Okay, first up, let me tell you about the new schedule here at MBIP and why I’m changing it. I’m changing the schedule because there’s a couple of projects I want to work on, but doing this blog doesn’t allow me any free time. Between work and going places for the blog and then putting them together, I don’t have a lot of spare time. Well, I want to start working on a book with my friend Lisa and I need blocks of time to work on that. There's a couple of other things I want to work on as well and I actually thought about putting the blog on hold for a while, but I don’t want to do that because I have so much fun doing it. So here’s the new MBIP blog schedule:
Sunday: Sunday Links and MBIP Coming Attractions
Monday: Saturday Night Dinner post
Tuesday: The MBIP Food Tours
Wednesday: Potpourri (this will be the day for the Shop Hops, Coffee Talk, Can I Eat My Lunch In Here and just general oddball and wacky stuff.)
Thursday: WMBIP - Video Thursday (This is a new posting idea where I’ll put up a video and then write about it and also have some photos and links in reference to the video. This way I can have a post on here but I don’t have to go somewhere to do it. It’ll save me time, but there will still be new content on this day.)
Friday: Thirsty-Third Friday (Once a month I’m going to spotlight a tavern or bar on the third Friday of every month. Most other Fridays there won’t be a new post.)
Saturday: I’ll still do the monthly wrap-up and faces posts but other Saturdays I’ll take off and there won’t be a new post. Unless I get something from the MBIP Contributors.
And that’s the new schedule. This way I can still do the blog, there’s always new content on a weekly basis and I can start in on the new book! Okay, now that that’s over, on to today’s weekly video at WMBIP!
I thought since this is the debut of this weekly video series I’d start with a video that brought me to this very place I’m at today and that is when I appeared on the Today Show with Greg Owens the co-creator of a game we invented called, “Trivial Trivia—The Idiot Edition."
In 1985, Greg and I created a satire of Trivial Pursuit called, Trivial Trivia—The Idiot Edition. You can read all about the history of the game here, but in a nutshell we went from pleading with local stores to carry it, to appearing on national TV and having the game sell out quicker than we could print them!
We did all kinds of radio interviews, newspapers across the country ran the story, Good Morning America talked about us on the news and then a booker from The Today Show called and asked us if we wanted to be on the show. Of course we said yes and a few weeks later we were flown to New York City and interviewed by Jane Pauley on The Today Show. Here’s the video of the interview and I’m looking about twelve-years-old back then complete with a mullet!
That interview changed my life. Greg and I did a few more joke books and games after that and I discovered I really liked to write and people seemed to enjoy my writing which gave me a feeling like I had never had in my life before. That led to me publishing my own magazine for three years in Peoria and then moving to New York for 19 years. In New York I did freelance writing and published another magazine called fishwrap and then in 2012 I moved back here and have been doing this blog ever since.
If you’re reading this I sincerely thank you for reading my words and being part of the MBIP audience and community. We’ll have a video next week that won’t be so self-serving, but hey, every now and again you have to pat yourself on the back if you can and luckily I happen to be double-jointed in that area! We’ll see you this Sunday for another week of MBIP!
Links to Trivial Trivia—The Idiot Edition
The Original U.P.I. Wire Story
Idiot Trivia on Board Game Geek
Related Posts: Trivial Trivia: 1986—2016! and Coffee Talk With Vic Burnett!