Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes
May the farce be with you. The NY Times has an article today about the creators of a series of Youtube videos starring Darth Vader's little brother Chad, who has most of Darth's powers, but for some reason works as the day shift manager in a grocery store. Here's the link to the first episode.
I confess that I've been watching these videos since they came out--they're hilarious. Chad using his Jedi mind power to telekinetically pick up fruit and generally making announcements about everyday events in that Darthish, stentorian voice, (Best line: "I command you to bring us baskets of bread!")
Apparently the two guys, Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda, are being courted by Hollywoodish types who are offering to fund their future projects. Of course, as you would expect, they started on a shoestring and haven't yet made it to the shoes.
This is a powerful feature of the "new Web 2.0" Internet that is often ignored, although Lord knows, there's plenty of evidence. The starmaking machinery of a huge social networks cannot be ignored. It's interesting to see it develop, not as a funnel for advertising dollars from Hollywood, but still rewarding do-it-yourselfers. For every American Idol, there's a Chad Vader...just a couple of guys with a light saber and after-hours access to a supermarket.
The lesson here, if there is one, is that social networks have to believe in the quality to propagate the buzz. It's like a big mosh pit and big money scams will be dropped if they are discovered (take that lonelygirl15).
Posted on October 15, 2007
