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meyerb15

Daily Writing Tips - 0 views

www.dailywritingtips.com

grammar spelling tips vocabulary words

shared by meyerb15 on 01 Mar 08 - Cached
  • meyerb15 on 01 Mar 08
     
    This site offers a lot of information about grammar, misused words, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary.  Using this site daily would be a great way to improve your overall writing skills.
Kelly Burns

Wired 14.12: The Secret World of Lonelygirl - 0 views

www.wired.com/...lonelygirl.html

shared by Kelly Burns on 13 Feb 08 - Cached
  • Beckett had met him through a friend and wanted to make sure Lonelygirl15 didn't get them sued for deceiving the public
    • dracmere
      dracmere on 13 Feb 08
       
      This was a good idea on their part. It would be bad if they were successful and then got sued for something.
    • Jessica Bloom
      Jessica Bloom on 16 Apr 08
       
      Is it even possible to get sued for deceiving the public? So many shows today are fake, do they have a problem as well?
  • But the series he created shows that Internet TV has arrived. The phenomenon is partly driven by technology – Lonelygirl15 wouldn't exist without the explosion of broadband and the advent of YouTube – and partly by the appeal of a hybrid form of storytelling.
    • sunflower123
      sunflower123 on 13 Feb 08
       
      I just find this kind of sick and twisted. I remember hearing about this a few months ago but didn't think much of it. But this type of fake story telling only shows people how easy to is to be fake by using technology and that is not right. It is just scary to think that you never know who you are really talking to, taking advice from or if any facts are real, and Lonelygirl made that even more clear...lonelygirl would not exist either if someone didn't make her up.
    • kaeanne
      kaeanne on 13 Mar 08
       
      I hadn't heard about this until now, but I agree, it is VERY sick and twisted! It makes me sad to think it exists, because this happens, it's real life.
  • In the process, the series is helping to invent the rhythm, grammar, and style of online storytelling
    • sunflower123
      sunflower123 on 13 Feb 08
       
      If they admitted from the beginning that they were just trying to make an non-fictional online story, then that would be one thing. But they lied so it makes it werid.
    • Gail Ramsey
      Gail Ramsey on 17 Apr 08
       
      This is not really a new concept, just an old concept displayed in a new technology. Not that the stories were the same but there have been radio programs and movies that originally ran as real but were fake.
  • ...39 more annotations...
  • In short, they were planning to exploit the anonymity of the Internet to pull off a new kind of storytelling, and they worried they were on shaky legal ground.
    • sunflower123
      sunflower123 on 13 Feb 08
       
      If they had any bad feeling about it at all, that should of told them right there not to do it.
    • haines64
      haines64 on 13 Apr 08
       
      It may not be illegal, but it is unethical. Unlike a real movie or TV show, these men where purposefully exploiting viewers online. There would have been no reason for the viewers to think the videos were fake (unlike when we go to a movie and know the characters are played by paid actors). Since there is no universally accepted ethical guidelines for online postings to sites like YouTube, I guess the creators thought their actions could be justified. However, I still think that creating a massive plan to deceive countless viewers like they did is not a good way to represent YouTube and similar spaces.
  • Plastic surgery might be an essential part of the entertainment industry, but he wanted more. He wanted to direct.
    • goulds28 gould
      goulds28 gould on 14 Feb 08
       
      very strange switch in professional fields. Is plastic surgery that closely linked to the entertainment industry in the first place?
    • kaeanne
      kaeanne on 29 Mar 08
       
      i dont think they are THAT closely related to make such a drastic switch...kind of creepy in my opinion
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 17 Apr 08
       
      Interesting switch in fields.
  • Now, as a result of Lonelygirl15, he's represented by a top-tier Hollywood talent agency and has been interviewed on MTV, CNN, and NBC Nightly News. He even has business partners: a former doctor named Miles Beckett and husband-and-wife lawyers Greg and Amanda Goodfried. Together, with next to no budget, they have created a show that illuminates the future of television.
    • willis02
      willis02 on 15 Feb 08
       
      That is crazy. It's weird to think little ideas like this really could go a long way if you are talented enough. This "lie" changed his life. Good for him.
  • So today, two weeks after the revelation that the show is fictional, Flinders is filming the 45th two-minute installment of the series and pushing into new territory. What began as a quirky story about a religious girl fighting with her strict parents and her boyfriend is poised to break out of the bedroom and into a full-blown international thriller.
    • willis02
      willis02 on 15 Feb 08
       
      It's amazing at how far this guy went to make this Lonlygirl15 happen.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 17 Apr 08
       
      Seems harmless enough.
  • Last week, he spotted his neighbors – two Playboy playmates – and invited them in. They glanced at his room, got suspicious, and quickly left.
    • kaeanne
      kaeanne on 13 Mar 08
       
      I completely agree. What would you think if you walked into a set like that?
  • It's all the more engrossing because viewers can correspond with the characters and even affect the plot.
    • Joan Vance
      Joan Vance on 17 Apr 08
       
      Why wouldn't anyone like a show in which they can relate to? This is why I read certain books, because I can relate to the characters in some way. Reality TV has really became a hit in the US. I actually do enjoy some of these new shows.
    • Gail Ramsey
      Gail Ramsey on 17 Apr 08
       
      Most of the reality shows are extreme case setups. I wonder if that encourages people to react extreme in life. They put you on an emotional overcharge to keep you viewing. Reality is a very lose term for them and even with LonleyGirl they admitted they didn't get the big hits until they made it "emotional".
  • Welcome to the set of Lonelygirl15, the breakout Web hit that, in September, was unmasked by fans as a work of fiction. What nearly a million people thought was the room of a sweet, charismatic teen named Bree is actually the Beverly Hills bedroom of Lonelygirl15's cocreator Mesh Flinders, an unshaven 27-year-old who is fighting the flu and running a fever of 101. He hasn't left this room for more than 24 hours. "I've got no reason to leave," Flinders says, rubbing his bloodshot eyes and then blowing his nose. The room smells like sweat. "I write the scripts here, we shoot them here, and I sleep here. Why leave?"
    • kaeanne
      kaeanne on 13 Mar 08
       
      He clearly has something wrong with him. This is not only unhealthy but a bit scary!
    • alieraisu1
      alieraisu1 on 13 Mar 08
       
      I agree with kaeanne... something's wrong... and creepy here
    • james caposele
      james caposele on 17 Apr 08
       
      This guy is a mess...a smart mess though. Does he make a lot of money off this? It has always blown my mind that you can come up wiht such a simple idea and get all the media coverage for it. I'm still waiting for my big break.
  • A Hollywood movie is understood to be fictional. Vlogging on YouTube is not.
  • But this isn't what it appears to be: Almost everything in the room was bought from Target on the same day, and the price tags are still hanging from some of her stuff. The closet is filled with men's clothing, and in the corner two guys huddle around a laptop and stare at the webcam feed.
    • hawtho16
      hawtho16 on 20 Feb 08
       
      This paragrapgh really got me thinking about the videos we watched on Lonely Girl. I didn't even seem to pick up on what was hanging in the closet or that things still had price tags on them. Can you see those details from the videos?
    • kimmerzx0 C
      kimmerzx0 C on 12 Mar 08
       
      It makes you think about the discussion we had in class the other day about people portraying themselves as whoever they want to be portrayed as. It is amazing that you could think something that seems so real, like an ordinary girl with boy problems, can actually be completely fake!
    • kaeanne
      kaeanne on 13 Mar 08
       
      It just proves that things aren't always what they seem to be. This is a huge problem with the freedom that the internet provides to those not mature enough to use it responsibly.
    • Kelly Burns
      Kelly Burns on 17 Apr 08
       
      I never knew that it was a fake scene! It reminds me of the discussion we had in class the other day about how people can fake their identies. Most the people in the class just kept using the words, "It's weird" and "Creepy", and that is the only way I know how to describe the crazy phenomon about how people can change who they are and portray themselves as completely different people on the Internet.
    • james caposele
      james caposele on 17 Apr 08
       
      I spoke to soon in my previous sticky note. I didn't fully believe her when she said that she only had one friend. Does it say gullable on the wall? I think it does..
    • Jennifer Dougherty
      Jennifer Dougherty on 18 Apr 08
       
      This doesn't actually bother me. I am a huge fan of reality TV, which we all know is HEAVILY staged and scripted. Who cares that this is too. It's entertainment. Remember how we are always taught not to believe everything we read? That we are to approach everything we read with a critical eye? The same goes for these videos. If we question what we see, the validity of it and the impact we as the viewer choose to assign it to our lives, it shouldn't matter if the video is real or fake.
  • When the show started in June with a two-minute YouTube posting by Bree – played by actress Jessica Rose – Flinders would rearrange his room after each shoot.
    • Melissa Foster
      Melissa Foster on 17 Apr 08
       
      I thought it was crazy how it was all shot inside of his own bedroom. What's more is that it seems to have made him a bit of a recluse.
  • When the show started in June with a two-minute YouTube posting by Bree – played by actress Jessica Rose – Flinders would rearrange his room after each shoot. >
    • hawtho16
      hawtho16 on 20 Feb 08
       
      I cannot believe that someone would think of such a show. Who has that much time on their hands? Just to think a two-minute posting turned into something everyone talked about.
  • So today, two weeks after the revelation that the show is fictional, Flinders is filming the 45th two-minute installment of the series and pushing into new territory. What began as a quirky story about a religious girl fighting with her strict parents and her boyfriend is poised to break out of the bedroom and into a full-blown international thriller.
    • hawtho16
      hawtho16 on 20 Feb 08
       
      It just boggles my mind how one video turned into 45. I wonder what made him do this, did he want the attention? Where did the story line come from?
    • jrae3388
      jrae3388 on 13 Mar 08
       
      I heard of LonelyGirl before and saw some of her videos and it intrigued me because it was kind of Degrassi-esque, but I really wondered if it was true or not because it shows her being kidnapped and I was wondering why there wasn't an outcry because she was kidnapped, but I had a suspicion that this was all fake, just like all the other shows out there. One thing I have learned over the years is dont believe everything you say/hear.
  • He'd take down the pictures of Rose as a baby, stash the stuffed animals, and swap out the girly bedspread for his more masculine blue-and-white-striped blanket. Now, three months into the project and with hundreds of thousands of regular viewers, he doesn't bother
    • Elizabeth Somer
      Elizabeth Somer on 12 Mar 08
       
      I think this is "genius." Who would think to create a mini, self-run almost TV like series?
    • kimmerzx0 C
      kimmerzx0 C on 12 Mar 08
       
      I wander how many times he actually retransformed his room, it seems way too tiring for me. I have a hard enough time cleaning my room and taking the stuff I need to take home for a weekend.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 17 Apr 08
       
      I think this is pretty creative.
  • He wrote short stories about her, and when he tried to make it as a writer in Hollywood, he put her in his screenplays.
    • Elizabeth Somer
      Elizabeth Somer on 12 Mar 08
       
      Some books today are written in the form of IM/Blog conversations. I think this is more personal way of writing and communicating
    • kaeanne
      kaeanne on 13 Mar 08
       
      Is he trying to compensate for his short comings now? Is Lonelygirl really a success for him? Well, I guess that's the way he sees it.
  • As a camp counselor, he told fireside tales about her experiences.
    • kimmerzx0 C
      kimmerzx0 C on 12 Mar 08
       
      So lonelygirl seems to not only be his story, but also his obsession. It is like the characters people create in MUDs and then they become obsessed with them.
  • Welcome to the set of Lonelygirl15, the breakout Web hit that, in September, was unmasked by fans as a work of fiction. What nearly a million people thought was the room of a sweet, charismatic teen named Bree is actually the Beverly Hills bedroom of Lonelygirl15's cocreator Mesh Flinders, an unshaven 27-year-old who is fighting the flu and running a fever of 101.
    • mccrar25
      mccrar25 on 13 Mar 08
       
      I have never heard of Lonelygirl before, but it is interesting to think about. Today's Internet capabilities allow people to portray themselves in a quite deceiving mannner. This is what's part of the dangers of the Internet. We believe that just because someone has a video or picture, what they post is automatically true. However, this can be quite far from the truth.
    • zimmer67
      zimmer67 on 13 Mar 08
       
      It really makes me wonder what type of research if any he conducted to make it believeable to an audience that a 27 year old male knew the thoughts of a young teen girl? Its very weird and a little disconcerting.
  • He got picked on for being small, and there was no escape: The children attended classes taught by the adults of the commune, which was isolated in the windswept hills of western Sonoma County. When he turned 14, Flinders was sent to a Catholic high school, where he was regarded as a hippy devil worshipper, beaten up, and thrown into a dumpster.
    • mccrar25
      mccrar25 on 13 Mar 08
       
      This is an example how the Internet allows people to create false identities and new "selves". In this case, an unpopular, awkward young man grows to be a "needed" and "wanted" person on the web. This show has given him tremendous opportunites, far from what he experienced growing up.
    • zimmer67
      zimmer67 on 13 Mar 08
       
      This also relates to Sherry Turkle's article about creating characters on the internet. It becomes a fantasy world and a new way to explore life for some people
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 17 Apr 08
       
      It seems like these types of people always come up with smart or creative ideas that somehow bring attention to themselves.
  • He thought that a dramatic story from the point of view of a video blogger would be more captivating. Flinders, it turned out, had the perfect character.
    • zimmer67
      zimmer67 on 13 Mar 08
       
      I really don't think she was the "perfect character" by any means. The inticing aspect is that some can relate to her but her character is very plain and is seen all over the televsion. The reason this is such a hit is the new medium of tv online not because of the character herself.
    • kaeanne
      kaeanne on 29 Mar 08
       
      i agree, i don't find her amusing, i find her annoying. i don't get what all the fuss is about?!
  • Beckett ordered a pitcher of margaritas and explained that they wanted the vloggers of the YouTube community to believe that Bree was real.
    • Jen Fitzgerald
      Jen Fitzgerald on 13 Mar 08
       
      I agree. I was watching and wondering if people really thought this girl was for real. I mean I know it's fake now, but I feel like I would have thought that had it not become public. I still haven't figured out how people can become obsessed with these bloggers or vloggers. Get up and do something!

  • When he got to college, Flinders dreamed up an alter ego – an awkward, geeky homeschooled girl.

    • kaeanne
      kaeanne on 13 Mar 08
       
      This only proves many comments made earlier...CREEPER, disturbed, twisted, sick. This is bizzare.
  • commune
    • Jessica Bloom
      Jessica Bloom on 16 Apr 08
       
      II wonder if where he came from really has anything to do with his werid idea to start this Lonelygirl15 internet explosion.
    • Gail Ramsey
      Gail Ramsey on 17 Apr 08
       
      I am sure it had something to do with the individual he became. Maybe that was why he was more successful dealing in an online world where he could stay "behind the scenes".
  • Plus, to fully harness the medium, they intended to carry on email correspondences with YouTubers while posing as Bree.
    • mccrar25
      mccrar25 on 13 Mar 08
       
      This just seems so strange to me...I can't imagine hosting a fake show in my bedroom, and then responding to e-mails as this fictional person. This is, in fact, kind of creepy. I would feel wrong doing this and very uncomfortable.
  • Flinders rationalized the deception, noting that viewers wouldn't expect Mark Hamill to point out at the beginning of Star Wars that he wasn't Luke Skywalker.
    • Lauren Mecum
      Lauren Mecum on 17 Apr 08
       
      I believe this is a good point but just put way out of context. The author didn't have to explain hidden ideas, because film is seen as an art form. People are used to having a suspension of disbelief when watching a film. Video blogging isn't an art form and people don't know the difference between real or not real yet. Others on the internet truly use blogging as a personal outlet. People may now find all blogs to be misleading, the writing space may lose its verisimilitude due to this controversy.
    • daydreamr97
      daydreamr97 on 13 Mar 08
       
      This is an interesting point about society and art. We place a lot of value on nonfiction now, much more than we used to. People are getting caught writing "fake" memiors and getting in a lot of trouble for it. We might not expect actors who play the parts to be the real characters, but we often do expect characters to be real.
  • Flinders shrugs it off; the room is an upgrade. Six months ago, he was living with his 96-year-old grandmother in rural Central California. Now, as a result of Lonelygirl15, he's represented by a top-tier Hollywood talent agency and has been interviewed on MTV, CNN, and NBC Nightly News. He even has business partners: a former doctor named Miles Beckett and husband-and-wife lawyers Greg and Amanda Goodfried. Together, with next to no budget, they have created a show that illuminates the future of television.
    • kaeanne
      kaeanne on 13 Mar 08
       
      Does this make it O.K.?
  • "It's the producers from Law and Order," she says. "Do you want me to answer it?" "Let it ring," Flinders tells her.
    • kaeanne
      kaeanne on 13 Mar 08
       
      They probably want to make an episode dealing with an issue similar to this because of how twisted it is!
  • Beckett says. After four years of medical school and a year of residency, the 27-year-old dropped out of the
    • richar19
      richar19 on 13 Mar 08
       
      I think that this was a big risk he quit a job that he could have made a a lot of money for one were he could have failed.
    • kaeanne
      kaeanne on 29 Mar 08
       
      doesn't this tell us something?!
  • Lonelygirl15 is a mashup of homemade video diary, soap opera, and mysterious, hint-laden narrative like Lost
    • Jen Fitzgerald
      Jen Fitzgerald on 13 Mar 08
       
      Many of the "reality" shows we watch today are scripted and not real at all. This makes the lonelygirl situation more understandable, but no less creepy just because it seems as if one guy decided upon this himself. I wonder how much input the actress had, since she is a girl and all.
    • haines64
      haines64 on 13 Apr 08
       
      I can understand the appeal of the Loneygirl15 "show" in relation to it being Internet TV. But I still think it is a little creepy that we are willing to accept this guy's lie and justify it as TV itself, even going as far as to identify the genres it fits into.
    • Lauren Mecum
      Lauren Mecum on 17 Apr 08
       
      I believe that the producers should have come forward and said that the blogs were a ficticious story. I don't feel it is right to use people as guinea pigs when they have no recollection of it. Stories like this make me personally not trust the internet.
  • it's a thrillingly uncharted creative landscape, and he has no interest in abandoning it for the tired conventions of film or television
    • Jessica Bloom
      Jessica Bloom on 16 Apr 08
       
      Right now, I don't know how I feel about this online show, so to speak. I think it is extremely weird, since I have not had enough time to become accustomed to it. Hopefully, after I continue reading, I will understand where this man who created Lonelygirl15 is coming from.
  • Flinders himself is startlingly uninterested in traditional TV. He grew up without it and rarely watches it now.
    • Danielle Rabello
      Danielle Rabello on 16 Apr 08
       
      I find it very interesting that he grew up without television and has sort of moved on to television on the internet. It depicts how technology has changed over time, and sort of hints that television on the internet could ultimately take over. In a way, it already has for Flinders.
    • Lauren Mecum
      Lauren Mecum on 17 Apr 08
       
      The producer had never been exposed to much televisiona nd its amazing that that is all he is consumed in today. He doesn't like traditional television, but i feel there is something more honest about television. As viewers we have a suspension of disblief when we watch fictional stories on TV. The people watching lonelygirl blogs didn't know what to believe.
    • james caposele
      james caposele on 17 Apr 08
       
      A lot of people don't have time to sit down and watch an hour show on television. With the expansion of computers and internet videos people can watch 15 two minute videos just on their lunch break.
  • Plus, to fully harness the medium, they intended to carry on email correspondences with YouTubers while posing as Bree. In short, they were planning to exploit the anonymity of the Internet to pull off a new kind of storytelling, and they worried they were on shaky legal ground.
    • Joan Vance
      Joan Vance on 17 Apr 08
       
      It didnt even cross my mind at first that this may not be legal. If the men were so worried that it would be illegal, maybe it should be. I mean they were trying to pretend to be a 15 yr old girl and talk to people. Not only are Hollywood movies known to be fictional, none of the characters hold conversations or email its viewers. I think that underneath the video it should have stated this is not a true person, everything you have seen is fictional, or something of that nature.
    • Lauren Mecum
      Lauren Mecum on 17 Apr 08
       
      It is alittle upsetting that these producers where making money and fame off of something so misleading. Many people invested they time and feelings into lonelygirl and never knew that she was fake. They would give advice and truly felt for her. I don't know if it's right to make money off of a lie.
  • But nobody bought his scripts: Agents and producers didn't think much of the character he had created.
    • Lauren Mecum
      Lauren Mecum on 17 Apr 08
       
      I find it interesting that agents and producers didn't find much in his stories or scripts, but so many people tuned in all the time to see lonelygirl's blogs. You never know what the public will see as entertainment.
    • Bianca Pieloch
      Bianca Pieloch on 17 Apr 08
       
      Viewers love being in control of the plot. We love to see things go our way, the way we want it. It is so frustrating when you have to go along with the way the editors want the show to go.
    • Melissa Foster
      Melissa Foster on 17 Apr 08
       
      I have trouble deciding whether I would feel betrayed or not had I caught onto the LonelyGirl15 phenomenon earlier. I think the craziest part is the elaborate set up of her e-mail responses and so on.
  • The room behind her could be anywhere in America – there's a pink floral-print bedspread, a half-dozen stuffed animals, and a framed picture of a rose on the wall.
    • james caposele
      james caposele on 17 Apr 08
       
      I think this is what makes lonelygirl15 so interesting. I see her as represent all of teenage amercian boredoom. Small town, one friend and a stuffed animal. When I feel lonely, I write. When she feels lonely, she blogs.
  • It's too much work, even though it has blown some great opportunities for him.
    • james caposele
      james caposele on 17 Apr 08
       
      Too much work? Is this guy serious? He never leaves the room, it is not that much work to make a bed and hang a few pictures. I think the success is going to this guy's head.
  • After working a few years as an assistant to an independent director
  • After working a few years as an assistant to an independent director
    • Jennifer Dougherty
      Jennifer Dougherty on 18 Apr 08
       
      This is exactly the point I was trying to make about YouTube-that it turns the average person, in this case he struggles to become a director, into just that, a director. He created this set and these characters and put them out there. Millions of people followed. Isn't this his dream?
  • Kelly Burns on 17 Apr 08
     
    information about lonelygirl, youtube
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