Britney not so Hot!

Yesterday a co-worker told me about the partially nude photos of Britney Spears that are posted thesuperficial.com. My first thought (to borrow a line from Paris Hilton) that's hot. However, when I got there and looked at her bare vagina laid out for the world to see my thoughts were anything but hot. I guess there is still that since of novelty since she is this mega star but these pictures are definitely not bringing sexy back. I'm guessing that she must have had a cesarean with one of her children. If not that is on mother of a stretch mark. It's kind of funny that in all the footage of her, Paris and Lindsay Lohan hanging out that Paris is the one dressed conservative. Is Britney having a Mid-twenties crisis. Is she hearing the footsteps of father time creeping up behind her at the ripe old age of 25. This girl needs an honest friend. Judge for yourself. If you're at work wait until you get home. If you're at home send the kids out of the room. 1 2 3

General Nathan Bedford Forrest and MTSU

I have been following this story about the MTSU students wanting to change the name of the ROTC building. Currently it is called Forrest Hall. After General Nathan Bedford Forrest who was a Calvary general in the civil war and was of course from Tennessee. The reason for the petition is because he is also known as a slave trader and for having a role in the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. I have what some would see as a surprising opinion about this considering I'm black. I graduated from MTSU and I remember that building. I never thought twice about it when I was there. The reason being is that his name isn't on that building because of his involvement in the KKK. It's on there because of his service in the military. Everything that I have read has described him as a military genius. I also understand that many of his ideals are still being taught to toady's military. One thing has nothing to do with the other. George Washington owned slaves. You don't see anyone trying to take his face off the one dollar bill. Andrew Jackson owned slaves but you don't see people protesting at the Hermitage. Hell, let's take him off the twenty while we're at it. Don't get me wrong I'm not defending Forrest. The Klan was responsible for many acts of terrorism and I'm sure that he had much to do with it. You also have to remember the time in which he lived. It isn't like he was doing this back in the 70's. Funny thing is I don't recall seeing any of these protesters wearing an ROTC uniform. Makes me think that outsiders are the ones pushing for this and the actual members are alright with it. These kids just need to let sleeping dogs lie. They should be gone in 4 to 5 years anyway.

The Real Michael Richards

The Micheal Richards video was very disappointing to me. I must admit I am a fan of the Seinfeld show and Richards. Hearing him took me back to another time in my life. A time when I didn't always take white guys at face value. A time when white guys had to really earn my trust. I draw these parallels because when someone loses it like that it gives us a glimpse into their real heart. Not the face that they choose to show us everyday. When I was a younger man in my late teens early twenties there were a couple situations that struck me the same way. One was a situation where I heard a white guy I knew saying unflattering things about black people when I was on the phone with his sister. He never knew that the person on the other end was black. Another was the first time I was ever called a nigger to my face. This was by a guy I didn't know well but still never thought he had it in him. Especially when it was unprovoked.I have of course have grown up since then and have different views. I don't have that immediate distrust but there is of course caution around those who fit the build of a racist. Those are the people I can deal with. A good ole rebel flag waving redneck with a white sheet in the back is easy to pin point. It's those like Richards that scare me. The ones that you can't pick out of crowd. No I'm not saying that all redneck rebel flag waivers are racist. I went to college with a guy just like that and he was one of the coolest guys I ever met. Even invited me home with him. I didn't go but not for distrust of him. I didn't trust all the rednecks in his home town that I didn't know.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it is so. Only a racist would say something like that. He wasn't drunk or high he was being his true self. He let his guard down long enough to let the real Micheal show through. By contrast to most I don't feel he owes the whole world an apology. He doesn't owe me one. He owes it to the people to which the comments were directed to. As well as the other people in the audience that he offended. So, all these comics that are trying to get face time by coming to the defense of black people need to stop. Get some publicity some where else. Damn opportunist.
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Save a Horse Ride a Commodore

I'm usually not one to talk smack but Vandy deserve it. Last year they beat my Vols for the first time in 23 years and would not shut up about it. I didn't know this until this weekend but they put the win on DVD. How sad is your program when you put a win over a 5 and 6 team on DVD. I remember this one Vandy fan called into a radio station last year and said that Tennessee always says that their a football team during basketball season. "Now I guess we can say that we are a football team" he said. That team went 5-6 also. I guess this year he can say their even bigger losers because they went 4-8 with 3 of those wins being over division 2 TSU,Temple who went 1-11 this year and the 0 and 11 Duke Blue Devils. I hadn't planned on going but my girlfriend happened upon some tickets late and wanted to go. I'm glad I did. I went expecting to see my Vols beat the crap out of Vandy and that's just what they did.

I have to say that Vanderbilt stadium may be the worse I have ever been in. They are just not equipped to handle full capacity. When we parked the parking attendant apologized because they were unorganized "we not used to it being this busy" she said. There was a line to get into the stadium because they don't have enough gates. There was a line in the vomitory just to get to your seat. We were in the vomitory 5 minutes before kick off and we missed 3 minutes of the first quarter. A bad stadium for a bad program.

On the way in a Vandy fan told a rowdy Tennessee fan that "you can't spell county jail with out UT".Well, you can't spell winning season with VU.

I Like It Live

I’ve worked in TV for more than 13 years and I have to say I like live TV the best. I’ll do 4 shows today and one of them will be taped. I hate doing taped TV. Guests don’t show up on time or they socialize past taping time. Producers either don’t do everything they should or they half do it. That of course makes my job harder. Then you have the “oops can we start again”. No let’s just air it with you saying “oops can we start again”. The best thing about live TV is not post show editing. Last week I did a taped program that had a fixable mistake. It could have aired the way it was but I thought I would go the extra mile. Wouldn’t you know it golf ran over and it didn’t air. It is supposed to air this weekend but it still stung at the time. With live TV everyone get’s in place, master control counts us down, we do the show in one take and then get up and leave.

Vandalism Update

I got my car back from the body shop Friday and it looks great. It hasn’t look this good in years. It sucks that I had to get vandalized to get it that way. They were able to get it all off with chemicals rather than re-painting. Unfortunately it cost me a $500 dollar deductible. I have a contractor coming out Friday to look at the house. It would be nice to have it cleaned up before Thanksgiving but I don’t think it will be. This unfortunately will cost me another $500 dollar deductible. So, there you have a thousand dollars out of my pocket right at Christmas. Santa is pissed! A guy at work told me about some stuff that might take the spray paint off my van. Until recently it wasn’t running so I dropped the comprehensive coverage. So, it’s up to me to get it fixed. The paint on it was crap anyway and I don’t want to spend anymore money on this right now. I haven't heard anything new on the suspects. The DA told me they would subpoena me when they set a court date for the minor. I’m not sure if they have picked up the adult. I took out the warrant about a week and a half ago.

Ray Lewis plays the Race Card

I've posted here before about my distaste for black people using the race card where it doesn't apply. Remember the old children's book "The Boy That Cried Wolf". Eventually when he really did need help and nobody came. We are getting close to that in the black community. People think we are just calling wolf because we have over played this card. A new example is by Baltimore Ravens Linebacker Ray Lewis. In a recent interview he hinted at racism wondering if the Tennessee Titans would have treated a white QB like Brett Farve or Peyton Manning the same way as they did Steve Mcnair. I have followed the Titans for a long time. I work on their pre-season games and I've directed the Jeff Fisher show for years. I don't see the racism here. Hey Ray in case you missed it Vince Young is BLACK! Also Billy Volek is white and they shipped his butt to San Diego. Kerry Collins is white and they benched him for Young. Hay Ray you ever heard of a former Oiler QB named Warren Moon?

He is right about one thing Peyton Manning and Brett Favre wouldn't be treated this way. That's because Manning is a 2 time MVP winner and the best QB in the league. Favre is the only three time MVP winner in the history of the NFL. They are both probably first ballot hall of famers. I think it's safe to say that they earned the right to go out on their on terms.

Funny in any order

With a line up like this the Tennessee Volunteers never stood a chance Saturday aginst the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Vols Announce Starter for Saturdays Game

From News 2:

Big orange fans it is official. Coach Phillip Fulmer just announced that Jonathan Crompton will be the starting quarterback this Saturday against Arkansas. Crompton came into last Saturday's game against LSU after starting QB Erik Ainge left with an ankle injury. Crompton tossed two touchdown passes and almost led the vols to victory. He has known all along that being a backup, you are one injury away from playing

A behind the scenes look at TV election coverage

It was a busy day for me yesterday but not like Tuesday which was of course the midterm election. I have been through many of these as a newscast director and they are always chaotic. If people could only see the craziness that goes on behind the scenes. It doesn't matter how much you plan or how prepared you are it's going to be nuts. News people stress themselves out just at the thought of an election. Not so much for us production people. Sure we acknowledge that it is big day and we go through what ever preparation necessary to get the job done but the mentality stays the same. Get on as nice a show as you can but don't sacrifice the overall look of the product. You can't get bogged down with the hype of a big show. Every show should be a big show or your in the wrong line of work. When I was a young director I let myself get caught up in the hype and got myself all nervous before a "big show". I completely bombed it. I learn this lesson that day. Do your best on every show and there is no reason to try harder because you are already doing your best.

The craziest times are usually when we are in un scripted coverage. Fly by the seat of your paints. I have to admit it is a nice change from doing newscasts. It's like doing breaking news. You manage newscasts but you direct breaking news situations. There are 2 to 3 producers in the control room and the phone is ringing off the hook. Everyone would love to be in the room giving their input they can't it just makes the situation worse. As much as it makes them mad sometimes as the director you have tell people to shut up and possibly to leave the room. There should be one main spokesperson as far giving instruction to the director. Interaction with other producers should be kept minimal. This cuts down on getting contradictory information as well the noise level.

Tuesday we had two major changes the made the night more challenging. That afternoon I found out that we would periodically be adding a fifth person to our set that was built for 4. We came up with a quick plan that we thought would work. We didn't have the luxury of getting cameras and talent in place to test our plan as we were close to news time. As luck would have it when we got into coverage our plan didn't work. Our fifth guest was hid behind the host on the group shot and we had to shoot between heads to get his close up. The guys on the floor made some adjustments and it finally worked it's self out. Another change happened in the middle of coverage. As you probably noticed that on election night programming is squeezed back over poll numbers. It's called a ticker. This all happens independent of the control room. There are three people in two different rooms that operate that. One person compiles the numbers. Another puts them in the computer that runs the automation and then master control puts them on the air. We were broadcasting on the web, radio and the government channel. With cut-ins on our main channel. The ticker only airs on our main channel. In the middle of coverage management decides they want to see it everywhere. So, engineering had to scramble to make it available to the control room and we had to build and adjust effects to compensate. We had to sacrifice some things but this goes back to what I said before about preserving the overall look. Those things were just window dressing.

It was a long tiring night. Overall things went well and I think everyone did a good job.

My Civic Duty

I voted today. It only took about 40 minutes and I think it would have gone faster if not for the new machines and all the amendments. This was a difficult election this year. I had a hard time deciding between the U.S. Senate candidates. The truth is I don't like any of them. That's when I had an epiphany. Who is the one person in this world that I can always depend on? The answer is me. I would rather choose no one than choose the wrong one or someone I don't like. So, I wrote myself in. That's right I voted for myself for the U.S. Senate. I encourage others to do the same. If you don't feel like any of the candidates deserve your vote then don't vote for any of them. Your voice will still be heard and my voice says I think your all bums and you don't deserve my support and I refuse to give it to you.

My Bad Weekend

My girlfriend were arriving home from a holiday party Friday when I saw a guy ducking down between my car and van. I yell stop the car as I noticed the spray paint on my car. It took me a minute to get out because I had a little to drink and I was in a hurry. The two "artist" took off running and I chased after in a suit of all things. They ran through my neighbors back yard and jumped over the fence. I did the same. Just as I make it over the fence I noticed one of them just standing there. I figure why chase the other one when this one is dumb enough to just stand in one spot. I grabbed what I thought was a male suspects arm to my surprise it was a girl. She had her face covered with a bandana. I said your coming with me and she didn't put up a fight.Which made me nervous. She was just to calm. So, I watched her close on the way back to my house for fear that she may be armed. We got to my house and I told to sit. She complied. I called for my 17 year old son and asked him if her knew her. He said yes. I then asked her why she was vandalizing my property. She replied that my son was trying to kill her. What do you mean I asked. She said that my son was in a gang and had put her name a hit list to be killed. I then called the police.

At the same time my girlfriend had circled through the neighborhood and caught up with the male I had been chasing. She asked him why he was spray painting that guys car he said that he had a problem with the boy that lived there. That he had been messing with his girlfriend. She asked who he was and replied that she didn't need to worry about that. She told him that she had his tags and that the police were on the way and that he could stay and deal with them or they would come to his house. He then chose to leave.

I of course was mad as hell. They spray painted my car, van and house with gang graffiti.Pictures I asked the girl what did her problem with my son have to do with my vehicles and house. My son doesn't have a car. Those are my cars. This is my house. She said she didn't know. I ask her who the guy was she told me "Walter Jones he's my boyfriend". She gave him up without any hesitation. Of course he left her without any as well. She also said that she had been in a gang but she wasn't anymore. The police came and took all the information and took her off to jail. The next day I went to get a warrant on Mr. Jones who turned out to be the legal age of 19. It took most of the day but with the help of a police officer friend I was able to get it done. In the light of morning I also found four bricks covered in bandanas out in my yard. I am guessing that those would have been tossed through my windows if I hadn't come home when I did. That same day I called the kids house to talk to his parents and he answered the phone. His parents weren't home but I did speak with him. I ask him why? He said he was just there to dropped off his girlfriend not realizing that the woman that he confessed to the night before was my girlfriend and lived in that house. Long story short he first denied it. Then he wanted to work things out between his parents and I. I told I would call back and hung up. I spoke with his parents the next day and they came by the house to look at the damage. They are really good people. They were very apologetic to me and disappointed in their son. I felt bad for them.

Back to my son. This is not the first time my house has been vandalized because someone was mad at him. Last year and the early part of this year the rear window of my car was broken as well as paint on the rear of the car. Four windows were broken on the house. One of them twice. He has this fascination with gangs now. I have found pictures of him doing gang signs. Someone told him that he was dead in front of his mother. I keep talking to him about this but he won't listen. He doesn't understand the danger that he is putting himself and our whole family in. I am not going to allow him to get one of his sisters, myself or anyone else close to us hurt or killed because of his stupidity. He turns 18 in August. If anything else happens his 18 birthday will be his last living under my roof. This has been a bad year. I have now put 9 people in jail for vandalism or aggrevated robbery.Pictures

Holiday Party Retraction

I was wrong. I know you don't hear me say that very often but this time I was. Friday night I went to my girlfriends work holiday party and I posted here how much I didn't want to go because people bug me. The people at her new job were awesome and I had a great time. They were cool without overextending themselves. Nobody was trying to make me feel comfortable. Also, for the first time I wasn't the only black guy there. There were about 7 of us. OK, 5 were waiters but still unusual for one of these events. Jokes aside it was great I got drunk and I'm looking forward to the next one.

First Holiday Party

The clothes are picked out and on the bed awaiting me. My girlfriend is in the middle of her beauty regiment and our departure is eminent. An early holiday party for her job. I hate these things. She has a new job this year and that will make it worse. At least at the old job those guys already knew about me and I didn't have to answer all of those questions. Where do you work? How long have you been there? How did you get into that? How many times a week do you work out? How much can you bench. Maybe I should type up all my responses and hand them out. Yes, I am non sociable and that's not going to change. I don't like to be bothered unless I know you.

Another problem is that I will likely be the only black person there. That's not a problem for me but it is for the white people. I'm fine being around white people. I've been around white people my whole life. I'm kind of used to them by now. For some reason when I go to these things it seems that everyone wants to make feel more comfortable. Like I'm part of the group. Since I am the only black person they all know my name and they approach me like we have known each other for years."Hi Lewis good to see ya buddy" They don't realize that I am fine and I don't want to feel like part of the group. What want is to be left alone. However, most of the time there is an open bar. Which is a pretty good thing. The only thing better than beer is free beer. Better go she is getting impatient. Wish me luck.

1 step forward 3 steps back

It's seems every time I do something to improve my house something bad happens. Earlier this year I replaced my front door. Then most of the electrical outlets in my bedroom stopped working. I replaced the carpet. A few months later a hose from a toilet breaks and floods the hallway. I replace the stove and the air goes out. The latest is a hole in the ceiling of my den. We still had a lot stuff laying around that needed to be stored from when my girlfriend moved in. So I started organizing it and putting things in the attic. Things were progressing well then I made one wrong step. I mean I actually made a step that was wrong. Yep, I stepped through the ceiling. I didn't get my full weight down but it was enough to make a huge hole. I guess I should count my blessing that I realized what I was doing before I made a Lewis size hole.