I've Been X'ed

I did an interview yesterday with AVNOnline, believing the "AV" stood for audiovisual, like the A.V. Club entertainment site published by The Onion.

I liked the final piece, although I thought it was odd for the reporter to quote another papal domain registrant talking about "nipples and snatch." That kind of talk hasn't appeared much in the media since the end of the Clinton administration.

When I showed the story to my wife, she noticed that the ads around the piece were for X-rated sites and products (warning: link advertises X-rated sites and products).

As it turns out, AVN stands for Adult Video News, the leading trade publication of the adult entertainment industry.

Journalism · Domains · 2005/04/27 · 9 COMMENTS · Link

Virgin Mary of the Viaduct

I received an e-mail from someone affiliated with the Virgin Mary viaduct, the Chicago highway underpass that has a life-size water stain resembling the mother of God. They wanted advice on setting up a web site.

I'm a firm believer in the idea that all religious iconography that develops naturally upon either surfaces or food should have its own site. This is exactly the kind of thing for which the Internet was invented.

Because of the visual nature of the underpass and the community that has developed, the ideal place for its web presence is Flickr.

Flickr's a terrific photo-sharing community that was recently purchased by Yahoo for 5.2 bajillion dollars. You can create an account for free, upload your photos for public viewing, and add tags that describe the subject of the shots.

Every time I find myself on Flickr, I get lost in the photos, most recently in the work of Justin Hankins. His pictures of the Bridge of Lions, Night of Lights celebration, and Intercoastal Waterway are some of the best shots I've seen of St. Augustine.

Flickr photos can be grouped into sets and viewed as slideshows. Somebody should hire Robin Jean, the photographer doing this Rockstars set, to take column mugshots for newspapers.

Jacksonville · 2005/04/26 · 5 COMMENTS · Link

Master of My Domain

The owners of other Pope Benedict XVI domains are taunting me.

Jacopo Di Trani, an Italian who got Benedict16.Com, has declared that pornographers and online casinos are welcome to buy it from him:

The first time i didn't believed Cadenhead when he said "i'll never give my domain to gamble/porn site developers"!

He's a very kind guy, but, first of all, his hair CAN'T be real, and, second, although i have respect for his decision to give for free his very valuable domain (with a billion of christians in the world), it doesn't change my opinion about the human nature and i'll never do something like that with this domain!

The owner of PopeBenedictXVI.Com, who received a $150,000 bid on EBay that turned out to be a hoax, had a question-and-answer page up where he posted this:

I'll be keeping every red cent of this dough, thinking about blowing it on horse races. ... the person that you saw on tv is the owner of benedictxvi.com and not me, you will just have to take my word on the fact that I'm much younger and sexier than that guy, I've got more hair too.

I know in a higher sense I did the right thing by donating the domains to Modest Needs, a great charity that continues to get record traffic, but if my gesture turns out to have an actual market value of six figures, I think I'm going to spend the rest of the day curled up in a ball eating Chunky Monkey directly out of the container.

Update: A discussion on Real Time with Bill Maher:

Joe Scarborough: I think there's going to be a porn site. "BenedictXVI.com."

Sen Alan Simpson: [overlapping] John Waters would love it.

Scarborough: [overlapping] In fact, go to it.

Insert Charlie Brown "Auuuugh!" here.

Domains · 2005/04/26 · 20 COMMENTS · Link

You Heard It Here First

Without interviewing me, Jacksonville TV newscast First Coast News reported Thursday that I was selling the domain:

While the World Wide Web might not be a priority for Pope Benedict XVI, one local man hopes someone will think it's worth some cash to him. Roger [sic] Cadenhead of St. Augustine registered the domain name BenedictXVI.com along with other potential choices before the Pope selected his name. Cadenhead wants to sell it to the highest bidder.

This was news to me. I had been telling all reporters the exact opposite, as the original story in Tuesday's Washington Post attests:

Reached on his cell phone, Cadenhead said he hasn't made any decisions about what he'll do with the domain, but he vowed he wouldn't be pawning it off to the highest bidder.

"I never really registered it with the intent of making money, and I think to crassly auction it would be a sin of some kind. ..."

Five hours before the newscast, BenedictXVI.Com was donated to the charity Modest Needs while we wait to hear from the Vatican, as I wrote on my weblog.

A First Coast News producer e-mailed me for an interview at noon, but I was unable to call him back -- I had disconnected my phone because I couldn't say no to female TV producers.

Interestingly enough, I can see exactly what the station read on my web server, because the office computer the producer used to e-mail me requested several web pages Thursday, including these:

• 9:58 a.m.: The first papal weblog entry, which stated "I don't think there's any speculative potential in these domains"
• 10:09 a.m.: The Workbench home page, where the top entry stated "my goal was to keep it away from pornographers"
• 12:24 p.m.: The BenedictXVI.Com home page, which at the time displayed this page, where I explained that I "registered benedictxvi.com to prevent a pornographer or online casino from getting it"
• 12:24 p.m.: My favorite photo from my 10th wedding anniversary cruise
• 1:17 p.m. and 2:04 p.m.: The same BenedictXVI.Com home page

All told, that First Coast News computer made 115 web page requests before the newscast, also checking out my bio, books, and the television category of my weblog.

I don't know how the station could have reported something false that contradicted several pages they viewed on my server and so much other press coverage. My only consolation is that the story wasn't delivered by Donna Hicken.

Jacksonville · Domains · Television · 2005/04/25 · 16 COMMENTS · Link

Fame or Something Like It

I wasn't prepared to be famous for 24 hours, but now that my weblog traffic has subsided to normal levels, I can relate some of the experience. The rest has to be filtered through therapy first.

For anyone wondering how I became a television personality as well-known for a day as the Virgin Mary grilled cheese, my friend Matt Haughey has digitized the interview on the Today Show where I talk about BenedictXVI.Com.

After the Today Show, I began receiving calls from TV producers. Almost to a person, they were fast-talking, Type A females who sounded like Angelina Jolie on Life or Something Like It before she learned you don't have to become Stockard Channing to be truly happy. One even berated her assistant while talking to me, effortlessly switching the tone of her voice from sweet to "that better be a double shot espresso or you're on the next bus to Topeka."

These women are relentless; they will not take no for an answer. My friend Jonathan Bourne has produced several talk shows, and he said I could have gotten some free swag from the programs by playing hard to get.

I caved too quickly for even a single coffee mug -- one flattering remark about my hair and I was asking where to show up. I had to disconnect my phone that afternoon, afraid of what else I'd agree to do.

I've saved a voicemail message from Maryam Ayromlou, the MSNBC producer who asked me to appear on Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

This isn't the recording of Ayromlou I wish I had. I love Olbermann's show, but a few hours after agreeing to be on it, I called her to chicken out.

"I've spent money," Ayromlou responded, referring to the en-route Orlando TV crew and a conference room booking for the remote. In the nicest way possible, over a several-minute call, she gave me the impression that if I backed out, there would be no place on Earth I could hide from her. I've never been more frightened of a person in my life.

I appeared on Countdown as planned.

Domains · Television · 2005/04/24 · 12 COMMENTS · Link

Supporting Modest Needs

A funny thing happened today: Modest Needs received more than five times the normal donations from people coming from BenedictXVI.Com.

I'd like to think it has something to do with my understated good looks, which were revealed to me in an e-mail from a Today Show viewer this morning. But I suspect that people are simply gratified that I am not a pornographer.

I will never be a pornographer, so please keep helping Modest Needs.

I sent an e-mail to Pope Benedict XVI's new e-mail address today asking if the church wants the domain. I am concerned that my "Subject: Free Domains" email might not get through the Holy See's spam filters.

While I am waiting to hear from the Vatican (which has to be the strangest phrase I have ever written in my life), I am donating the pope domains and my site's ad revenue from this crazy week to Modest Needs. I'm working together with founder Keith Taylor to host them. His unique one-emergency, one-family-at-a-time charity has helped 1,500 individuals and families since its launch in 2002.

Thanks, everyone. And to answer the questions from Tina in Fort Myers, Florida: 1. Clubman Art-Rim glasses. 2. Yes that is my real hair. 3. No I will not send you a lock of it because it would be a great color for your guest bedroom.

Domains · 2005/04/21 · 50 COMMENTS · Link

Holy See, Holy Do

I'm getting a lot of comments like this one by Concerned Canadian:

I think it would be in your best interest to use this site to better humanity. Use it to donate to some sort of Catholic charity, or use it to write about the history of the Catholic church. Cashing in on it would be very typical, and if you have any personality at all, you won't want your 15 minutes of Internet media fame to be seen as typical.

I haven't decided what to do with the benedictxvi.com domain -- my goal was to keep it away from pornographers, not grab a domain for some kind of papal superstore.

But now that my weblog has 120,000 new readers, just counting yesterday, I'm using the opportunity to promote ModestNeeds.org, an organization that's like a charitable eBay: They match up donors with people who have short-term, under-$1,000 emergencies (such as repairs to the family's only car), helping them get out of the crisis.

SmartMobs describes how the charity got started in 2002:

The founder Keith Taylor began Modest Needs by giving 10 percent of his $350 a month earnings as a way to return a no-strings kindness paid to him when he most needed it. He told me, "Those who need help can always ask for it at Modest Needs, absolutely for free. How much money we raise matters less -- to me, anyway -- than simply providing a vehicle for human kindness."

Here's the latest donation-to-expenses report on Modest Needs from GuideStar and the charity's full financial statistics, for people who want to research the group before contributing.

Domains · 2005/04/21 · 65 COMMENTS · Link

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