ScottsBigMouth

FUNDABLE.COM SHUTS DOWN, LEAVES NUMEROUS CAMPAIGNS IN LIMBO

EDITOR'S NOTE: TONIGHT WE WERE NOTIFIED BY FUNDABLE.COM VIA THEIR HOME PAGE THAT THEIR SYSTEM HAS BEEN PERMANENTLY SHUT DOWN DUE TO A DISPUTE BETWEEN THE FOUNDERS OF THE SITE.  APPARENTLY, NUMEROUS COMPLAINTS FROM FUNDABLE.COM PROJECT MEMBERS (LIKE ME!!) RESULTED IN ONE OF THE SITE FOUNDERS TAKING CONTROL OF THE DOMAIN AND SHUTTING DOWN ALL OPERATIONS IN ORDER TO STEM THE TIDE OF COMPLAINTS.  AT THE TIME OF POSTING THE VIDEO BELOW, I WAS COMPLETELY UNAWARE OF THE PENDING SHUTDOWN.

THE CHICAGO MEDIAHUB PROJECT WILL BE RE-SETTING A NEW FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN, USING KICKSTARTER.COM, SOMETIME FRIDAY.  IT LOOKS AS THOUGH WE'LL BE DELAYING THE START OF THE NEW CAMPAIGN'S ROLLOUT UNTIL SOMETIME OVER THE WEEKEND, AND WILL HAVE TO RESET THE CLOCK OF THE $50,000 FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN WITH A NEW PROJECT TIMELINE AS A RESULT.

TO THE NUMEROUS INDIVIDUALS WHOM ATTEMPTED TO MAKE PLEDGES, PLEASE ACCEPT MY SINCEREST APOLOGIES THAT THEY HAVE NOT BEEN HANDLED PROPERLY.  TO MY KNOWLEDGE, YOUR INFORMATION IS COMPLETELY SAFE. WE WILL FOLLOW-UP WITH FUNDABLE.COM TO INSURE PLEDGE INFORMATION IS VERIFIED AS DESTROYED, OR HANDED OVER TO THE FOVAL GROUP INC. FOR OUR RECORDS, TO PROTECT OUR PLEDGES.

PLEASE WATCH THIS SPACE FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE NEW FUNDRAISER AT KICKSTARTER.COM TOMORROW.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.  I APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE.

SCOTT FOVAL

-- 
Scott Foval, President and Founder
The Foval Group Inc. / Chicago MediaHub Project
@scottsbigmouth
groups.google.com/group/chicagomediahub
www.foval.com
www.scottsbigmouth.com
www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-foval
scott@foval.com Email/IM
1-773-570-0011 The Foval Group Inc. Main
fovalgroup Skype

ScottsBigMouth is teaming up with The Chicago MediaHub Project (http://groups.google.com/group/chicagomediahub) to launch wsRadioChicago.com "Chicago's Independent Talk." It's the first channel on Chicago's first Social Media Station. We need your help to make it happen! Visit http://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2009-09-26.5510390477 to make a pledge of $10 or more, and then forward this to your friends and ask them to support us too! If we raise $50,000 using the power of Social Fundraising through Fundable.com, we will have what we need to launch the station in November 2009! So PLEASE make a pledge and forward the link to everyone in your network, to help support The Chicago MediaHub Project and wsRadioChicago.com "Chicago's Independent Talk" TODAY!

REVIEW: Oprah and Whitney, Part 2

SPOILER ALERT:  I'm talking about Part 2 of the Oprah Winfrey interview with Whitney Houston, which aired in Chicago at 9AM CST today (Part 1 REVIEW: CLICK HERE), and will air again at 11PM CST tonight.  If you don't want to know, don't read on! It is not ScottsBigMouth's fault if you get too much information and it ruins it for you!  Jeez!

"I Look To You" by Whitney Houston, video courtesy of Arista Records / Sony BMG Music Entertainment

<SCROLL DOWN>

By now most of the people tuning in to today's Oprah Winfrey Show across the country, likely are doing so for one of two reasons.

1) They heard about yesterday's Oprah & Whitney sit down, where Ms. Houston laid it all out there.

2) The watched yesterday, in tears, like most of us, and were left wanting more.

As I fired up the coffee pot this morning anticipating Part 2, I realized exactly why.

Oprah is the queen of all media, and the reason is because she knows instinctively what we want.  Yesterday we got the lowdown on where Whitney Houston has been for the last 7 years, and in reality, way more than anyone had expected about the last 15 years of her life.  Today, we learned where she is now, and watched the Phoenix rise from the ashes.

The first half-hour ran so fast, it seemed to zoom by.  Whitney and Oprah shared their "spiritual sides" with a revelation about how they planned for the interview to happen, both praying from different floors of their hotel.  Whitney talked about how she prepared Bobbie Kristina for her divorce, and the child's reaction to the madness surrounding their escape from Bobbie Brown--and how she is now.  "She trusts me," Whitney remarked.  She also revealed that she and Bobbie Kristina left long before the public was aware, in 2006.

The second half of the show, we get the icing on the cake.  In their trademark styles, Oprah set up an audience full of Whitney Houston fans to be surprised by the woman herself revealing that "the voice" is there.  Despite comparisons to the GMA performance that ran last week, where Whitney's voice was less strong, this appearance, in full up-close-and-personal Oprah-ness (HD video and Dolby 5.1 audio), was riveting.  This rendition of "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" will be a viral video tornado.

The end of the show was focused very much "in the now" with Bobbie Kristina and Clive Davis in the audience, talking about how proud they are of Whitney's miraculous recovery and return to the stage.  The biggest surprise of all was very near the end of the program as Clive revealed that the "I Look To You" album debuts this week at the top of the Billboard Album Chart.  The public still loves her, and is welcoming her back with open arms.

wsRadioChicago.com / Chicago MediaHub Project Update

EDITOR'S NOTE: VISIT THE CHICAGO MEDIAHUB PROJECT GOOGLE GROUP SITE AT http://groups.google.com/group/chicagomediahub and join the project!!!

The Chicago MediaHub Project has the following purposes:

1) Create a media platform capable of producing and distributing quality journalism, entertainment, and community-oriented media programming via a cutting-edge production and distribution framework; utilizing new and existing creative and technology resources based in Chicago.

2) Act as a catalyst for media production, distribution, and job training in Chicago; through engaging community, corporate, and internationally-recognized standards organizations for employment re-training and ongoing excellence in content production and distribution.

3) Create, teach, learn, and re-organize the media landscape through new citizen-powered business, community, and media production models.

4) Finance, grow, and mentor new production companies, organizations, and individual properties; through pooled funding, financial planning, and tiered micro-financing of projects and producers, projects and individuals.

5) Host and distribute programming and resource-based educational resources on a fully-integrated technology platform.

6) Continuously evolve through input, organizational change, and creative self-analysis.

STATUS UPDATE:

In August 2009 we announced a partnership to bring a new talk radio station to the Chicago media market.  The Foval Group Inc. is the current Corporate holder of the wsRadioChicago.com Station Agreement with wsRadio Inc. (http://www.wsradio.com), the world's largest provider of Internet talk radio to Live365.com, iTunes, and numerous other online websites.  We hope to announce the actual first broadcast day (station launch date) very soon...likely in Mid-October to November timeframe.

You can learn more about this exciting new development in our story by reviewing the posts on this site, as well as at ScottsBigMouth.com.  In addition to wsRadioChicago.com, we hope to launch a Spanish-language talk radio station, based in Chicago, and creating Spanish-language talk radio content in collaboration with wsRadio in other areas of the country.  We also intend to launch an Entertainment channel, featuring Chicago's unique music and entertainment scene.  Most importantly, we are working with wsRadio and other providers to launch the very first Chicago-based "Social MultiMedia Station" which will broadcast our stations' content around the globe through its associated websites. Our partners at AdAnonymous (http://www.adanonymous.com) are coordinating those efforts to build Social Media into the "fabric" of all of our programs and channels, as well as supervise the build-out of wsRadioChicago.com and relaunch of ScottsBigMouth.com for our future audience.

As we are in pre-development of the wsRadioChicago.com operation here, and for the other stations as well; we are in search of investment and content partners to hep us with this groundbreaking project.  We are working with GrowThink, Inc. our investment and venture capital, management consulting, and services partner (http://www.GrowThink.com) to identify and secure private investors to join this effort.  Our initial budget for first-year operations includes the build-out of the station, ownership of the wsRadioChicago.com talk radio license, coordination of new program creation, the station launch, and social media operations with our partners.

In the future we will offer sponsored programming, LIVE video simulcasting, syndication of our content, and multi-site support for our programming across mediums such as mobile, VOD, Internet, podcasts, advertising platforms, satellite, cable, and terrestrial broadcast media (traditional radio and TV). Our programming will be diverse, empowering, progressive, and open; allowing ANYONE who wants to host and produce a show, the ability to do so with a professional production platform.

For more information, please review the documents on this site, and feel free to post your comments and questions.  You may also contact me directly, as the owner of The Foval Group Inc. and Founder of The Chicago MediaHub Project; via email scott@foval.com, or telephone 1-773-570-0011 (Google Voice Number).  It is my hope that you will allow me and our partners to help you bring your show idea to reality!

Scott Foval

What is this whole MediaHub nonsense??? The Future, kids.

Well the emails have already begun to pour in, asking "what is this Chicago MediaHub Project conference call nonsense?"  People in the established media universe keep asking me "what makes you think you can succeed when so many radio stations and TV stations are laying people off?"  Well the answers are really quite simple, and as a preview to tonight's conference call (see below) I'll lay out my basic case.

1) Content.  The Chicago MediaHub Project is fundamentally based on unique and individualized content as product for our station effort.  We are going to give independent producers and hosts the power to be on a "real radio station or real TV station" online, with the resources (technology, sponsors, business model, talent, sales, execution, facility) to achieve their dream.

2) Business Model.  We are partnering with 2 of the leaders in the online talk radio and HD video production business to create the "mothership" for quality content business models to flourish.  We're using proven internet distribution methods, marketing and sales efforts, and social media plans to achieve success with a totally unique group of contributing partners in our project team.  In other words, we're not guessing here, we're going to follow a proven strategy and build additional strength in it.

3) Freedom.  We're not owned by a huge conglomerate.  We're all entrepreneurs working together to achieve a single purpose...creating a new station that will be completely independent from corporate naysayers.  We will do deals with each other and independent hosts, producers, artists, and sponsors/advertisers, customizing each show with the right deal.

4) Size.  We're pretty small, and therefore we can influence the media landscape here with a collective power that is not bogged down by a huge payroll.

5) Talent.  Everyone involved in this project has been recruited because they bring something unique to the table.

So, that's the short answer why I think we're going to rewrite the model for a talk media station here in Chicago.  If you are intrigued and would like to learn more about what it is all about, well I encourage you to go and sign up for the group at http://groups.google.com/group/chicagomediahub and then join us on tonight's call to hear what we're planning.

Oh, by the way...if you're a financial pro, angel investor, independently wealthy media investor, or other type of money person...you should DEFINITELY be on this call.  The model validates itself.  Then email me directly at scott@foval.com to learn how you can be involved.  2 shows are actively being sold right now, and we have 3 more in the hopper; as well as the parent project.

Cheers, see you tonight!

ScottsBigMouth

Scott Foval

Joe The Plumber Denegrates "Queers" And Limbaugh Backs Him, But Lily Allen and Friends 'Articulated' A Suitable Answer

Did you hear about Joe The Plummer's little anti-gay hate comment yesterday?  "Christianity Today" released an interview with him yesterday where he decided that his version of morality is better than the rest of us, and said 'Queer' and 'Honky' aren't slurs. (Tipped-off by: JoeMyGod/GoodAsYou/Bilerico Project)

Christianity Today: In the last month, same-sex marriage has become legal in Iowa and Vermont. What do you think about same-sex marriage at a state level?

Joe: At a state level, it's up to them. I don't want it to be a federal thing. I personally still think it's wrong. People don't understand the dictionary—it's called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It's not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we're supposed to do—what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we're supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I've had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they're people, and they're going to do their thing.

So Rush then says that Dems and the Media are picking on Joe (Samuel Wurzelbacker) The Plumber, that he hasn't done anything to deserve being "kneecapped."  (From MediaMatters.org)

Oh Rush...the guy isn't articulate.  You are articulate.  Wrong, but articulate, in a mean and hateful way.

So to answer Joe The Plumber's 'articulate' speech over the past several months since he slithered out into the spotlight from under the publicity-machine rock that he came from, JoeMyGod/Bilerico Project deserve credit for helping us find a response to good 'ol Joe The Plumber and Rush Limbaugh.

Okay, everyone get your dancing shoes on for Lily Allen's "Fuck You."  YAAAY! Dance, boys and girls!

Kudos to JoeMyGod.com, BilericoProject.com, GoodAsYou.org, MediaMatters.org, Lily Allen, and all my GLBTQ sisters and brothers out there!

JOIN IN to Launch A NEW KIND of Media Station

Are you an online media junkie?

Are you a community activist?

Are you a hacker?

Are you an A/V geek?

Are you a budding host / journalist / voice / performer / DJ?

Are you just interested in doing cool stuff with the coolest people?

My name is Scott Foval, and I'm all of these things.  I'm also a really loud, liberal, mouthy, opinionated, techy, geeky, gay, community activist, writer, producer, and host.  I'm putting together a new type of media station, based here in Chicago, that will serve the purpose of creating the "next" platform for news, information, radio, tv, podcasting, music, advertising, marketing, and community activism.  Dubbed "the MediaHub," I am putting out the call for folks to join me in contributing the heavy people power, creative talent, development prowess, knowhow, and yes, money, to create this new kind of media studio in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.

Why Now?  First, take a look at this piece I wrote about the Future of Journalism in Chicago .  It gives the idea, for the most part, of what I am suggesting needs to be done.

The bottom line is, I've thrown down the gauntlet with my journalist and producer friends in a very public way, specifically because it will force me to put my ass on the line and actually lead by example.  I have a lot of seriously talented friends, many of whom are looking for ways to do their best work, and get it out there, in a way that hasn't been done before.

I believe that it shouldn't take 10 Million Dollars to build or buy a station that reaches millions of people directly, acts as a community resource, and delivers cool content 24x7 around the globe.  I also believe that the models that are out there so far...well, they just don't quite make it, yet, do they?

I've laid my own brand right on the line to make this happen.  First and foremost, I took my own progressive talk radio show, which I originally created for a terrestrial radio station; and made it accessible to the world through an online open source model, to be hosted at ScottsBigMouth.com.  I have asked people with their fingers in the Internet, TV, Radio, Progressive Politics, Media, GLBTQ, Green, and Journalism worlds to help me take my show, ScottsBigMouth, way beyond just a blog or radio show, to be a fully-operational 3 hour daily LIVE streaming media talk show, created with Open Source resources.  This show, which will include an ensemble cast of characters, producers, reporters, contributors, directors, producers, engineers, technicians, developers, and yes, GEEKS, will take the whole idea of a LIVE show and blow it into a whole new universe.  THE UNIVERSE, specifically.

The collective resources of the Internet, Open Source, Media, Journalism, Entertainment, Production, Activist, and Business communities; have the ability to create a digital news and entertainment "platform for live media interactive communications with a global audience" for fractions of what global Television or Radio networks can possibly create with their finite resources.  The project, I believe, can collaborate to create and support "the MediaHub" now...right here in Chicago.  With global contributions of resources and talent; "the MediaHub" could absolutely upend the entire pay media model and support massive change in the process.

What I really think we need here is to establish the free media equivalent of a global open source development collective, engaging every creative, marketer, business person, journalist, talent, corporate leader, and community leader available. To guarantee that truth, justice, and good journalism survives, we must pull together every revolutionary patriot we can muster.  The first step is to create a "test bed" in a particular lab type of environment that would become "the MediaHub."

Are you interested in helping me?  Do you have a show idea that "the MediaHub" could help launch?  Do you know of others who might also be interested?  Do you have technical, consulting, business, fundraising, grantwriting, journalism, media, or marketing expertise that will help it become a reality?

If so, then email me at this address:  chicagomediahub@gmail.com .  I will coordinate a conference session to begin the work.  Time is of the essence, though.  If you are interested, PLEASE DO NOT WAIT to respond.  Email chicagomediahub@gmail.com right now and become a part of this new exciting community free media project.

Thank you, and feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions at my personal email address...

scott@foval.com
Thanks in advance for reading, and I hope to hear from you.

Peace,
SF

--
Scott Foval
www.scottsbigmouth.com
www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-foval
scott@foval.com Email/IM
1-847-380-9028 / fovalgroup Office/Skype
1-312-519-6466 Mobile

This Christian Believes Pastor Warren Should Put A Sock In It

There are a lot of ways that Christians differ between various denominations.  Like Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, and scores of other world religions; your beliefs emanate largely from your particular slice of your chosen Christian sect.  This time, it would seem that I am at odds with my Christian brother Rev. Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church in Orange County.

Apparently, on the night of December 21st, Pastor Rick decided to record a little video ditty for his congregation, and people like me--many of whom have criticized some of the crazy crap he has been spewing regarding homosexuals and our need to have equal civil rights in this country.  Specifically, I and other writers, commentators, and GLBTQ luminaries; have expressed sheer outrage that Warren has compared homosexuals to pedophiles, outlawed them from joining his church, and instituted a systematic pattern of exclusion in beliefs and practices from his special "Saddleback brand" of Christianity.

Further, we called for President-Elect Barack Obama to withdraw the invitation for Pastor Rick to give the invocation at his inaugural ceremony; citing the aforementioned pattern of exclusion and homophobic commentary that has leaked from Warren's pie hole over the past several months leading up to California's Prop 8 vote.  Now it would seem that Pastor Rick has thrown the verbal equivalent of kerosene on the fire right before Christmas, by referring to people who criticize him as "Christophobes."

Here's just a sampling of what Warren said during his 22-minute rambling commentary, courtesy of Rachel Maddow on MSNBC...

Okay, Pastor Rick; time to stop this stuff. You are now labeling anyone who criticizes you a "Christophobe." As a Christian who happens to be a gay man, who also happens to be a commentator and blogger, and who also comes from a long line of Christians in long-devout Christian families; I assure you...I am no "Christophobe." As a matter of fact, I'm about as much as a "Christophobe" as you are a drag queen. Now, unfortunately, I may be a "Pastor Rick-o-phobe" as Rachel cleverly coined.

Your incessant need to re-clarify your position on something that you never should have been so exclusionary in the first place, is now beginning to harm your legitimacy as a Christian leader.  It threatens to cause people to just look at you and your ministry as zealotry.  I mean, are you even being Christian when you call other people names?

According to my Christian upbringing, the answer would clearly be a resounding "no." The way my Christian faith follows, 1) God loves all his children, 2) has a very high tolerance for diversity and love between people in all its forms, and 3) has a very low tolerance for people who use the name of Christ for zealotry, divisiveness, and hate speech.

I am not saying at this point that you are intentionally misusing your position as a Pastor to manipulate people into believing your homophobic schlock, but I really must believe at this point that you are attempting to create your own belief-system that is diverging from the core of "Christ died on the cross to cleanse all our sins." That's called dogma, Pastor Rick, and God frowns on a lot of dogma.

God frowns upon the clerics and zeaolts who purport to spread divisiveness, bigotry, and yes, hate. What you are doing by turning to attack your critics as "Christophobes," is manipulating the core message. You have crossed over from mere religious teaching, into preaching divisiveness and perhaps zealotry to your followers.

I don't care how many visits to West Hollywood book stores you make, how many times you scrub your church's website, or how many times you send money to Africa to fight HIV/AIDS (oh yeah, I'm HIV+ too!). Until you clean up your act as a man of God and do some repenting on this issue, I am going to continue to demand my President-Elect denounces your clerical lynching, and demand that you make an apology to all gays, lesbians, transgendered and questioning persons.

I will demand from you, my brother, as a Christian, that you do some praying about this--and then get back to us about whether you really believe that all of us who criticize you are "Christophobes." That's just name-calling, and it is not what I believe is devoutly Christian behavior. Rather, your ego is doing the talking; and not the voice of the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit.

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ScottsBigMouth Friday Funny: MaNa MaNa!

Thanks to Chris LaVoie of The Stephanie Miller Show for pointing ScottsBigMouth.com to Erik Winkler's post on YouTube! We love The Muppet Show, and we REALLY love MaNa MaNa!

Now MORE MaNa MaNa! The Sesame Street Original...WHEE!!!

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Media Feature: Keith Breitbach's Montage Of Obama Covers

In the days since Obama's historic win we've seen a ton of tributes.  My favorite so far is from an old friend of mine.  Photographer Keith Breitbach posted this YouTube montage of newspaper covers from last week's post-election issues.  Enjoy!

ScottsBigMouth Funny Friday: ThanksHank! Pitches Alternative Bailout Plan

While members of Congress wrestle with the intricacies of the financial bailout, the American people are expressing their anger with U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's $700 bailout plan.  A new YouTube video, distributed to thousands of people Thursday, is drumming up support for a progressive alternative plan to restructure the bailout.

ThanksHank.org and BackboneCampaign.org hosts the political satire, a collaboration between EnJoy Productions and The Backbone Campaign of Vashon, WA.  Actors Martha Enson and Kevin Joyce, in character as “George and Eunice Blundt,” excitedly encourage viewers to send their unpaid bills to Paulsen, believing that he will pay their bills.  Viewers soon learn that the Bundt's scene-ending salute “Thanks Hank!” is a viral video pointer to The Backbone Campaign's Progressive Bail-Out Plan and supporting activist campaign.

ThanksHank! is just one of several efforts to pressure Congress as negotiations continue on Capitol Hill.  Progresive activists, anti-tax groups, and lobbyists for the Financial Industry, all reportedly are crowding the hallways of congressional office buildings to express their positions to members involved in the negotiations.

SCOTTSBIGMOUTH EDITOR'S NOTE: In the original post, ScottsBigMouth misidentified the characters as George and Eunice Foote, and posted the incorrect web address.  The corrections have been made Saturday at 7:50 AM, September 27, as soon as Backbone Campaign representatives notified us of the mistakes via email and via comments (see below).

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