Flaking in the Desert

Osama Bin Laden released a new video tape this past week. It's the first one he's produced in a number of years. Which should come as some relief to all those other independent film makers out there. I mean if Bin Laden, a millionare who literarily kills people, can't get people people to show up when they say they will to make a short film, then how are the rest of us artists supposed keep our collaborators from flaking on us ?

Granted the man is living an undisclosed cave, but if Jamal his video-ographer said he was down for shooting Osama's project then Jamal should have shown up. At least sent messenger saying he couldn't do it with a few names of people who might be able to replace him. But no, Jamal just like every other video dude just didn't bother show up. See miltant muslims aren't any more considerate or reliable than western capitalists. And, it's not like Bin Laden can just get another video-ographer the day of the shoot. He's living in a cave for god's sake. He has no cell phone or he might but there are no cell phone towers. The man has to write letters and send them out of the desert via camels or carrier pingeons. How can anyone create under these conditions? And you know the 3 of the five video-ographers Osama contacts reply to his request for them to shoot his "I hate America" series of personal videos reply with, "Sorry dude, I'm just really busy with my own anti-Infadel videos right now. I'd totally help you but it's just crazy here. I'm really trying to promote my stuff on Myspace to increase my You Tube hits. Maybe next year or in two years." And once he does find a video-ographer who actually shows up, Bin Laden has got to find someone to edit the thing. Those people always yes you death but never get around to actually editing anything. You have to keep harrassing them. You have to call them everyday and how is he supposed to do that? Telepathically? He's not a club footed New Yorker. He's just a terrorist.

All I'm saying is maybe we should give Osama Bin Laden a break. I'm sure the guy is really trying to get videos out there. I'm sure he has a stack of scripts just waiting to be produced, but when you have to collaborate with other artists and you're not paying them big money they just don't show up.

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