Thursday, July 3, 2008

Hello and Welcome

I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone to this new blog and introduce myself. I was the owner and moderator of the Yahoo! group "Gorgeous Newswomen Network", http://groups.yahoo.com/gorgeousnewswomen. I ran that group for several years, having inherited it from the previous owner, TheEsotericE, aka, BluePennMets. I regard him as one of the pioneers in capping newswomen on TV. Capping in case you don't know is taking a screen shot of a still TV image on your computer. Now in order to do that you need some way to "capture" a video image either directly to your computer via a capture device that can tune in television or a signal from a source such as a VCR or DVD or camcorder. Regardless of the source, you need to be able to capture that image and you don't do that with a simple click of the Printscreen key on your keyboard you need something a little more advanced. Anyway, long story short, I somehow got into the newswomen on TV and my searching online led me to the work of Mr. E/BPM and others. At this time, the technology was getting good enough that you could add a TV tuner card into your PC and record and capture TV and also be able to do the same with your VCR and the pictures would be pretty reasonable. Nowadays, they are much better due to HD and digital set-top boxes. So as I started to peruse the various groups that indulged in this hobby, I started to do my own capping and started to contribute my "work" as it were to these groups. Now there was the main group that focused on everyone and there were groups that focused on a specific network or people. At the time the most popular network and still to this day clearly is Fox News Network. They put the emphasis on looks and sex appeal to draw in viewers in their fight against CNN and it clearly helped! Eventually I started to contribute so much that Mr. E thought well enough of me to ask me if I wanted to take over as owner of GNN because he was moving. Coincidentally it so happened that we lived in the same area! So I continued to do the capping and owning/moderating of the group for the next couple years. One thing I wil tell you about capping is that it takes up a lot of your time and at times it can become a love/hate thing for sure. Over time I became better at it and more efficient but I also realized that I couldn't maintain the pace that I was doing and have any time for anything else. After my last job change I realized that I needed to make a break and change up what I was doing. Also I had become more and more disillusioned with the group and what it's purpose was. I stopped participating in the group and pretty much left it to it's own.
Now here is where I welcome past and current members of GNN. I want to take this opportunity to welcome you here and also to explain in some way my absence from the group. As I mentioned I became disillusioned as well as tired of the group/forum/discussion board concept as I felt it simply drew in too many crazies, weirdos, perverts and oddballs. If you are one of them, all offense intended. I understand that it is natural that the Internet in general provides a safe haven for people of this ilk and especially how it caters to odd interests such as this. Hey I'm guilty to for the simple fact that I am here, but I'd like to think that I have a pretty level-headed approach to it, and that I understand that this is basically a silly little hobby and no one should take it very seriously. Unfortunately not many others did and I spent more and more time putting out fires, flame wars and personal tiffs than I did focusing on what was really important. So I decided I would simply disappear from the group completely but continue to cap and post my stuff. This is the first time that I have made my thoughts known online and I simply feel that a blog format is more conducive to this type of thing than a forum is. Forums only work if the members are all on the same page about etiquette and decorum and all contribute but if all it is one or two guys producing all the work and the rest consuming, then what's really the point of the forum? Here I get to express my views and opinions, and share my caps with you all and not really worry about what Joe over wants or what Jimmy over here is requesting. Oh sure that stuff will still happen in the comments section but if you don't comment I won't take offense and if you do then please make intelligent and insightful comments that all will appreciate. Well I don't want to linger too long in this post, I will devote future posts to more specific subjects such as who I cap, how I cap, and other things of that nature.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Chairman,
Enjoy your caps over at Yahoo. Never requested, nor complained, about your work. I am not equipment capable to do what you do. I'm appreciative for the time you spend to allow others the enjoyment of the lovely newswomen. So I "Thank You" for your dedication to capping.

weluvcj2003@yahoo.com
Mike

Anonymous said...

What happened that yo had to leave other group