Rupert, by writing to you, I realized there was some juice left in this thread. My opinion of Ze Frank. I love that you call me the evil Ze Frank. When I was making my videos sometimes I'd take a break in the afternoon and watch the Show and I'd just say, "fuck it" and scrap my video. He was so quick and he came up with so much in such short periods of time. When I first started watching his show I read about his background in neuroscience and I thought he was using tricks. I was relieved when I saw an episode containing a few extra words that could have been edited out to pack more of a punch. So he wasn't completely a master of brainwashing.
Sometimes though, his squeaky clean image, the rubber duckies, the sports racers, left me wanting something more evil. And he wasn't a great story teller. I think my favorite video was the one where he talked about 9/11, when he broke down crying and a nurse hugged him. That was a good story. Good stories poke around in the dark places where the author might not want to go. And Ze built this story up by reading comments and making it appear as if he was being pushed into it. http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/09/090706.html According to this NewTeeVee article, Ze "candidly admits" he knows little about story telling. http://newteevee.com/2007/03/12/ze-frank-blip/ What he did very well was comment on things. And so I think he kind of embodies the best of what I'm starting to call the "school of content creation". Fast. And immediate. The downside is that his show has no longevity. He ridiculed the Bush administration. I think he was very smart to only do it for a year. Because how could he keep going when what he was making was sort of shallow on a narrative level and would just shrivel up at the pace of current events? Information Dystopia is an attempt to break away from the school of content creation. It's over ten times longer than your typical piece of content. It's not easily accessible, you have to use bittorrent. It also has pacing. I did try to boil it down to essentials, but speed wasn't my ultimate goal. I framed it as an epic struggle. It goes from my small petty rivalry with Nichols and blows it up into a battle for the future of the Internet. I used songs to slow things down and build suspense. Also, it's a one shot. Not part of a series. I am starting to feel like I'm getting material for a sequel. But anyway, it breaks with the content creation rule of publishing regularly. I finished recording about 97% of it in July. The graphics took about a month. So now maybe there's someone out there more arty-farty than myself who can give an unbiased review of Information Dystopia. Here's the torrent: http://www.detrimentalinformation.com/information_dystopia.mp4.torrent Over on Kent's blog post "Is online video dead", Rick Rey commented that there's no place for critics in new media. I think we need to be more critical of each other's work. I used to belong to a fiction writing list where you'd post your writing and members would break it down line by line. Now I know it's hard to do with online video because we all have such different goals and purposes. But that's all the more reason to do it. We could learn ways of approaching online video that we never could have imagined. I still feel like a redneck when I talk about video art and film making. Maybe we need two video blogging lists, one for tech support and one for content support. As Loren Feldman would say, "SUPPORT!" --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "ractalfece" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thanks Rupert. Let's continue our pointy headed conversation in email. > > --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Rupert <rupert@> wrote: > > > > maybe he was addicted to it, couldn't help himself. i don't know > > quite what my point was. > > > > i think it was probably something to do with the fact that i like > > your stuff best when it's satirical and rather bukowski-like in its > > vigorous reaction to bullshit. that running away from the bullshit > > is running away from some great inspiration. > > > > to me, you're like Ze Frank's evil twin. don't take that the wrong > > way. i don't mean Evil and i don't mean you're like Ze Frank. > > > > but the way you take on people and things, and do it with drawings, > > animation, music. > > > > it seems to me that your creative reaction to YouTube is what's got > > you the views, and that that's what you could be charging access for. > > > > i can see how people would pay a dollar a throw to watch your videos. > > > > fuck it, post partial works on your blog and then sell your videos on > > Cruxy.com - that's what it's there for. > > > > Aren't they selling videos on iTunes yet? > > > > Ricky Gervais made something like £10m by selling his podcast for £1 > > per download a couple of years ago. > > > > Forget what I said before about people not paying for media anymore. > > Mix it up. Try it. Stop talking about it, and make a fucking funny > > brilliantly made video and sell it. Message all your fans. > > > > I don't know. I don't see why you couldn't do it right now. > > > > Rupert > > http://twittervlog.tv/ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On 9-Aug-08, at 5:07 PM, ractalfece wrote: > > > > Yeah, way off topic. But I remember reading a letter or maybe a poem > > where he said JD Salinger knew what he was doing because he wrote one > > good book and quit. > > > > --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Rupert <rupert@> wrote: > > > > > > Sorry, that was pretty far off-topic for a videoblogging list :) > > > > > > On 9-Aug-08, at 4:17 PM, Rupert wrote: > > > > > > ha! maybe. he got more pestering after he became famous than before, > > > for sure. but jd salinger he was not. if he hated people that much, > > > he could have become a recluse, but he didn't. he kept living in > > > hollywood, and the same crazies and outsiders peopled his life and > > > work for the next 20 years after he stopped his drunken, highly > > > entertaining readings. > > > > > > he was great at writing about how much he hated ugly humanity, but he > > > recognised that this fed him. > > > > > > see > > > > > > "If I taught creative writing": > > > > > > http://www.misanthropytoday.com/2008/07/29/if-i-taught-creative- > > > writing-by-charles-bukowski/ > > > > > > versus > > > > > > "the genius of the crowd" > > > > > > http://plagiarist.com/poetry/4508/ > > > > > > Rupert > > > http://twittervlog.tv > > > > > > On 9-Aug-08, at 3:02 PM, ractalfece wrote: > > > > > > Bukowski hated dealing with people. He wrote a poem about murdering a > > > young admirer who approached him at the race track. In his letters he > > > constantly complained about people mailing him poetry and expecting > > > him to read it. As soon as he had enough money to stop giving > > > readings, he did. > > > > > > --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "ruperthowe" <rupert@> wrote: > > > > > > > > Your fellow LA poet Bukowski had to deal with a lot of crazy people > > > > too. And it took him quite a long time to make any money from his > > > > poems. People didn't tend to buy poetry in such large numbers. > > > > Eventually he started writing novels, a more commercial and > > > accessible > > > > form, he got published because of his notoriety as a poet and the > > > > beauty of his writing, and the cash started coming in. He still > > wrote > > > > the poems and dealt with the crazy people, partly because he loved > > > it, > > > > partly because it was just an integral part of the way he chose to > > > > live his life and make his art. > > > > > > > > "The nine-to-five is one of the greatest atrocities sprung upon > > > > mankind. You give your life away to a function that doesn't > > interest > > > > you. This situation so repelled me that I was driven to drink, > > > > starvation, and mad females, simply as an alternative." > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "ractalfece" <john@> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > I see the philosophical difference. I understand starving for > > art. > > > > > Knut Hamsun's "Hunger". Great book. But here's the difference > > > > > between Knut and me. I'm starving and dealing with people. Why > > > > > should I have to accept the hardships of fame without > > compensation? > > > > > > > > > > I don't. That's why I can't guarantee in the future you'll be > > > able to > > > > > see my work without paying. > > > > > > > > > > - john@ - > > > > > > > > > > --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "Jen Proctor" <proctorjen@> > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > I'm sorry that you've had hard financial times. I could go > > > into the > > > > > > financial straits my family and I have endured as well, but I > > > don't > > > > > > think that's the point. I don't think the hardship of living > > > out of a > > > > > > car is still any kind of justification that art is best served > > > within > > > > > > commodity culture. > > > > > > > > > > > > I'm not saying that YOU should remove your work from commodity > > > > > > culture. That's not my argument - you should do whatever you > > > feel is > > > > > > right for your work and your life, and I completely respect > > > that. I > > > > > > just take issue with the notion that asking viewers to pay the > > > > > > individual maker for online video is any kind of revolution or, > > > > > > ultimately, a viable solution. > > > > > > > > > > > > It's simply a philosophical disagreement - power to ya to do > > > whatever > > > > > > is right for you. I just can't guarantee that I'll pay to > > > watch your > > > > > work. > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "ractalfece" <john@> > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > So I guess my point regarding Information Dystopia is > > that as > > > > > much as > > > > > > > > I'd like to see artists better compensated for their work, > > > whether > > > > > > > > through public funding or individual donations, as > > requested > > > > in the > > > > > > > > video, the disconnect from this larger history makes the > > > call for > > > > > > > > compensation feel more like hubris than a revolution. The > > > > > situation we > > > > > > > > are in as artists on the web is nothing new in terms of > > > trying > > > > > to make > > > > > > > > money. To me, as Rupert has stated earlier, the greater > > > > > revolution of > > > > > > > > the web is in the possibilities for removing our work from > > > > commodity > > > > > > > > culture - making the work free, accessible, open, and > > > remixable. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Jen, watch this video response I did to Mark Horowitz's "7 > > > Days in a > > > > > > > Sentra" ad campaign. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Mark Horriblewitz's video: > > > > > > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eMXE2Z58QI > > > > > > > > > > > > > > My response: > > > > > > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHFPsx_7id0 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Then tell me about removing my work from commodity culture. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > - john@ - > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > >
