WHERE I’VE BEEN…

I have been busy. Really busy. More busy, in fact, than I have ever been in my life I think.

NEWS WEAKLY has consumed me. Being the sole Writer, Editor, Producer, Director and Host of a production intensive show like this is taking its toll. And that isn’t even considering the fact that I also Produce, Edit and Host another weekly show, CUTTING IT. It’s a movie review show that is well into its 40th episode now.

So this is my week now.

FRIDAY: Watch a weeks worth of Reuters and AP footage as well as any reports filed by our local correspondents on major national stories. Read through all the articles I’ve been highlighting and collecting all week. Despair for having bitten off more than I can chew, being a hack, relying on luck so far and wondering when it will run out. Write the script for NEWS WEAKLY. The process starts at 10:00 am and ends at 5:00 am the next morning. Moments of self-loathing are sporadic all day.

SATURDAY: Wake up after 5 hours of sleep filled with dreams of politicians and horses to rush to work. Do a final edit on the script and then shoot the studio portion. Capture the shot footage to a hard drive and bring it home where I can attempt to sleep again for a few hours. Wake up by 22:00pm and begin downloading any youtube footages and doing any photoshop work the episode requires. Usually of politicians and horses.

SUNDAY: The edit begins by noon. Hard disk attached to laptop and headphones embedded in my ear-canals, I begin working through Final Cut Pro. By the time the edit is done at around 5:00 am, I have beaten into submission a host of softwares. Final Cut Pro, Keynote, Adobe Photoshop, Livetype, Adobe Illustrator and Notepad. Trusty, reliable Notepad.

MONDAY: Sleep the sleep of the defeated for 5 hours, then drive to work with a bellyful of Redbull. Hand over ready-to-air NEWS WEAKLY. Hit make-up and begin shooting episode of CUTTING IT. Wrap up shoot by 18:00 pm, grab a bite to eat and then head over to FM89 where I co-host a radio show with the inimitable Omer Bilal Akhtar. We talk about politicians and horses on the air. Get home finally at 22:00pm. Sleep the sleep of the just.

TUESDAY: Stroll into work at a leisurely noontime and edit the recently shot episode of CUTTING IT. Hand it over to transmission to air. Sneak out early.

WEDNESDAY: Take the day off. Sleep. Eat. Rest. Oh, and watch three movies for next episode of CUTTING IT.

THURSDAY: Begin prep work for NEWS WEAKLY. Lots of searching through archived files, looking up political biographies and collating research. Uploading latest episode of NW to Youtube.

FRIDAY: The cycle begins anew. Politicians and horses.

After about three weeks of doing this (it’s been 16 weeks as of this writing by the way), I started to worry about a few things being lost. Social life was one. Reading was another. I am not to concerned about the lack of the former. I find social interactions mostly bothersome and often disappointing. There is a select group of people I prefer spending my time with and see them once a week on my day off. That is often enough for me. The latter though was worrying. People in media tend to be unimaginative and focused only on their task at hand. They spare little time for reading and thus develop their minds to a shockingly limited degree. It’s why you never see any new viewpoints or perspectives on television. All you see is a lizard swallowing its own tail.

For me reading is more than an obsession. It is my way of life. My immense spectacles are evidence of that. But time is not on my side. Thus, podcasts and audiobooks.

God bless Audiobooks. You can listen to them while driving, while in the bathroom, while eating. Anytime almost. I try to go through at least 2 a week when possible. If an audiobook is not available though, then I fight to make time for the more traditional format.

Currently reading

: CURFEWED NIGHT and listening to MILLENIUM.

My other pleasure is Podcasts. These wonderful short bursts of audio ingenuity have rendered my iPod useless as a music-playing device.

Currently listening to

: NEVER NOT FUNNY. A weekly free-for-all between my favorite comedians and their friends. It has always been and probably always will be my favorite podcast.

THE HISTORY OF ROME. A detailed narrative on the history of the Ancient Rome, told with passion and an attention to minutiae.

DAN CARLIN’S HARDCORE HISTORY. Carlin views history from angles that it isn’t often looked at from. Fascinating and addictive.

GEEKS ON. Geeks talking about geek stuff. ‘Nuff said.

THE BUGLE. Brit comic Andy Zaltsman and The Daily Show’s Jon Oliver punch current events in the face. This show inspired NEWS WEAKLY more than anything else. Always hilarious.

START THE WEEK WITH ANDREW MARR. A weekly round table discussion between innovators and thinkers on a variety of subjects that is conducted with the ease and intellectual comfort that only the BBC can provide.

STEPHEN FRY’S PODGRAMS. One of the greatest comedians of the modern age turned out to be one of the greatest overall minds of the modern age. Listen to him talk about his hatred of dancing and why he loves technology.

and, THE 40 YEAR OLD BOY. A former member of the NEVER NOT FUNNY team goes solo with a weekly rant about weight loss, childhood and punching peoples faces.

And in between it all, I am still watching every episode of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA as it appears. Final season. The show is firing on all cylinders now. God, what will I watch when it’s gone.

Oh, and I recently wrote a two part essay about doing comedy in Pakistan for Punchline Magazine.

PART I and PART II. Comedy Central’s Insider Blog liked it.

There. So that’s why I hardly ever update my blog anymore. Won’t you forgive me?