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Justice, BB style (Saturday 9/15)

Aftermath

What it takes

I started this site July 27, 2004 for Big Brother 5, mostly to amuse myself, and because there wasn't a day-by-day recap site among the fledgling BB interwebs at the time.. the site has always been about the feeds, with a sprinkling of highlighting CBS discrepancies and busting production for sleazy maneuvers - yes, their sleazy is nothing new.. at first, I was both more and less thorough: I used more caps, more convos, and often more words per page (some days had two-page episodes), but at first it was less a narrative of what happened on a given day, and more reactions about it.. Hamsterwatch was always meant to be a supplement for the feeds, and a place for me to spout a few opinions and analysis of how I saw things

The site took off during Big Brother 6 and 7 and became rather popular.. I started using Twitter for Big Brother 8 (I was the first BB site to do so), although I actually stopped posting daily episodes about halfway thru that season.. I've covered every season since in full - well, I say in full: I gradually started using Twitter and Twitpic more and more to flesh out what my site covered, since they're real-time and I usually finalize my page at the end of the night.. I know that most of you read me over morning coffee, so that worked out well

So all that means I've had the feeds on virtually 24/7 for ten seasons, even when I sleep, in case something comes up in the morning.. it's a given that not very much happens most of the time in there, especially in later seasons, but it's all about you never know when something might happen, so it's mostly a constant monitoring thing.. I've had uncanny luck during those ten seasons and have rarely missed any major events, which was especially handy before Flashback came along.. people often ask when I sleep: BB almost always happens overnight so I don't know how or why daytimers keep up.. I sleep when they do, early to mid morning usually - I prefer keeping vampire hours anyway, BB or no BB

I only post what I consider are good screencaps, and I tweak them all to boost brightness/contrast if needed, and to watermark them - people do steal them, and there is an art to it, as any good capper will tell you.. I sort all my Twitpics by day (as Twitpic "events") for later use/reference, and I resize the ones I use on the site.. I post caps on Twitter and Facebook throughout the day & night plus whatever's going on, quotes, and so forth, and I try to answer as many questions as I can in both places - and I get a lot! I'm always on the hunt for Links of the Day, and have run some fabulous ones involving a lot of hard work and creativity by some very special people, along with some utterly hilarious items, news about former hamsters, etc

I try to write sections for the site as I go through a day but it's often midnight before I get started, especially on a busy day or early in the season.. I usually just focus on incidents that strike my fancy but of course I have to include basic game moves as we go too.. I refer to notes I've taken through the day and try to build a narrative that's informative and entertaining, while always reminding myself that it's not my job to watch the feeds for those who won't buy them - I've fallen into that trap more than once, and always kick myself when I do

The daily ratings are my real sandbox where I can poke at the hamsters and give my own opinions, poke at the haters out here a bit when it seems appropriate, or just have a little fun of the kind I really like on theme days.. unfortunately, ratings are the last thing I do and it's often dawn before I'm finished, so I've not done them on a daily basis this year - I mean come on, we started with 15 of them and still had 12 on Day 34 - that's a lot of ratings to write at 3am for a full month! I also have to get a good clear cap of each of them for each day's rating, preferably a closeup, with hopefully a good expression or something kooky.. sure I could stockpile and repeat pics, but for probably 99% of the ten seasons I've done, ratings caps are from the day I use them.. it's easily the biggest job I do here, believe it or not

So combine all that, and somehow it fills 16 to 20 hours a day when Big Brother is underway, including the week or two before each season's CBS premiere.. of course I enjoy some time spent in conversations on Twitter or in my chatroom, but I'm usually multi-tasking and always listening to the feeds.. that's ten seasons of no days off and not going anywhere all summer (plus one winter/spring season), not doing anything, not reading or even watching any tv or movies - yes, I realize that's utterly pathetic.. it's also exhausting, and that's why I get a bit stabby when some people think I want to hear about how much they hate this or that hamster, why I shouldn't like the ones I like, and assorted other inanities

This site's been hacked offline multiple times, I've been trashed on a couple other BB sites, I've had a cat, two computers, a car, and a stepmother die during BB (err yes, those are listed in order of personal importance, sorry), and one year I lived at my dad's kitchen table to do it all while I was looking after him during an illness - and no, he never did understand what it was about lol!

Zombies (Friday 9/14)

Ratings - No edition