trouble struck him. At some point, the lines between what was really
going on and what was staged got very much blurred. Now his site is
not online... I don't know what the resolution was.
Josh
On Apr 24, 2006, at 7:26 PM, Michael Sullivan wrote:
> anybody remember "nathan peters' experiment" last year?
>
> hold up... that was fake?
> jesus christ! i'm pretty on top of this list and i dont recall this.
> i saw the video and knew the drama in nathans life, but the only
> thing i recalled him doing that was fake was some of the videos
> where he was like doing lines etc in front of his kids or something
> like that.
>
> nathan contacted me requesting his vlogdir entry be removed for
> legal reasons, which i helped him with. so that was somehow part
> of it too?
>
>
>
> On 4/24/06, Anne Walk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> anybody remember "nathan peters' experiment" last year?
>
> one of the vloggers in the group staged a vlog of his children
> being taken away (i'm still not even clear on what happened after
> that episode!) when it was discovered to be an "experiment", people
> were understandably upset.
>
> this time around, people seem to be less upset...but that could be
> because the vlogger in question was not a member of this particular
> vlogging community.
>
> i think it's interesting to explore the ideas of truth and personal
> representation. i don't know if such heavy handedness is necessary
> to do so.
>
> as for the violence, i agree completely with your impassioned
> commentary on violence in media and it's use as cathartic proxy. it
> titillates and then it punishes and we can go on with our lives,
> our demons sated.
>
> one difference between "the media" representation of violence and
> Kevin's is that, with Law and Order, we can treat is as
> entertainment. We already know it is fiction. with kevin, we think
> he is "one of us".
>
> anyway, coming from an art backgroud myself, i've seen a lot of
> stuff like this and yes, you become jaded by it. the art world
> teaches you not to believe in anything (that's been my experience).
>
> i'd like to ask you, jen, if you had seen the video online and did
> not see the student afterwards, as expected...if he had carried out
> the experiment more fully and left you and the school in the dark
> about it (perhaps even had relatives phone in with the bad news),
> would you still think it an interesting experiment or would it
> become something else?
>
>
>
>
> On 4/24/06, Chuck Olsen < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Come to think of it - if Kevin's video had a Miller Lite logo at the
> end, it would be genius. :-)
>
> I remember camping out in the backyard in high school with my friends.
> We brought out the cordless phone (yeah, high tech!) and made some
> prank phone calls.
>
> When it was my turn, I pretended I was in jail and desparate to
> talk to my dad. I woke up some poor guy who obviously wasn't my
> dad. "Oh shit! This is my only phone call.... I don't know what to
> do!"
> Rather than hang up, this guy was genuinely anguished over my
> situation and sincerely tried to help me.
>
> Needless to say, I felt pretty shitty after I hung up. I became
> wrapped up in my own prank, my own lie. This guy had an
> emotional response. I was manipulating his empathy. And
> that's just not fun. It felt wrong because empathy, I think, is
> part of our moral core and part our brain chemistry.
>
> It's only a matter of time before we see a real drunken death
> on YouTube. Everyone who has watched Kevin's video will
> probably be immediately skeptical, if not dismissive. What
> a strange feeling it will be to have that reaction, only to find
> out the death is real. Yes - it is fascinating I suppose.
> And of course it's not just Kevin, but our world, saturated
> with media violence.
>
> One difference between Kevin's "prank" and, say, Ian's final
> video where he's kidnapped - or most advertisements - is
> whether or not you believe what you're seeing is real.
> You don't see people die in advertisements. Or if you do, you
> don't think it's real. Ian's final video was pretty obviously a joke.
> So degree and context are big factors in our reactions. You know
> Kevin and have all this context for his video, not to mention,
> you know he's not dead. That's quite a different context than we have,
> and certainly the content of his video is fairly extreme.
>
> So in the end, I say all videobloggers must commit mass mock
> suicide and agree to never believe anything we see in video.
>
> (whuuuh?!?)
>
>
> --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Jen Simmons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> > Well for one I have to disagree that this is "worse" than the
> insidious
> > creeping take-over of the vlogosphere imagination by corporate or
> > corporate-copy-cat consumption-oriented / advertisy /
> > product-placementy / slick-is-better /
> > we-all-want-to-be-like-the-media-on-tv trends. I find that WAY more
> > dangerous and problematic.
> >
> > I am wondering myself why I find this fascinating. I am surprised
> by my
> > own reaction. Perhaps it's because I know Kevin and there's
> something
> > not-typical about his approach to all the violent weird stupid
> > perverted content that I am way way tired of after teaching student
> > filmmaking in Philadelphia for the last three years. He is
> handling the
> > same subjects, but somehow there is something else going on too --
> > perhaps it's just that he's smart and it shows to me, while most
> of the
> > other students make such work in such a mindless knee-jerk
> > "stupid"/blind way.
> >
> > I think my reaction is mostly because of a workshop I've been in
> with
> > Kevin taught by Ralph Lemon where we've been exploring danger and
> risk
> > and fear all semester. Doing weird things like setting out to
> drop 40
> > lb weights on our feet to see how we can't actually drop it on our
> > feet, but will naturally jerk the body out of the way.... it's
> > impossible, truly impossible to explain this by text, but it's
> been a
> > great investigation of the fear we who are artists confront every
> time
> > we try to make art. Artists live on the edge of real danger all the
> > time. Somehow I can't separate this video Kevin made with that
> process
> > of exploration, and in the context of that very specific
> investigation,
> > this is hilarious.
> >
> > But... yeah... I think in any other context I too would be deeply
> > disturbed and offended.
> > I think it's interesting to me because I'm trying to figure out what
> > the difference is in my self. And I am also asking in a deep deep
> way:
> > what is happening here. What social rules are Kevin violating?
> How will
> > the reaction unfold? Will there be a huge outcry? Or will this
> all blow
> > over fairly quickly? Will people react? Or just take this in as one
> > more thing...
> >
> > I see your point that it may be numbing us to real pain. I find
> the 27
> > Law and Order and copycat shows completely irresponsible for exactly
> > that reason. And find it completely ridiculous and amazing that
> NBC has
> > gotten both super-christian in the last year and super-violent
> (come
> > on -- an AMY GRANT reality tv show??? and more than one "miracle"
> > reality tv show... and more murder "investigations" than I've ever
> > seen.) I'll be just change channels zipping past NBC and get
> assaulted
> > by a scene of a graphic rape and murder. It seems like an extremely
> > perverted rape-by-proxy thing, what, letting the viewers fantasize
> > about what it would be like to rape and murder someone?? It' very
> > offensive to me. And I see no one talking about it. Why aren't the
> > christians outraged about that?? Instead they are freaking out
> over a
> > gay kiss or people talking about evolution... it's crazy crazy
> crazy.
> >
> > I also know that I am numb to the violence in my student's work
> because
> > it's so horrible here at Temple. The most unbelievably violent films
> > get made by the undergraduates here. And no one talks about it.
> After
> > four years I think my perspective is totally warped. And having
> people
> > on the outside say -- "uh, no, this is not acceptable" is a welcome
> > breath of fresh air.
> >
> > So people, please everyone say what you think. I want to hear what
> > people really think and get a sense of where different people are on
> > these issues -- some how that is fascinating to me. What do people
> > think is the line that we shouldn't cross when it comes to
> violence? Is
> > Kevin's film too much because it is violent? Or because it is lying?
> > Or...
> >
> > jen
> >
> >
> >
> > jenSimmons
> > http://www.jensimmons.com
> > On Apr 24, 2006, at 6:07 PM, Chuck Olsen wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > You find it fascinating - why? I find it tiresome and
> irresponsible.
> > > God, I must be getting old. I used to appreciate a good arty blog
> > > prank.
> > >
> > > The problem is this: Rather than using vlogs to enrich the human
> > > experience, and expand our exposure to the range of human
> experiences,
> > > pranks like this numb us to it. It numbs us to real death and
> real
> > > pain, and cheapens it.
> > >
> > > This sort of prank is worse for the vlogosphere than any
> > > advertisement.
> > >
> > > --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, Jen Simmons <jen@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I'm wondering whether to chime in now, or wait and watch this
> > > > discussion go for a while more. I find it fascinating.
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
> --
> Anne Walk
> http://loadedpun.com
>
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