Fire-Wired Blog

20 years ago I used blog a lot , at least for me. Blogging was a way to keep a written record of my thoughts and experiences. It wasn’t anything ambitious, just trying something to communicate. After a couple years I realized it was a fun repository of my life to look back on and have a few laughs at what I felt was important at that point in my life.  Today, I don’t really have as much time to blog and I don’t feel the need to fill the internet with my written silliness. I do not feel that way about video’d silliness. In fact, I am as in love with creating videos now as I was in 1999 when I first learned how to edit in Media 100 & Final Cut. The only difference between now and then is I’ve produced hundreds of hours of video content at this point and the projects are starting to whiz by. So instead of just letting them fall into the void, for the last few years I’ve been toying with the idea of producing commentary companion videos . This week, I did just that for ...

For the fifth time I have worked the Iowa State Fair as an Iowa Public Television producer. A lot has changed since I declared I never wanted to go to the Fair again, back in 2013. Now I love the Fair and look forward to grabbing my camera and telling the wacky stories I'm handed each year. Since my first IPTV Fair in 2015, I have been identified as the "fun" features producer. I tend to lean into upbeat, rocking music, and to cut kinetic stories. This year that reputation garnered me four really fun contests to cover; Monster Arm Wrestling, Doubles Horseshoe Pitching, Bubblegum Blowing, and Pie Eating. Quite the awesome rundown if you ask me. For ease of viewing, here are the four videos. I was considering taking a more meditative approach and pacing to my Fair features this year, but when my first interview -Mother Monster- just amped up the fun in her answers... that was just a low and hanging fastball right over the plate. While not a perfect four-som...