Bombastic
I, Darryl Snow, am the national TV weatherman on China's state-run international TV channel, CCTV9 - their equivalent of 'BBC World' but without the political commentary (obviously).

I got the job not on the basis of my meteorological qualifications (or total lack thereof), CV, appearance or manner, but simply because of my surname. It's an English language channel but still retains a daily audience of around 42 million.

Aside from the abundant opportunities to play on my name during the summer ("speaking of snow, th's no snow today!"), what I most enjoy is the word game I play with my friends. They challenge me by suggesting a word that I must somehow slip into a 90 second weather programme on a very conservative TV channel that most viewers already struggle to understand. The best ones so far have been: ameliorate, penetrate, toodle pip, thwarted, polygonal, inveigle, discombobulate, and bombastic.

I also never wear pants or socks while recording.
(dazsnow the "ever amazing" - cowjam said so once, Sat 13 Jun 2009, 18:32, 4 replies)

i think
i might have to start watching cctv9 now

i have been in china over 10 months (this time, my first was 3 months in 2006) and have actively avoided chinese tv, ESPECIALLY cctv shite as i prefer to call your employer's channel. but now, i may have to turn the box on and see you in action / listen out for your silly words :) will be more interesting than anything else i do with my day.

home in 37 sleeps!

also - audience of 42 million? really? i bet they're all chinese. no self-respecting expat from ANYWHERE would willingly put themselves through that drivel (or the myriad of other shit on chinese tv).

sorry if the above offends - if the pay's good and you enjoy life here then fair enough but it is a crap tv station (the documentaries were the worst thing i remember from it, stopping before they made a conclusion) and i honestly cant wait to leave this country fullstop.
(zenmeban thinks the weather could be better, Sun 14 Jun 2009, 8:03, closed)

yeah
i'm reluctant to put my personal views on a public message board but I think their biggest problem is the miniscule budget for cctv9 compared to theirothe channels. I think most of the audience is made up of offices who keep it on in the background so that they look international :p
(dazsnow the "ever amazing" - cowjam said so once, Sun 14 Jun 2009, 17:40, closed)

China
I live in China (can you tell from my name) and I know my expat friends watch CCTV9. I even just applied for a job there, though if I ever meet you, the thought that you may not be wearing pants would be an unfortunate start to an awkward conversation.
(McChinaman banned, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 0:56, closed)

can i ask you guys
how you actually put up with life here?

i mean, okay, this year im in urumqi, it's a lot more remote and backwards maybe than other places, but some things are just plain awful. and not just limited to urumqi. hands up who's seen babies encouraged to piss on the street and the abundance of coughing and spitting that goes on, not to mention the shouting and barging, and the ridiculous constraints in the post offices and banks ... and hassle getting residency permits, shit environment in the unis and smoking all over the place. touring china is uniformly annoying (seeing the "sights" and being hawked postcards or paying entrance fees to see something that would be free in any other country, like a lake or some hills, or worst going round water villages in jiangsu, ive been dragged round 3 now and theyre all an awful exhibit of making money off peoples' daily lives). then there's govt policies and issues with the unis and just ... everything! ... argh i could go on but im only here for another month and a bit, it hardly seems worth complaining any more.

ive lived in shanghai and been to a few other places besides and i can honestly say i am done with the lifestyle in china, it really is pants. so how do you guys deal with it? (feel free to PM me if you dont want your views made public btw)
(zenmeban thinks the weather could be better, Tue 16 Jun 2009, 8:24, closed)