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Lily Mitchell

How you can setup Roku Premiere? - 0 views

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    Roku Premiere is one of the best device that stream the content in full UD, UHD and 4K available in the market. So, we have come up with a guide that will help
Danielle Rabello

Wired 14.12: The Secret World of Lonelygirl - 0 views

  • $500 a week to play Bree full time
    • dracmere
       
      I wish I got paid that much. Thats pretty cool for her to get paid to be on Youtube. Just more evidence that Youtube is taking over.
    • Gail Ramsey
       
      I wonder if that was tax-free money. I don't think $500 would be enough for me to run around hiding from everyone. This girl seems to be so trusting and naive.
  • But the fans – raised on the unreality of reality TV and with the role-playing ethos of the Web – seemed to take the revelation in stride.
    • dracmere
       
      Seems like viewers treated like a regular show. I know if I was a viewer I wouldn't of cared. If something entertains you then just because it isn't real doesn't mean it will stop entertaining you.
    • jc ice
       
      True the whole point of entertainment is to captivate you, but it still has to be something tht you can identify with and that speaks to you. She obviously spoke to a lot of people so the fact of whether it was real or not didn't matter in the message.
  • several people noted that everything in Bree's room seemed to come from Target
    • sunflower123
       
      That is amazing that people really looked that deeply into the veidos.
  • ...27 more annotations...
  • It hadn't taken them long to figure out, by trial and error, what worked in this new genre. Viewers wanted family and relationship drama mixed with a rich, mysterious backstory that could be explored and debated.
    • sunflower123
       
      The more I read the more interesting it sound, it is to bad they could not have just admitted from the beginning that they are just trying to get a web tv type show. People would still watch if it was interesting enough.
    • kimmerzx0 C
       
      People want something they can relate to and many teenagers have family problems.
    • jc ice
       
      By not telling the audience whether this character was real or not, everyone automatically assumed that she was real. Maybe it was just realistic casting. This is like an online mockumentary but instead of being viewed by a small group of followers gained an enormous following almost instaneously.
  • In return, she had to stay home as much as possible and wear sunglasses and a hat when she went out. For Rose, it was a dream come true – she was a working actress. She just couldn't tell anyone.
    • sunflower123
       
      Yes making 500 dollars a week is okay for a 27 year old, but I would personally hate the fact that I'd have to keep my identity hidden all the time, and couldn't tell anyone what was really going on, that has to get stressful.
    • jc ice
       
      This is so old hollywood. During the filming of Gone With The Wind, the studio forced Vivien Leigh to live separate from her husband to continue the illusion of her being a single eligible southern belle. Also, many of the studios knew then and still use the practice now of setting up known gay actors with romances to throw the public off. I think the studios care more about this than the public does now, but the practice still goes on to this day.
  • The YouTube community was sucked into the plot and speculated endlessly about Bree's faith. Some thought she was Mormon; others insisted she was a Satanist. Another group tried to figure out where she lived: The leading guess was somewhere in the Midwest. Viewers spent hours Googling the possibilities and posting their results on YouTube.
    • maureen
       
      Brillant! Getting the community sucked into the plot is big, but getting the community to start speculating about the plot is even bigger. When people start speculating, a dialogue occurs and from that dialogue the speculation spreads like a virus, which in turn promotes more interest in Bree and more viewers to follow the story.
  • Fair enough," the fan wrote back, and then went on to tell Bree the latest news in his life. To many, it didn't seem to matter whether she was real or not. A number of posts appeared on YouTube denouncing the series, but many more responded with variations of this simple statement: If you don't like it, don't watch.
    • maureen
       
      Who cares whether she was real or not. The purpose of watching the videos is for entertainment and to get in on the new wave of storytelling.
    • vanamb16
       
      it is interesting that people would get to the point that they would correspond with her. I can understand why if they thought she was real, but after that, I'd think to continue would be strange
    • jc ice
       
      I think when people find a connection with someone, real or imagined, it gets in touch with something inside of them that reaches out. This maybe is the whole point of cyberspace, to reach outside of who we are and try to connect on a difference level
  • ithin 48 hours, the video had half a million views.
  • That couldn't have happened on television. A conventional TV episode airs once at a certain time; even if it's great, it can only serve to attract viewers to future episodes. On YouTube, a video can be streamed at any time.
    • hughes27
       
      This is a good point. I never thought about how youtube videos are basically in the hands of its viewers
    • coffma46
       
      Yes many of the YouTube videos show what work and what doesnt work according to how good the video is.
  • The good ones are watched again and again, sending a clear message about what works and what doesn't. When "My Parents Suck …" broke 500,000 views, Beckett and Flinders realized this wasn't just an experiment or a setup for a film.
    • Melissa Foster
       
      It's amazing how addicting things like this are. Even though people have already viewed the "episode," they return to it. Maybe they're hoping to find out more about her? Perhaps it became part of the investigation into who she is. To me, it's a little reminiscent of releasing DVD versions of television shows.
  • Meanwhile, the online celebrity started spilling over into the real world. Rose was browsing for a book in Santa Monica after "My Parents Suck …" was posted and noticed two girls watching her closely. That night, Amanda received an email from a fan: "Hi Bree. My friend and I thought we saw you at the Barnes & Noble in Santa Monica, but it couldn't be you, right?"
    • Elizabeth Somer
       
      This attention as I mentioned before can be both positive and negative. It raises concerns
  • If you want to talk to Jessica Rose, you can go to her MySpace page. If you want to keep talking to Bree, use this email."
    • Elizabeth Somer
       
      The character and the actress need to separate. It's dangerous when the two become fused.
  • The editing was too sophisticated and the music too well integrated,
    • kimmerzx0 C
       
      This was the only aspect that threw me off from thinking it was real.
  • IN EARLY SEPTEMBER, MATTHEW FOREMSKI, the 18-year-old son of a Silicon Valley tech reporter, dug up an old version of Rose's MySpace page. She'd deleted it when she became Bree, but Google cached a copy, and Foremski posted the link to his father's blog. Within 48 hours, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and a slew of TV stations ran the story. The jig was up.
    • haines64
       
      This just goes to show how the idea of privacy has changed in a technology-oriented society. As Vaidhyanathan talks about in his article, we can always be tracked somehow given the technologies we use daily.
    • jc ice
       
      This idea of always being tracked just makes me nervous. I am such a private person when it comes to certain things. I will tell you 90% of my life story, but that last 10% is mine. I think about that about that alot in relation to all of the sites that I belong to and subscribe too. They probably have more information on me than my own mother knows and there really is no way to exist without it.
    • vanamb16
       
      people like the idea that they are watching reality, hence the fascination with dating shows and reality tv. they feel closer to the characters and the experience. we feel a need for shared experiences.
  • hadn't taken them long to figure out, by trial and error, what worked in this new genre. Viewers wanted family and relationship drama mixed with a rich, mysterious backstory that could be explored and debated. > The YouTube community was sucked into the plot and speculated endlessly about > Bree's faith. Some thought she was Mormon; others insisted she was a Satanist. > Another group tried to figure out where she lived: The leading guess was > somewhere in the Midwest. Viewers spent hours Googling the possibilities and > posting their results on YouTube. >
    • vanamb16
       
      people like the idea that they are experiencing reality. we liked the shared experiences with others...it makes us feel more human to witness them occurring in someone else's life.
  • explored
  • (One viewer annotated each item with its SKU number.) Could it be, one fan wondered, that the whole thing was an elaborate ad
    • vanamb16
       
      it is amazing that people get so involved and look so far into this. when i go on youtube, i am looking up a music video, i don't latch onto a series.....are there more like this on youtube?
    • zimmer67
       
      Who actually has the time to watch something that intently and notice the SKU number on background items in a video? that borders on obsession
    • haines64
       
      Reading up until this point, I kept thinking how creepy the creators were. Now I'm thinking they played into their target audience very well. They were able to create online videos that attracted such a faithful audience (possibly crazy with too much time on their hands as well, but nonetheless) willing to go over every detail.
    • jc ice
       
      Just goes to show you what you can accomplish with a well dressed set. Iam still so fascinated by the public's love for stuff like this. I guess it brings out the voyeurism in all of us in what many consider a safe outlet.
  • lucrative career as a surgeon before he started making little videos and posting them online.
    • vanamb16
       
      it seems crazy that he would give up a career, any career let alone being a surgeon, to start an unpaid youtube series. what was in it for him?
  • Miles, it's time you quit being a doctor," he said. "We just passed 200,000 views."
    • mccrar25
       
      Although, I am not really for what these men did, I do give them credit. They took a risk, and it proved to be revolutionary for both the Internet and You Tube. It changed the way that many people view, You Tube. They created a story which captured the lives of many audience members. This must have been a great feeling when they realized that their story was changing the world.
    • jc ice
       
      This is so war of the worlds. People assuming that what they are seeing and hearing is real because they are seeing is depicted as real. If this was on ast teeno'clock on a Thursday night we would not assume the same thing.
  • When viewers suggested that he had a crush on Bree, they changed the story line to include a romance.
    • mccrar25
       
      This is interesting, because the Internet does allow the audience to interact with the content presented. In the Lonelygirl's story, viewers were able to present all types of ideas and feelings. This, in turn, allowed them to feel connected emotionally, much more than if they watched a reality television show. This is what they believed to be a "real" person who cared about their imput and feedback.
  • #4 The YouTube community was sucked into the plot and speculated endlessly about Bree's faith. Some thought she was Mormon; others insisted she was a Satanist. Another group tried to figure out where she lived: The leading guess was somewhere in the Midwest. Viewers spent hours Googling the possibilities and posting their results on YouTube.
    • richar19
       
      This is a great way to keep people comming back alway make them wonder what is going to happen next.
  • "I don't want you to ever set foot in another TGI Fridays," he said, explaining that he'd pay her #14 $500 a week to play Bree full time . #13 In return, she had to stay home as much as possible and wear sunglasses and a hat when she went out. For Rose, it was a dream come true – she was a working actress. She just couldn't tell anyone.
    • richar19
       
      This is something that I would have a problem with I could not stay home that much. Plus i would want to tell everyone.
    • alieraisu1
       
      Now this is ridiculous. Did she not see she is losing her life to this? Come on, she's a young adult and if she plays this character on a Youtube video she has to stay home in the dark and not have a life? This is totally ridiculous! Where are her parents in all of this? Her friends? What's going on here?
  • so his father, a marketing executive at an IT company, agreed to invest in the newly formed Lonelygirl15 production company. Beckett immediately called Rose
    • richar19
       
      It is a good thing that his father gave him the money because if not she would have started to work at Fridays and they could not have used her in the series.
  • but Google cached a copy
    • richar19
       
      This shows that you can never really escape from things there is always a trail.
  • #17 "I don't want you to ever set foot in another TGI Fridays," he said, explaining that he'd pay her #16 $500 a week to play Bree full time . #15 In return, she had to stay home as much as possible and wear sunglasses and a hat when she went out. For Rose, it was a dream come true – she was a working actress. She just couldn't tell anyone.
    • butler09
       
      That's about the most unusual proposition available for an actress, isn't it? It's kind of hard to believe she even agreed to it at first, especially since she wasn't even paid! And even once she was, she couldn't tell? Her career changed her lifestyle, though not in the way it usually tends to for celebrities.
  • It was a medium in its own right.
    • Danielle Rabello
       
      Again, demonstrating how convenient Youtube it. As Americans, we want instant gratification.
  • It hadn't taken them long to figure out, by trial and error, what worked in this new genre. Viewers wanted family and relationship drama mixed with a rich, mysterious backstory that could be explored and debated.
    • anita sipala
       
      Sure it worked, it plays out like a soap opera. Look how many years Erica Kane from "All My Children" survived on TV. People love the suspense and drama that unfolds in the world of others
  • IN EARLY SEPTEMBER, MATTHEW FOREMSKI, the 18-year-old son of a Silicon Valley tech reporter, dug up an old version of Rose's MySpace page. She'd deleted it when she became Bree, but Google cached a copy , and Foremski posted the link to his father's blog. Within 48 hours, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and a slew of TV stations ran the story. The jig was up.
    • anita sipala
       
      This should make the Internet users more cognicient that nothing is ever ireally private. You need to be aware, if it is out there, anyone can gain acess to your infomation.
Kelly Burns

Wired 14.12: The Secret World of Lonelygirl - 0 views

  • Beckett had met him through a friend and wanted to make sure Lonelygirl15 didn't get them sued for deceiving the public
    • dracmere
       
      This was a good idea on their part. It would be bad if they were successful and then got sued for something.
    • Jessica Bloom
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      If they had any bad feeling about it at all, that should of told them right there not to do it.
    • haines64
       
      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
       
      very strange switch in professional fields. Is plastic surgery that closely linked to the entertainment industry in the first place?
    • kaeanne
       
      i dont think they are THAT closely related to make such a drastic switch...kind of creepy in my opinion
    • anonymous
       
      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
       
      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
       
      It's amazing at how far this guy went to make this Lonlygirl15 happen.
    • anonymous
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      He clearly has something wrong with him. This is not only unhealthy but a bit scary!
    • alieraisu1
       
      I agree with kaeanne... something's wrong... and creepy here
    • james caposele
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      I think this is "genius." Who would think to create a mini, self-run almost TV like series?
    • kimmerzx0 C
       
      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
       
      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
       
      Some books today are written in the form of IM/Blog conversations. I think this is more personal way of writing and communicating
    • kaeanne
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      This only proves many comments made earlier...CREEPER, disturbed, twisted, sick. This is bizzare.
  • commune
    • Jessica Bloom
       
      II wonder if where he came from really has anything to do with his werid idea to start this Lonelygirl15 internet explosion.
    • Gail Ramsey
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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
       
      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?
  •  
    information about lonelygirl, youtube
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