Thursday, May 25, 2006

Have Money Will Vlog

HMWV
Markus, Verdi, Jay and I have been working tirelessly on our new project, Have Money Will Vlog. So here it is folks! Let's choose to put money into media we want to see created. Take that $10 you were going to spend at the movies and spend it on a Videoblogger. Our first project is by Chris Weagel of Human Dog, that you should go watch on our front page. So check it out, donate 10 bucks, spread the word and send us your own project!

9 comments:

ryanne said...

leo,
there is a specific project listed that would be funded. there are deliverables listed as well. we are trying to be as specific as possible with what the money is for.
check it out!
http://havemoneywillvlog.com

missbhavens said...

Wow. This could be some seriously revolutionary shit, right here. Wow. Cool.

Anonymous said...

neat idea. you guys work so hard to come up with interesting ways to build the community. thank you.

Colaptes auratus said...

I disagree with the bearded person who refers to H.M.W.V. with the ability to fund "important" video blogging projects. (I don't know his name.)

"Important" work/artist is a term that's been used by the art world for centuries - mostly galleries, museums and patrons (in my experience) - to create a sense of exclusion and superiority around creative people they happen to value. This idea of "importance" has always struck me as pretentious and limiting, since the terminology typically allows only a few to be viewed as bringing 'worthy' contributions to the cultural dialogue.

I love the idea that anyone can support a vlogging idea that intrigues her/him through H.M.W.V., but gilding such potential projects with the aura of importance smacks of the same kind of judgemental snobbery I dislike in convention creative circles. And after all, isn't this kind of effort already served by websites' Donate Now buttons linked to people's PayPal accounts?

Faux Press said...

Hey, Blurgirl, while I understand your valid concerns, I don't believe for one minute that the creators of this endeavor capable of allowing that to happen. To know them is to respect their judgment and values. I trust them completely to do the right thing.

Anonymous said...

I think the vlogging medium that you are revolutionizing is great. I just cannot see supporting a project titled "a documentary of an American King". From the snippets, I can only surmise that he is an "American Loser". It is not the concept that rubs me the wrong way -- it is the subject matter. Please pursue more appealing subjects. By "appealing" I don't mean the average commercialized, socialized, drain on the brain caused by the mainstream media. By "appealing" I mean a higher quality subject matter. Then, I would donate!

ryanne said...

that's the whole point
you fund the projects you like.
don't like it? don't give money.

the thing about american king is that he is so self desctructive. the title is meant to be ironic. and i think the content is brilliant. we get to see him being totally self aware of his destruction and we get to see it through chris weagel's eyes. even better. so ba-humbug to this being labeled as low quality.

Markus Sandy said...

Hi blurgirl, I'm the bearded person (at the moment) and my name is Markus.

I appreciate your making a comment and hope you will continue to engage with us as we are all learning here.

It sounds like I hit a trigger word for you (I imagine that someone once said something you cared about was not "important"?)

My intent is not to argue points but only to elaborate and share more about where I am coming from. If I end up digging my hole deeper, so be it.

I'm not surprised at your comment as I did in fact stuggle through several takes around that one word.

When I said "important", it was meant as in "important to you", for it is you who must ultimately decide to support a project or not.

It might be worth sharing the script from another (uncompleted) video that I made months ago for a somewhat different vision around community support than what HMWV has become (I love both visions, btw).

I shot this with two cameras (first time experiment) and have yet to be satisfied with it. But the script might be worth sharing in order to make it clearer as to what motivates me. It goes like this:

(open to Flash! WATM reporter setting up candle lit dinner for his beloved Alicia)

"You know, we all have choices in how we consume media. You can go to a movie or rent a DVD. You can also give to a person like Jan at Urban Art Adventures 'because you can'. She is podcasting Lady Chatterly's Lover and Alicia and I love to spend an evening together enjoying some carp caviar, old crow, iron city beer and fine media from someone we 'know'". So please support the artists, sites or causes that matter to you and press those donate buttons. Today we are launching a new site ..."


This was (is?) to be the start of a weekly vlog post where guest "sponsors" or "philantropists" are handed $100US and asked to go press their choice of Paypal donation buttons and then vlog about why they chose who they gave to. It could be for any reason. The hope is that others would enjoy the content and consider donating to the same cause. I think that this can make for interesting (and perhaps somewhat controversial) content.

BTW, I still like that idea (I even think it's important) and hope to do it someday. Of course, it would not seem appropriate for me to propose that through HMWV and so I must look elsewhere for funding.

Again, what you think is important, or valuable or fun or useful or any other words that motivate your support is what really matters. I and the other (non-beared) folks are filters. People say they want that and trust us. That is a huge responsability and we do not take it lightly.

Finally, in attempting to share my POV, it was my job for many years to assist people in universities to get funding from all kinds of institutions and agencies. Please believe me that I have had my fill of snobby program managers and the bad parts of "good old boy" systems. I am all for for creating a fair and open process around HMWV.

Thanks again for your feedback.

Colaptes auratus said...

Hi Markus,

I feel reassured in many respects that it was not your intention to promote a posture of exclusion via your snippet of the HMWV vlog post.

I appreciate your willingness to clarify your POV, and thank you for taking the time to do so.