Buddy can you spare 4 to 8 minutes...

A friend just said on Facebook (of course):
"You know something is wrong when "7/8 minutes each" seems like such a large time commitment."

I responded(and added more depth here):

Totally cool...

It is such an interesting sign of the times when, as an actor/musician/performance artist, you use to have to get friends to run from work, grab dinner and make it to your show for 2 hours or more...

And that was hard but a percent always came and supported, but that number dwindles over years (decades) of performances.

Now you say, don't leave the comfort of your home or office (or phone) and watch something for 4 to 8 minutes and it can be like pulling teeth.

We constantly find ourselves on FB or Emails telling us, look at this, this is cool, check it out... and we are off to see it, we don't wanna be left out of the know or the fun! But when you are asked by someone to see their work, it is not a recommendation, it sounds and feels very different, it is a request, it feels like a favor or commitment.

Now, you, the Askee, HOPE when you send them there, it will be pleasure. You hope they will share it, like it's something cool they found and can take credit for being the first on their block to discover this gem. That is when things go viral.

People will share a box sets of a 7 season series and they will watch it in a month... that could be 50, 100 or more hours... and people do it.

They plan their nights around being home to see "Lost" or some reality show but 8 minutes on demand seems like just one more task, sucking up our precious free time. And the way a lot of us run around today, it is.

I am not bothered, I am just sociologically fascinated. There is an intrusive quality when you are asked by someone to look at their work vs. someone wanting to share a FIND.

It's odd, I give out flyers for my Web Series on the Subway when I go to work (Yes, LA has a Subway System, at least until the next BIG ONE) and once they realize I am not asking for money, they "Thank You" for sharing it. I don't know if it is that, they are so relieved that you don't want money, they are just being polite or they actually are looking at the flyer as something to brighten their day, they may WANT a distraction.

We have figured out a way to minimize the disruption of peoples lives to see SOME of our work, from a 4/5 hr commitment drops to a 10 minutes or less. But like when you complain about computer taking 40 seconds to do something you want instantaneously, you forget this use to take an hour 10 years ago and a week 20 years ago. There is that visceral reaction of giving up your time, like it was going to interrupt your free time by 5+ hours, because it use to.

I just hope more people start to find Legends of Atoll a FIND.

Namaste.