KBTV

KBTV::Broken Camera; Powerless Mic

It all started last Friday when both cameras broke. It went something like this…

I dash out from the back room all dressed up in an olive green chemise, black Yoga pants and flip flops … big pink curlers still perched on top of my now head-ache plagued head. I whirl into the office to find Barry sitting in his usual chair slumped over the big camera. He’s swearing. Barry hardly ever swears.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“I can’t get the tape to feed. I can’t even get the thing to shut. What did you do?”

“Nothing!” For some reason, I start to laugh – guffaw even.

“Barry if you wanted the day off, all you had to do is call in sick. You didn’t have to break the camera.”

“Kate. I’m serious.” He’s serious. He’s not laughing. He’s not happy. “What happened? It was working when I left.”

I wrack my brain to try to remember what I could have done to break the camera. Anna (my housekeeper) hadn’t been at the house. I hadn’t even touched the camera.

“I don’t know, Bar. I don’t think I broke the camera. Let’s just shoot with the little one.”

Barry grabs the little cam, and I wire up for sound with the dreaded Bluetooth mic. We head out to our location overlooking the Intracoastal. I mic up for audio, Barry crouches, focuses the camera and … Wham!

Hello I’m Kate Bohner for KBTVonline … welcome to the third, and final episode of our three-part series MISSION TO MARS … ....Space experts have for years been saying we wouldn't have a man on Mars until at least 2050 ... well not if a group of researchers from the University of Washington have anything to do with it ... they plan to have a US astronaut planting an American flag on the red planet within the next five to ten years!

“I’m not getting any audio.” Barry sounds really frustrated. He throws his headphones on the grass. Maybe that’s why the camera is broken?

The batteries were out on the big, fat Bluetooth mic. I hate that mic. It’s enormous! It’s the size of a deck of cards. Barry runs back to the house to get new batteries. Ok. He’s back. I mic up; Barry says: “Hit it!”

Hello, I’m Kate Bohner for KBTVonline. On Monday, I broadcast part one … how the European Space Agency is seeking a dozen volunteers to take part in a “simulated Mars Trip” … now dubbed MARS500. Participants will spend 520 days in an isolation tank, so scientists can study – among other things – human behavior and the group dynamics of deep-space travel. Yesterday, I broadcast Part II … discussing the potentials pitfalls of a mixed-sex crew for lengthy, deep space travel … more specifically about the issue of astronauts having sex in space ... and the other ethical dilemmas facing NASA and the ESA.

Barry chuckles and gives me the thumbs up! “One Take Kate!”

To be continued …

posted by rjoyner @ 10:37 PM