Althusser was so Damn CORRECT...

I'm telling you. Oprah is a FU*KING machine. (Pardon my French) I just saw a show based on a concept I sent her producers via "fan email" about a year and a half ago. I wrote her awhile back and told her I wanted to be on her show once...and I wanted to give away ALL the money Oprah would make in interest on that one day....to needy, polite and helpful people whom I observed doing nice things for others...because I loved the feeling I got from helping others and how addicting it was for me.... I added the scene from Bill Murray's "Scrooged" for effect to make my point.

Dammit...You can have ALL the best ideas in the world...and if you're not driving the right car...or living in the right zip code...or eating at the right table in the hottest eatery at the right time of the year...you're never going to "BE"...

Thanks Althusser...

and Oprah for backing up his theories.

end of rant.

Kills me.

Oprah...you have cankles!

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Buddy 'Friendly' Wachenheimer on February 25, 2008 at 11:21am

Pal, it's like I've been trying to pound into that stubborn head of yours...telling and selling are two different concepts. Don't tell, sell.

Especially to Oprah, she has enough money, let her pay you for what you give to her. She deserves nothing for free.

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Permalink Reply by TJ on February 25, 2008 at 3:02pm

Yeah but its like one of the greatest members in here said awhile back...

"Don't throw a punch until you can take a punch"

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Permalink Reply by TJ on February 27, 2008 at 2:22pm

I hear ya on the "selling" part...but honestly, I'm never going to get through any doors at the present...

and I have to add...Everyone in here who has been here awhile and maybe even remembers back to the Soflow days knows I've been talking about being "Oprah Generous"...for a while now. I mean her show " The Big Give" is IDENTICAL to the letter...of that email I sent her staff about a year and a half ago.

And I'm not sure why I'm bitching about it to anyone...not like anything can be done about it, RIGHT?

The only thing I'm upset about is the fact that It (the concept) would have been a HUGE feather in my stupid student cap with regards to how you all see me. It would have given me some credibility....and some punching power to take a punch.

Thats all [/rant]

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Permalink Reply by Angela Natividad on February 27, 2008 at 2:44pm

They can steal the blueprint, they can't steal the source.

Dude, fuck the idea. You'll give birth to bigger, better ones in your sleep. Launch them on the right ships and one day you can laugh at the day you tripped out over this.

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Permalink Reply by Mary Baum on February 27, 2008 at 5:07pm

But, actually, you also have witnesses and helpers.

I'm absolutely not the expert on pitching at high levels -- Angela, you're certainly better positioned, and it's great to hear your reassuring voice comforting our bud here. I do know how to put a pitch together and do the dog & pony thing once we're in the meeting, and they better be teaching you that in school or I'll personally come down there and rip them a . . .

But I digress.

At this point, you are a well-known quantity around here -- not some Student Member #3704 that we've never seen before. So you have every right to look around and invite people to be on your dream team to get to interested parties if you want to do an idea. For instance, what if that idea had come to Oprah up through the channels as a fully developed pitch, that had started with a number of people here helping out, or at least giving feedback from the ivory tower?

And, Angela is absolutely right. Ideas are like base hits. The more time you spend in the batting cage practicing, the more times you will not only reach but hit it out of the park. Or, switching sports on you, the more you'll find you can really serve down the middle of the court and hit the T, or else out wide to the other corner, almost at will -- as long as you're halfway relaxed and don't tense up or try to rush.

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Permalink Reply by Buddy 'Friendly' Wachenheimer on March 1, 2008 at 9:14am

TJ, you're already my favorite. #1. Da man. You can't get any higher than that with me, pal.

BTW, Fuck this taking a punch rhetoric. When 6'4" 220 smacks someone (clocks the mofo upside the head out of nowhere) with extreme prejudice and a baseball glove size fist, trust me, you don't have to worry about taking a punch in return (other than defending yourself in a personal injury law suit).

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Permalink Reply by Greg Hollingsworth on February 27, 2008 at 5:49pm

Someone who has cankles has no discernable end to their calf. It continues straight down to their ankle (most often you can't make out their ankles either.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Kleinheinz on February 27, 2008 at 10:55pm

If you want to work in this industry, you better get used to it. Bono put it best- "every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief". In my world, my shit's been copped so many times that the only time it ever pisses me off anymore is when my kids need something I can't afford. I won't get all high and mighty and say that hey dude you better develop a thick skin. My skin's never gotten that thick. An no, imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery, not in design its not. It's just laziness, or lack of talent, or both. But Buddy's right selling it is the key. Just about every fuckstick that ever butchered and resold one of my designs sold it- sold the idea of it. and like an idiot, for years I sold the design, thinking I was some badass. At 43, I've finally learned my lesson (at least for today). Cannibal and thief- I could do that. BTW, T.J., let's talk about some of those ideas you have.....

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Permalink Reply by TJ on February 28, 2008 at 3:21am

I'd love to Mike...

Oh and I found this little disclaimer WAAAAAAAAY below the "Submit a story" To the shows Producers...

So the Jokes on me...

1.
The Submissions will be shared with the producers of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
2.
Neither Harpo Productions, Inc. nor any of its affiliated companies or entities, including, but not limited to, The Oprah Winfrey Show (collectively, "Harpo"), are obligated to use your Submission or to pay you for any Submission.
3.
It is possible similar Submissions may be submitted to Harpo by multiple sources and that a Submission may be similar to ideas generated or developed independently by Harpo employees.
4.
All Submissions shall become the property of Harpo and will not be subject to any obligation of confidentiality. Harpo shall not be liable for any use or disclosure to a third party of any of the Submissions.
5.
Harpo shall exclusively own all known or later existing rights to the Submissions worldwide and shall be entitled to the unrestricted use of the Submissions for any purpose without compensation to the provider of Submissions.
6.
Harpo reserves the right to change due dates for Submissions, or other specifics, as it deems necessary in its sole discretion.

# 5 tells me ...TJ, you're a really dumb Son-of-a-Bitch

Oh yeah...I started complaining about it all over on Oprahs website in her message boards...well not really complaining...just venting a little about the fact that SOMEONE in that Company KNOWINGLY TOOK my idea and ran with it like it was theirs to the Producers...

And I'll be...they keep DELETING THEM..even after I start getting support from the regular readers of the boards...Go figure, right?

I just learned a very important LIFE Lesson in all that...

Oprah Winfrey has a much bigger DICK than I do.

AND LAAAAAAAWD have MERCY, can she SWING IT!!!!!

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Permalink Reply by TJ on February 28, 2008 at 3:08pm

Not soon enough...I have a little over a year and a half left....and No, I'm currently NOT working because the Photography projects take so much time in the field...but I'd love to freelance if I could....hell Ideas are nothing more that rapid-fire discussions ANYWAYS...right?

"HEADS UP"

*DUCKS Oprahs huge, pendulous Sweetbreads again*

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Permalink Reply by TJ on February 29, 2008 at 12:37am

I have to thank you for the URL point...they guy has some valid points on a lot of things...

My major is Digital Media...and for whatever that random concentration will get me , I hope to finally land a creative gig SOME where in an Agency that can hook up to me like the White freaks in "Minority Report" as I shoot out money making Idea after money making Idea, from my talented rectum. Pew! Pew! Pew! (man talk about some righteous bubbles?)

Oprah is, (from this moment on) forever forbidden anywhere NEAR my talented pink pucker. Keep your HARPO Megala-Phallus on the other side of the country, Whoaman...Damn it ALL, that whole thing STILL pisses me off to no end? I need to "stink-palm" her doorknob to her house.

Anyway, We'll see what happens with it all...I still have a lot of Idea bubbles in my lower G.I. and I have learned a very valuable lesson from the Harpo thing...*butt clenches up with a "tying a balloon knot" sound*

Life goes on...as well as school.