June Gloom

"Some people laugh in the dark
Some people cry alone
Some people talk without sayin' a thing
And ev'rything turns out gloomy"
--Gloomy, Creedence Clearwater Revival

This definitely doesn't apply to the weather in Manhattan Beach the last few days (spent a wonderfully relaxing hour on the sand yesterday afternoon, hoping to spend more such time today), but rather the inspiration behind and the frequency of my writing. There was a time not long ago when I was writing two or three times a week, but numerous factors have contributed to the decline of western civilization (or the number of my blogs, whichever is less significant). In the meantime (my last entry was May 12), there's been plenty to discuss, so let's begin this morning with the three most significant work-related items of the last month:
- MLB on Fox started up again, which means my Saturdays (from 9-4:30 or so) are now spent in the captivity of America's pastime; I can certainly think of worse ways to spend a Saturday (than watching five or six games at once and being fed twice), but with the sun shining as it has been, it's sometimes tough to justify spending another work day indoors. Our first week boasted Barry's 714th (who cares), a Yankees four-run rally to beat Billy Wagner and the Mets, and the sweet Michael Barrett-A.J. Pierzynski brawl in the Cubs-White Sox game. By the way, I recently read (in a great book called "Juicing the Game" by Howard Bryant) that the five-year contract Fox signed with MLB in '95 was worth less in total than the previous contract with CBS had been worth per year. That's how far baseball had fallen in the immediate aftermath of the strike, to the point that it was Fox that was taking a gamble, despite the extremely low number.
- Had my greatest day as a Best Damn employee, attending Game 7 of the Suns-Clippers series in Phoenix with Jalen Rose. Not only was producing the feature an amazing experience (by far the biggest element I've overseen), but just hanging out with Jalen in between shooting time was awesome. We mostly shot before the game (talked to Steve Nash,
- Had my second greatest day as a Best Damn employee, escorting a group of Hooters girls at our Hermosa Beach show on June 9. Among several other responsibilities, I was in charge of getting "tease" shots of Marisa Miller for our various elements being cut back in studio (don't worry, I saved the tape). You do need to see these girls, though...

Unfortunately, the main work-related, blog-relevant topic is that I've had way more to do in the mornings, and therefore have no time to a) think for myself, or b) transpose those non-existent thoughts and manifest them in blog form. Responsibilities seem to grow by the day, but I'll attempt to get back at this sometime before the end of the month...