Whammy-licious

Just one of the many words coined in the booth during our tapings of Whammy this season...and quite an accurate description of the new season we've taped so far. We've just got 12 more shows to tape next week and we're done for the season. We've had many great games this year. There have been quite the number of spin battles, big wins, and exciting finishes this year. Yesterday, we did another special episode...the April Fool's episode. Graham Elwood hosted the show and it was a really fun show. Definitely another one to set the VCRs and TiVOs for. We also had a couple of situations that have never happened before on "Whammy!" Good, good stuff...

Honestly, there's not much more to really talk about besides Whammy seeing how that's been how I've been spending much of my time lately. I've fortunately shaken off the nasty cold I had a couple of weeks ago. And I think I'm going to send the makers of "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here" a thank you card for burning the image of Alana Stewart going face-to-face with a hissing possum in my memory. :-)

It's back!

My mandelweb.com E-mail address is back up and running, so if any of you need to send me E-mail, please use the E-mail address on the "E-mail me" on the left side of the page.

Thanks to all of you for the kind words about the pics I posted last night and for all of your support for the upcoming season of "Whammy!" I've been seeing a bunch of the posts on the message boards about the new season. Here's my favorite one that I've read so far. This one is about the pictures I posted last night online:

"Perhaps someone could clear something up from the pictures... who is the Chinese-looking guy? I've seen pictures from the Larsen episodes and the clips from the Larsen eps (courtesy of http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/harrow/953/media.htm ), and I don't recall a Chinese-looking guy anywhere on the set."

Ummm...I'M the "Chinese-looking guy." Hee-hee...Maybe that should be my new screenname. "That Chinese-Looking Guy." Or hell, I should pitch that as a new sitcom to FOX...It's "That Chinese Looking Guy!" BTW, for those of you playing at home...My background is Filipino, NOT Chinese... :-)

Anyhoo, a new link for y'all...A friend of mine has a blog called renita.blogspot.com. There, you can following the life of the elusive grand dame of the internet...Renita Jenkins. Enjoy!

Today was one of the coolest days ever...

Here's why:






DEFINITELY set your VCRs for Game Show Network on March 17th. We are just one month away from a big season premiere night. Following the St. Pat's Day special premiere, GSN will be airing ANOTHER special "Whammy," one that some info was leaked about in a press release that was published earlier today online.

E-mail update: My mandelweb.com account is still down. If you need to E-mail me, please E-mail to this alternate address. Thanks!....Now to the blog...

Here I am...

E-mail update: My mandelweb.com account is still down. If you need to E-mail me, please E-mail to this alternate address. Thanks!....Now to the blog...

Almost a week and a half later...here it is...my first real blog in a while on my website...

This has been a rough week and a half for me. Since last Friday (the 7th), I've been extremely sick. I'm much better now, but I've been dragging over the past ten days or so...I caught the flu bug that's been going around town. I literally could not get out of bed that first Friday I was sick. The worst part was that I had my birthday party the next day. I did nothing but sleep all day that Friday in hopes that I would shake off the flu. Not so...

I muddled my way through my birthday party last weekend. Other than the fact that I was half-conscious throughout the thing, it was a success. There was a good turnout...it was very low-key which was what I needed that night.

Monday and Tuesday, we had some "Whammy!" tapings. We've done twenty-two episodes so far and the shows have been good. One thing I'm noticing is that the contestants this year are playing a bit more strategically than they did last season. It's made for some very good games. BTW, thanks to those of you on the game show message boards that have visited the tapings and put up some nice posts about us. :-) Just so you all know, we premiere at 8 PM eastern on Monday, March 17th with a special St. Patrick's day show. From what I understand, we'll be premiering on the 17th with two back-to-back episodes. I can't say too much about the second episode that's airing on the 17th, but it's another special episode, one we're taping tomorrow morning.

What else...what else...Our friend Davy from Florida has been visiting all this week. Davy's the friend of mine whom I met through Ted. He and his friends showed me around Orlando when I was there last summer for a couple of the Beat the Clock tapings. We had a little get-together Friday night to introduce Davy to some of our friends.

Some other random thoughts...The biggest thing I've learned all week is that Lorenzo Lamas is an "international sex symbol..." well, at least according to "Are You Hot?" I really want to know what constitutes one getting the title of "international sex symbol," and why we needed to be constantly reminded of Lorenzo being one during the entire two-hour premiere of "Are You Hot?" Also, where do we start delineating the lines of sex symbolness? Is there "domestic sex symbolness?" Or better yet, can one be a "municipal sex symbol?" Because if so, I think I even qualify as one...somewhere in some remote village off the coast of Togo...After watching "Are You Hot?" I came out with desires...and no, they weren't related to any of the guys on the show...First, I want that giant "Hot/Not" sign in my house over my front door. That way the next time somebody new walks through our door, we can activiate the "hot" or "not" side...Finally, I'd love to see a whole line of "Are You...?" shows....For example, "Are You Hungry?" hosted by international starving children symbol Sally Struthers, "Are You Legal?" hosted by international boy wonder Michael Jackson, and "Are You Gay?" hosted by international homosexual symbol, Oscar Wilde... :-)

One flu over the cuckoo's nest...

* GASP * A new blog post?!?!? Why yes it is...In addition to being busy with "Whammy!" tapings, I've also been fighting off this flu bug I've had all week...More details later today...

NOTE: Those of you who might have tried to send E-mails to my mandelweb.com account may have noticed that your E-mails have been bouncing back. This shouldn't be happening. I'm trying to get this fixed ASAP...

Whammys and Toadies

Four down, sixty-one to go...over to you Miss Kilgallen...oh wait, wrong show...As you all know, "Whammy" had its first taping of its second season on Tuesday. We taped four shows and all of them were great. The gameplay in the episodes we taped in our first day were top notch. The new jackpot brings new wrinkles into game strategy and almost always makes it anybody's game up until the end. And I can't stress how much better the show looks this year. Everything looks sharper and stands out more. There's a new opening and host entrance that rocks courtesy of our master director. The last show of the day was phenomenal. It was one of the most exciting episodes of Whammy...EVER...It got to the point where I was so into the game I was screaming at the top of my lungs. And I'll just leave it at that. :-) Hopefully, the great gameplay from the first four shows carries over throughout the rest of the season.

I think it goes without saying that I love tape days at "Whammy." Not only is it a great show, but the studio is a nice comfort zone. While there's a lot of work to be done on tape days, it's such a fun environment and it helps that I've known a good number of the people there for a while. In fact, this website has achieved a bit of a following from a number of the GSN people and Fremantle people including some of the execs. At one point, I was on headset with them while they were dissecting my bio page. Nothing like trying to explain the what you mean by the "pee-pee" dance to your boss. I think by around lunchtime "not in the good way" became the catchphrase of the day!

After the taping, it was toadie time. Ted won some tickets to the Toad the Wet Sprocket concert. He won two tickets and decided to give them to Drew and me for my birthday. We ended up leaving my place around 8-ish and miraculously got to The Grove at Anaheim at around 8:30-ish. I have no idea how the hell we did that especially since I was driving. The traffic gods were with us that night. We got there in time to catch the second opening act. Soon after that, Toad the Wet Sprocket hit the stage. It was a really good show. Apparently, this was the kickoff show to their first concert tour in quite some time. Fortunately, the place wasn't super packed and since it was a Toad concert as opposed to something like Something Corporate, Drew and I weren't the oldest ones in the crowd. The drive back home after the show was just as fast. I got back home just a 'twee bit after midnight. And with that, off to bed I go...another big tape day tomorrow!

The 2nd quarter century begins...

So far, my 26th year of existence has gotten off to an eventful start...I spent my birthday working, but it was a lot of fun. The big project was a quite a success. Things went relatively smoothly and now it's in the wonderful hands of post-production...It was pretty neat celebrating my birthday in the middle of production. The staff of the project got me a big cake and we all went out to dinner aftewards where I was sung "Happy Birthday" to yet again. then, I got home and Nathan, Ted, and Eddie presented me with a birthday Krispy Kreme donut. And yet again, I was serenaded with "Happy Birthday!"

Yesterday, I finally had some time for a little R&R. All right...I snuck a little visit to the "Whammy" offices in there, but it was mostly non-work for me yesterday. I finally got my car cleaned. I can finally see through my passenger side window! Woo-hoo!

Today was a big day as well...We had rehearsals for the new season of "Whammy!" It's really, really, really looking good. Lots of improvements in the look of the show namely the board and color scheme. The board is much more legible thanks to some new board graphics and a slight rearrangement of the monitors. There's also less "wasted" space on the TV screen. I won't spoil too much, but there are some other stylistic changes in the show which also have helped to make the show even "bigger and better than ever." Todd and Gary were both in the studio today and both are very enthusiastic about the new season. Most of the GSN gang was there and a lot of last year's staff and crew have returned as well. So, that brings us to tomorrow...the big tape day. We'll be taping a bunch of shows tomorrow and Wednesday and continue taping through the next few weeks. And speaking of taping...I should get to bed...

Just one more thing...Tonight at 11 PM Eastern/8 PM Pacific, I'll be guesting on fortheboys.tv. You can only catch it live online. Make sure you have Windows Media Player....