The Silicon Valley tech press has been largely silent on the serious allegations of rape and physical abuse leveled against TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington by his ex-girlfriend Jenn Allen. But a former friend of Arrington's is now speaking out to say he believes Allen's story and has heard similar ones before.
Disgraced video comic Loren Feldman has been removed from Verizon's phone and broadband video-on-demand library. I wouldn't compare the guy to Lenny Bruce, but this much is true: Feldman, a member of both the Screen Actors Guild and the risqué Friars Club in New York, goes out of his way to be offensive and sometimes it works. OK, so sometimes it doesn't. His year-old "TechNigga" clip, which Verizon didn't even carry, got Feldman axed from the lineup. "TechNigga" consisted of a Jew portraying a stereotypical black thug — booze, dope, hookers, etc. What could go wrong? Far funnier and less awwwwwwkward is Feldman's puppet interview with Jason Calacanis's bulldogs from April. The puppet host is a spoof of marketing consultant Shel Israel. At this point, you either know all about Shel and his contempt for Feldman, or you don't care. Just watch the video.
Bonny Pierzina broadcasted from live behind the scenes in Santa Monica for the Mahalo Daily Idol auditions via Justin.tv, and I've been assured that archives will be made available. The three judge panel of Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis, DiggNation co-host Alex Albrecht and cantankerous vlogger Loren Feldman voted Valleywag favorite Sarah Atwood on to the second round — glad to hear they didn't hold our endorsement against her. Audition wrap-up from the judges after the jump.
It's either a belated April Fool's joke or a stroke of genius: College Humor-ists Sam Reich and Ricky Van Veen have just completed a script called "Jakob and Julia," at least according to a post on Reich's Tumblr. If you look closely at the photo of the script (reproduced after the jump), you can see it is addressed to "__???____ Agency" at a Beverly Hills, California zip code. This implies a screenplay (as opposed to a Broadway musical) about, of course, the doomed relationship between Star editor-at-large Julia Allison and Vimeo co-founder Jakob Lodwick. This raises so many questions: Real or fake? Movie or TV pilot? And, most critically, which Hollywood stars should play Julia and Jakob? Post your answers in the comments. After the jump, videographer Loren Feldman's December 2007 dramatization of the Julia-Jakob relationship. UPDATE: Plus a short email from Ricky Van Veen. Sounds like a joke.
Think of a high-school reunion held the day after you graduate: That was the vibe at the Side Bar Sunday night, where Gawker Media (publisher of fine weblog media products) threw a party for Valleywag and our sister sites, io9 and Lifehacker. We won Twitter praise for the free beer and minimal line out front, despite the wall-to-wall crowd in the Side Bar's expansive patio. Valleywag alumna Megan McCarthy, whom I never see in San Francisco — yes, she's been avoiding me — showed up toting Wired's award for best website started before most SXSW attendees were born.Vile videoblogger Loren Feldman showed up and didn't say anything truly nasty, to my disappointment.Julia Allison appeared, dressed as Julia Allison with a furry, green hat. Scott Beale and Brian Solis were on hand lensing everyone; Beale caught me and Caroline McCarthy of News.com having a moment, above. More photos, after the jump.
He's fighting for himself ... It's dishonest and it's wrong. Facebook has a right to earn money. You agree to give them your data. Everybody knew about it going in, and that's not good enough for Robert, because he thinks ... he's above another company's terms of service ... For Robert to wrap it up under the guise of "I'm a freedom fighter for your data" is just completely dishonest.
A few words associated with former PodTech videoblogger Loren Feldman, infamous for his political correctness, might include "chaff," "talentless," "idiot comedian," or "racist." "Artistic inspiration for generations to come" wouldn't be the first phrase to come to mind. But Charles Hope, a blogger for online video site Blip.tv, says that Feldman could be responsible for "a deeply moving work of art." Huh?
PodTech has officially parted ways with "idiot comedian" Loren Feldman, within hours of announcing that founder John Furrier was stepping down as the online-video network's CEO. It's no coincidence. We've heard for some time that PodTech was looking "to separate the wheat from the chaff," and it's done so, both in its management ranks and its stable of so-called "talent." The rank amateurism of both Furrier and Feldman exemplifies the chaff that has, to date, dominated the Web-video world. Goodbye, and good riddance.
"I want to apologize to all the black tech bloggers. It could have been any ethnic group. It could have been gay guys, could have been Jews, could have been micks, skinnies, chinks, any of them...It was just your guys' bad luck that it went down that way...I'm a fucking idiot comedian and I did this." When PodTech promised to sign on more "professional producers," did it mean a white guy putting on a blackface minstrel show? Because that's what PodTech talent Loren Feldman has been up to, as part of a freakish little "opera" this videoblogger has engineered over the past week. Here's the story as told in videos, from "TechNigga" to Loren screaming, "No balls on any of you, you're just fucking sheep."
Moving right along, here's the second crop of primo boyflesh for your delectation. The menu includes Alex Albrecht, Loren Feldman, Steve Garfield, Jonathan London, Kevin Rose, and my man Gary Ruplinger. Voting commences after the jump.
If you can't see the voting mechanism below, we can't help you. We don't know how it works either. You might try turning off firewalls and turning on cookies. Note that you can now vote more than once! And why not? You should be able to vote once per day in any of these polls, showing true devotion to your favorite vlogger by suborning the more casual, ephemeral love showered on her or his opponents. Again, if you have technical problems with that, don't call us. For amusement only, far as you're concerned.
