<< hey robert -- it was awesome to meet you at the disinfo con (i was the guy with the long braids and the cartoon in development at mtv). yr support of my project was incredibly encouraging to me -- you have no idea. i really kind of thought all you conspiracy pros would think i was just ripping shit off, making it dumb. but you seemed so genuinely psyched about it -- i really hope to find a way to work with you on it. >> Let me just say this: I welcome anyone like yourself to profit off of this, and I think it's great that you are. Not only that, I think you have delightful ideas, and I want to see you succeed. As far as "conspiracy pros" go, I only started doing this in 1996, so I'm a Johnny-come-lately in my own right. I'll tell you where I draw the line: I think I mentioned this (I believe one of your producers was involved with this show), but there was this show called "Strange Universe" a few years ago. I met with them about working as a writer or consultant, and one producer was totally thrilled, since I had the goods, and thought I should be an associate producer. Well, then I met with a higher up producer, and he said, "Yeah, well how about this: you send us your ideas as proposals, and when we like one, we'll pay you $100 for each one." This was totally unneccesary of him to try to fuck me up the ass like that, and he did it because he thought he could get away with it. Frankly I was quite happy to hear it when the show was cancelled. Then there was this web TV network I won't name, and quite a few shows had me on as a guest, and they all were happy with me and then some. So I asked these show producers if they could get me in contact with the website owners to do my own show, and every time they freaked. They viewed me as a threat and not an ally. Do you think a right wing conservative asshole talk show host would freak at having Rush Limbaugh being on his network? "Oh, no, we can't have that asshole on this station, it'll make me look worse!" It's quite silly, really, and they all got scared thinking I would make them expendable. As it turns out, they WERE expendable, as the station went kaput in December. I'd like to think if they spent money on a namebrand like myself, they still would be receiving paychecks. Finally, there's something I learned at Disinfocon: on the Art Bell show, Richard Hoagland was using my information without credit for his own promotion. I am convinced this wasn't intentional by him, but I sent an email to them both informing them that they owe me and expect compensation, as I'm sure any court would agree. The funny thing is Bell knows who I am (well enough to have his lawyers subpoena me), so why does is take a case of plagiarism to get him to promote my site? I'm offended by someone like Bell, who reduces conspiracy for Middle America consumption, then uses his impressive platform to promote psychopaths like Ed Dames. Anyways, sorry about this rant, but this is a strange time for me. Besides the great speech of RU Sirius, the highlight of the day was Metzger telling people that the "in thing" this decade will be making money off of subversion. This idea was repeated by Douglas Rushkoff, but it felt odd hearing him say, "When they just buy the thing that we really believed in, that's them surrendering to us. 'Teach us,' they say. 'Here: take our money.'" I'm still waiting to hear that last part, and am wondering if this supposed cultural revolution is going to leave me high 'n dry. << i'm having a big meeting with MTV on wednessday at which, i think, they'll be telling me how much they can budget for the pilot. i really want to convince them that conspiracies are big business / mainstream stuff that even kids are into. i thought the success of the disinfo con was a good place to start in showing that. can you point me in the direction of other things i could find to show them what a success they could have on their hands if they just trust me? thanks again for responding so positively. we'll be in touch. /adam mortimer>> The best examples besides Disinfo (and I am in awe of Metzger's business genius) are Feral House publishing (www.feralhouse.com) and Sightings on the Radio by Jeff Rense. Parfrey was at the Disinfocon, and I hope you got to speak to him. He's a great guy, and I had the fortune to work with him recently on a piece for his Apocalypse Culture II. As for Rense, his show is just below the big four of radio in popularity, and I much prefer hearing him to Stern, Limbaugh, Bell or "Dr." Laura. Then there's stuff like The X-Files and Art Bell, who do have mass appeal already. You may want to contact Rushkoff as well, as he seems to be doing pretty well (though not great.) I think the other thing to stress to them is that this is something begging to explode. Right now, this scene is like Nirvana when they made the album Bleach. Not many people new of it at the time, but those that did loved it and said they were great. What everyone is waiting for is a "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and soon everyone will be into this. If you remind them of this untapped potential, they will start seeing the dollar signs. Thanks, Robert
