Travel back in time with me (just this one time without the DeLorean/TARDIS) to 2012 when Pharrell Williams hosted an interview “tv show” on Reserve a YouTube Channel.
According to the channel’s description: “ARTST TLK” is a progressive take on the talk show format, with Pharrell Williams inviting special guests – culled from a number of different creative sectors – to explore each other’s work, motivations, inspirations and philosophies at different stages of their career.” The name alone had me boiling water for my tea; my hot version of you had me at hello.
Never did get around to watching it back then, thankfully everything done online continues to exist online. Just needed to wait for the water to boil and my time to free up:
Here now is the first episode with journalists/writers Ben Mezrich & Andy Greenberg:
Overall a bit stiff; I suppose that’s to be expected. It’s a steep learning curve how to conduct a television conversation that borderlines on interview while curating distinct television worthy moments. It is only the first episode.
Ben Mezrich wrote The Accidental Billionaires which came out in 2009, that book was adapted into The Social Network in 2010 and this conversation came out at the end of 2012. S’all I know about him…Andy Greenberg the name rings a bell but I can’t directly place his work so I’ll just believe whatever I read on wikipedia.
Here are my Commentary & Observations based on time:
Fantastic shot at the top…48 seconds in with Pharrell Williams (that hair…I don’t remember that phase at all!) is holding court with Ben Mezrich and Andy Greenberg and the table is littered with books, a cup holder with pens and pencils the analog tools of thought and discussion…
1:55 Pharrell and productivity.
2:36 Ben Mezrich wrote Skin an X-Files book (he was never credited as a writer for the classic tv show! (Which returned on January 24, 2016…what did you think of the 10 episode season?)
4:03 I kinda echo Andy Greenberg’s wow…Ben Mezrich gets pitches aka stories in his inbox…he gets to pick and choose what stories he wants to share. I accept that makes life easier but that also feels too much like school for me. I’d rather be fueled by curiosity and see where I end up.
5:18 RE: Pharrell’s question: “Explain the term Hacktivist” check out a freshtastic book We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency by Parmy Olson
7:50 Andy Greenberg: “Freedom is scary:” The gift and the curse of Free Will.
8:30 technology used for evil…classic comics! We can’t let this fall into the wrong hands!
11:05 Facebook created to meet girls…back in my day that was the genesis of most rock bands, now it’s startups
12:01 According to Ben Mezrich Zuckerberg believes privacy is holding us back…I dunno if I can agree with that. I’ll have to let that tumble about in the grey matter for a bit.
12:27 Facebook Famous! Warhol: “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” (see also Marshall McLuhan: “The medium is the message”)
13:19 Like Magneto Pharrell is right…the traffic is in the discovery of Self; but that takes time. All too often we fall into online booby trap: shoveling coal into the furnace of the internet to keep it going: we work for the internet, we work for platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Facebook will always make more money off my statuses than I will, even if I’m successfully drawing traffic to my work (every Artist has to self-promote but also make their work shareable. Now…is the best work rooted in the Self?).
15:56 Pharrell’s excellent observation: “David and Goliath obsession,” “Robin Hood types”…strange how our struggles and battles are updated (we’re constantly “fighting the system”) yet our metaphors are still old school.
18:33 Yeah…I know let that sink in for a moment: Andy Greenberg is talking about LulzSec a group that hacked Sony user accounts in 2011 but this was before the infamous 2014 Sony Hack in retaliation for The Interview. So yes Sony’s been hacked twice. When are these companies gonna get their act together?!
S’it for Artst Tlk Episode 1. I’m going to keep going see how this sucker develops.
Sammy Younan Misses The Vowels from Artst Tlk: W T F
Ziggy Was Here January 8, 1947 – January 10, 2016
