Road to the Cup

So, bowing to the interminable pressure of being Canucks, we’ve come up with a brand new show for all you puck heads and stick jocks out there. Road to the Cup is the new, definitive, all-you-ever-cared-to-know-about-NHL Playoffs-but-were-afraid-to-ask chat show where your opinions may very well change the course of the next few playoff series.

Or at least change the mind of a committed Blue Jackets fan...

I’m not going to lie to you; I’m extremely superstitious when it comes to hockey, especially when it comes to my beloved Canadiens. I know, I know – I’ve heard it all before – washed up, past their prime, old news, former glory. It’s all noise to me. The Habs are more than just a dynasty – they’ve transcended our national pastime into a whole new realm of fanatical devotion.

Don’t believe me?

Consider that the Habs and Leafs will never be able to face each other in an NHL final again, and haven’t since 1967, yet the rivalry is as strong as ever. Not convinced? How about the Montreal fascination with rioting when the Habs win a quarter-final series, let alone the Cup. Yep, there’s always something magical in the air when it comes to hockey in Canada. Well, magical or insane – it’s so hard to tell sometimes. Regardless, my superstition has convinced me that if I watch the Habs in the first round they’ll lose. I know it’s silly, but who am I to play around with superstitions.

Better play it safe...

With TXT-TV’s Road to the Cup, we’re giving you the opportunity to weigh in, and it looks like there will be plenty to talk about. As it stands the Habs are moving on to battle the Penguins. And in the realm of unlikely matches, the Vancouver Canucks (admittedly, my second favourite team – I’m sure you can tell which side of the border I think Lord Stanley’s Cup belongs on) will face off against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Semi-Finals.

The playoffs so far have had its fair share of drama, come-from-behind victories and unlikely eliminations, and already sports-fans have been exercising their thumbs telling me why it might be time for Martin Brodeur to think about coaching. A potential ‘Battle for Pennsylvania’ may be in the works, as Steel-Town heroes try their luck against the Broad Street Bullies. If you ever wondered about that Simpsons reference to the starting line-up of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers, all I can say is that they did their homework.

Those guys were brutal.

Hockey is more than just a game in this country, and despite the lame jokes, I’m glad what happens on the ice makes its way to the water-cooler, the bus stop, the school yard and every pub you can think of. Hockey is political and it’s always seemed to me that the game often reflects the struggles of our lives, the issues we deal with, and that’s why it will generate conversation long after the game is done.

With that in mind, you know why you need to get in on the text messaging action; may as well adapt the national pastime for the 21st century, eh?

Travelling at the Speed of Thought

So, part of this job means you have to be pretty on your toes when it comes to a wide variety of diverse subjects, everything from sports, to politics, to entertainment, to sex – whatever people are talking about, its like you almost need to be an expert in it.

Almost – not totally.

Clearly, not everyone can be an expert, and not all experts can be experts all the time. Plus, you gotta remember that some people have particular strengths making them more adept at specific subjects. This, from what I’ve gathered, has been a tough hurdle in getting the network up and running – the managers of the TXT-TV moderators have to figure out where to schedule people, and from certain looks I’ve seen around the office, I think this has been a pretty big headache.  

And it’s so vital too – it’s not like people can be thrown anywhere, a balance has to be found. 

All I can say is big props to the people making this happen.

But on our side, we have to become as flexible as possible, to cover for one another, and also to try and get as many hours as possible. There’s the added advantage of being able to focus more on developing the moderator’s ‘character’ once the moderator has achieved a high level of general knowledge about current events and trends. Once that happens, and the focus turns towards character, the managers can determine what characters work best for different shows at different times. It’s not only complicated, but it requires a lot of unspoken cooperation. In sum, it’s a difficult balancing act.

Then there’s just trying to stay on top of what the current trend is.  

For instance, major entertainment news blogs and websites are updated usually about three-four times as often as a major news site. So figure that TMZ keeps their content 3-4 times fresher than CNN or CBC. Fortunately, the boss and the managers picked out some pretty clever and connected people to keep on top of the latest. It should be of no surprise we’re mostly students and under the age of thirty. Man, I grew up feeling like I was a part of Gen-X, but now I find myself on the other side of a technology gap from people in their late-30s! 

WTF? How did it happen? 

My Gen-X cousins showed me how to use a computer, and now I use it better than they can imagine! Now I feel more like my own generation, simply because I know what’s going on that much faster. 

Either way, knowledge is power, and I’m glad TXT-TV is traveling at the speed of thought.

Observations from the Desk Jockey

So, a few things I’ve noticed around our office.  

Take heed, management types, the workspace is very important, and a lack of imagination in how it’s designed can lead to a lack of creativity. This place, TXT-TV HQ, has no shortage of funky, eclectic style to keep you on your toes.

First, a few weeks back, a new ventilation system was installed. Now, every twenty minutes or so, a strange sound, like when you open a bottle of pop, except louder and followed by a thunderous ‘whoosh’, fills the office. Apparently, this is the a/c. It freaks me out each time. Also, for whatever reason, the building still alternates between shvitz and freeze, despite the new ventilation system. You gotta love old buildings – they’re too old to care who’s inside them.

Second, there are lights everywhere. Now this may seem like a no-brainer, but there are an awful lot of lights pointing off in various directions, not at anything in particular, and in some cases, pointing at very odd things, like directly into a vent, or at the exposed pipes. I have no idea what they are there for, and the building gets so much natural light, that they’re rarely turned on. Which means its especially bizarre to come into the office and only these oddball lighting fixtures, and not the table lamps, are turned on, while everyone keeps toasty under the warm, spring sun pouring in through the many windows. I wonder if upper management doesn’t spend some time at a huge console manipulating the temperature, lighting and breeze, laughing merrily while they watch the reactions of the employees.

Seems like something Dogbert would do.

Third, there are no cubicles, and man what a delight that is! Best part of working in a location without cubicles is that there are very few opportunities for drifting off or wasting time. The open concept office is going to save the economy, and the era of the drab grey cubicle, hopefully, will soon come to an end. Instead of using cubicles, there are plants all over the office, and I’ve been startled by my co-workers neatly camouflaged behind ferns and palms. When the windows are open and the breeze comes in off the water, it feels, faintly, like being up at the cottage.

Green leaves and cool misty breezes keeps people calm and focused. 

What a pleasure to know that the people who run this show have given so much consideration making sure their environment, the place they call home for 8 or 10 hours a day, is as well designed as this.

Bafflingly loud a/c vent noises and bizarre temperature fluctuations aside, it’s a damned cool place to work and it suits the job perfectly.

But best of all, I’m sure the viewers would find it just as inviting.

Magically Deceptive

So, today in the booth I got some texts I wasn’t totally prepared for. One of our loyal viewers texted in that she had the misfortune of having an inoperable tumour; and the response was totally heart warming. All of a sudden the screen was jammed up with well-wishing texts and a lot of big time props for being a great mom to her son.

So there you have it: one person’s misfortune gets a lot of other people’s attention, and the response was amazing. 

It was weird too, having so many positive things being said during an episode of My Life Sux. Oh well, if you can’t beat em, join em.

Also, people were not impressed with Nike’s new Tiger Woods advertisement. Good to know our viewers are as well informed and ethically grounded as us. Comment of the night goes out to McHorton, who said: “who’d of thought your dead dad could help you sell golf clubs?” - roflmao!

It’s weird though, with the chat shows you get a real mix bag of opinions and ideas, all at the same time. It’s like life turned down the filter something fierce, and everyone just lets their innermost opinions and ideas out into the ether. It’s bizarre, as a moderator, you spend so much time focused on making everything work properly, you can’t get too caught up in what’s being discussed.

But then something gets said that you can’t take your eyes off of.

It’s really rewarding and fulfilling to know that the other moderators are having similarly interesting experiences, and good for the whole network to know that people are watching, texting, and participating. Even though the raw feed of people’s ideas, thoughts and feelings can be hard to handle, people generally are not.

When people come together out of earnest interest, it can be magical.

Set the Master Control Room’s Controls for the Heart of the Sun

Anyone who gets this classic rock reference will earn one million Karma Points. Karma Points are not legitimate points and do not work towards any particular prize, aside (of course) from the prize of karmic re-alignment, as determined by the cosmos.

At first I was like, moderate conversations? D’uh, of course I can do that. What a no-brainer!

Then, after a few weeks of waiting for a call-back I grew concerned that I had misread the application. Did it say "moderate conversions"? Or was I supposed to moderate conversations between concerned conservative-moderates? Or was it to modernize conservative conversions into moderate conversations?

My brain was on overload before I had even walked into the booth.

On my first day in the Master Control Room, my job was to play around with the system, familiarizing myself with the controls, the screens, the mixer etc. It’s a lot like the on-air booth in a radio station, and for that reason it feels like an important place, a physical space that needs to be respected.

After all, there’s a lot of money in this room, a lot of high-tech gadgetry. Stuff that doesn’t function very well under particular circumstances. Say, like the dust coming out of the wall as the construction workers install a much-needed ventilation system. And I’m working in their midst. They’re overly apologetic for disturbing me, but I tell them its no problem and I’m not really live just yet. Always be kind to construction workers, especially the guys installing your climate control.

I’m tense sitting in front of the screen, as I’m generating conversation to test the systems; trouble-shooting comes naturally after going through training, though you still strain to remember everything you’ve been taught, not wanting to ask a stupid question. As much as I say there are none, we all know there are. Pushing the big red button is a definite no-no; bringing any food or drink into the booth is also a major no-no. Using the profane language you’re trying to moderate out of the conversations, is a HUGE no-no. And you wouldn’t believe the number of times things go totally FUBAR and you just wanna curse the world out.

Something I’ve noticed about people who have to pay special attention to the language they use, they swear like champions. True masters of expletive-based linguistics. This seems to ring true for some of the staff here. Including the bosses.

A few days later I’m back in the Master Control Room here at TXT-TV HQ, but this time it’s for real.

And that means several people standing behind you watching you work, a more unnerving prospect I can’t imagine. They all mean well and everyone knows that its impossible to work effectively with someone standing behind you, but it can’t be helped, because the whole team needs to see the system working, keeping their eyes open for the little glitches that separate a solid product from a mediocre one. No one here is interested in mediocrity.

So we hammer it out together and I keep my eyes on several windows spread out over four screens. I feel like a pilot. I keep darting my eyes across all four, mind the time, mind the levels, mind your language, mind your manners.

And all of a sudden, messages start coming in. And they're perfectly tame. It’s a salutation or a comment; almost neutral comments.

And I move my mouse and press the accept button.

Simple wasn’t it?

And then came the deluge: holy crap people are raunchy potty-mouths!