Observations

This is from a post I made on MySpace that really intrigued me…

http://forums.myspace.com/t/3720969.aspx?fuseaction=forums.viewthread

As a resident of the bottom dwellers, I get pitched quite a bit of “get rich” schemes. At the place I used to work, they had a resident “idea” guy – who was paid big bucks to pitch all these different ideas to garner awareness of “green technology”

… and as a side note – everyone of those ideas SUCKED because they were unexamined- which is why I’m on the crusade against this “I have a great idea – somebody do the legwork for me” attitude.

Anyhow, so I sit in on pitchs for people who have the “next” syndrome: my website is going to be the next “MySpace”, the next “YouTube”, the next “GrannyUpskirts.com”

So a spammer just posted one of these “next” projects and I started thinking… how hard would it be to set up one of these sites?

http://www.alstrasoft.com/videoshare.htm

$300 and hosting and off you go. You too can have a YouToob!

ha ha ha… They should play me for that one…

Here’s a list of what you could possibly do with this software:

:
Existing portal or web directories offering users audio or video sharing like YouTube

A car enthusiast forum offering members a video uploading service to showcase their cars and share with their fellow members

Great for social networking sites such as our E-friends software to offer their own video sharing service for your members

New start-ups that aspire to run their own niche video sharing and broadcasting site similar to Youtube and Google Video

Run a video uploading and sharing service that allows users to put music video code into their MySpace and Friendster profile.

Run your own niche website? Well sites that showcase ghost sightings certainly can’t do without offering members an option to upload their own horror encounters

Offer a blog or image hosting service? Why not throw in a video sharing service for your existing community as well?

Ideal for modeling agencies so that models can upload their videos and allow corporate clients to view the models’ portfolio

Drive your passion for starting your own e-business and discover new business ideas with Video Share Enterprise. After all it is covered by our Capital Protection Plus plan

So the wheels in my head are turning. What are some business/filmmaking uses of such a site. Currently I don’t run anything that would require this scale of decentralized video uploading (everything I do, I just upload myself), but something like this is good to have in the back of your brain.

Which is what a blog is for…

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Never did think about that line a whole lot before but I guess it applies to a lot of life’s issues. Like let’s say someone making a movie asks, “Can I break the 180 degree rule” – the answer is a definite “no”.

Now a director can say, “I’m GOING to break the 180 degree rule” … that’s different.

Hmm… about a million exceptions are buzzing in my brain right now. I guess it boils down to whether you have the self confidence in what your doing.

Anyhow, I thought of another funny line that I’ve had in my back pocket for a long time.

“I would never belong to a sex club that would have me as a member”

 Okay… now I remember my original twist on that Marx line.

“I’d never date a woman who would have me as her lover”

 That’s the one.

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Okay.. this is not necessary one big cogent thought… it’s actually about 3 thoughts but they’re all linked together some how. Gold star to the person that can connect the dots!

Here we go:

We’ve got to be coming close to the point where some psychologist some where is going to make a huge advancement in the understanding of the digital culture -especially in the way people read emails.

Anyone who’s been involved with an online argument (email or bulletin board) ought to understand what I’m about to lay down.

Okay, a little backstory.

Last November, I posted this question about Zombie Movies in the MySpace Forums. Here’s the original post:

What’s the attraction of Zombie Movies for indie filmmakers? Is it the make-up possibilities? The goulish nature of the zombie? The fact that no acting ability is necessary to play a zombie?

I’m not saying that I don’t like zombie movies but as a villian, the zombie is terribly boring… they moan and limp about and they terribly easy to kill. They’re so boring that a movie needs like a million of them just to be somewhat interesting.

Why not vampires… they’re kinda cool… a bit gothic and full of sexual tension. Even a werewolf has some 3 dimensional possibilities… he doesn’t want to be a werewolf but when the full moon comes… whamoo.

So answer me this, what’s so attractive about zombies?

Very quickly, this thread became one the all time favorite threads of that filmmaking board (thanks no doubt to MySpace guys featuring it on the MySpace Film Homepage).

Well a couple days ago, I got an angry email from some kid out in Louisiana or Mississippi or some backwaters hick country (ha ha ha -I’m being politically incorrect). Actually the email was just a collection of poorly spelt obscenities. He called me an ass and that I must be from the bible belt and I should just shut up. I did find his post on the forum and it looked like this:

If ya don’t lik it QUIT YA GRIPIN’ SOME PEOPLE DO LIKE THEM!!
RED

Did he even read my original post? I think I go out of my way to say that I’m not against zombie movies… actually the first sentence of the second paragraph says so.

Which then begs the big question…

Moment of REVELATION!!!

When people read online material… do they actually read it or do they project their own feelings and views onto what they read. Actually expand it even broader.

When people consume ANY type of media (print, television, radio, online) are they really listening or are they projecting their own feelings and opinions essentially ignoring any type of communication going on.

Maybe this is just a terrible side-effect of our information society. That there’s SO MUCH information thrown at us that we have developed this technique of blocking out stuff that we don’t want to hear. And why shouldn’t we? The internet gives as much credance to Holocaust deniars as it does to the Surgeon General… picking and choosing our information is the only way we can make sense of the world.

So on the one hand, that’s good, but on the other hand, we can get lazy and filter out too much stuff.

Like right now, I’ve got a Spike Lee Joint in the DVD player (“Do the Right Thing”) but I’m afraid to watch it because I’m tired of being preached at about how racist I am. But I’m going to watch it… Damn it, I’m going to watch it… after I finish this.

It feels like all the information we’re getting is coming straight from lawyers. In a courtroom each lawyer has an agenda… to win the case for his side. Winning the case always trumps finding the truth. And in winning sometimes you ignore certain pieces of evidence that, although might not prove your case wrong, make your case look weaker. But in a courtroom there are still rules to follow.

So all the information we get from television, the internet, and what not is just a bunch of openning arguments from people trying to push their agenda -trying to communicate how they see the world in their shaded perspective. And we as consumers of that information filter it out to work in our own shaded perspective. It’s not wrong – it’s the only way we can deal with all the bullshit that’s flying around…

Don’t think of it necessarily as a vice… but as a sophistication…

But it does makes the world feel lonely and desolate. That real honest to goodness connection and communication between people is lost… a relic of a long forgotten past – before the incessant yaking of pundit shows where every man is out to one up the other.

It’s often said that vigorous debate is good, but it seems like that’s all that we do… argue.

Kids are more susceptible to this sort of thing than adults. All my firery wars on MySpace have been with kids, because they don’t know how to read a forum post or know how to click on a hyperlink (if it’s blue… it’s a hyperlink dumbass). I guess that’s testimony to their immaturity… and a good case why they should never be given any more privaleges or rights besides the basic human ones.

Which I guess brings me back to the original title of this piece. Is it just Pig Headedness or just plain Illiteracy?

-Probably a little of both.

And that’s not an answer you’ll hear from a lawyer anytime soon….

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