char-monkey

I'll admit it, I was a little inebriated when I finished and published Monday nights entry. I'm surprised more of the peanut gallery didn't call me out on this little gem plucked straight from that entry:

"Still, people were absolutely retarded in their behavior, which is a testament to the type of respect the people who frequent the Fremont area. Not to say that they are all a bunch of entitled fucks. Though they are."

Even I don't know what I was trying to say there. I guess "drunk Elliot" wanted to finish that blag off with some style and ended up using some really wordy words. Not to mention the title, which is the title of a Loney,Dear song, which had absolutely nothing to do with the entry itself. I considered taking it down Tuesday morning, but decided not to because it actually does have it moments. Holy shit, I just realized realized I'm blahging about a blog.

Meta.

There are many things that I hate about my line of work, but the thing I hate the most is the way that people working in it use what I like to call "Industry Speak". It is the most self-indulgent bullshit in the world, and people working in TV, film, video, and pornos will go completely out of there way to use it in front people who when hearing industry speak, go "Huh?" To which industry folk respond "MOVE!".

Case in point, take your standard spring loaded clothes pin, which you normies call a...clothes pin. You'd be wrong if you called it that on a set however, and you would probably be hung, because in the biz that clothes pin is actually known as a C47. I shit you not. That's not an extension cord you are running from that socket , it's actually called a "stinger". Get it right intern! Oh, and while you're at it could you grab me a barrel? Wait? You don't know what that is? It's the thing that allows me to connect two BNC cables together, you normies know it as an "adaptor".

Not that I am above this stuff. When people use the lingo around people who understand it, it can be kind of fun, but don't take that shit home with you. I try my damndest, not to start dropping this type of shit around my friends or family, because it just makes people sound pretentious. "Yo dogg, did you even try and whitebalance that camera? You mean it's not even a 3 Chip? Shit dude, when you capture that make sure you set it to NDF mode, because you are going to have to drop some color correction on that biotch!" That's how I talk when I'm with my colleagues only I sound way more street, and if I'm wearing a hat you better believe that it's sideways.

There is fun to be had, especially when breaking in new interns. Most of the guys we get at work are high school to pre-grads, who have little to no experience with the type of equipment that is commonly used in television production. So after a couple of weeks of getting used to terms like XLR, Beta, and pigtails I like to start throwing in words for things that I've made up. They are so susceptible and trusting that when you refer to a tv monitor as a "flashy" or "movie box", they will often pick this up as a legit term and start using it until someone sets them right. I love pranking interns, but that again is another post.

I guess in the end it is all pretty harmless. With any luck maybe a word I made up will become an industry standard. It wouldn't be the first time a word that I made up came to be commonly used among the public. It is kind of funny that I hate this so much, mainly because I am a huge lover of words and saying things. You can often catch me singing little nonsensicle (not a word)
songs complete with a string of unrelated words. Maybe I'll upload a little audio one day for you to taste. See you next week, where I will be treating you all to levels of nerdery (not a word) the likes of which you have never seen. Sakuracon here I come, I'll be sure to get lots of photos.