After 1 million views, who wants merch? - and - "All God's Children" Update
As unbelievable as it may seem, my little video hit the 1 million views mark. In 2 days. Check it out:
I tried to have some merchandise for sale (not for profit), but Cafe Press shut me down before I could even buy a T-shirt for myself. I had men's organic cotton T's, women's tank-tops, coffee mugs and buttons all lined up for purchase. Cafe Press expressed concerns with my compliance to their corporate "Content Usage Policy (CUP)" namely the part pertaining to "...designing, manufacturing, marketing and/or selling products that may infringe the rights of a third party, including, copyrights (e.g., an image of a television cartoon character)..."
"I personally believe" that their concerns are totally unwarranted. But here's what the T-shirt would have looked like had they let it go. A screen capture from the video with her famous first words subtitled, "I personally believe" gracing the front and my alter ego, POPobscura's logo stamped on the back.
Of course, all this means is that I'll have to find an alternate route for printing. Leave a comment to place your order.
Miss Teen South Carolina was on the Today Show where they let her off the hook so easily and gave her a second chance to answer the "confusing" question on LIVE television. Golly, aren't Ann and Matt swell? I don't think they should have laughed in her face, but they could have given her a little harder of a time. Watch:
"ALL GOD'S CHILDREN" UPDATE:
We received a DVD in the mail the other day containing some nearly pristine Super 8 footage from the early 60's of the Mamou Alliance Academy, the boarding school that is one of the central subjects of "All God's Children." Over the next week, Luci and I are going to work it into the cut. It is absolutely amazing. There's children traveling to Mamou in the back of a jeep, getting out at the school, scenic Africa shots, children playing and more and more. It's unbelievable.
The woman who sent it to us saw our current version of the film and her response reinforced the reason why we're making the film in first place. It's not to please festivals and/or distributors, but to help all the adults that are still dealing with surviving an abusive childhood under the dogma of a "tortured theology." (to quote my Uncle Howard) But her words of praise and thanks for our filmmaking efforts moved Luci and I deeply. Most of our faith in ourselves was returned in one short email. We can't wait to unveil yet another (and this time final) version of "All God's Children."
Unbeknownst to me, Luci was writing an entry in her blog about the same thing. The similarities are uncanny, but then again, that's what makes us such a team. Read it here.