StinkFight.com

I am working on a book about dealing with loss, inspired by, among other things, dealing with the death of my daughter.

One problem I see with such a book is that if it’s successful, people will read it and send me long e-mails about their grief.

I get long e-mails from the readers of “$30 Film School” from people telling me about their projects. I love getting these e-mails. But I don’t know if I could deal with many many e-mails from people about their grief, when I’m still in my own mourning process.

In a similar way, popularizing “DIY or DIE” by mass-releasing it free on Zune Marketplace, I knew I’d be opening myself up to the same “You’re not punk enough/you did something wrong with your art/I’m jealous of your tiny success” etc. etc. that I’ve faced my whole life, and especially, since that film came out in 2002.

Below is an interaction I had on the Yahoo Podcasting board today. You probably don’t need (or want) to read the whole thread, but if you want to, it starts here.

Basically, someone spammed the board (a place I call home) with an ad for “Hollywood sound effects”. I felt they were misrepresenting themselves (the people involved are NOT “Hollywood”) and the sound effects are in a compromised audio format, MP3, which is NOT of the level of quality used in real Hollywood films and television.

Ostensibly, I think the guy (”MissPeter”, and yeah, it’s a dood…It’s always a dood posting crap like this…girls just dig art and don’t get as chest thumpy about the semantics as doods) who responded to my response to the spammer, was taking me to task for putting something called “DIY” on something from Microsoft.

I see no problem doing this…anyone making new media is using tools - at least hardware - made by major corporations. Digital cameras and microphones are made by corporations. Guitars are made by Gibson and Fender. And when was the last time you saw some punker running Linux on a laptop with integrated circuits burned in his own sterile laboratory? Can’t be done.

And besides, my line in the intro of the film about “…this DIY ethic drives everything from garage bands to the largest software companies in the world” is a direct reference to Microsoft and Apple, which were started in a dorm room, and a garage, respectively.

(And in response to anyone who complains at someone taking advantage of useful opportunities, I usually say, “Would you turn it down if it were offered to you?” I wouldn’t put a beer ad in the middle of my film, but I’ll let a huge new player in new media showcase it. No money was exchanged either. Microsoft Zune got content, I got mass downloads and press. )

(I’m tired of 25 years of defending my art. And I’ve written more than one 500-page book that covers the subject well. Buy ‘em, or download ‘em free on Bittorrent.)

So…..I made a handshake bet with my wife that someone would try to take me down a peg on the Yahoo Podboard for the Zune feature within 24 hours.

It only took 12.

Below my DIY bar code is the guy’s stab at me, and my response (I corrected a few of my typos, and tightened up my wording - I wrote the original Yahoo post in a haste - but I left the tone and exact meaning for the reprint here):

— In podcasters@yahoogroups MissPeter <peter@…> wrote:

> Why does any of that matter? Are you saying that it’s not REAL unless
> it’s the same one that everyone else is using? or it’s not REAL if it
> isn’t by a big name? Not very DIY of you…
> p
======

Peter-

First of all, “not very DIY of you” is very grade school of you.

And I’ve handled “punker than thou” assaults on my integrity in person from tough German anarchists when it’s just me and them in *their* squat, and taken the same from drunken skinheads in British pubs, so I can take it from you on the Internet.

Anyway, it’s an absurd allegation. People determine their own definition of DIY. If you have integrity, you will make choices that work. I do that. DIY is not a banner or buzzword for me. It’s my life. I often turn down work that pays a lot and do something else that I feel like doing instead, and frequently end up giving it away or selling it really cheap.

Second, I wasn’t saying using certain tools isn’t cool. I love tools, and avail myself of any I can grab.

I used the Hollywood Edge collection on my last film. The guy who did the sound mix owns the whole collection (about the price of a nice car). He owns it to use in his constant employment mixing sound on number-one Hollywood films.

On the other hand,, I also regularly record my cats, and sounds out on the street, to use in my podcasts.

What I was saying (I guess not very clearly) is that I don’t like people using “Hollywood” as a selling point when they’re not really involved in Hollywood. It strikes me as B.S. If you lived in Los Angeles, you’d probably have a much lower tolerance for it. It hits you CONSTANTLY. It seems like everyone everywhere in LA is trying to claim credits and associations that they don’t really have.

I am also not saying *I* am “Hollywood.” I am very much not, though I have had some genuine dealings with it on some serious levels.

I have no desire to be “Hollywood”.

–MWD

P.S.

Sometimes I question the usefulness of poking at, and pointing out, this kind of “Hollywood hustle” stuff in the world. But I feel that it’s so prevalent that if I completely ignore the weenies they just might take over.

Mission Accomplished.

This entry was posted by Michael W. Dean on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 7:09 pm and is filed under MWD's Cool Stuff, Stink Fight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.