No problem. I’ve seen them in concert so I’m all in.
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“Get off my lawn.”
I dunno. I’ve been to their shows and they do them well. A lot of folks (myself included) actually think they have talent. To each their own.
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Is Boing Boing mainstream media now because Xeni is a core BB contributor and has been for a decade or more.
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What was the crowd like there, if you don’t mind me asking? I’ve been curious about their demographic, so to speak.
Yes, it absolutely is mainstream media. Small, insignificant media outlets don’t get interviews with big stars like this on promo tours, trust me. It’s all very strictly timed and regulated. You notice it’s 30 minutes long. Promo tours often give journalists an exact time slot (like half an hour) to talk to a star or cast or crew member from a major production. This is to maximize the number of media outlets they get to speak to on a PR tour; I have done it myself. This is clearly a mainstream PR piece for Chappie.
It’s not like this woman is meeting them for an informal interview or anything that goes off in any direction she or they care to take it. It’s about Chappie, basically, and is not meant to sell anything else but the film, no matter what the naive observer may think. And Jardin is no zine writer. She has an impressive roster of sites and publications she has written for. Just because she’s a huge, unquestioning fan of the band, and helped break them, gave them their major breaking break, in a way, don’t be under the illusion that this is a cozy, intimate fireside chat by any means. That’s totally obvious, even though there is a MEDIA PROMOTIONAL history between them. They know for a fact they will get a good, uncritical story about the band out of her, giving them a veneer of ‘indie’ cool, and she was probably one of the first media outlets the PR company contacted to help promote the film. I doubt they hang out much in person outside the media world.
[quote=“RandomObserver, post:19, topic:53115”] female teenage fan. … this woman
[/quote]
Is there any particular reason you keep pointing out her gender in your caricature and otherwise?
Small, insignificant media outlets don’t get interviews with big stars like this
You probably just made Ninja’s day with that comment. 
That’s totally obvious, even though there is a MEDIA PROMOTIONAL history between them. They know for a fact they will get a good, uncritical story about the band out of her, giving them a veneer of ‘indie’ cool, and she was probably one of the first media outlets the PR company contacted to help promote the film. I doubt they hang out much in person outside the media world.
Why are you so worked up over Xeni interviewing someone she’s known well before he was a “big star”?
Are the “ethics” of this journalism somehow bothering your sensibilities?
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The crowd seemed to be an even mix between somewhat older folks (I think I was 39 or 40 when I saw them) who knew that their thing was a self-parody and piss-take on rap and “zef” culture and younger folks who took it seriously and might have been juggalos on odd days. That said, it was an entertaining mix.
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That really sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for the info.
You mean even though Xeni and others have a longstanding relationship (perhaps even friendship) with the folks involved? I assume you think if Xeni as “this woman?” It seems like a weird attitude for a BB community member, I must say. Xeni has been one of the four or so core people here since very early days.
Update: Oh, I just realized that you aren’t an actual community member and probably created your account for this discussion. You probably have no idea who Xeni, Cory, Mark, or David are really or the history of this site over more than a decade of daily blog writing.
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This is like someone referring to Mark or Cory as “this man” and sometime of PR hack here on BB.
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It’s not a matter of ethics, it’s a matter of not having a ‘journalist’ giggle like a helpless schoolgirl over any damned thing said by a middle class man impersonating a poor man. As for mentioning her gender, well, I did it BECAUSE SHE’S A WOMAN, and had no real choice. If it had been a man interviewing Yo-landi or Ninja and acting like this, I would have noted he was behaving like an embarrassing giggling schoolboy. Don’t try to make it about something it isn’t. Seriously.
And as for ‘You probably just made Ninja’s day with that comment,’ well, it’s clear that Die Antwoord ARE big stars, because if they weren’t then they wouldn’t have been in this Chappie film. Quite simple, really. How often does a mainstream studio stick people you have never heard of in a big-budget, hugely promoted film, hoping their previous-zero-sum charisma will carry the expensive production off? Eh…NEVER. Blomkamp and the studio are not stupid, and he knows that by sticking his pals into the film that they already have a built-in audience. No matter how crap or derivative the film turns out to be, they will automatically sell a ticket to DA fans. This is not rocket science. Seriously.
Well, actually, if you’d read anything the director said about this film you’d find out that they got the gig because, while they are moderately successful, the director is a big fan of theirs, listening to their music while working on his last film, and had a moment of inspiration while doing so imagining the two of them being hyper-versions of themselves as gangsters in a setting. He’s also South African, just as they are, and has a certain connection to South African culture. He wrote the roles for them and fought the studios (more than once) to allow them to be in the movie. So, they didn’t get the gig because they are “big stars” but because of the director being a fan.
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Yes, I created this account for this discussion. I am a DA fan. I came here for the interview, and was just put out a bit by the interviewer’s technique, which I found to be embarrassing and unprofessional. Not all life revolves around this site, which I have never seen before, what with there being such a huge amount of websites in the world. I probably never will visit this site again. I only knew she helped break DA because I read up about them recently and saw her name mentioned.
Well I’m not sure how Boing Boing measures these days but, at one point in the last decade, it was one of the top five blogs on the Internet. It is probably still pretty high up there. Mark founded it and invited Cory, David, and Xeni to do posts and later the four of them formed the core authors of the site. That was around 2003 or 2004. They’ve invited some other folks since then. So, this site has a pretty high profile and a pretty long history (not to mention a pretty big fanbase). You’re kind of perceived to be talking shit about one of the four primary people here who has been writing, doing interviews, etc. for more than a decade on this site while freely admitting to knowing nothing about her, her history, or anyone or anything else here.
Sorry if we’re kind of dismissive of your uninformed opinions about “this woman.”
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A true and false and naive statement. You think a big studio will hesitate to put a stop to a director’s casting decision if they don’t think it’s a commercial one? Please. They obviously themselves knew the PR and ticket-sales value in having the band in the film, or they would not have okayed it. You can guarantee that their fame was one of the things that Blomkamp would have brought up right from the start in pitch meetings. I know all about the director’s fandom; I have spent time myself in South Africa, and this is why I am am big fan of the band. All this actually smacks of reverse elitism to me, trying to say that a media outlet is far smaller than it actually is, and a band smaller than they actually are, because the site’s faithful followers have some sort of long-term emotional investment in watching the band and site grow from its small roots as they were there at the start. No zine gets shows on Virgin Galactic, as I just read about BB. This site might have started out small, but they sure as hell aren’t now, from an outsider’s perceptions and perspective. I am just a random punter from the ether, so will say what I want here, without caring much if I hurt anybody’s sense of ‘community’ or anything. I will probably forget I even wrote this in a day or two, so much vapid media crap will have passed my disbelieving, bored and disgusted eyes since then.
And I’m dismissive of your dismissive opinions, really. Which will bring us back to D’OH! Bye.
Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
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Oscar Wilde would be jealous of that original last word.
Well. That was all…special, wasn’t it? o_O
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He took the Red Pill.
I do find it amusing that someone basically says “I know nothing about this site, the interviewer, or any of the history or context around either and the relationship to Die Antwoord but, here, let me explain to you what’s really going on from my great and lofty wisdom of all things.”
Yeah, whatever.
@Cowicide and I would be better off going back to fighting with each other like we used to do. It was more entertaining.
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