Verdi's Experiment 2 Response
I'm late for today's installment of Videoblogging Week 2006, but I was with Carl all day, visiting, among other things, fucked up zoos. More on this to come...
In the meantime, I'm posting my response to Michael Verdi's Experiment 2. Perhaps you will sense my frustration in the video, and I hope it is all taken in the spirit with which it is intended.
Click here for Quicktime movie
In the meantime, I'm posting my response to Michael Verdi's Experiment 2. Perhaps you will sense my frustration in the video, and I hope it is all taken in the spirit with which it is intended.
Click here for Quicktime movie
Runtime is 2:43
Technorati tag: videobloggingweek2006, vloggingdangerously
posted by B at 00:55
17 Comments:
I think you have to see vlogging like writing a book. Maybe nobody will read the book, or a few will, or it will be on the NYT best seller's list. (Sorry for the blatant ad there.) You have no control over who gets the message, but there is a lot of power in just telling a story because you are expressing part of yourself, regardless of whether people get it or not.
The magic is all on this side of the lens. (Yeah - a mixed message again.)
That's funny, Carl, because when I was little, I used to tell my dad, when I talked about wanting to grow up to be an "author" (the limited vocabulary of a six year old), that I thought I'd have a tough time because I wouldn't do it for the reviews and I'd be writing because it was important, not for an audience. Literally, I said this to my dad at around six or seven, and he had absolutely no concept of what I meant. If I said it today, I might be able to frame that argument more effectively, but I think the point is that he still wouldn't get it. And many people wouldn't. But you just said what I often forget, about my motives, choices, and goals. Thanks for hitting the nail on the head for me. I needed that. That's why you're a good friend, vlogger or otherwise ;)
You're damn skippy. Some stuff is worth doing because it's worth doing. Trying to explain it turns it from what it is into words that don't capture the full meaning. It's like trying to describe Kramer from Seinfeld to a blind person. (No offense intended to blind people, btw.) So much of Kramer's humor is physical and visual, turning it into words makes it less funny.
All this being said, the one exception is baseball. Baseball is equally boring whether on the radio or on TV.
This is a great post for every videoblogger, I suppose.
Screw the cool kids. You are number one over here anywaY!!
Everything.
To everyone who makes a video back!
THANK YOU! And please post the link so we can keep talking :)
A lot of interesting points here...about being a part of a discussion (or not), being heard (or not), on being popular (or not).
I don't know what to say about most of it. You feel that you are excluded from the conversation because nobody will listen to you? I guess that's what text linking is for-- letting someone else know you listened to them. (I came to your site through a link from Raymond at dltq.org-- he heard you.)
I have conversations with people through my site, only a few of them through the comment section.
I've said the same thing that Carl did many many times - For me this is art and it's worth doing just to do it.
Also like Schlomo noted, I try to follow up links not only on my site but others that I go to. I subscribed to you the day you left a comment about not standing up for the pledge of allegience.
you are being watched
i am starting to find this whole dynamic rather humorous. communicating this way creates interesting dilemmas with hierarchy, leadership, timing, and levels of exposure. i think the best element of vlogging is the capacity for diversity and connections that would not otherwise be made...but there is a lot to be worked out.
It happens slowly, and posting relevant good video consistently is always a challenge.
Is anybody listening? These things don't happen over night. All it takes is a link, a good video, something important, anything, in order for it to happen, and if you continue to create things that are valuable (in whatever way) you slowly become a part of the landscape. There are no lines drawn. The relationships built in this community begin strangely, and solidify mostly through digital means. You slowly gain a sense of a person through these somewhat random moving images, all pixels edited through an endless number of filters, that become your digital identity.
This medium connects us, but it will always have it shortcomings, and most of these will never be solved. What started as one message has become a plea for another one. The terms A-lister, B-lister, cool-kid separate everyone more, and seem almost juvenile. It's really about the work, the video, the voice...it's not much more than that.
I would say the majority of us do this because we have no choice.
I think you can talk about lots of different things at the same time. It is just talking with a friend about all kinds of different things. Your videos might seem like a lot of different things to you, but to me, they are always about one thing -- you. I watch you talk, ramble, walk, drive, love, get frustrated... and each time I see a bit more of what you are like, what your life is like.
So what's the problem?? I don't see a problem.
Who cares about popularity? That's the great thing about _not_ having advertising, it doesn't matter if you have 10 viewers or 10,000. If you are communicating and creating, and some one is watching, cool.
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B, I love you. You know that, and luckily we are able to show it face to face as well as in this environment. But I think for you what Jen posted is very applicable. Your vlog has continuity in that it is what makes.drives.inspires.amuses YOU and that's why I watch it. I think by nature you are a seeker, and a communicator so this interaction is very important to you. But I don't want you to feel that you need to consistently post "important" or "relevant" work that reaches everybody. Some of my favorite posts that you have done are the ones that allow me to see you and not the necessarily an 'issue' be it political, cultural, gender based or anything else. Though those are parts of you, I like the ones that are just you. However it's not always easy for me to respond in this medium, because I think the response to you being you is me being me. And there's a certain magic and chemistry behind that. So the more I express myself (be it through blog/vlog/art or just a mini-convo in the hallway) - that IS my response. And when I feel the need to battle it out over Katie Couric - then maybe I'll do it more obviously haha. Which brings up the final point in this insane comment: Who will Katie Couric compete against in the dance-off/battle-rap arena?
Brittany - I've been meaning to watch this for a long time (that's the problem with having "systems" and not being able to break them, your vlog starts with an "s" and for some reason I need to watch the vlogs in alphabetical order...) and I'm glad you've joined the conversation. I understand your frustration with the vlogger culture but I'm glad that you have a passion for doing it without the "recognition". I wish I had more time to comment but I've got to head home. Later.
here's a video my friend V made about comments last summer:
http://www.human-dog.com/lab/?p=138
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