's their exchange today:



Thanks for watching.
-Billau

Red Wings and the Stanley Cup and Time Off

[This post has nothing to do with news or 13abc. I just needed a place to vent about hockey.]

If in some freak chance the Red Wings don't win the Stanley Cup this year, the blame falls squarely on NBC. In the NHL playoffs, when a team wins a series in 4 (Pittsburgh) or 5 (Detroit) games, they are always rewarded with a few extra days off before the next series starts. NBC has forced the NHL the start the Stanley Cup Final with only 2 and 3 days rest for the Wings and Penguins respectively. Even more, the first three games will be played in four days.

Why would NBC do such a thing? Maybe it's because they realize that because the playoffs have been so exciting this year, they want to keep the momentum going for the fans.

Nope.

Maybe NBC sees that the two teams that will be meeting in the final are both on a hot streak right now and NBC wants them to stay hot.

Nope.

I'M A CELEBRITY, GET ME OUT OF HERE!
INSIDE THE OBAMA WHITEHOUSE: BRIAN WILLIAMS REPORTS (parts I & II)

Yup.

NBC doesn't want to interrupt it's stellar summer lineup. Thanks for your concern. Tell you what NBC, I'll trade you the NBA on ABC for the NHL on NBC. Straight up. No? That's cool. I'll be watching Don Cherry on CBC anyway.

Go Wings!

-Billau