First Mini-Doc

I will be handing in my mini-doc for JOUR 203 tomorrow, at the CJAD Open House. I really like it, considering I did it in 3 days, during an internship, and having only 2 days to collect sound with a mini-disk recorder. So I decided to post it ;)

Here's the link to the audio (WMA), zipped. Let me know if it doens't work: http://www.boss.staticservers.com/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=47647

Here's my script... Don't worry, the original has a slug, and is formatted in radio style ;)


Announcer’s Intro:
It’s awards show season. The Grammys were last week and the Oscars are coming up, not to mention Canadian shows. With so much to watch and so little time, is it any wonder that ratings are down? Naila Jinnah has the story.

Wild sound:
IN CUE: “And the Grammy…” OUT CUE: Brokeback theme (6 secs)

Reporter’s copy:
It’s that time of the year again. Grammys, Oscars, Junos… Award show season is upon us. Despite organizers’ attempts to start stud the events, ratings are down. Only 15 million viewers tuned into the Grammys on Wednesday night, compared to 19 million in 2005. I went to the Paramount theatre in downtown Montreal, a hotspot for trendy teens. Fourteen-year-old Anthony thinks there are too many awards ceremonies.

IN CUE: “Yeah pretty much…”
OUT CUE: “… a month or something”

Thirteen-year-old Jade mostly disagrees with the critics who give the awards, yet she still watches the ceremony.

IN CUE: “I like like…”
OUT CUE: “sound live.”

Jade’s friend Phoenix, who is eleven, likes to see artists collaborating.

IN CUE: “I watch it also…”
OUT CUE: “… and Linkin Park”

Performance-wise, Phoenix has got it right. The show at the Grammys was one of the best in recent years. Critics and artists alike agree that performing is often better than winning. Album sales go up, whether they get the statue or not. In fact, Jade believes critics are often wrong in their choices.

IN CUE: “I think that…”
OUT CUE: “…gonna see it.”

Jade hit a sore spot for most awards shows, staying updated with today’s youth. The industry’s major market is hooked on entertainment, as Phoenix explains.

IN CUE: “I find them…”
OUT CUE: “… make conversation.”

Entertainment seems to be the key for Anthony as well. And for him, that means comedy.

IN CUE: “I don’t know…”
OUT CUE: “…boring.”

So while each award show has its highs and lows, there’s no question that it’s entertaining. Even for someone who is not at all interested in the awards. Twenty-one-year old Galia explains how she gets a kick out of the show.

IN CUE: “It’s no surprise…”
OUT CUE: “…best part.”

Galia might be cynical, but there’s no denying that a great fall is very entertaining. Add a few more performers and a funny host, and you’ll have a recipe for success. Maybe that’s what the low ratings are all about.

FADE IN WILD SOUND
For Concordia News, I’m Naila Jinnah.
WILD SOUND UNTIL FADEOUT



*****************

Well, that's it. I wonder if anyone actually reads this :O
Drop me a line, sometime...

Filipino Girl needs Bone Marrow Transplant

I have decided that occasionally, I will post calls for help, or other charity activities on this blog, to help spread the word in all kinds of events. Here's the first one, and it is very important.
Please help save lives, as cliche as it might sound.

EDIT: You can now visit Christine's website: http://christine.site.ph/

Copy pasted from Wil Wheaton's blog, please help:

Seeking a potential Marrow Donor

One of my fellow Los Angeles Poker Bloggers, StudioGlyphic (who won the WPBT Winter Classic last December) is looking for some help for one of his friends, whose girlfriend is very sick with cancer, and desperately needs a bone marrow transplant to survive. The odds of finding a donor match are about 1:20,000, but this girl's odds are even longer because she is Fillipino:

Medically, the only option Christine has left is a Bone Marrow Transplant. The survival rate of this procedure is 30-40%. Of those who do survive the procedure itself, only 50% survive the next two years. However, if she does survive those two years, it means the cancer won't come back.This is a pretty terrible option. However, the non medical option is also horrible.

Her doctor says that if she chooses not to have the Bone Marrow Transplant, she'll be dead within a year.This is hard enough for the average person. There are over 20,000 types of bone marrow, so the average person has a 1 in 20,000 chance of finding a match. These numbers are even worse for Christine. Because she is Filipino, she needs to find a donor of the same ethnic background, and there are hardly any Filipinos on the National Registry.

Because we caught the cancer early, right now is our best chance of having the Bone Marrow Transplant work. Every day we lose her chances of surviving drop.So please, contact your friends, and ask them to contact their friends. Anyone you know who is Filipino and between the ages of 18 and 61 is a potential donor. The system is nationwide, so it doesn't matter where they live. Signing up on the registry is easy and painless.

All it requires is a simple blood test. Some hospitals charge a small fee for this blood test, however if your friends contact me directly, I can put them in touch with one of the hundreds of local organizations that will do the blood test for free. They can use this email address:

jacobkrueger@gmail.com

You can reassure your friends that signing up for the registry does not require donating any bone marrow. If it turns out they are a match, they will be contacted, and can make the decision at that point about becoming a donor.There are lots of misconceptions about donating bone marrow. (I know I was terrified of doing it before I learned how minor the procedure actually is.) The procedure is simple and safe. You will be anesthetized the whole time, so you will not feel anything. When the procedure is over, you may have some soreness in the area for a few days and you may feel a little tired. That's it. The bone marrow you donate is replenished within 3-4 weeks. And again, you will only undergo this procedure if your blood sample shows that you are a match and you decide to donate, in which case the slight soreness you'll be feeling will be saving someone's life.All medical expenses for the donor will be covered by Christine's insurance.

And as I mentioned before, if they contact me directly, I can put them in touch with an organization near them that will put them on the National Registry for free and also make sure they are listed as a Sponsor for Christine.

Even if you aren't a match yourself, and even if you can't personally help Christine, please link to this post, and spread the word around. I know there are about a million of you who read this lame blog every month, and if just half of you make some effort to spread the word around, we may be able to help save Christine's life.

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Today is the last day of my internship, and I'm sitting through graduate paper presentations. Some are quite interesting; others are slide after slide of graphs explained in poor English. The Bolker prize will be given out at the end, one of the defining factors will be audience response. I don't think that means applause, though. Probably means how many questions are asked and on what points.

This article will be published in the next edition of Pulp and Paper Canada magazine.
(Psst: Hot Finnish guy just walked in!)

Getting back to business, I will be attending my second class of the week. I went to Radio on Monday night and explained my MiniDisk dilemna. Although the equipment depot at Loyola (the SGW depot doesn't have minidisks) is supposed to remain open until 1 PM, it usually closes a little before 5PM. According to a co-intern, they've had problems with that before.

I will be picking up a minidisk recorder later tonight, when I attend my Print Law & Ethics class. I can no longer use EXFOR 2006 as my topic, though, since the background noise won't make any sense. My topic development was weak anyway. I think I'm going to do it on award shows: if people watch them, why, etc, in light of the Grammy's last night. Again, my topic isn't fully developped yet. It needs to be done by Monday.


... This post kinda died while I got back to reporting ...