http://nycaviation.com/2009/12/17/nycav ... oday-show/
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Sorry Phil. I'm lagged at work. That's what happens when I don't shoot for a while. I saw it on the Today show site.
Phil I want to say I think you did a great job with this! If you don't understand flight, aviation and have a passion for the art of it then no amount of time will convey that appropriately. It's so much more than spotting planes and stems back to my grandfathers WWII era for me. It does stink though when others do not validate your feelings or passions.
They did really murder the names though. Al just wanted to break for lunch, little does he know that I paint walls too. lol
A+ for you Phil.
They could have covered both plane spotting AND metal detecting in one shot at Howard Beach. Almost the very rare "odd" hobby trifecta! :D
Al Roker acted like a tool bag. What are his hobbies besides eating? Otherwise great, it's nice to get some coverage on this hobby so people will maybe understand a little more and not call the police when they see a person with a camera! CBS's show 48 Hours did coverage on spotting many years ago and followed Jeff Devore and Ryan Hales for a day of spotting.
That's really mean. But very funny! hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by lear45
From one of the emails I received: "I wish Al Roker would just get that can of paint and paint himself into a corner."
Phil, great job representing the hobby! It's a fun, light-hearted segment. No harm, no foul.
Al may've gotten a kick out of how his "weather forecasts" are such a big part of the hobby. And Ann seemed like good company, so good times.
And I know it's been a while, but I'm going to start uploading under the name "Benjamin Moore". Priceless.
Bravo!
Brian
Having just got through watching it, I was, like most others, disappointed by Al Roker - at least Ann Curry tried to get into things, even at the end of the segment talking about the camaraderie. It's a pity they filmed a slow time too - from what it seems it was slow - I've never seen JFK that slow in all the times I have been there. Phil did a great job (or was that Matt??? :) ) explaining. Exposure is exposure and I wonder how much the hits on the web site increased since the show this morning.
Great job all!!
You know, I still have not seen it.
But Phil, you met my friend Eddie at my sons bday last year...anyway he saw it and texted me why I wasnt on. But he didnt say anything negative about it.
Too bad I wasnt there. I would have loved to been interviewed ;)
ouch... really cold from the anchors...
but they did get my 4R Middle Marker in the shot... *brings a tear to my eye*...one of the most famous middle markers now...
Hey, let's call this "asshat spotting!" Look! There's one!!! Al should go back to snorting lines of Bon Bons like they were cocaine.
Whatever man, I say great job guys!
Hello everyone...I have been reading airliners.net for several years now. I saw the clip on the Today show this morning and told my wife, "thats my new hobby."
I just recently bought a Canon EOS Rebel XS, and need to get a better lense for it to "really" spot well.
I live in Connecticut, about equal distance to BDL and PVD. I wouldn't mind starting small and maybe plan a trip to one of the NYC airports or BOS once things warm up a bit.
I just read the thread about the Today Show on airliners.net and read about the site, so I quickly came over to check it out. I am looking forward to being a regular reader and contributor. I have always loved aircraft and while I don't know the specifics of astro physics, I can have been able to identify an aircraft type since I was a kid. I love spending times on planes and in airports. This should be fun!
Glad to have you, CTN! Eager to talk with and see your photos in the future. Let us know if you have any questions!
One thought I had during the airing is who picked the location for the shooting? Why take them to a spot a few miles away from JFK, where the only good shots of aircraft you can get is from cameras with 10000x zoom.. I think it would have been a little more exciting, exhilarating and "enticing" if say you had picked landings lights park or an area right under short final where you actually get real close to the aircraft for the segment..
Would have been fine had JFK not switched runways just before we got there and the producer did not want to switch locations. Problem with Landing Lights/Planeview is LGA doesn't land on 4 all that often.Quote:
Originally Posted by USAF Pilot 07
You have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO BE EMBARRASSED ABOUT. It was a great, though too short, piece. Al thoughQuote:
Originally Posted by Phil D.
came across like a real DICK , just a pompous jerk especially at the end in the studio. Ann seemed much nicer
even when she said it isnt something she would like to do again but understood what it was all about. I've always
liked her anyway. Al thinks he's too cool for the room and lord knows I dont know where he gets that atitude from.
Good work Phil and the guys and girls with you.
When was that shot if I may ask and how long were they with you?
> I have always loved aircraft and while I don't know the specifics of astro physics<
I can assure you you aint the only one on this Forum that could say that. :lol: :lol:
The "Big Bang Theory" this isnt.
Welcome aboard. :)
We did two days of filming I think in October (right guys?). Only one day was with Ann and Al. Ann is SUCH a sweetheart. Al was cranky the whole time and put-off before he even got there.
They didn't use much verbal footage from day one, which included interviews with the spotters in attendance about their favorite planes, and a 15-minute interview with me about the hobby, which I was actually pleased with. I was eager to get some of that on the air to represent the hobby, but they didn't use it.
I'll post more pics from the day later on or tomorrow. :)
If anyone has more questions, please feel free.
One funny part is looking at site stats....seeing how dozens people searched for us, and still got here, even thought their spelling of the word "aviation" was off.
Something interesting to note, we've had eight new members on the forums since the piece aired this morning, more per day (or week, even) than usual. I'd call that a win.
Ya know if you cant spell AVIATION do we really want them here? :lol: :lol: :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil D.
Thanks for the other info and confirming my impressions on Ann and her co-host whatizname? :wink:
Did they get the private email from Phil concerning the entry fee to join the website?Quote:
Originally Posted by flyboy 28
:lol: :lol: :lol: :)
Sometimes I am shocked on airliners.net how much people know about aircraft weight, and various details. I look at a 777, or A330 and think, "wow what a pretty aircraft." I couldn't tell what the MTOW is though!! :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerard
Hey guys,
First of all, Roker's smarmy comments notwithstanding, I don't think you came across as nerds or anything like it. Our hobby is a lot like collecting, and really, who cares if Al Roker or anyone else finds it uninteresting? I'm sure some of the things he finds fascinating would put others to sleep. It really doesn't matter; we do what we do to please ourselves, that's what hobbies are about. Al Roker can make his best case for why he thinks plane spotting is boring and I'll bet any of us could make a good case that someone who thinks plane spotting is boring probably lack traits that we are proud to have: A love of flight, a sense of adventure and romance, an appreciation for the unbelievable ability of human beings to develop the technology that took us from Kitty Hawk to the 747 in 66 years. I'd guess most of the viewers this morning found Roker to be a self-absorbed boor. He reminded me of a guy at a party who thinks everything he says is so witty and clever while everyone else is laughing at him behind his back.
Keep in mind the job these people came to do: Take several hours of preparation and filming and distill it into a 5 minute segment that is entertaining. This is their one and only goal. It is not to be precise, not to get the names right, not to convince viewers it's a great hobby. They strive to amuse and entertain, because that's what makes people watch, that's what drives the ratings, that's what brings in the bucks.
After the filming is done, the first job of the writers is to decide the "hook" that the story hangs on. It's pretty clear what Roker's choice was. I'd say it was a poor choice. He made the story about himself. I found him boring, self-aggrandizing, and unprofessional. Every second he was on-screen would have been time better used exploring the topic. I think an impartial critic would see it the same way.
In the end, truth always comes out. Plane spotting is a very cool, interesting, and gratifying pursuit, and I'd guess most people who saw the segment came away thinking so. They probably also thought Al Roker is a horse's ass!
Wow. There are ways to gently get the point across that it isn't your thing, and then there's the Al Roker method of not really even being nice about it. For being a host on a TV show where they're supposed to be nice to the point of looking like goobers, he royally dropped the ball.
Good seeing this site get some nice recognition, though.
I really have to say Al Roker is just plain rude in this segment. There really is no reason to put down other people's likes and hobbies.
My favorite comedian, Lewis Black, talks about Al Roker in an old bit that I've always loved...
http://comedians.jokes.com/lewis-black/ ... he-weather
I totally forgot about this until I saw someone post something on Twitter about NYC Aviation getting a medal for putting up with Al Roker's punk ass. Indeed.
Overall it wasn't a bad piece. They did a pretty decent job explaining the hobby, and the opening "Resevoir Dogs" montage was pretty sweet. I wish they would have used more quotes from people like Phil explaining why they were into it, instead of showing clips of you guys pointing cameras at the sky and saying ish like "Wow the colors on that tail are nice". It also doesn't help that you had that fat bastard faux weatherman busting on you every other moment. I think the problem with Roker is that he's supposed to be there for comic relief, but it looks like his cranky mood had him making fun of the hobby rather than having fun with it. Shame.
But like they say, any publicity is good publicity. Plane spotting is kinda obscure and misunderstood, so raising awareness of the hobby might possibly bring more people in and soothe the fears of the "what the hell are those guys with the cameras doing, call the police" crowd. And plane spotting is damn sure cooler than metal detecting and hunting for mythical creatures. Seriously, who does that?
-Gabe
Welcome to the site, Gabe! Some good points to add!
It was a nice piece, and yes Plane Spotting is a nerdy hobby and for that matter, so is bird watching, butterfly collecting, collecting comic books & stamps.
Remember, these shows are supposed to be entertaining and informative, which I think they did, sure they made fun of you guys a little, but, they also gave you kudos as well, take the good with the bad.
I felt like Al Roker was hosting his own version of the show " Bull**** ". But, knowing what you guys are about it was easy to disregard his desire to learn nothing about your hobby.
I just saw it now, I don't think it was that bad other than getting ppls names wrong lol (lame). Other than that, some cuts reminded me of a video from the Beastie Boys :wink: :D
AL is a clown (who isn't funny) and so he just acted clownish, what else could one expect? Behind that smile and making himself look too cool for "planespotting" most people who watched this can figure out there's some type of insecurity behind trying to spin plane watching as something for weirdos, but I can tell Ann actually enjoyed it LOL. Given the title of the segment, she had to appear to agree with Al Roker at the end.
Too bad I couldn't see Theresa giving her 20 min long explanation lol didn't even see her on the video? and more 'planespotter' footage instead of Al's childish and rehearsed facial expressions would've been nice, but oh well. Phil's response was ace and made his point very well.
Awesome!
Uhhhhhhhh, maybe that's 'cause you didn't look hard enough Bunghole!! hahaha I saw Theresa several times during that video. But yeah, her 20 min. long explanation was noticeably absent...:(Quote:
Originally Posted by Mayi757
Quote:
Bunghole!!
Yeah, how about I kick you in the nads, turd burglar??Quote:
Originally Posted by maestra80
Now that I see that video, perhaps AL would've enjoyed himself more if someone would've done the cornholio as he was trying to be funny and asked him if he needed any.. TP??
TP for your uhh.. huhuhuhuh!
Talented aviation blogger Dan Webb posted this article about our Today Show appearance:
:arrow: "Dear Al Roker - Shut Up" (click)
Should be interesting to see if that elicits anything from the said Today Show hosts......
"Happy New Year to All"
In case anyone's interested they've replayed this on Waking up with Al on The Weather Channel Today (1-1-10).
I just saw this on the re run of the show.......great job all :borat:Quote:
Originally Posted by JHNA57