Sampy Gets Shot in the Face - A Channel 9 Exclusive
- Posted: Feb 01, 2007 at 6:07 PM
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- 33 Comments
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Yeah - you read it correctly.
Our very own Mike Sampson, known around here as "Sampy", got shot in the face today by Jesse Lewin of 10 fame.
You might be asking yourself: Why?
The answer is simple: Watch the video.
As you know, Channel 9 is all about transparency, and this is a special look inside a couple of Microsoft's odder teams.
If nothing else, you'll at least learn why I love working on Channel 9. Jeff has been the perfect manager - he pretty much just sets us free and trusts us to do our work.
Most of the time, it's perfect.
Today, it got one of our employees shot in the face.
It was fun
Our very own Mike Sampson, known around here as "Sampy", got shot in the face today by Jesse Lewin of 10 fame.
You might be asking yourself: Why?
The answer is simple: Watch the video.
As you know, Channel 9 is all about transparency, and this is a special look inside a couple of Microsoft's odder teams.
If nothing else, you'll at least learn why I love working on Channel 9. Jeff has been the perfect manager - he pretty much just sets us free and trusts us to do our work.
Most of the time, it's perfect.
Today, it got one of our employees shot in the face.
It was fun
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But you fell for the old HR trick, where they make you think you can only attack your own instead of them...[6]
LOL.
Rory,
Are you having a good or bad hair day?
Dude. My hair was awesome in that video.
I was, however, having a bad face-hair day. I keep forgetting to shave.
I get in the shower, start to wash my face, and then realize that I have this really awful, scraggly thing that isn't worthy of the word "beard" since a 13 year old girl could probably grow more facial hair than I can.
I just look like an unemployed drunk, which is misleading, as I am not unemployed!
Genius. Who came up with the idea to shoot Sampy in the face though? I imagine it was one of those conversations:
Sampy: I have a motorcycle helmet.
Jesse: Do those work?
Sampy: I don't know, I've never had to test it.
Jesse: I bet you'd feel it if I shot you or something.
Sampy: What with? A gun, yeah I'd probably feel that.
Jesse: How about my nerf gun? You might feel that.
Rory: What are you guys talking about?
Sampy: Jesse wants to shoot me in the face with a nerf gun.
Rory: Awesome! Let's make a video of it.
Massif, that sounds close... except it was Sampy's gun and Jesse's helmet... which makes you wonder why Sampy didn't shoot Jesse... maybe we'll do that tomorrow.
EDIT: i see, bad face-hair day... LOL
That was funny. I remember those days...
The gun is a Longshot. Search around on some video sites for longshot and see what the homebrew community has done with this fun weapon.
Ugh.
Today was Pirate Day? I didn't hear you ending every sentence with "Yar"...
edit: ah, crud, this video was posted yesterday. Yar!
Hey, all.
I'm glad that the overall reaction seems to be positive.
There have been a lot of talks lately at 9 about what kind of content we'll be doing. My feeling is that we need to return to the shorter, more interesting videos.
As someone relatively new to the team, I've observed that 9 has slowly turned into a place where we post these one hour long videos that, while interesting, aren't especially compelling. They're good, they're well done, but they're also very formulaic. We haven't been looking for the human face of Microsoft - we've been making videos about products. It doesn't seem to be about the people anymore.
Now, I'm not sure if you all would agree with me, which is why I'm writing this. I'll probably make a post on my blog as well.
But, it's my opinion that the site needs more fun, more weirdness, and more of the eccentric types around here. We have so many interesting people - people who do amazing things here, and who did amazing things in their former lives as non-softies - but we're ignoring them.
I want to change that. Before doing that, however, I thought I'd go for a little feedback to see what people think.
And, like I said, I'll probably also be writing a post about this.
The changes are the result of everything I've observed since coming on board in late October. As a former customer of Channel 9, I think I'm right about what needs to be done, but I'm just one guy.
What do you think?
I'll have to agree. There is a place for lengthy videos about things like testing and deploying IPV6 or production planning with Dynamics AX, but the really compelling videos that people want to see are interviews with interesting people focusing on those people or the topics that those people are really passionate about. Early in Channel 9, there were a lot of these types of videos-- the first two "real" videos were with Bill Hill, about spaces after periods and about human interaction-- two things that he, working in reading technology, is passionate about. The videos were able to focus in on one topic and they were not only informative but also showed the human side of Microsoft-- passionate people working on projects that they love and that they are passionate about.
Lately I've been an iPod + Podcast junkie. Is it at all possible to get an RSS of audio from the videos? Some of the videos deal with on-screen code, yes, but for the most part I just love listening. If I could subscribe via iTunes, and download the latest shows in audio format, that would be awesome! Not to mention the fact that iTunes would probably attract more attention over here at c9.
Jonathan
Your wish is our command.
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=273697
You'll notice mp3 and wma downloads. Our goal is to have all of the videos available in audio format (not sure how far we are on that though).
As for the RSS feed with audio enclosures, that's coming too. I'm nto sure if we'll be adding that into the current Channel 9 or not. Our EvNet platform already has feeds by format built into it, so if anything you'll see that as early as the C9v4 Beta.
I can't see a whole Channel 9 video since this guy came in.
If you care to provide some ACTUAL feedback on how Rory could improve his videos, feel free. I'm sure he'd be very glad to hear some constructive criticism. If you don't have any of that, then don't bother posting. Thanks and move along!
He has access to very interesting people and interview them but he doesn't make interesting questions. He's not smart enough to get along with these people.
That's why I don't think "feedback on how Rory could improve his videos" will work, because the problem is Rory himself.
Just watch the Windows Home Server video.
Scoble you crafty old dog, surely there are easier ways of getting your job back than this?
On a more serious note, I don't think C9 should go to eccentric and weird. However, I have noticed over the past year that C9 has very very much moved away from being the face of Microsoft, to, I hate to use the word marketing, and I won't, but more towards showcasing products.
I think there needs to be a good balance, but it has been a while since C9 did a totally 'off-topic' sort of video like following Bill Hill around campus.
Also, as always, my number 1 request for an interview is the Singularity team.
Another feature request I have, now that I am on a roll, is for a schedule of videos to be posted somewhere, maybe another forum? The way it could work would be that only the C9 team have rights to create a thread, but everyone can post, and we would be able to post questions that we want asked in upcoming interviews.
Just my €0.02
Kevin
Again, that's worthless feedback. It's about as useful as my feedback to you being, "you're not smart enough to provide feedback so we're going to stop listening now." Is that something you want us saying to you? It's a two way road.
That's good feedback, Kevin, thanks! The schedule is something we've talked about, but haven't moved forward on yet.
...let the interviewed person talk about their interests, when a nerve gets hit, it doesn’t take much coaching to get some one to open up and talk about what it is they love. Be that WPF or animal tracks in the mud. Every one has a story of where it is they come from and just about every one has a personal interest (often times its reflected in the work they do or ties in to it). I think that’s what is so great about the Bill Hill video, he talked about what he had a passion for and it showed and then he tied it into the work he has done at MS. So my constructive crit would be to let people talk, talk about what they have a passion for. Dig into who they are. I find its the interviews that get in side peoples heads and finding out who they are are the interviews i like the most. (and CH9 has alot of those type of interviews).
The qualities of enthusiasm, inquisitiveness coupled with listening go a long way to making a great interview.
Traits Rory does not seem to lack.
Rather than having ‘more’ intelligent questions be asked like some one said earlier, maybe it’s a matter of fewer questions and more Listening?
Just my €0.02 + Kevin’s €0.02
That was an almost picture-perfect answer
At least according to what I was hoping to see.
I believe you're right, and I hope that, as I browse the rest of the thread, I find that this is the overall sentiment.
Thanks for answering, yo.
I don't know if "stupid" is the right word - My IQ, at least according to the irritating tests to which I was subjected early on in school, hovers right around 162 (I've tested just above and just below that score). While I generally think IQ tests are a crock of s***, that they don't really measure raw brain power (as some test problems rely on very specific knowledge rather than the inference of rules derived from an examination of the possible answers to the question itself (what I would consider to be one of the better ways of really determining how intelligent someone is)), I still think they're a halfway decent way to ballpark whether or not someone is "stupid" (barring issues such as ADD, dyslexia, and so on, where a person might appear "stupid", but is actually quite intelligent).
Not saying I'd want to be tested again after all of the, -ahem-, "partying" I did during my teen and early adult years, and especially since now, at the age of 29, I'm roughly four years into a process that will continue for the rest of my life, which is an overall decrease in brain volume, resulting in a loss of roughly 10% of what I started with (as a young adult) by the time I die, assuming I die around the age of 80, and that my curve follows the average (don't worry - it'll happen to you, too - all males (but not females, curiously enough) lose this mass, and it usually starts around age 25, although it can begin as late as 30, too).
That, and, when I was tested, it was just before that magical age where the brain goes through a selective "pruning" that results in roughly half the neuronal density present throughout one's childhood (and that, by the by, is after the previous "pruning" events - it's just that the last major one takes place just before, or around, puberty).
Oh, and, if all this silly IQ/neurology stuff is boring you, let me know
OK. All that said, I find it crass to display one's IQ in public (particularly if it's rather high), but I've had just about enough of anonymous netzien's calling me "stupid" - feel free to say you don't like my style, and then do us all a favor by following up with an intelligent list of suggestions as to how my style could be improved, but don't simply attack me, or my intelligence, and then wander off.
Now, since I haven't read the rest of the thread, I expect I'll find that there's a small argument going on, and that I'm going to have to respond yet again - hopefully for the last time, as this is a waste of time for everybody here - in defense of me, my intelligence, and my style.
Regardless of how you feel, though, I was hired to do this job because it seemed I was competent. That's based on the interviewing skills I picked up during .NET Rocks, the social skills I cultivated throughout my teen and early adult years, my genuine interest in the people I'm interviewing (take the Guthrie interview I just did, for example - I was giddy to meet this guy because his brain fascinates me - or Mike Calligaro - what a gem - he's absolutely brilliant, and it was a joy to meet him), and the fact that, however you might feel about my interviewing skills, they're probably better than yours, buddy.
It was Ezra Pound who said something to the effect of, and I'm paraphrasing here, "Do not take any criticism seriously from anyone who has not, himself, already produced a work of some notable value in the same medium."
That's not exactly what he said, and I could certainly find the quote online, but I'm not in the mood. I'll make do with the memory I acquired ten years ago in a bookstore in Prague where I found a book on Pound and literary criticism.
The point, sir, is that you haven't done diddly in this area, and, until you've done diddly, I won't have any problem with any ad-hominems (feel free to attack my character all you want), but I will take issue with questions of my competence and basic intellectual ability to conduct these interviews.
There.
I have spoken.
Feel free to attempt to respond in kind, but don't feel pressured to. I understand that doing so would probably be very difficult (at best).
If you do nothing more than write another "You're stupid!" comment and run away, I'll consider this to have been a success.
Thank you for your time and patience, sir. You are a fine example of your kind.
Rory, calm down. I know it must be incredibly frustrating when you get feedback like that, but honestly, whats the point in arguing with him.
Trolls are trolls, if he or she sees that they are annoying you, then they will just continue, which is pretty shitty considering this was such a fun thread.
Kevin
P.S. Sampy, if you had real cahonies (spelling all wrong no doubt) you would let someone test that helmet to destruction, with your noggin inside it. I recommend Rory as he clearly needs to let off some steam
I guess this guy just stepped over a line, and did so on the wrong day. I've been pretty stressed out (for personal reasons), and this troll provided me with an easy target.
Plus, he called me out. Usually, trolls slam products or ideas or whatever - that doesn't bother me so much, as products don't have feelings (as far as I know).
But, it got to me. And I think I won.
That is the point.
I just don't let people walk all over me. I've been this way my whole life - trolls in forums, or jerks in "real life" - if my patience is low, I'll respond.
Rory,
First of all, sorry for calling you stupid.
Second, I just gave my two cents. I'm not trying to get you fired.
Third, it's hard to provide decent feedback on this kind of content. It's like when you are giving your opinion on a painting and you simply say that you don't like it. If someone asks you to give some constructive feedback, what would you say? "The blue background should be red"? "The woman on the right should be looking the other way around"?
I don't think it works that way.
I just don't like the way you conduct interviews. Don't get this to a personal level (sorry again for calling you stupid, I was upset). I will try to watch the Windows Home Server interview again and I will try to give a few examples that illustrate my opinion.
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