Benseraglio2
Mon, 14 Feb 2005 06:26:13 -0800
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John Clayton: DeadBrain.com is alive and well in Gilford By JOHN CLAYTON Union Leader Staff FUNNY THING, satire. To my mind, satire is a lot like a confrontation between large, horned, bovine creatures, by which I mean your ability to appreciate it â if I may employ a time-worn _expression_ â is entirely contingent upon whose ox is being gored. They gore an awful lot of oxen on the New Hampshire-based edition of a Web site called DeadBrain.com. You donât read DeadBrain? Hereâs what youâre missing. In one DeadBrain story, readers learned that President Bush, in a display of religious zeal, was planning to rename Capitol Hill âFaith Hill,â which would have the dual benefit of honoring the female country singer of the same name. In another story melding politics and pop culture, DeadBrain readers learned that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had undergone an âExtreme Make-Overâ and now resembled actress Halle Berry, the result being that Ms. Rice now had an amazing influence with formerly stubborn French diplomats. And on the sports front, DeadBrain readers were the first to learn that God had called a press conference to announce that He would âno longer accept accolades from athletes for their performances in any sport, pro or college.â Thatâs a fairly typical faux news cycle for DeadBrain.com, the Gilford-based Web site run by Allen and Lani Voivod â itâs spun off from a UK site of the same name â thatâs gaining critical acclaim in the growing world of Internet-based satire sites. Some of that acclaim came in the form of nine prizes, including seven firsts, that DeadBrain claimed in a recent on-line competition called the Satire Awards. Better yet, those Satire Awards have put DeadBrain into the mix for âThe Webby Awards,â which the New York Times likened to the Oscars of the Internet world, so, as the editor of DeadBrain, Allen Voivod is understandably, um . . . wired. âThe awards are nice, because most positive feedback comes indirectly,â he said. âPeople donât generally contact you unless they have something negative to say.â Allenâs site has a lot to say. And itâs not all negative. Funny? Yes. Negative? Weâre back to that analogy with the ox again. âPart of the problem is that the term âsatireâ has been getting tossed around a lot,â he said, âand itâs being confused with âparody and âspoofâ and other things. Satire has a very specific definition. âWe define it as âirony, derision or wit used to expose human vice or folly.â It doesnât necessarily have to be funny,â he added, âbut when we started, we agreed that if we were going to mock people for certain hypocrisies, whatever we did, above all else, we were going to use humor.â They use it on politicians. They use it on athletes. They use it on the media. They use it on emerging social trends and more and more â partially to Allenâs dismay â they are using it on people who are famous for being famous. âWe started off being very politically oriented,â he said. âThe whole reason I got into this was because I wasnât happy with the Bush Administration and the run-up to the Iraq war, but one of our first forays into celebrity stuff was after last yearâs Super Bowl âwardrobe malfunction,â and we got a huge kick in traffic. âNow we know that people take Britney Spears and Michael Jackson waaay too seriously. As much as we want to mock it, weâre going to start a three-part thing on the Michael Jackson trial because thatâs what people are looking for online.â And how many are looking at DeadBrain online? âJanuary was our most popular month so far,â he said. âWe averaged 3,500 visitors a day, running as high as 5,000 in some cases, and we had about 300,000 page views for the month.â Why so many? It seems thereâs an insatiable thirst for satire. Consider the success of âThe Daily Showâ with Jon Stewart and the on-going political clout of âSaturday Night Live.â And donât forget those who wait on the leftist rants of Bill Maher or, on the other hand, the righteous rants of Dennis Miller. DeadBrain is seeking a piece of that action. And that audience. âPersonally, Iâd like to see us go to five million page views a month,â Allen said. âThat may seem like a high number now, but itâs amazing how fast things can grow when something you do catches fire.â As an example, Allen cited the hilarious, campaign-timed, animated clip with George Bush and John Kerry doing a modified duet of âThis Land is Your Land.â âThat was done by jibjab.com,â Allen said. âThey started that Web site in 1999 and they were doing fine with their regular clients and that particular parody exploded their profile to a national level. It was passed around a bazillion times on the Internet, then it wound up on all the national newscasts. âWe all look to that,â he added. âWeâre not trying to take down âThe Onion,â but we do have Onion-level expectations for our site.â Ah, âThe Onion.â By Allenâs own admission, âThe Onionâ is the â800-pound gorillaâ of satire sites on the Internet, an entrenched presence with solid name recognition, a huge readership and a steady base of advertisers he lusts for. âThere are two levels of advertising for us,â he said. âWeâre at the first level now. We use a third party called âBurst Mediaâ and they take a substantial cut to bring advertisers to our site. The second level is to eliminate the middle-man and get featured sponsors, like beer companies, who know the importance of humor in advertising. âThatâs all to develop the site to where itâs profitable enough where I can start paying my writers for their work,â he added. âThe economic model on the Internet is that people submit their work, but theyâre not paid. We actually want to pay them.â Allenâs wife Lani would be among the first to be paid. And she doesnât just write for the site. Laniâs the reason that Allen â and by extension, DeadBrain.com âis here in New Hampshire in the first place. âShe was Lani Butler when she went to Londonderry High School â âGo Lancers!â â but we met when we were working on different projects in Los Angeles,â Allen said. âAfter we were married and we had our son Joseph, whoâs two and change now, we had to decide where we wanted to raise him. âLani has this great extended family here in New Hampshire, so when we fell in love with the Lakes Region and found a place in Gilford . . . well, here we are.â Where they are is on the cutting edge. Whether they can slice off a chunk of âThe Onionâ remains to be seen, but on the Internet satire scene, DeadBrain.com is making its presence felt, and the fact that itâs presently in New Hampshire makes it easy to root for the home team. John Claytonâs In The City column appears Monday in The Union Leader. His e-mail address is [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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