Tonight Marla and I were assigned to stake-out the red carpet in downtown Greenville, and try to talk with celebrities playing in the BMW golf tournament thing that was in town this week.

Here's a few quick photos we snapped between interviews, and getting pushed and shoved by Kevin Costner stalkers fans:

Here's a hundred people mauling at Kevin "Tin Cup" Costner.



Kevin Sorbo of TV's Hercules Andromeda fame.



Marla chatting up Kurt Russell. Later she'll ask me what these captions are all about.



Here's me staging a photo with the lady from JAG because I thought it'd be too creepy to ask her to pose in a photo after a bunch of weird guys (that made her sign some bikini pictures of her in Maxim) who all asked for the exact same thing. But, now looking at the photo I realize that it turned out probably 10 times creepier than the actual asking for a photo.

I don't fly. Everyone knows that.

But, yesterday we needed to get across the state fast. Really fast. So, they presented us with the option of using the helicopter as transportation.

Our dilemma: Do we get in the car and drive for 90 minutes - hoping to get there on time? Or do we get treated like rock stars and get flown down there (and then chauffeured) in our very own helicopter?

Tough decision.

I took a deep breath and said "um..okay. Let's do it." I popped some Dramamine, put on my motion sickness bands, and started snapping some photos of my adventure in SKY 4.

[From left to right:] Marla, LLR, and Brandon about to hop in the chopper.



Brandon, our young-and-talented pilot getting ready to launch, or take off, or whatever it's called in a helicopter.



Marla taunting me from the cockpit.



I sat in the back seat, drugged up on Dramamine, and keeping an eye on the door across from me - which FLEW OPEN about 25 minutes into our flight. Too bad Luckily, my Betacam didn't fall out.



Marla enjoyed watching Oprah as our in-flight entertainment.



And my digital camera interrupted Marla's TV show (a few times) as I taunted her from the back seat.



And then it was all over. The ride was a little bumpy at first, but it worked out great. I'm not saying I'm ready to operate the little camera and fly around in circles taking pictures of overturned semi trucks and mill fires, but it's definitely a start.

TV newsrooms get all kinds of weird-ass junk sent to them all the time. Stalker food. Crappy books and CD's. And tons of other, random press-release-related stuff. So, it was no surprise to my friend (and news producer), Hasser when he found a dumb stuffed bear lying on the floor near his desk.

He immediately adopted the bear as his temporary mascot and then somehow accidentally got soy sauce on the 'bottom' of the plush toy. Never to be one to shy away from toilet humor, Hasser named the toy "Poopy Bear" and made sure that everyone knew it.

One of those imaginary lightbulbs lit up above Hasser's head and he went home and auctioned the bear on eBay. The results weren't quite what he expected. Which is weird, I mean who wouldn't want their own "Poopy Bear" toy?

Anyway, the auction soon ended and full-time genius/part-time verbal abuser, B. Alan Orange won the bear. Hasser reluctantly parted with his toy, and sent it to Orange in Los Angeles.

Last night Hasser opened his inbox to see the photos of the bear posing with a bunch of celebrities, like Paris Hilton and Elisha Cuthbert at the premier of House of Wax!

Okay, how weird is this getting?

Knowing Orange, this bear is gonna be everywhere - much to the chagrin of b-list celebrities all over Southern California. And Hasser? He's out of control:




I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of this bear.

Okay, so I finally did it. I was out on breaking news and we didn't have time to get video back to the station (actually we had time, but the lightning was too close to our TV van). So I whipped out the camera phone and zapped a few photos of storm damage back to the station. And Erin talked over the pictures in a phone interview.



I've always thought it was cool in theory, but never thought I'd ever have to do it. My friend's an assignment editor in Ohio, and he mentioned that his station is arming their field crews with camera-enabled cell phones. It's probably happening at newsrooms everywhere - which is kinda cool.

Well today was my day, and I'm glad I had a signal (because my phone won't even work next to the station sometimes).

-------------------------------------

Speaking of camera phones, and the like...

Cory, over at Lost Remote posted some "How did they do that?" articles - based on our adventures at NAB. Worth checking out of you're into: audioblogging, vlogging, or moblogging.

Oh! And, I'm totally wearing this at NAb next year. Talk about high-tech!

--------------------------------------

And the nomination goes to...

I was happy to learn that my name is on the short-list for a NW Emmy award. I never get nominated. Ever. But, now that I'm gone...

Fingers crossed - check.
Hopes up - check.
Holding breath - for now.

I almost forgot to mention my visit to the Camplex booth at the show! As some of you may remember, I sorta-invented my own dream version of a Camplex device last month and said I was gonna go by the Camplex booth at NAb and tell them about it.

Well, last week "Digger", one of the Camplex guys wrote me about my blog post! They thought my ideas had merit, and then expounded on a few recent innovations of thier own [read comment here]. The message ended with the following:

Take care out there, and do stop by. The stand number is SU 10226 in the South Hall. If you make it towards the end of the day we will have a cold beer waiting for you.

Free beer, surrounded by Camplexes (or is it Camplexi?)! There was no way I was gonna miss out on that.

After hours (maybe days) of searching I found their booth in the South Hall.



And true to their word, Digger (aka Doug) and company provided me with a cold Heinekin and a Camplex beer cozy!



It was a total blast meeting Digger and the guys, and shaking hands with the founder of the Camplex. And, before we took up too much of their time, Hasser and I made sure to get a photo with Digger (and our much appreciated beverages).



Goodtimes.

The last thing on my schedule in Vegas (other than the 4am cab ride to the airport) was the CNN party. The drinks were free, and it was convenienlty held at Caesar's Palace, the hotel I just happened to be staying at. Safran from Lost Remote gave a much better review of the party than I'm prepared to write.

However, I do have two memorable moments to share:

All the newsies rocking out to REO Speedwagon, while waving red CNN glowsticks.



And all the CNN Newsource muffins you could eat! I couldn't resist saying "This is CNN" (in my worst James Earl Jones voice) as I slammed one in my mouth.

I've been busy blogging vlogging my butt off here at NAB. While I have a spare moment, I'd like to show you the hardware that goes into vlogging a convention like NAB.

I don't use anything more high-tech than a Canon Elph for photos and video. The resolution and picture is actually pretty good, but I lower the res when I post the video, so it streams faster.



How do I cut the video? Nothing more sophisticated than Windows Movie Maker. Seriously. If I'm gonna show-off the ease of 'citizen video' then I vowed not to use AVID or Adobe Premier. If you have Windows XP - you can be a vlogger.



I found the support beam where the free wifi is coming from (and there's AC power here too). My signal strength is 'excellent' and I have have my own office chair too.




And, that's all there is to it! Here's a few of my reports over at Lost Remote, in case you missed them:


http://www.lostremote.com/archives/004442.html

http://www.lostremote.com/archives/004454.html

http://www.lostremote.com/archives/004453.html

After running round NAB all day, vlogging for Lost Remote - I decided to hit the wax museum at the Venetian with Hasser and Melinda.

Our photos started out sassy and fun.



And, some were a little sweet.



But, then I just started going crazy.



And getting all Dracula on everything.





We took like a thousand pictures, but all the good ones are on Hasser's camera - so he'll have to post them later this week.

My first day back in the Vegas was filled with the usual, first day arrival stuff: airline travel, taxis, hotel room registration. But there were a few other interesting things.

Here's my break down USA Today, by-the-numbers-style:

Number of hours I arrived in Vegas before networking (and drinking): 1

Number of drinks in first few hours: 3

Number of hours I went before passing out (from fatigue) in hotel room: 2

Number of times I've randomly heard the song, Can't Touch This: 4

Number of people in our limo last night: 14



Number of times I flipped off a picture of Danny Gans: 1,876

Also, there's always seems to be a weird moment for me whenever someone asks, "So what brings you to Vegas?" Oh, I don't know. The same reason that the other 15 billion people come here ever day, I guess. I supppose it's just some kind of conversation starter or whatever. But, occasionally they'll ask it in that creepy way, "What brings you to Vegas, business or pleasure."

I always feel weird saying, "pleasure" but you can't say business because they'll go, "Oh, really what do you do?" or something like that - and then that opens up an even, longer and more convoluted conversation.

My new answer to the question, "What brings to Vegas?":

I get deadly serious and say, "I'm here to find out who killed Tupac." They usually stop asking questions after that, or say, "Oh, are you a..." And I interrupt with, "No. I just really need to know." It's a perfect conversation-ender.

I'm heading off to Vegas for NAB (the big TV industry conference) this weekend. I'll be blogging for Team Lost Remote once the conference kicks off on Monday. I'm gonna try to do some video blogging from the exhibit floor (or vlogging, as the kids are calling it nowadays). And, if you see me in Vegas, or at the show: don't be shy! Feel free to buy me a drink say hello.

I spent the day flying back from Portland, and I got to thinking about plane crashes. Oddly enough, at one point my little iPod Shuffle randomly picked "Mad World" (from the movie Donnie Darko), followed by David Bowie's "Space Oddity", both of which make me think of aeronautical disasters.



Anyway, when we boarded for the connecting flight in Houston I started picking out people - who if we crashed on a tropical island - would fill the role of various Lost characters. This was based soley on appearance and imagination. I saw the doctor-guy, the old guy, the rich girl, etc.

I was almost finished when it hit me. "Oh damn, wait a second," I thought to myself, "Which character would I be?" (provided I survived the crash). Not the doctor. Probably not the con-man/bad boy. Definitely not the Asian businessman. My list was quickly pared down to two guys, and I realized then that I would be Hurley.



Whatever. That's fine. I'm fine with being the overweight, plucky comic relief character. But after looking around the plane before we took off, I'm not so sure some these guys wouldn't kill me in my sleep and steal my water bottle - and that's just before the plane ever takes off - forget the island thing!

Next time I fly, I think I'll load my iPod with some more upbeat music; keep my mind off this stuff. Maybe something by Buddy Holly.

I never - not for one moment - thought that there'd ever be a Jimmy Smits action figure. But, here it is:



Granted, it's not a Jimmy Smits LA Law action figure, but it's still kinda weird. And, I think it's even weirder that like a ton of A-list celebrities have some sort of action figure based on them. People like Martin Sheen (Spawn) and Al Pacino (Scarface) So, I tried really hard to think of the biggest A-list stars I could that still don't have an action figure.

Here' the biggest one's I've come up with:

Tom Cruise
He's been in a ton of action movies, and still hasn't had a figure made in his likeness. There was an Ethan Hunt Mission Impossible figure, but it was a bendy thing made in Taiwan, didn't really have any of the movie branding on it, and looked nothing like him so it doesn't count. Maybe there'll be a War of the Worlds figure coming out soon.

Brad Pitt
I'm pretty sure there hasn't been a Brad Pitt toy. But it's only a matter of time. I bet there'll be a McFarlane-made Fight Club figure sometime in the next few years. (That or a Interview with the Vampire figure)

Julia Roberts
Oops. Actually, I found one! She played "Tinkerbell' in Hook. She had a few (albeit weird) figures made from that movie.

Meryl Streep
Yeah, there isn't a figure or doll made about her. But I think that's probably a good thing.

Okay, this post is getting a little long. I just wanted to show the Jimmy Smits figure. But, now that I think about it, I might just start a little blog about this very thing.

So, I've been watching Lost on ABC, and like everyone else, I have many unanswered questions. Or maybe answers to many unasked questions. I don't know anymore.



Anyway, I tracked down the Green Lantern comic book that the often helpless, Will was reading in a few episodes. [backstory: One time there was a polar bear in the comic when the kid was reading it, and later in the episode a polar bear attacked the castaways. Coincidence? I think not.]




I formulated similar opinions to some other bloggers who also looked into the comic. One guy mentioned that the Green Lantern's powers lend some similarity to freak occurrences on the island. The comic featured a weird alien on an island, but that would seem pretty obvious to anyone who watches the show. The only thing I realized from this is that I still don't really care for Green Lantern.

Maybe I'll go play those cursed lottery numbers instead and see what happens.

Just a friendly robot reminder to set your clocks ahead.
That is all.

/llr

Got called out on breaking news at the end of our shift. Some guy drove his truck through the window of a strip mall Mexican restaurant, right into a table of folks eating chips and salsa. The wall/window was demolished, but everyone was fine. It was just a dumb, yet-to-be-determined-careless accident.





I shot a ton of video, and we interviewed some witnesses (for good measure). At one point, I realized the driver of the truck was nearby. I was about to throw my camera on him, but I looked him over and stopped. He was looking pretty pathetic.

It kinda reminded me of that scene in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome where Mad Max was facing Blaster in the Thunderdome. He about to kill the menacing juggernaut, but when the mask was knocked off, he saw that it was actually a sad retarded guy in a suit of armor, and he felt bad and didn't smash his head in.

It was kinda like that for me. The driver was a dumb, late teens/early 20's kid, and he looked like he was about to cry at any moment. And, to make it worse I think his Mom had just shown up. Which just sucks, you know.

They realized I was staring at them and they looked really freaked out. So I walked over and said, "Um..dude, I didn't take your picture. You have enough to worry about right now without having your face all over TV too." His mom (at least I think she was) was really grateful, but he still looked like he was gonna break down crying.

[update: sunday night]
Anyway, at the time I thought, "I am a really nice guy. That was a cool thing to do." But about an hour later I was all, "Damn. I shouldn't have done that. I should've shot him. What was I thinking?" I went back and forth like that in my head all weekend long.

So, I just watched the Thunderdome scene again on DVD, and I think I did the right thing. It's probably what Mad Max would've done.