falknerisms

Better to be lucky than good

2009-05-18T10:05:00.003-07:00

This saying offends many people because it seemingly takes skill out of the equation. I disagree because of a definition I heard of being lucky:

Luck is when opportunity meets skill.

Show me a true card player who consistently wins who doesn't understand the game. There is an element where they have to get the right cards to win but they rely on skill to play those cards right. A person who lands an account has to have opportunity to present and the environment has to be right to close the sale but they have to have skill to close it.

The Hairy Edge

2007-07-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

Don't remember who coined this one to me but I love it. They always referred to the hairy edge of something. The most often use for me is the hairy edge of disaster but it can be used for anything.

Full On

2007-06-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

This derives from the phrase "full on the mouth" that I got from a good friend of mine in Nashville. I've heard it used a lot and was surprised recently to hear a famous worship leader us this phrase (now whether she got it from the original phrase, I don't know).

Have Fun Storming the Castle

2007-06-20T12:37:00.001-07:00

One of my personal favorites from "The Princess Bride". Pretty much can be used for any application.

Stinks on Ice

2007-06-13T00:14:00.001-07:00

Pretty self explanatory (though I'm not sure why).

Polishing a Turd

2007-06-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

Very similar concept to chicken salad in that no matter how good you are, you can't make bad content better. You can only dress it up to disguise how bad it is and that's how you get a polished turd.

Making Chicken Salad

2007-06-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

Anyone who's worked with me for a while has heard me say I'm making chicken salad. It originates from an old sales guy who always used to say, "They've given us chicken (crap) so we're gonna have to make chicken salad." He usually was referring to a horrible product that we (the production department) had to try to make look like the greatest Christmas toy ever. It has a broad base use as it can pretty much apply to anything. In video production we often get the worst client, producer, graphical elements, etc and just have to make the best of it because of course it will be our fault if it isn't great.

Air Gap

2007-06-12T10:50:00.001-07:00

Anyone who works in the audio/video industry has heard the term 'Air Gap'.

I personally love airgap because it applies to so many aspects of our lives. It can be as simple as a plug that isn't plugged into the wall or a cable not plugged in but it can also apply to the space between our ears. Worst time for an airgap is if you become the connection between two high voltage power sources (not that I've ever done that).

Movieisms

2007-06-10T15:08:00.001-07:00

My brother reminded me of a movie term I've adopted and so here is some of the movie and TV terms that i've adopted:

nerfherder
dillweed
excellent (smithers)

More to come....

It Is What It Is

2007-06-09T14:18:00.001-07:00

Anyone who knows me has probably heard this phrase. The basic premise is that there are some things you can't deal with. They aren't going to change despite some form of intervention. It has also been used as a phrase of giving up.

Dude

2007-06-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

This was picked up in my youth while growing up in the 80's in Cali. Why we thought this surfer term was cool I'll never figure out. Of course it was immortalized in that classic movie "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" leading me again to ask why we ever thought the word was cool.