It's Thursday, October 13th, and I'm watching the end of a program on G4 called Attack of the Show. The host is interviewing an attractive blonde from New York named Amanda Congdon. It seems that she has been doing a daily video blog, or Vlog, for nearly a year, and has garnered quite a following. The format is simple, she and her partner Drew post a semi-satirical, totally opinionated three minute segment in the form of a news cast. The subject matter covers everything from rebuilding in Sri Lanka, to geekware toy stores in Manhattan. Normally such an interview would hold my attention for a few minutes, then get sent to my mental trash bin, but something about Amanda's absolute lack of any guile or falsehood stuck in my mind. The next day I went to http://rocketboom.com . I have yet to miss an episode since. The stories are often fascinating, or bizarre, or have a different take on something everyone else is covering, but it is almost always interesting. And one of the best parts is that you can comment on each episode, and unless the comment is vulgar there is no censorship on the opinions. I cannot recommend the site enough.
For the last few months Rocketboom has been talking about trying to make some money from their labor of love. They get hundreds of thousands of hits a day, and they, quite naturally, decided to see if they could get a little compensation for a year and a half of hard, unpaid work. They hit upon a very clever idea: auction off one week's worth of ads on Ebay. They set ground rules: no porn or gambling companies; and they would make the ads themselves and run them after the regular vlogcast. The comments flew fast and furious, mostly in favor of the venture. Some worry that with great cash comes great loss of integrity, others just seem to be sour grapes eaters. But the overwhelming majority, myself included, are thrilled that Amanda and Drew might actually get some reward for being so entertaining and informative. The auction lasted one week, and ended Thursday with a final bid, from someone called starfinder5, of $40,000! And there was much rejoicing!!
Rocketboom posts Monday through Fridays, so the comments have been piling up since Friday morning. When I last checked this morning there were 88 comments, 86 of which were positive. The two negative ones seemed to be from the kind of people who probably kick their children's bedroom door open at 11:59pm Christmas Eve and shout, 'You know there is no Santa Clause!' I couldn't be happier for them, and I encourage everyone to check out the site. They have an archive section where you can go back and see all of the posts from the beginning, which is kinda fun to watch the evolution of a phenomenon.
In any event, Amanda and Drew, congratulations. You truly deserve to reap the fruits of your labors.
Marius
4 comments:
i love G4
Marius,
Have you ever considered going outside? The state in which you reside is known for its "sunshine".
Perhaps take the Mrs for a stroll on the beach, or take the child to one of the many museums, or simply chill at one of the many coffee houses in that area. Remember, even high quality tech stuff needs to cool off once in a while!
Go outside?? Have you ever MET Marius? Look at the pictures! That washed-out look is not from improper use of flashbulb! Dude! He'd burst into flames!
I knew Rocketboom would take off!
Afew weeks ago it was high-lighted
on one of the CSI incarnations my
parents were watching.
I hope they make $$$$$
Good for them
P
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