[Robotgroup] [Fwd: First Night Media Party--this Thursday!]

[Vern Graner]

Ed Gonzales wrote:
> Is this the ONLY notification The RG members would get for this event?

It might have been announced elsewhere, but I just fwd'd the email when 
I got it. It *might* be the only notice, I'm not sure (I don't keep up 
with everything that well, sorry). :(

> Are they so disorganized as to give The RG participants only ONE day's notice?

Mebbe...? I haven't checked the paper work they gave us or the web site 
to see if it was already announced and we missed everything but the 
"reminder" email. Could be me that is that disorganized. :/

> What happens if somebody already has something scheduled that evening?

Lots of the First Night acts are dancers or musicians and so they, in 
many cases, just show up with their instrument-- in costume and/or with 
a boom box and dance or play. Or if they paint, they bring a poster and 
some markers.. not much setup. Lots of artists are "free spirits" (i.e. 
unemployed) ;) so they may only have to reschedule meeting their coffee 
chat buddies at Ruta Maya. :D

> Have they recently completed a Toll Road that runs from the outlying areas straight into downtown so it only takes five minutes to drive there?

Agh! I hope not. /me h8s toll roads, but thats a different discussion. 
;) I know that these type things (events early in the day) are usually 
arranged to make it so the local media can shoot it and then use it on 
the evening news. It also makes it so the city officials can appear and 
make announcements/speeches before they leave their office for the end 
of the day. In many cases the "starving artist" types (metaphorical or 
actual) will ditch their "sandwich artist" gig in a heartbeat for the 
lure of performing on TV. ;)

> IMHO, I think bringing ANYTHING more (such as the P-Nator) than the originally agreed to commitment for the event (the RSA) would be considered over-extending the Group's willingness to support this organization.  This isn't the first time The Group has received last-minute notice, and should be taken into consideration before signing up for more work, reduced financial reimbursement and MUCH less time.

I can certainly understand the sentiment here, as it kinda seems like 
they're "ripping us off" in that they 1) slashed our requested budget in 
half 2) didn't approve *any* of our new proposals, 3) they pulled the 
artist fee completely out of the proposal. It feels like, by doing this, 
they are effectively declaring we are not "worth" as much, and it can 
seem insulting to us and our efforts...  At the same time, we (and by 
*we* I mean *I*) :) have "upped" the benefit to them by offering to 
bring the Ponginator.

So the question is, WHY would I offer to add the Ponginator to the mix?

Mostly, because of my talk with Ginny. She is pretty fed up with the 
folks at First Night and with their precipitous plunge in funding. Turns 
out that, for a number of reasons, First Night does NOT have the funds 
they had in previous years. They have had to cut acts and/or ask for 
folks to reduce their financial requests in order to  put on the show at 
all. (we're not the only ones who had projects not approved and/or 
funding cuts).

But still, WHY would I offer the "upgrade"? Lets put some perspective in 
here. First Night provided %100 of the money for some of the major 
projects we've done in the last 2.5 years and those projects have served 
us well:

--%100 of the Therepings

<<How many events have we used those in (Yes Mike, "Too many!", I 
know..) They were featured at *both* Maker Faire's, been used multiple 
times at the Children's museum (both San Marcos and Austin), were the 
focus of a national tech article in Nuts and Volts and even featured in 
SPIN magazine!>>

--%100 of the Theremin Marching Band T-Shirts.

--95% or the RoboSpinArt (I spent some of my
   own money there cause I had goofed on my
   estimates of costs, not their fault).

<<How many events have these things been featured in? Children's Museums 
both in Austin and San Marcos, Dorkbot(s), EFF party, Armadillocon, 
wheel roundup, etc.>>

--100% of the tie-dye RSA t-shirts were funded

So, total $$ given for projects by First Night so far?

about $5000.00!

In comparison, we went to great effort and brought out *everything* for 
the EFF/SXSW party and got $500.00.. we brought multiple things to the 
Children's Museum and got $100.00 and for Maker Faire, and it *cost* us 
about $1000.00 to participate!

I'm not saying we didn't get a benefit from going to all those other 
events, (including Maker Faire), but I am pointing out that First Night 
(from a *strictly* financial perspective) is most deserving of any 
additional effort we might be able to put out.

I think it's a visceral response when we feel resentment towards First 
Night (or any organization for that matter) that, through their actions, 
appears to devalue our works. But, examining the circumstances, I think 
its justified to suspend the emotional response and try to help out a 
group that has helped us financially more than any other single group in 
the last 3 years. Just my $0.02... :)

> Sonia is right:  If it takes a trailer to bring your display, you're taking too much.

It sure "ups" the investment of time and energy. :( With this in mind, 
the RSA was designed to be handled by one person (with little 
difficulty) and be transported on a bench seat in a car. The Boogie Bot 
was supposed to be a step towards self-deploying systems (mostly cause 
I'm not gettin any younger and dang it, I'm TIRED when we're done with a 
gig!).

Maybe we should find some way to size-reduce Ponginator..? Maybe an 
inflatable skin? hmmmmm I wonder if we could "seal" the skin we have and 
use an air pump to inflate it? Then we would just have to find a way to 
support the guns... hmmm.... :)

> Now you see why I'm not running for an elected position this month . . . . . . 

How's next month looking? ;)

Vern

-- 
Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE    | "If the network is down, then you're
Senior Systems Engineer    | obviously incompetent so why are we
Texas Information Services | paying you? Of course, if the network
http://www.txis.com        | is up, then we obviously don't need
Austin Office 512 328-8947 | you, so why are we paying you?" ©VLG