Sorry

Over the past two days the plans had degraded from something definite and set in stone to "I'll let you know", a common line he heard which pretty much meant "go make other plans,".

He hadn't seen them in months -- the last time being a dinner in which some of the first words out of their mouth was "I can't believe that you actually came all the way out here". (And his thought was "wait, so you invited me to dinner but didn't actually want me to come? Why did you even bother asking me in the first place?!") It had come to the point where the only reliable thing about them was that they would seek him out and then flake out on him. It was almost as though he was the victim of a game of ding-dong-ditch and at this point he was beginning to wish that she would just leave him alone.

It wasn't so much the canceling of plans that bothered him, though he was getting pretty sick of it, as it was a common occurrence that he had come to expect -- it was that he knew that the most he would hear about it would be "sorry" -- or a long one-sided IM conversation several months down the road apologizing for their flaky behavior. The problem with this being that they weren't really sorry.

All in all, sorry was a word that was thrown around way too easily -- a word that had essentially lost it's power because those who said it, oft didn't mean it. Now, it didn't necessarily mean that people didn't feel bad, or that people were being intentionally disingenuous, as in most cases they did, in fact, feel bad and were not being intentionally disingenuous. The fact of the matter was that people said sorry, acknowledged the error of their ways and then went right back to being the same kind of people that made those errors. Ultimately, as he liked to put it, if people were really sorry for their actions, they'd stop doing whatever they were apologizing for -- bottom line.

The Road To Mediocrity

He felt like he was losing his edge. Little by little he began to cave to the various excuses his mind made for him. It was a common occurrence called lack of discipline. To be frank, it was a quality of his that plagued him throughout his life, especially his youth. However, where his own willpower failed, some sort of structure or system lay in place to enforce upon him their discipline.

He was at a point in his life where he didn't have such structure anymore. Most of his days he spent doing the minimum amount required of him with no one to answer to for it but the small voice in the back of his mind to berate him for his laziness.

The human conscience took up the philosophy that one should speak softly and carry a big stick. However, this metaphorical big stick was not as effective as a literal one as the target of its strikes did not often feel the effects of their inattention until much later on down the road.

And so he continued creating excuses and ignoring his conscience, all the while knowing that this was the road to mediocrity, and unless he took a turnoff he would find himself having arrived there all too soon. All the same, however, he brushed off that same little voice, knowing that the strike of it's stick would not come now.

Dizzy Gillespie Vs. Cab Calloway

Here's a segment for web I edited for the Cab Calloway film that is premiering nationally on American Masters on Monday Feb. 27th at 10PM

Watch Cab Calloway vs. Dizzy Gillespie on PBS. See more from American Masters.

A Moment of Reflection -- One Year Later

A year ago today you were returned to the earth from which men were fabled to have been made. Much has changed in that time -- memories have grown faint, life has moved on and all in all, the world has continued to turn. Despite that, the lessons you taught me remain ever present, so I take, if only a moment, to remember the impact you had on my life.

--

Thank you.

Journalism 101 AKA: Why You Should Always Check Your Sources

On Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 1:26 PM, NJ.Com (the online home for several printed newspaper outlets such as "The Star Ledger", "Today's Sunbeam", and "Cranford Chronicle," to name a few, posted a story stating "Assemblyman Patrick J. Diegnan, Jr. and John Burzichelli on Wednesday called for the overhaul of NJTV in light of what they say is the public broadcasting station’s latest failure to provide New Jersey residents with important coverage of state news.".

(A screen shot of the article can be seen below -- and clicking it will bring you to the actual page)

Now, this report, quoting sources such as NJ Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan and NJ Assemblyman John Burzichelli, would not be so embarrassing if it had bothered going through the effort of getting a statement from the Public Broadcasting Station. Though, if they had done that, they may have discovered just how wrong Assemblymen Patrick Diegnan and John Burzichelli were.

Here are some clips from NJTV's live broadcast of NJ Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce's memorial service:

Watch Governor Christie Eulogizes Assemblyman Alex DeCroce on PBS. See more from WNJT.

Watch Politicians React to Alex DeCroce's Death on PBS. See more from WNJT.

The full broadcast to come as it becomes available online.

---
Edit Jan. 12, 2012
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Here's the full broadcast version. Video starts at about 27 seconds in.

Watch NJToday Special Report: Governor Christie Eulogizes Alex DeCroce on PBS. See more from WNJT.

Ham Hits 1000

Not really a major thing, especially considering that 1000 views is not very much in a world where 56,000,000 is not uncommon, but at the same time, 1000 views of a video you created (and not pirated) is not an easy feat all the same and marks a noteworthy milestone.

So, with that said, my documentary Ham, which I did in college and then uploaded just over a year ago, has hit 1000 views! Thank you all for watching!



If you haven't seen it yet, you can view it here:

Ham from Matthew Chao on Vimeo.

On September 11th 2001, towers one and two of Manhattan's World Trade Center came crashing down, taking communications for the city of New York with them. This is a story about what happened next.

or in the little play window on the right of this page.

You Dorks at C2E2!

Help us raise money for our next YouDorks project!



http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1767054565/youdorks-at-c2e2