The BillBrasky Q and A thread

[KevinLee]

So before the crash(B.C.) I noticed that BillBrasky was the top thread starter on the board, according to the statistics. I also observed that a lot of the threads he started were film and television related.

My first few questions for you Mr. BillBrasky is, "What's your source?"
"Are there just some other awesome websites you frequent." "Are you in the business?" And also,"Do you do comedy?" I assume you live in LA but I really don't know a thing about you, and unless you wanna keep it that way any info would be appreciated.

I guess I coulda PM'd you, but whatever. I thought I'd ask some questions in thread form.

KLeeving

[smartbunny]

I heard he uses a live rattlesnake as a condom.

[CaptainBreakfast]

I hear he hasn't been able to cry since the war.

[BillBrasky]

Haha, I just discovered this thread.

I do not live in Los Angeles, nor am I involved in the entertainment industry in any way.
I don't do comedy (and I'm not sure why you asked this, because I think I've demonstrated with most of my posts that I'm not really that funny)

I live in Tampa, Florida, and I'm a librarian. My job entails sitting in front of a computer for most of the day, and thus I have a lot of free time to surf the Internet.

These are some of my favorite websites, in case you're interested:

Comingsoon.net- For some reason, this seems to be one of the best sites for information about movies on the web. They update frequently throughout the day, they have movie trailers up almost immediately after they're released, and they're really good about keeping their release date information current and accurate. I would say a good majority of the stuff I post comes from this site.

Hollywood Reporter/ Variety- This is probably the 2nd place I look for movie/TV information. Variety has a tendency to clutter up their articles with a lot of nonsensical jargon, but HR is pretty good.

The Futon Critic- This site is really good for TV-related information. They always have really detailed information on the progress of all the prospective pilots for every new TV season. And they run good reviews of all the pilots too, once they've been released to critics.

http://www.the-frat-pack.com/- I've just discovered this site in the past year or so, but it's a pretty good site. It's kind of a one-stop shop for information on a lot of the comedic actors we tend to discuss here a lot.

http://chilled.cream.org/- This is sort of the British version of aspecialthing; it's a message board devoted to British comedy. I've sort of grown a little disenchanted with this site lately, because there's a lot of overly negative people there that like to complain about everything. But it is useful for information on British comedy shows that haven't aired over here yet.

Really, what I do isn't all that terribly difficult and is mostly a byproduct of boredom, but I'm glad you all appreciate it. I'm not sure how I became "that guy", since I started visiting this site back when it started mostly just to talk about Mr. Show, but I guess with my work experience I'm good at finding stuff online, so a lot of my posts have tended to fall into a certain pattern.

Oh, and I see a lot of movies. Probably more than most people. I see a lot of early screenings of films because they do a lot of them in my area, and I don't really have anything else to do. Tampa's not really a live comedy kind of place.

Please feel free to ask me anything else about my boring life.

[disl]

how does one become a librarian? i'm honestly interested, it seems like a good job and i always thought that it would be relatively simple to get your foot in the door, but i've since found that that's not the case.

[BillBrasky]

If you want to be a librarian, you have to have a MLS degree, which is a master's degree in library science. On the bright side, though, it's probably one of the easier master's degrees to get.

It doesn't really involve a lot of pre-requisites, and you don't have to write a dissertation or anything. (I did have to take a comprehensive exam before getting my degree, which is basically answering a long essay-type question).

I'm not sure how much of a growth industry librarianship is- the library I work for has experienced a lot of budget cuts lately, and I don't notice a lot of job opportunities for librarians in my area. But it's a civil service job, and I have good health benefits, so I can't complain too much.

I would probably check and see if there's a university in your area that has an LIS (Library and Information Science) program. If I'm not mistaken, you live near Tampa, right? If so, USF's got a really good program.

[megalope]

Aha!

I, too, am a librarian. (Sorry in advance, BillBrasky, for slightly derailing your thread.) I live in Los Angeles and there are jobs aplenty here -- if you want to work at a public library. Most libraries do require an MLS or MLIS. I am graduating from San Jose State University in December. They offer a very good distance program; I've done almost all of my classes completely online. Good luck to all future (and current) librarians!

[disl]

thanks for the information, guys!

[Keith Whitener]

Did you always want to be a librarian, Bill?

Do you use your position as a librarian to order books for the library that you personally would like to read?

Found any expensive first editions in stock?

[KevinLee]

This thread is going swimmingly.
I thought you were ignoring it(I don't know why I thought that, but I did)
Thanks for the links and the info.
Also, I heard that you won't be able to access myspace at libraries anymore. How do you and others in the Library community feel about this?
Cheerio!

[rabbitandox]

What is the best and worst thing about an average day for a librarian? Would you recommend it?

[BillBrasky]

I didn't always want to be a librarian, but I've always liked reading and I've always been good at using the computer, so it seemed like a good job for me. My undergraduate degree was in mass communications, but journalism's a really competitive field and I wasn't having much luck with that so I decided to go back to school and get a librarian degree.

I don't order books for the library- actually I've just started ordering DVDs, but nonfiction ones, so documentaries and such. If I see something really good, I'm sure I'll try to order it for the library, but I don't really see that many documentaries.

My library only blocks out Myspace in the children's lab- we don't block it out on the public computers. If we did, I think people would be pissed, because it's one of the main sites I see people on during the day (and we're talking adults here, not 13 year old kids).

Best thing about an average day as a librarian- A lot of free time. I work in a large public library, and there's plenty of librarians who work here, so I'm not on the desk all day, and during my off hours I have plenty of time to surf and spend on aspecialthing. Oh, and helping people, I suppose...hehe

Worst thing- Dealing with scary homeless people

[billynord]

(enter homeless person wearing frankenstein mask and dracula cape)

also, i just wanted to say thanks for all of your hard work, brasky. you've definitely created a one-stop, easy access info hub for my daily viewing.

[Dogwelder]

When are you going to get your avatar back Bill? I miss being able to immediately identify your posts thanks to Chauncey.

And thanks for all the great stuff you post here. Thanks to you I'm aware of a lot of cool movies and such before it ever would have been on my radar otherwise.

[Keith Whitener]

Have you thought of starting a blog, Bill? I imagine it would become popular very quickly.

[crlygrl]

i just wanted to say thanks for all of your hard work, brasky. you've definitely created a one-stop, easy access info hub for my daily viewing.

Seconded!!