Tag Archives: WTMJ

Hollywood, Uncategorized

Oscar Fail

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Despite the effort to get out early and knock out those contending flicks, Jen and I did not see all the Best Pic nominees.  Sadly, then, I cannot reasonably offer any critique or prediction on the outcome Sunday’s show.

On TMJ this morning, they did mention the predictions of some sort of math genius who likes movies and has been mostly spot-on with the “big categories,” over the last few years.  Take that for what you will.

Other than that, I will open it up to you, my comrades, about the nominees you may have seen this year– what are your thoughts?  Here is a quick summary of an Oscar-related talk I had with Schneidie via phone yesterday:

  • Ben Button — really, really, REALLY long.  Gump-ish, which is not necessarily a bad thing; it’s just that Gump has been on cable like twice a week for the last 10 years, so everyone in America has seen it like a million times.
  • Slumdog Millionaire — nice movie.  Truly.  But what’s with all the hubub?  The way some people are talking about it, it BLEW them away in a Star Wars–circa ’77 sort of way.  For the uninformed, they have had motion picture technology in India now for more than a couple decades…

Enjoy the show, if you decide to watch it.  I usually only catch the last 30-40 minutes, then review the recap of winners in the morning.  Maybe I’ll watch The Producers, at home from my Netflix right now…

Sports, Uncategorized

PLEASE Say It Ain't So!

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The Journal-Sentinel is reporting this morning that the Atlanta Braves will consider long-tenured Brewers play-by-play man Jim Powell to fill their radio broadcasting vacancy.  The Braves’ Skip Caray (as well-known and beloved as our own Bob Uecker down south) passed away last summer, and Pete Van Wieren abruptly announced his retirement.

I know I’m not alone in saying that I’ve grown to love Jim Powell on the Brewers Radio Network as much as Bob.  I can rememeber when Jim first came to Milwaukee for the 1996 season.  It was an adjustment for Uecker and the listeners after a long run with Pat Hughes in the broadcast booth.  Over time, the rapport between the broadcasters grew, and now it would be tough to count the memorable moments Jim and Bob have shared on the air (for me, many of them are marked by Jim’s uncontrollable laughter at another of Bob’s deadpan, self-depricating jokes).

Personally, I’ve also grown quite fond of Jim’s play-by-play style.  He never misses a beat in the action, but he also manages to instruct and enlighten the listeners in the finer points of the game on a nightly basis.  I’ve learned more about managerial straegy, the baseball rulebook, and various players’ approaches at the plate or on the field (and truly enjoyed it!) just by listening to Jim than I could have by reading a mittful of books on baseball.  Not only is Jim a sharp baseball guy, but his partner’s comedic timing and bone-dry delivery has rubbed off during the past 13 years.  They both make the broadcast enjoyable even when the game is a blowout, or when the team is not very good.

In offering Jim a chance to work in Atlanta for the Braves, geography has to be their ace in the hole; Jim is from Georgia, and has spoken on air time to time about his youth spent listening to Braves games on the radio.  You can’t fault a guy for jumping on what would probably be a dream job.

However, if the Brewers have any chance of retaining him, I really hope they make a push to do so.  Once again, I’m not alone in thinking that it would be great to have a familiar voice to tune in to after Bob retires (not that there’s been any indication he will any time soon, but he is turning 74 this month).  If one of the issues at hand is money (and why wouldn’t it be), the payroll situation for the Brewers’ broadcast team is probably a stumbling block.  Powell is paid by WTMJ radio, and Uecker is employed by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Granted, I don’t have any “inside knowledge,” but it takes only a slightly-more-than-casual listener to recognize that 620 doesn’t appear to have a ton of cash to thrown around on talent.  They’ve let people go pretty regularly over the last few years, they went to syndication in their 8-midnight timeslot, and Journal Communications (the parent company) also canned the entire on-air staff at WKTI and switched formats shortly before the end of 2008.  Personally, I would like to see some effort made by a consortium of WTMJ and the Brewers to try to hang on to Jim.  The effort may prove futile, but it would be nice to know that they at least asked what it would take to keep him.

Boy, there are a LOT of changes coming down the pike for the 2009 Brewers…

General, Uncategorized

My Problem, or Yours?

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So pretty much right when I started working here, another one of the fin aid advisors is taking a new job in Madison (I thought about applying for that one, actually).

I was thinking about whether or not it would be nice to have another male come in to the fold and join our little ‘unit.’ I haven’t worked in a lot of places with other men. I don’t know what that says about me. The last one was WTMJ, and we all know how well that worked out (I don’t think it had anything to do with the gender make-up of the staff, though).

At UWO, my supervisor was a man, but he was kind of old enough to be my dad, and we didn’t have much in common. Plus, I don’t think it’s easy to be chummy with one’s boss.

Here, there are plenty of other men working in the department, but none directly in my ‘unit.’ The biggest thing that I differ from my immediate colleagues on is the length and depth to which situations and/or procedures should be examined/analyzed. I really appreciate having the least discussion necessary, and moving ahead with the solution or approach that makes the most sense. If it turns out that it doesn’t work, I look at it as a lesson for next time. I don’t feel like imagining every conceivable scenario in advance is always the best use of time.

While I would certainly appreciate another ‘male’ perspective on this and other topics, I also get a little apprehensive thinking about how I and the new man would be naturally expected to ‘get along,’ but that may not be the easiest thing for me. At times, I’ve been guilty of having a first impression of someone that is way off, and it gets awkward when I no longer want to associate later on, but enough time has elapsed that I’m ‘stuck.’ In relations with women, this is a lot easier to overcome, because it can simply be chalked up to “gender issues.” I dunno, this is probably just a personal anxiety issue. I have some problems.

Anyway, that’s what I’m working on today. I also need to try to figure out when/if I’m going to get some time off to move, and where I’m going to move to. I had some thoughts and conversations over the weekend that freaked me out about buying real estate again, but it still might be the best thing (as opposed to renting).

Oh, and this was interesting: I walked home from work to Jen & Joe’s on Friday. About 8 miles. It took me roughly 2-and-a-half hours.