It's Thursday, must be time for Thursday mash-ups!

Ahhhh…Thursday is here! We’re sliding toward the weekend. And, as you’ll read below, what a weekend it will be! But, more on that in a second.

First, an update on the reality show pilot that has been consuming so much of my precious time.

The final edits are done and I have to admit it’s a decent product given that we’re a bunch of amateurs. Friend Lamont, as it turns out, is a master of the video editing suite, seamlessly folding background shots into action shots. He also did a great job of remastering the sound…that was key when we got to the segment where the Bigfoot let out its bellowing howl.

I thought for certain we had captured that audio as we were filming one or two and we did…problem was you could also hear Cousin Fred’s screams of "Mommy!" as he ran away from the sound. The good part here is that Cousin Fred was following Lassie, the barking goat, who was making her own hasty retreat down the trail leading off the mountain.

I say “good” because the camera was still filming as Cousin Fred was making his exit and he got some great footage of a panicked goat shooting its gravel-sized poop out the backend as it ran.

Now that’s compelling television, people!

Friend Lamont was able to remaster Cousin Fred’s screams out of the master leaving the Bigfoot’s bellow, which he enhanced slightly by adding a hint of echo.

So, we lifted the soundtrack of the Bigfoot’s bellow and dropped it over video of two of our female participants that was shot at night. They were huddled on the ground using night vision binoculars to scan for the Bigfoot. Lassie, the barking goat came up behind them and touched the butt of one of the ladies causing her to jump up and spin around with a look on her face that seemed a combination of bewilderment, anger, and panic. She probably thought it was Cousin Fred.

To Cousin Fred’s credit, he got the look on tape. We carefully edited out Lassie sneaking up on her.

After that we just laid the video of the gravel-shooting goat running down the trail to get the hell off the mountain with the sounds of the Bigfoot bellowing in the background. This is genius I’m telling you!

At the end of the day we wound up with a DVD master of our pilot. I’m actually really proud of this! It was then that we realized that we hadn’t thought to name the show.

We began kicking around potential names, but came up with nothing that was television-worthy.  If any of you devoted CCB readers have any thoughts, please let me know. I need to overnight the DVD to Chick Farris in Hollywood by Friday.

Once that’s sent off, I’m left with a weekend of exciting events here in the Cosmic City from which to choose. Long term fans of CCB may recall that back in June, I offered up an imagined mash-up wherein people walking laps for charity inside the Woodward County Event Center would meet up in the parking lot with low-point beer guzzling spectators arriving for a Monster Truck Pull at Crystal Beach Stadium. Oh…the fun that ensued! Okay, not really, but it was fun to explore.

We have a virtual perfect storm of events in Cosmic City this weekend. At the Event Center alone, Friday and Saturday there is a Christmas Bazaar sponsored by the Woodward Farmers’ Market Association that will end just as doors are opening for another, more brutish event. The Toughman/Toughwoman Contest gets underway at 7:30, but they start letting the fight fans through the door at 6:30 as the Farmers’ Market people are departing.

I would imagine a lot of the fight fans will get there as soon as the doors open to ensure they get a great seat inside for the fights.

So, we have a limited amount of parking spots outside the Event Center and at least 100 vendors for the Christmas Bazaar. I would anticipate jars of plum jelly and overripe squash flying as arguments break out over parking spots.

Now, let’s add the third leg of our event triad…downtown on Saturday evening at the Woodward Arts Theatre (be sure to raise your nose in the air when you say theater with a “re” on the end) there will be a performance of Handel’s “Messiah” put on by the Enid Symphony Orchestra.

Are you with me so far?

Let’s just imagine that no one shows up downtown because they all want to see the fight finals at the Event Center. The fight promoter, never one to let an opportunity slip through his hands, decides to turn the whole thing into a mega-event.

He brings the Farmers’ Market people in to fight the preliminary rounds. But, rather than following sissy Marquis of Queensbury rules…our Christmas Bazaarers are allowed to fight freestyle. Off in a corner of the Event Center the Enid Symphony is performing “Messiah”. Every time someone gets knocked out in one of the fights, the orchestra breaks into the “Hallelujah Chorus” which tradition says the audience must be standing for.

With the number of bouts expected over the course of the evening, the audience will likely standing up and sitting down to the point that they become agitated.

A melee follows that puts the charity walker/monster truck brawl to shame.

Ain’t life grand in Cosmic City?

Lots of stuff going on this weekend. Enjoy it all!