Penguins Without Pants

The sketch comedy troupe Penguins Without Pants premiered their first show of the season last Saturday to a packed house in the Jab. It seemed that a lot of people needed a good laugh after the Penn State game. This was my first stab at directing and think it went pretty well. I had Chris Sisson and Jeremy Sulit at the helm behind the cameras and Andy there to make sure I didn't accidentally electrocute myself.
The group started the ball rolling with a video called "Tomcats", a commercial for...well you'll just have to watch to find out. Some of the gems of the night include "We Be Cooking", "Face Your Phobia", "Sandwich Shop", "Meta Sketch", "Gloopies", "Steve", "Start a Band", and the off-putting sketch "Oranges". The cast included Matthew Gasda, Jason Samlin, Michael Debach, Noelle Fuoco, Derek O'Brien, and Mark Zito. The Penguins show is set to air on OTN in the not too distant future, and be sure to keep and eye out for their next live performance.
- Ginny Cruciano

Hypnotist Airing!

Alright, the hypnotist show is finished and will be airing this Thursday, Sept. 18. I want to thank our wonderful editor Rachel for all her work these last 10 days. If you missed the live performance be sure to check it out. Check in soon for posts on new shows, and news shows, I'll be producing this fall.
-Chris Sisson

SU Idol

American Idol? Forget that! Tonight was the annual SU Idol on campus. And who other than OTN was there capturing it all and witnessing dreams come true...well, OK, that sounded a little- nevermind. Unfortunately last year we were unable to successfully tape this show so we were glad this year we did. All the performers sang real well and all the judges were quite the opposite of the American Idol judges. It was my first time directing a multi-cam show and I think it went real well thanks to my awesome crew of Rachael, Don, Kate, and Mark (and with the assistance of Chris- I owe you one, man). Mark Zito was backstage with all the performers interviewing them after they sang. He tried getting dates with the female performers, but no luck. Poor Mark...Then after the show I got an interview with Sabrina, the winner of the 2008 SU Idol. She was real sweet and had an amazing voice.
That's all for now. Thanks.

The Express Premiere

Well this past weekend might have been the coolest thing ever. Mike Eassa, Mark Zito, and I got to attend all the events for The Express Premiere. For all of you unaware of this film, it's a film about Syracuse running back Ernie Davis. Oh, and Ernie Davis so happened to be the first African-American to win the Heisman trophy award. Yeah I know- it's a big deal and we were honored to be apart of the premiere of the film. On Friday we attended the press conference where we learned a bit more about the film and Ernie Davis. Then on Saturday we got to be ON the orange carpet to interview all the celebs. We spoke with Dennis Quaid, Rob Brown who plays Ernie Davis in the film, Jim Brown, Jim Boeheim, Bob Costas, Darrin Henson, Charles Dutton, Omar Miller, and director Gary Fleder, among many more. It was an amazing experience for not only us, but for OTN. We even got Omar, Bob, and Jim Brown to say do a promo for OTN! It was awesome! But the weekend wasn't over just yet. On Saturday afternoon we were there to witness the unvieling of the Ernie Davis statue. It's about time we got a great statue on campus with a lot of history behind it. I was getting tired of seeing all the nude statue all over campus...Anyway, once this show is edited, we hope to air it on OSTN.

Woo Hoo Comedy

My name is Vin Nucatola. Wait, that sounded awkward for an opening sentence. Take 2-Vin Nucatola here and this past Saturday evening we taped the first Woo Hoo Comedy show of the 2008 Fall semester. I went straight to work right after the SU Penn State game so I smelled like nachos and greasy cheeseburgers. Teng Zhang was my crew. He's a graduate student from China and is quite an interesting fella'. Anyway, we taped Woo-Hoo with 2 cameras (traditionally we tape shows with our 3-cam Anycast Production system, but not this time). According to Woo-Hoos president the show wasn't the best. There were a few newbies up there so some of the jokes were funny and some, well, not so funny. Though, I give them a lot of credit to get up on that stage in front of a crowd of people and in front of 2 Panasonic DVX cameras. Like always, the show was a bit vulgar so this year we have to find a way out to edit the show. There is a difference between vulgarity that's actually funny and vulgarity alone it you know what I'm saying.
Besides that, we added something new to not only the WooHoo show, but to all the shows we are producing this year. I got interviews with all the comedians after the show so that in post we'll insert their interviews before each comic does his routine. That's all for now. Be sure to check out all the other OTN producer's blogs- maybe they have something more interesting to say than me. Take care and, uh, Watch Yourself? I'm out. 1

Hypnotist Doug McCraw

Hello, Chris Sisson here. Not a big believer in hypnostism, I became one after seeing Doug McCraw perform at the Goldstein Auditorium. While covering the show I saw over ten people forget the number 4, a man who could only curse using farm sounds, and a woman spend half an hour trying to leave the auditorium without being able to find a door. Very funny. The show is now in post production and I hope to get it on air by next week.

Indie Flick Files

Surfs Up Indie Flick Fans!!

What's going on? This is Mike Eassa, the current producer for the show 'Indie Flick Files'. I'm pretty new with this whole blogging thing, so we'll see how I do.

For those of you who don't know, 'Indie Flick Files' is a show that brings to OTN, award winning independent films. I try my best to choose films that are interesting, tell a good story, and portray some kind of message. Before producing the show, I never really experienced independent films first-hand. As soon as I started producing, I've come to appreciate them. I know a lot of my friends cringe at the thought of watching an independent film, but they really are good! It's also pretty significant to note that the films that are on my show are ALL award winners from festivals as prestigious as the Sundance Film Festival and many many international film festivals from ALL around the world. Give 'em a chance and I'm almost certain that they won't let you down. (you will also get used to the subtitles real fast)

With that being said, you are probably wondering why I said "surfs up!" at the beginning of the post. I know where we are, the middle of NY no where near an ocean, just a lake as big as the ocean. Well, being the end of summer, the weather is really hot! (For all you freshman out there, appreciate this weather now because it will take a REALLY hard turn to the left in a few weeks) The film that I chose for this month is called 'Monster Thursday'. It is a Norwegian film and takes place in a small town in coastal Norway and is all about surfing!!

Two characters, Even and Tord, are good buddies. Even is not so much a low life, but he just gets by with his average joe kind of lifestyle. Tord, on the other hand, is a top notch surfer with a successful job that has him travelling the globe. Tord's wife Karen is left under the watch of Even while Tord goes away on business, which leaves Even with the opportunity that he's been waiting for (he's had a crush on Karen for quite some time).

He later decides to take up surfing, which, for the record, is harder than it looks. I took up surfing a little bit last semester while I was in Australia and I can tell you from personal experience, you never know how unbalanced and awkward you are until you hop on a surf board for the first time. And just in case you were wondering, I did stand eventually and it was actually a lot of fun!--Getting back to the story, Even learns how to surf under the watch of a local and retired surfing god. As he improves, Karen begins to notice him more and more. This leaves a great coming home present for Even's best friend Tord. I don't want to give away any more of the plot, but it sure is a great story of a complicated love triangle gone wrong. It teaches you the meaning of loyalty and where people's hearts really lie.

I forgot to mention above that the hosts of the show are Vin Nucatola and Tori Wells. They are a lot of fun to work with and make producing the show extremely entertaining. As soon as I can dig out some of their outtakes I will make sure to post them. Between Vin's awkward jokes and Tori's strive to get things done, they make for interesting production shoots. Nevertheless, they get the job done and they do a really great job as well.

Well folks, I feel that I've done this month's feature justice. So until next time...

blog with ya later,
-Mike