MY GANG: A Meeting Of Hearts And Minds

May 22, 2007 | 7:01 PM PST
Tags: on the lot, videowilliams, cici, DawnAkemi, JessicaMarie, reincarnut, FableForge, JesseHeffring, Thecatbywas, FLYOVER_FILM_GUY, friendship
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"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."   - John Lennon.

A funny thing happened on the way to this show's premiere. I stopped caring about winning, and started to care about the people I was interacting with on this site. I started caring about the details of their lives. I started feeling bolts of emotion at seeing their names. One or two even started feeling it for me.  

Hands up any of you who've had the same experience? I know you're out there 'cos I've seen it. In between the spam and self-promotion, little groups of kindred spirits have found each other. I've discovered I'm not alone: that there are geeks who think like me peppered around this wide blue planet. And the site's so interactive! It's been kinda like the Matrix- bringing people from thousands of miles away into my home. Love, hate, kisses, punches, I've felt them all.

Yet were all these feelings real or a trick of the mind? Were these internet friendships solid or just fairweather diversions? Well, the moment you find out is when you put it to the test. And here was mine: I live in Australia. Even Fox Cable isn't showing OTL down here. I needed someone to record each episode and mail me the tapes. Hey, I wouldn't be getting it live but I'd at least find out what everyone was talking about on the boards.

So just last week, I kinda gulped and asked the person I thought would be most capable of doing it for this very big and time-consuming favour. Then I was hit with second thoughts and pulled it back to asking for just eps one and two. The response?

"I won't stop at the first few episodes because that's just cruel. You will surely be hooked to the show as badly as I will be. That's like giving you a taste of heroin and then refusing to give you anymore. Not right."

My net-friend cici, bless her heart, is doing them all. It's such an act of generosity, and she's doing it with a smile...cici, you rock! Oh baby, you rock louder than the Rolling Stones.

While we're at it:  

DawnAkemi, you've made the act of writing fun and exciting again, challenged me in mind and spirit, and collapsed the wide Pacific down to nothing.

JessicaMarie, you've blown my mind and touched my heart. 

And it's not just women either. 

reincarnut, you've shown me that a parallel being, who thinks and talks exactly like I do, can pop up in any country- even India!

FableForge, you're a true talent, an internet genius, and the living embodiment of the spirit of "can do".

JesseHeffring, you've set an example of devotion to one's art worth emulating. 

And there's more. 

In the show itself, I'll be watching out for Opie Cooper: see my previous blog for more- that guy's a mate. For Jeremy Corray, who took a risk by answering my post on a message board and telling us all what it was like behind the scenes. Zach Lipovsky, who I picked from the beginning as a finalist, and whose posts on his film page acknowledged our support and good wishes. And Michael Chait, a student of vsinglet who himself is a friend of mine. What they do is make this show more than a distant abstraction to me. I know they're real: they've given me someone to identify with.

I don't suppose I've watched TV in over 3 months now. I've been obsessively on-line at On The Lot. What an adventure it has been! So did I get what I was coming for 3 months ago?

No, I didn't.

I got more.

Enjoy the show!

 

Member Comments: 22

 

Delete JessicaMarie visit blog


May 22, 2007 | 7:11 PM PST

Dave, you're the man. This is a fabulous blog.

I'm surprised you didn't ask me, but I should have offered!!

Jeremy will surprise you.

Didn't see Michael.

You the man...I'll say it again.

Delete cici visit blog


May 22, 2007 | 7:16 PM PST

My dearest boom man,

Check your mailbox soon!

xoxoxo!!!

We will have much to talk about! Can't wait!!

Last edited by cici on May 22nd at 7:33 PM.

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


May 22, 2007 | 7:22 PM PST

Here was my calculation, Jess. I thought the person I'd hit up for this huge favour should be:

(1) enthusiastic about it
(2) technically skilled

Not that I'm saying you're not number (2) though I did have my doubts if you were number (1) any more. Anyway, perhaps, now that you've duplicated the offer, we can share the pain around between you and cici! (Dawn's TV reception, unfortunately, is crap.)

And if I'm da man, den you're da goddess! God, it's good to see that smile again.

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


May 22, 2007 | 7:23 PM PST

Back at ya, cici!

Boom-de-boom!

Delete JessicaMarie visit blog


May 22, 2007 | 7:32 PM PST

Good point.

We're the non-bitter ones...myself included.

Delete cici visit blog


May 22, 2007 | 7:38 PM PST

JessicaMarie,
How do we keep Dave in the dark for the five business days it takes to ship this tape to the opposite side of the planet???

Dave! No blog reading for the next five days!!!
Somehow I don't think that will work.

Delete JessicaMarie visit blog


May 22, 2007 | 7:50 PM PST

Today it's not so hard. Thursday, it will be.

Delete DawnAkemi visit blog


May 22, 2007 | 7:51 PM PST

That's a very sweet blog, Dave, and thanks for the recognition. I feel the same way.

OTL exceeded my expectations by an enormous degree and I am ecstatic about the people I am meeting.

I actually read on some comment somewhere that you were going to need tapes and thought to offer help you, but, alas, knew of my own technical limitations and my grainy reception.

Jessica is right...

You're the man.

I still want to write something with you. A story.

Delete DawnAkemi visit blog


May 22, 2007 | 7:55 PM PST

Cici!!! That's so very generous of you....you would have been my first choice too were I in a similar situation. Cause you one talented lady!

Isn't there a way you guys can send the program via internet (as opposed to mail)?

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


May 22, 2007 | 8:11 PM PST

Hey there Dawn! The gang's all here- at least the ones who- you know- can be. Little bro kicked me off his computer, godbleepit, but I'll be back in 20 minutes to write more. Stay tuned!

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


May 22, 2007 | 9:27 PM PST

Aaaand we're back.

Dawn, Jess, the technical solution that Liz and I arrived at was as simple as it gets: VHS tapes. Compressing computer files? Yecch, too much work, and the quality wouldn't be good. DVDs? I'd have to convert 'em from NTSC to PAL which would cost mucho dollars. I happen to have a machine that can play NTSC VHS's at home, so we're going with that.

In terms of the delay, oh, I don't mind. It's really no different to the situation you Americans found yourselves in during the Sydney Olympics, when NBC delayed the broadcast of events by 16 hours, which meant that by the time they went to air, everyone already knew the results from reading them on the net!

Oh, one further idea. It'll probably be easier for you to record 2 or 3 eps on one tape then send it, rather than mailing me two every week. I don't want to make you my slaves!

Last edited by videowilliams on May 22nd at 9:29 PM.

Delete cici visit blog


May 23, 2007 | 7:05 AM PST

Slaves???

I thought I was the chosen one!! I thought I was special!!

Well, for this episode, the tape is going in the mail today.
I think I'll send you single episodes for now.
We'll see after a couple of weeks if the two-episode-per-tape plan is better or not.

Love to JM and Dawn! You guys are so sweet to offer, but I feel very happy to do something for my dear Dave. You see, now I have his address and I can stalk him if I want to!!

Mwwaahahahahahaaaa!

Delete JessicaMarie visit blog


May 23, 2007 | 10:02 AM PST

You have his address...but my plan was just to camp out near the Sydney Opera House.


;-)

Delete cici visit blog


May 23, 2007 | 1:13 PM PST

JessicaMarie,
That's an excellent plan!! Maybe we could team up and organize some tag-team stalking from various locations.

Dave,
I thought it would be funny and cute if I put a card in the envelope with a lipstick kiss mark and a spritz of perfume. But I don't have any lipstick on and I don't wear perfume.
So I did the next best thing. I took a company postcard and rubbed it up against my male Arab co-workers. (They are so heavily perfumed that inhalation in their presence causes the eyes to water.) Let's see if the fumes survive the 'round-the-world trip.

Cheers!

Dawn, Mwaaah!!

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


May 23, 2007 | 3:18 PM PST

So I'm now to be the victim of a tag-team stalking effort by cici and JessicaMarie, while simultaneously receiving tapes of OTL along with perfumed postcards? The phrase "too good to be true" doesn't even come close. In fact, I'm reminded of the following warning I received from a male friend just yesterday...

WARNING: Supermarket Scam

Over the last month I became the victim of a clever confidence trick while out shopping. Simply going out to do some shopping turned out to be quite a traumatic experience. Don't be naive enough to think it couldn't happen to you!

Here's how the scam works.

Two seriously good-looking 21-year-old girls come over to your car as you are loading your stuff into the boot. They both start wiping your windscreen with a rag and water , with their cleavage almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts. It is impossible not to look.

When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say "No" and instead ask you for a lift to another shopping centre. You agree and they get in the back seat. On the way, they start stripping off. Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and performs oral on you, while the other one steals your wallet.

I had my wallet stolen on March 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, & 20th, April 2nd, 4th, three times on the 5th, three times just yesterday, and very likely again this coming weekend as soon as I can buy more wallets.

Please pass this message on to all the men you know, to warn them about this dreadful scam!

Delete JessicaMarie visit blog


May 24, 2007 | 4:36 PM PST

I got this email, as Hot Shirtless Cowboys at Wal-Mart.

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


May 24, 2007 | 7:02 PM PST

Hence your obsession with shopping.

Delete JessicaMarie visit blog


May 24, 2007 | 7:18 PM PST

Hey, I started boycotting Wal-Mart six years ago...but nobody ever said anything about the parking lot...

Delete cici visit blog


May 24, 2007 | 8:40 PM PST

You two crack me up!

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


May 26, 2007 | 4:02 AM PST

We crack each other up, cici! And you crack me up worst of all. I think it's one of the ties that bind. Meanwhile, here's the powerful comment FableForge made after reading this article:

I ... believe internet friendships are as real as the real thing. Even relationships, and I speak from experience because my wife annel and I only had the planet between us and the internet to talk through for a couple of years before we got the chance to meet.

Its all real if you believe it!

Delete cici visit blog


May 26, 2007 | 7:00 PM PST

I feel a true friendship with you, Dave, and I feel very honored that you mentioned me among the people above.

I admire them all.

They're...like, really smart... and like, talented..... and stuff.

Delete   Edit videowilliams visit blog


May 26, 2007 | 9:21 PM PST

Liz (cici), I guess this is as good a time as any to reveal that you and I were at the exact same gas station at the exact same time on September the 19th, 2001. You as a news cameraperson, camped out with the rest of the media over the lawn from that big gaping hole in the Pentagon, and me allowed in as a tourist by a friend who had a military pass. (It was a military gas station.) Of course, we didn't know each other, so we didn't say hello.

But for some mysterious reason I took a picture of your tent among the trees and broadcast vans (I've always thought news crews were cool) and then my military friend took one of me in front of the Pentagon itself. And that's the picture in my OTL Photo Album.

It just seems that some connections were meant to be...

Last edited by videowilliams on May 26th at 9:24 PM.