An oral history of the Goats in Trees 2012 calendar

rawkblog:

Harris Greenberg*, 16-year-old: First I thought I’d make a Tumblr, get 10,000 followers and try to convince them to give me money on Kickstarter. Then I saw that fucking Hipster Puppies book and figured, why not go straight to the big boys?

Rupert Vanderslice, Art Director: Animals in trees are always a big hit for us. For 2012, we really wanted to shake things up. Goats! Right? You never see goats in trees.

Tom Williams, Farmer: We’ve been having a pretty rough year out here, frankly. When we got the phone call, we were going to say no until they mentioned the check.

Rupert Vanderslice: Logistically, it wasn’t our easiest shoot. The goats thought they were on America’s Next Top Model.

Tom Williams: They just don’t belong in trees. They weren’t happy about the crane at all. 

Suzanne Smith, PETA: We can’t say we endorse this type of project. But the animals were treated humanely during the shoot and I’m pleased we were able to supervise.

Tom Williams: Freddie and Ted were a little skittish for the first couple days, but they’re doing fine now. My wife won’t look at the photos. She says it’s made us a laughingstock at church, but I said, Margaret, would the Lord want us to go hungry this winter?  

Harris Greenberg: I’m going to buy a new iPad. I can’t believe they fucking made it. Everybody I know uses Google Calendar.

*all names and dialogue completely fictitious 

Well, that’s certainly more inspiring than reality (don’t miss the part about the poop)!

The Daily Beast | 'Mad Men' Up Close

Season 4’s ‘The Suitcase’ was instantly deemed a classic hour of TV. Show creator Matthew Weiner and star Jon Hamm offer an oral history of the gut-wrenching, Emmy-nominated episode.

The insight offered here is neat, but it strikes me as one in an increasingly long line of recent pieces playing pretty fast and loose with the idea of an “oral history,” which seems more and more to mean, like, “I just transcribed the A part of this Q&A (and then my editor paginated the shit out of it).” Which is a great move for time-crunched writers who hate the sound of their own voices and would prefer to dwell on them as little as possible, to be sure! But can we please reserve the tag of “oral history” for something a little more time- and effort-intensive than a partial transcript of a publicist-orchestrated phoner with the famous creator and star of a current and massively popular TV show, and meanwhile not be ashamed to embrace these wonderful little cogs in the entertainment-industrial complex for what they are?

Top