Our favorite homeless guy (who technically isn’t homeless currently), Marquisdejolie, is having surgery today at a VA clinic. Marquis, also known as James Jarvis, is a regular contributor to WillVideoForFood and a modern-day Andy Warhol. In honor of him, I’m posting one of my all-time favorites of his videos. The 30-day lunch break.
Tag Archives: marquisdejolie
Reality TV Isn’t Reality. THIS is Reality. A Drunk Naked Narcissist.
This is perhaps one of the most memorable moments of online video I’ve seen, and it’s from regular WillVideoForFood reader/commenter James Jarvis (Marquisdejolie). The former homeless man lives in Marshall, Texas and has posted 852 videos to date (and for reasons I can’t understand, has fewer subscribers than videos).
Before you comment on “Drunk Naked Narcissist,” please recognize that he may well read your observations. And this is tragedy not comedy (of course comedy is tragedy plus time). Marquis was the first person with whom I interacted in online video (via Revver), and the first person that appeared in a dream. He was disk jockeying a party not chasing me with a pitch fork.
I find it remarkable that James permits us into to observe a fight between he and his alcoholic mother — who appears tortured by her past and resentful of her son for not providing more support. We join him from a safe perch behind the camera. But he occasionally leaves us alone as he defends his behavior and challenges his mother’s views of him and his siblings.
It’s more shocking than anything I’ve seen on Jerry Springfield, but curiously artistic. Marquis explains in his video description, “Mom and I performing a scene from my play entitled “A Simple Life.” While it’s clear that his mother isn’t acting (unless she’s Julliard trained), it’s unclear how many of Marquis’ “lines” are provocations of his subject… or a visceral response by a son being blamed for his mother’s sad state.
One thing’s for sure. This is reality. Unscripted, unedited and raw. Marquis sometimes goes live on Stickam and the arguments continue. I submit that if he and mom did regular live Blogtv shows he’d make enough money cover’s mom’s missing bonds. If nothing else, they’d remind us that no matter how strange our lives get we’re not alone.
Best WillVideoForFood Commenters
A toast this evening to what keeps WillVideoForFood going even when readership wanes, I spell things incorrectly, or we go stale for a period.
I can almost always count on a thoughtful remark or clever quip from you regulars… Marquisdejolie, sukatra, jischinger, Marilyn, Zack Scot, Matt, Nutcheese, xjasongarciax, psychomelody, JimmerSD, Mike Abundo, Peter Coffin, Reubnick, maryann712, themighythor1212. Did I miss anyone? Raising a glass to you cool cats.
Thanks, gang. It would be lonely here without you. Lots of quiet industry readers, but it’s much more fun interacting. Speaking of which, how’s that forum going?
If a guy blogged about a tree alone in a forest, does he make a sound?
My First Shout Out (boring “history of nalts” post)
Don’t know what a “shout out” is? It’s when you mention someone in your video. Don’t care? Stop reading. This blog entry isn’t for the industry watchers, but for the small group of obscure people that watch my crap.
I stumbled into my first “shout out” video recently. In this fake PSA I did about Revver.com, I spoof the “art” of independent creators, and shed light on the folks that were ripping content and then making money on it (my brother in law played the video artist that made $9 a week dropping forks on the ground). The video was called “Revverberation,” which would later become the name of my unofficial Revver blog that spawned this one.
At the end you’ll see a legal document that lists Marquisdejolie vs. Texas. I remember Googling for a legal template, then altering it with his name and then photographing it… wondering if he’d notice this homage since he seemed to be watching every new Revver video like I was.
I also remember going nuts that this video got thousands of views, since most got 50-100. To gauge the magnitude, I adjust for view inflation by multiplying 2006/2007 views by 1,000 times. So this was a 3 million view video, as far as I was concerned.
More related trivia. When I was first featured on YouTube with “Viral Video Genius,” I mention being called an Andy Warhol of online video… “by a homeless guy in Texas. He has a blog. Google it.” Well this time Marquisdejolie caught the “shout out” before I had to spoon feed it, and no response tickled me like his spontaneous laughter clip. Can you listen to that and not crack up?
Here’s Marquisdejolie’s recount from a year ago, but I can’t seem to find his original blog post calling me the Warhol of online video.
And then there’s this post from MarquisdeJolie’s blog:
Nalts doesn’t need a tribute from me. He’s doing just fine on Revver and Youtube and Livevideo and Metacafe and wherever else he may be…. Wherever 10 or more viral video fans collect to watch videos, you find a Nalts video there…. I just needed an excuse to use his name in my blog so that the Internet search engines will spot my blog and up my ranking. His screen name is a commodity now like gold or silver or pork bellies. Use it in your blog and watch your hits skyrocket.
A Nurse, Marketer and Homeless Guy Break Dance
Online video collaborations are probably my favorite part of online video. Probably the first online-video creator with whom I developed a parasocial relation was the affable homeless guy from Texas known as Marquisdejolie. He has a blog. Google it (anyone catch that reference?).
Via JibJab, here’s him break dancing with me, and songwriter-nurse-YouTuber, ChristopherMast.
Before online video, it’s unlikely that we’d have ever met, much less appear break dancing together. And you might argue that would have been a good thing, but I beg to differ.