Watch Me Entertain Myself!

Sacha Guitry once said, "You can pretend to be serious, but you can't pretend to be witty." Oh yes, I'm the great pretender.
(pilot episode: 20 January 2004)

Friday, January 01, 2010

Of Fabcasts And The McVie Show, This 2010

The past weeks I felt bad that I’ve not been able to post an episode a day here in The McVie Show, a promise I made to myself. The hectic work schedules towards the end of the year, the numerous parties and reunions, and the increase in Fabcast recordings have eaten up much of my spare time to sit down and hammer out a decent episode.

Of the three, editing the Fabcasts has been the most time consuming. Migs once asked me how long it takes to edit one, and I honestly couldn’t give him a quick answer. On an average it takes me almost three-fourths of a day (during the weekends, mostly) to edit a 20 to 25-minute Fabcast. But several factors can adversely affect the editing, including how noisy the recording venue was, the number of songs I use, and the number of bloopers and mistakes I have to edit out.

But when Migs informed us that as of last week, our Fabcasts have reached more than 72,000 downloads, with around 20,000 just within the last 3 months, that fact astounded me. What started for me as something done just fun has turned into something bigger than anyone of us has imagined.

Do I feel any prey-shyure right now? Actually no. Every Fabcast is a unique opportunity to sharpen and hone my editing skills, and at the same time put my love of music to good use. And frankly all this editing has helped me not just in my line of work (I am in the entertainment field, after all), but also in my personal life as well. I appreciate more the value of editing, of less is more, of knowing which ones to keep and which ones to let go—sometimes hesitantly, oftentimes ruthlessly. And we are all the better for it.

As 2010 rolls in, the Fabcasters face a daunting challenge: Migs is going to be assigned permanently out of the country. How to record a Fabcast with him onboard is going to be a technological and logistic challenge, but we are willing to go for it.

After all, it’s not everyday that you stumble into something that has a positive impact on listeners, and yet is as entertaining and effortless to execute. (Well, at least the talking and recording part is effortless—laway at tahimik na lugar lang ang puhunan. Thank god I love the editing process!)

So to all you viewers of The McVie Show, when Fabcast recordings come, expect some days of repeat showings in this channel. My advanced warning and apologies this 2010 to all of you, dear viewers.

5 comments:

Ming Meows said...

2010 will be the Year of Fabcasts! I love it!

MgaEpal.com said...

Happy You Year! Manigong "sana kumpleto pa ang mga daliri nyo" sa inyong lahat!

Guyrony said...

The Fabcast is an integral part of who you are as a blogger. I truly appreciate how much effort you put into editing the fabcasting sessions. It's astounding how much time you allot well, since I thin you're personally great with time management, then I may as well be struck.

Quentin X said...

No apologies required Joel. Those fabcasts are worth waiting for. Never cease to put a smile to me face. They're like my virtual barkada.

~Carrie~ said...

I wish all the best, McVie, on future episodes and fabcast recordings. Congrats on what your fabcasts has reached and we hope to hear and read more from you. Happy new year.