…or don’t watch a Doll on telly

typed for your pleasure on 14 November 2012, at 10.43 pm

Sdtrk: ‘Julia’s song’ by Orchestral manoeuvres in the dark

As you may recall me mentioning in the last post, Sidore and I were due to appear on the chat show ‘Dr Drew on Call’ tonight, but, well, we didn’t. Now before you toss back that fistful of pills and wash it down with that glass of ammonia, let me explain what occurred, then you can top yourself. Sound fair?

Late last month, Bill, one of the show’s producers, contacted me about making an appearance. I said yes, and weeks later, I was put through to another programme producer by the name of Emily. She did a preliminary interview with me over the phone yesterday for a good half hour, which seemed to go reasonably well, and we aimed for shooting round 8pm EST. Now, I don’t know if he does this with all of his guests, but Dr Drew seems to… not really have his guests in the same studio with them; it’s all video feeds, from what I’ve seen. Kinda like Space Ghost Coast to Coast, but with much less Moltar. In any event, the show was going to be live, which would’ve been interesting, to say the least. With the exception of the fantastic symposium I was part of earlier this year, I don’t really do ‘live’. I’m not completely averse to it, but I’m much more of a studio musician than an onstage performer. But that’s just me.

We were ostensibly set: the Missus and I would point our laptop webcam at ourselves sat on the Deafening silence Plus loveseat, and answer questions put to us by Dr Drew and anyone mischievous enough to call in. Yes, people can call in. Yes, this is why I’m not keen on live telly venues. You only live once, though, so hey. We were due to test the Skype connection and lighting at 8pm EST, and go live at 9. I’d left work at 4 today — yes, I still have to write about New Job, but I keep getting distracted — and on the way there, Emily called me, and asked me to sign the release forms she’d Emailed me when I got home. Standard release form fumfuh, really. Sure, I told her, then popped round to my local sushi place, where the chef made three gigantic onigiri for me for my birthday. One of them was enough to fill me up for hours, so naturally, I ate two, and was practically rendered immobile.
Before gorging on rice, seaweed, and eel, however, I got Sidore dressed; she elected to wear that black A-line shift dress from the Sixties that I bought her for our first ‘My Strange Addiction’ segment, and was looking her usual delectable self. Then I sat down to eat, and have a look at the release form. Standard release form fumfuh… o, wait. Hmmm.

3. [..] The Program may include other guests and participants, surprises, statements, or commentary that I find private, hurtful, or embarrassing. Other persons or guests may appear on the Program, with or without my advance knowledge.

Hmmm.

5. I understand that while participating on the Program, and as a result of participating in the Program, I may be ridiculed or embarrassed. I understand that nothing that I say in connection with the Program will be off the record, that my identity will not be concealed, and that anyone may see my appearance on the Program and learn private and confidential information about me.

…right. It was at that point I rang Emily, leaving a message on her voicemail that I wasn’t keen on what I was seeing.

Let me pause the narrative for a bit here to explain: there’s a certain level of stupidity that I’ll tolerate from bog-standard American television. What this means is that if you’re a programme producer, and you make an enquiry with me, I’ll do a bit of research as to your show’s host, the kind of content you traffic in, the general demographic of the audience you play to, etc. If the programme meets with my approval based on the previous criteria, more than likely, I’ll do it for free, as I think it’s important to spread the word about Synthetiks, and if the show’s cool, then I’m cool. On the other hand, if I see you’re the sort of programme that makes Jerry Springer look like Walter goddamned Cronkite, then I’m going to refuse. Unless, of course, you meet my other demands:
1) the ability for me to choose the recording date,
2) all-expense paid flights for Sidore and I to the set and back home,
3) pre-paid accomodation when there,
4) the ability for me to pre-screen the questions that the presenter would be asking,
5) a closed set, and
6) a cheque made out to me for $5,000 USD for my time.
And that’s the point where most of the exploitationists thank me for my time, and scuttle backwards through the door. Again, I genuinely enjoy doing television segments, as it presents the opportunity to inform greater numbers of people about Dolls, Gynoids, and Androids, but really it’s only fair to pay me for my time. Or, more importantly, don’t run lowest common denominator material on your show, for starters.

Ten minutes had passed, with no callback from Emily, so I’d sent her a text, telling her to check her voicemail as soon as she could. And literally as soon as I’d hit Send, Bill called! Moreover, Bill called, saying that there’s been breaking news, and they have to postpone our segment! Apparently, one of the principal individuals in a story they’d been following for several months had passed away, and the network had told the producers that that story takes precedence over whatever segments were slated to go out for tonight. ‘Well, we can always reschedule,’ he said. ‘I’ll have to give that some thought,’ I replied, and explained my dissatisfaction with the release forms. He said they’d be open to talking about it, whatever that may mean exactly.

And that, my friends, is why you didn’t see Sidore and me on Dr Drew tonight. Which is kind of a shame, as I was looking forward to being David Bowie to Dr Drew’s Russell Harty.
The moral of this story? If you’re eating onigiri of that size, give it a good two, two and half hours between eating each one. Any less than that, and you run the very real risk of bursting. Don’t Be Overeager with Onigiri™!

The end!

Random similar posts, for more timewasting:

We just couldn't stay away on April 27th, 2009

Artifice, real and simulated on December 23rd, 2006

4 have spoken to “…or don’t watch a Doll on telly”

  1. bbbjjjttt writes:

    Well, pooh. Although I do have to disagree with Oscar Wilde–in SOME cases, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about” is simply not true. Jeebus knows you’ve given Dolls plenty of publicity; you can sit this one out with a clear conscience!

    That was some YUMMY-looking birthday onigiri!

    Happy Birthday!

  2. PBShelley writes:

    I’d say it turned out for the best, given the release forms; they probably indicate what you’d be in for, is my guess. I’d also say pick your appearances (and battles) carefully but you do so I won’t 🙂

    “Hmmm… hmmm” indeed! No worries; something tells me it won’t be the last opportunity!

    Hope your birthday was delicious 🙂

  3. Davecat writes:

    bbbjjjttt —
    Yeah; as much as Wilde’s (good lord, I nearly typed ‘Widle’) aphorisms ring true, in this day and age, just because they’re speaking about you isn’t necessarily a good thing. Were Oscar were to arrive through a temporal wormhole in the middle of 2012, even checking the comments on your average YouTube video would have him bludgeoning the screen with his walking stick. I don’t know about you, but that’s the sort of thing I’d pay top dollar to witness firsthand…

    Shi-chan and I are in the midst (good lord, I nearly typed ‘misdt’… it’s late) of lining something up for early next year that sounds like it’ll be entertaining for all parties involved, however! Watch this space, etc!

    PBShelley —
    Both the birthday and the onigiri were delicious. 🙂 Well, the Missus and I were literally all dressed up with no place to go, after the telly thing fell through, but we made our own fun, as we do. 😉
    Actually, not the kind of fun I’d normally be implying with that wink; I was literally too bloated from those onigiri to much of anything apart from sitting, remaining still, and digesting. ‘Don’t Be Overeager with Onigiri™’, as the slogan goes!

    Speaking of Doll-promoting opportunities, we have to get you back in the game, sir. *nudge, nudge*

  4. PBShelley writes:

    One thing I *have* to do (when I get money) is to sample ALLLL of those delicious Japanese foods that I continually see in anime! Have you ever noticed that how, in nearly EVERY SINGLE EPISODE that meals are deliciously depicted? Lovingly, even! EVERY EPISODE! Now I’m hungry…

    Lily’s preparing for her close-up even as we speak; I’m hoping to release (self-publish) her story on December 21st. Why that particular date? Because it’s so fitting for an “end-of-the-world” story but I don’t want to tell anyone that *cough*

    That’s kind of an exclusive 😉

    Anyway, despite her sweet face coming un-Velcroed, (and unfit for photography), she patiently awaits the certainty that she is going to be focused on after the release (assuming the story gets noticed, of course, and assuming that the Earth doesn’t plummet into the sun or whatever). It’s my obligation to ensure that she’s viewed in only the correct light; you know how those media vultures are. So, she’s a bit trepidatious LOL

    I only have a slight idea what that means, but yeah.

    I’m prepping an article on Guy Louis XVI’s untimely passing for Alastor’s wherein Lily-Doll will get her due, as his talents are what made her so irresistible. So, a post about that (relatively) soon 🙂

    I like to think that elevating life-sized dolls from the gutter-mentality level of “just a sex-toy” is a worthy goal, but having to PROVE it is annoying as hell considering the natural skepticism evident courtesy of the media types. Why do I have to prove something that we know is true? Know-nothings are annoying, but you know that.

    So, we’ll get our turn; I just insist on controlling it as much as possible. If I can’t, then I’ll pass. When it comes time that they can do ME (and Lily) favors, then we can talk 😉

    That’s kinda been the plan 😀

    Isn’t Lily a little eye-catcher? xD

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