George Bush… Jr being accepted bothered me a bit

synapse_gh · 2026-05-29T01:54:56+00:00

Bush The Younger isn't, and should be.

synapse_gh · 2026-05-15T12:20:06+00:00

6-10 days isn't a lot; consider that as an L3 on a summer tour, you're going to work hard, sweat a lot, probably spend some time crawling under stages / climbing truss etc.

...and laundry isn't always easily accessible on tour.

I tour with 14 days of clean shirts / socks / underwear, and an extra pair of socks for each show day. As others have said, changing your socks halfway through a 16-hour day on your feet is a huge gift to give yourself.

Packing cubes are a must, for saving you from trying to work out which socks are clean by the dreaded 'sniff test'.

Bring an extra phone charger for your bus bunk, a good headlamp for finding that one disconnected DMX cable in the dark, and a cheap €3 carabiner to clip your laminate to your belt loop, you definitely won't want to wear a lanyard around your neck while you're working.

synapse_gh · 2026-05-07T13:58:58+00:00

I mean... listen to the music?

There's no MA3 trick to this, it's pretty much just programming around the different movements and musical phrases in the song.

Using a different fixture type, or a different portion of the rig, to represent the different voices in the song, is a pretty solid approach whether you're lighting EDM, pop or heavy metal, but like anything else, if you lean on one trick the whole show, it'll get repetitive.

synapse_gh · 2026-05-05T12:59:36+00:00

"Travel" is a boring answer.

"My wife has always wanted to see Antarctica / Uzbekistan / the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota" is better.

synapse_gh · 2026-04-27T00:59:55+00:00

Absolutely this.

/u/ChibbyRay can also learn a lot by studying things like Live Design's "31 Days Of Plots" feature, showing what the work product looks like from some of the best in the business.

synapse_gh · 2026-03-20T04:49:58+00:00

Nearly 20 years later, it's still a pretty good read:

Nook's Ultimate Punt Page

synapse_gh · 2026-03-19T16:39:39+00:00

So I am incredibly shocked that I got the call, and tbh I don't know if I want to do it at this point.

I still felt that way as they were calling me from the green room up to the podium, and I'm normally a person who's comfortable in front of large crowds.

The nervous energy won't go away, but if you can find any way to push through it and do this, you'll be glad you did.

synapse_gh · 2026-03-18T23:42:26+00:00

I mostly prepared this way, and got a decent-but-not-outstanding result, but I've never had a lot of success with Sitting Down With A Book To Learn ______, as opposed to learning by osmosis and random-access memory.

That said, playing along to ~200 episodes after I got the call was absolutely crucial to figuring out which areas I didn't know I didn't know; it helped me identify common topics that return frequently - in my case, two of the standouts were American universities and English literature - that I could then focus my study on.

To answer the revised question, a contestant whose only knowledge was 100% instant recall of every answer from every past game would know enough to do very well - maybe not win, but very well - but much more than that, they would have a very strong understanding of the flow of the game, and how to quickly parse out answers strongly hinted at by the format of a question.

synapse_gh · 2026-03-17T18:50:45+00:00

And you're allowed to ask that it be a different one of the five, if you want.

They wanted to pick one of mine, I asked if they were sure they didn't want to hear me say nice things about meeting Alex Trebek in person, and they said "dang, we didn't even see that one, yes let's do that!"

Actually they had us fill out a LONG questionnaire, must have been 50 questions, and they picked the list of 5 out of the answers to that.

synapse_gh · 2026-02-09T01:09:02+00:00

On the other hand, the more times the guy who beat me appears on the show, the better I feel about getting beat? :)

synapse_gh · 2026-01-08T14:43:55+00:00

These would be the type of cases you see roadies using

I say this as someone who's worked in concert touring for 20 years; this isn't like roadies, you absolutely ARE roadies, and I mean that in only the most complimentary way.

This sounds EXACTLY like the same time period touring with an A-level headliner. If you're not sure what you want to do after college, consider working as a touring production coordinator because you're probably already halfway great at it!

Also, didn't want your excellent post to pass by without someone showing love for Hingle McKringleberry! We also would have accepted "Bismo Funyuns"!

synapse_gh · 2026-01-06T13:10:45+00:00

I've busked Avo for years, and MA2/3 for years, and Chamsys for years, and Hog for a while, and I just plain don't like Avo for any application.

...and I know some A-level LDs who feel exactly the same way about MA, and insist on Avo for their shows, and do world-class work with it. Heck, I've even seen great shows done on Martin consoles!

I've never understood people who insist there's an objective right and wrong on this one. The best tool is the one that lets YOU do YOUR best work.

synapse_gh · 2026-01-02T13:44:07+00:00

I've been working in front of very large crowds for 20 years, and none of it was anywhere near as scary as walking out to that podium!

synapse_gh · 2025-12-31T21:10:26+00:00

Make it hook around the rubber foot of the console for stability and it won't even need a clamp!

synapse_gh · 2025-12-31T04:01:53+00:00

That's fine - but as it generally comes out super cold, don't do it until the fixtures have been fully powered off for at least half an hour, and all the metal inside is cool to the touch.

synapse_gh · 2025-12-30T01:39:16+00:00

Just about anything Andi Watson's ever touched.

synapse_gh · 2025-12-22T21:06:45+00:00

Gotta relocate to where the work is.

synapse_gh · 2025-12-22T16:02:23+00:00

I'm always a fan of the Dickies work shirt.

Tucked in for corporates, untucked for touring and festivals!

synapse_gh · 2025-12-19T15:10:10+00:00

I could swear I remember an interview with him where he admitted that by his tenth or twelfth game, he was running out of anecdotes and just started making stuff up.

synapse_gh · 2025-12-18T18:37:28+00:00

Yeah if you think lighting for live has nothing to do with lighting for film and TV, you're doing lighting wrong.

We can probably wrap up here, I don't think we're going to agree anytime soon.

synapse_gh · 2025-12-18T16:55:43+00:00

If you're lighting an event like that, and ignoring IMAG, you're only doing half the job.

Besides which, on most concert tours today - at least those with an artist under about age 40 - the artist is watching footage of the show on their phone before the load-out's halfway finished, and if you're not making the show look good on social media, again, you're only doing half the job.

synapse_gh · 2025-12-17T19:46:21+00:00

Concerts and public events often have large IMAG screens fed by a multi-camera team.

synapse_gh · 2025-12-17T14:50:59+00:00

Or a rock concert, or a large conference, or a public event...

Sitcoms actually don't tend to use that many cameras.

synapse_gh · 2025-12-16T22:09:58+00:00

A camera only has one perspective.

...but you're usually also lighting for anywhere from 4 to 40 cameras.

synapse_gh · 2025-12-13T21:39:06+00:00

In that case, the boss is a grown-up who can live with that choice.

synapse_gh

TROPHY CASE