Online Video

First Online-Video Star Receives Medal of Honor by NYC National Arts Club

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thehill88 and naltsCaitlin Hill, known online as TheHill88, received NYC’s National Arts Club’s prestigious “Medal of Honor” this week (see press release which I just finished toiling over because I’m consulting with Hitviews.

The 20-year-old Australian video creator joins former medal recipients Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Leonard Bernstein, Salvador Dali, and Martin Scorcese. Three US Presidents have been members of the National Arts Club.

Caitlin was honored by top broadcast talent, pioneers of radio and television… and me.

 I’m seen in this photo, just minutes before I ate Caitlin’s dessert while she was giving her thank-you speech. After acknowledging guests, she remarked, “Nalts- I forgot you’re funny.” I’ll give you about 700 ways to forget, Caitlin.

Seriously, though. This room was packed with the who’s who of media, many whom have made private investments in Hitviews.

  • Reese Schonfeld, the former CEO of CNN.
  • Cousin Brucie Morrow, who introduced the Beatles in Shea Stadium in 1965.
  • Hitviews Founder Walter Sabo, who was one of the youngest VPs of ABC and NBC.
  • Allan Shaw, Centennial Broadcasting founder.
  • National Arts Club President O. Aldon James
  • Gary Slaight, a former owner of 30 radio stations in Canada, and Bob Weinstein, co-founder of Miramax, are also investors but did not attend the December 8 dinner.

Check out some of the brief talks honoring Caitlin (below). Again- I’ve been consulting with Hitviews because I kinda dig this model about rallying top online-video stars to reate branded entertainment. I think with this group of media investors — their experience and funding — Hitviews may change the game for creators and advertisers.

If you choose to watch the videos of the December 8 dinner, check out Allan Shaw especially (mustache guy). He’s got some inside knowledge as a YouTube viewer. And if you watch mine, I really, really am not interested on a count of how many “uh” and “ums” I had. It was past my bedtime. Check out Caitlin’s video at 3:00 where she gives her “Nalts” dig. Charming. Lovely. Read Caitlin’s accounts of the day here.


 

35 thoughts on “First Online-Video Star Receives Medal of Honor by NYC National Arts Club”

  4. Oops, what I meant to say is that I’m insulted for Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Leonard Bernstein, Salvador Dali, and Martin Scorcese. This post is proof positive that this nation has become an Idiocracy (click).

  5. I would leave a substantive comment on this post but I’m too busy projectile vomiting all over my house to take the time. Damn, just hit the computer screen.

  8. Is this one of those awards like the Hollywood walk of Fame where they give them out to any actor that throws a bunch of cash their way?

  9. @8
    My understanding is that actors pay only $1,200 for for their Walk of Fame star. That’s chump change for them, less than they pay for their Screen Actors Guild union membership.
    @7
    Kevin claims he ate Caitlin’s dessert but that’s only because she’s been eating his lunch for years on YouTube.
    (I kid, Kevin)

  10. Ex-squeeze me for saying so, but just in case someone doesn’t remember, THIS (click) is art, not all that head-in-a-box yappy yappy talky vlog boogerheads crap.

    Someone had to say it.

    Yes, yes, yes, I’m well aware of the need to manufacture “stars” for marketing purposes, but for crap’s sake, don’t call it “art”! Call it what it is: craft. Videocraft. Mediacraft. Viralcraft. Whatever. Just not “art”!

  13. Okay…

    This is a joke, right? I watch you Kevin I watch Catilin. I had no idea that there any was talent there. Anywhere. But then I thought ‘Here’s Lucy’ was riveting drama.

    (off looking for decaf quad espresso shots)

  14. @13
    Yeah, it’s another one of Kevin’s pranks, Jimmer. This one’s pretty elaborate, though he skimped on the background a bit. All those old guys he got from his place of employment. The second old guy is a janitor. I recognize him from a previous Nalts video.

  16. Wait… I just read her blog.

    She doesn’t really believe that it’s an ACTUAL award right? I mean i know she’s young but surely if she’s smart enough to work at a place like HitViews, she’s smart enough to know that 2 years of so-so videos is a little light to be seriously considered as a Lifetime of Acheivement in The Arts rights?

    She knows this is just a promotional gimmick for her company right?

    Right?

  21. I have spent the past couple of days recovering from the great Ice Storm of ’08, which might not be over yet. We lost power and I had to go to Starbucks to get my Internet fix. People were there charging their cells phones because they all have cable phone and the cable was out, so therefore so were their phones. There are still thousands of people without power around here.

    I guess what I’m trying to say is, this post doesn’t do anything for me right now. I’m just trying to make sure the willow tree branches that are precariously perched on my patio don’t crash through the house when they thaw out tomorrow.

  22. @Marilyn

    Good luck with that. We had a terrible storm like that a few years back in Nebraska. It was a good inch of ice on everything, and to make matters worse, it snowed about a foot on top of that.

    I still remember it pretty vividly. My little brother had a paper route, and by some miracle the papers made it to our door, so we had to deliver them. I had a 4×4 at the time, and so we loaded them up, and headed off.

    About 3/4 of the way through the route, there was this guy standing outside his house laughing. This confused me, especially considering that the old maple tree previously in his front yard was now mostly on top of his house. So I asked him why he was laughing.

    Apparently he had only owned the house a few months, and literally the day before the storm his homeowners insurance kicked in. Two days earlier, and he would have needed to pay for the roof.

    I could appreciate his good humor after that.

  23. hey Jim, tell me true, do you work for Reader’s Digest?

    Want to see someone throw a shoe at Bush? [click]
    Anyone want to write a little “throw the shoe at bush(c) arcade game?”

  24. @23

    Nope, but if they’re hiring, I aught to apply. I’d fit right in – I have an amusing anecdote for about every situation on earth, and I always win at trivial pursuit.
    😀

  26. I live in butt-numbingly cold Minnesota right now, but I was born and spent the first 2+ decades of my life in Omaha. I know exactly where Crawford is though – My grandpa had an obsession with Nebraska sightseeing, and so I’ve been to the Nebraska National Forest and Fort Robinson.

    Lincoln’s not a bad town, but I’ve still got a bad taste in my mouth from the last time I had to go try to get information from the capitol building. I was trying to track down the title to my grandpa’s old Studebaker (now mine), and they sent me all over town, since it was never registered in the computer era, and paper title records aren’t kept at the capitol. Not bad in itself, but I swear Lincoln’s streets were mapped and named by drunken high school dropouts.

    But then, I’m one of those Omaha elitists. 😀

  28. @26

    I can’t believe you know where Crawford is! My mother’s family has a reunion there about every five years and rents out two of the barracks at Fort Robinson. I hardly ever go, but when I do, I stay at the lodge, which ain’t much better than the barracks except it has a/c and a private bathroom. Hank’s been twice, both times without me. Maybe the next one we’ll go together.

    We’re kind of a legend in that town due to my grandfather’s membership in the Communist Party and the fact that he had his children delivery the Daily Worker to everyone in town for years. Well, legend isn’t really the right word. Notorious is probably more apt. And yet they elected my cousin mayor. . . He’s a die-hard republican. My grandfather is probably turning over in his grave at that one. Hank is named for him – Henry Daniyar Keas (and then my last name). Daniyar is his birth name, Henry was my grandfather’s name, and the family name on my mother’s side is Keas.

    Boy I’m a windbag today. And so early in the morning!

  29. @28

    Competing for the longest post title so early in the day? LOL!

    It is a small world. Yeah, my grandpa dragged us up to that remote little patch of existence a few times in my life. I never heard about your Communist granddad, but the thing with your cousin is high-larious!

    I’ll have to pop by that neighborhood next time I go on a tour of Nebraska. I’ll add it somewhere between Pioneer Village in Minden and Carhenge.

    😀

  31. Marquis- tax write-off? I dunno. They did charge me $500 to speak…

    TheStranger- I’m SO not going there. Oh wait.. I just did.

  32. ^$500!? For $150, I’ll get you a podium in front of The Caterpillar Cap-Wearing Rednecks Association of Uncertain, Texas. Top Billing. Featured Speaker. Comes with a Black Cow burger and fries. Tax deductible.

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