Here’s what’s been going on during the Count High process.
Firstly, it’s been mentioned before, the number 123,456 is a ridiculous goal which can never be reached. In that regard - and I knew this before it started - the project will fail. To begin with, even from day 1, I would’ve had to send out 340+ requests for numbers per day. Per day. That includes the first day when no-one knew about it. By the end of month two in the Count High project, not enough numbers were sent out to even crack two days worth of proper number sending outs. That 340 per day has ballooned, it’s become bloated and distended with age and now rests at an incredible 450+ per day.
And with that, I became disillusioned. I realised each day, the project would be climbing an ever sharper hill. That is until I decided to give up. I thought, I’ll collapse the website and disappear without a trace, but that would’ve been incredibly detrimental and embarrassing to the next project I intend to start up. So that’s when Count High got its second wind.
Because 123,456 is a stupid goal, I decided to change the goal. The project is called Count High. So that’s exactly what I’ll do. Come Hell or high water, I’m going to encourage artists and non-artists alike to count as high as possible. 123,456 is no longer a goal, but a capping stone. We’re all going to create artworks, we’re all going to collaboratively count as high as possible and if we don’t get to 123,456 then, so what? We still counted as high as possible. If we reach that number before April 13, 2009 then we’ll stop early. Unlikely, but still, it sounds reasonable.
So from now on, I’m going to write to anyone who impresses me. If I hear a song I like, I’ll write to the band and invite them along. If I see a chalk side-walk guy whose doing something neat, I’ll let him know about this. I’ll write to Facebook groups, I’ll seek out the artists. If someone writes an interesting blog post which I find by accident, I’ll say to the author, “Thanks for the article, I enjoyed it” and to show my appreciation, I’ll let them know they can be a part of this project. I’m going to do this every day. No matter who, where, why or when, I’m going to post, write, talk or mention the Count High project at least five times a day. And I’m going to keep on doing that until the time is up, because I want to see how high we can go!
And what about those who had asked about a second or third number from you.
Don’t give up!!! It’s not the destination that provides the lessons… It’s the journey. You learn something new along the way each day.
Left by Fran on June 17th, 2008
I’m glad you didn’t give up Adam. Let’s go as high as we can! Everyone who has already contributed can still be a part of it by getting others on board. I’ve encouraged a few friends to be a part of it already, and I’m going to keep doing it.
Also, I personally don’t like the idea of double contributions as I feel the “count high” should really be a count of the number of people that got involved, not the amount of artwork a select number of people could do.
Another thought is to at some point start having an official counter on the website so that we can all keep track of how high it’s going.
Let’s all help Adam to count very high!
Left by Trevor on June 18th, 2008
Keep up the good work!
Left by Lydia on June 19th, 2008
Yes ,Don’t give up…when school starts back up ypu will have a fresh crop of young artists…try contacting the schools over summer break!
Have you also considered just taking then number you get by the deadline and making those in to your movie..(80 mins?)
then each number might even get more than a frame or 2.
Left by Mark (renderin) on June 24th, 2008
That’s the idea, Mark. If we create enough to make a neat sixty minute film, that’ll be it. If it makes a 12 minute short, that’ll be it. I’m not going to adhere to the 82 minutes as a strict rule, but if it looks good that way, then so be it.
Left by Adam R. Box on June 24th, 2008
Hey Adam,
I was thinking about Jack Johnson. I like the style of his music: relaxed and positive. He also seems interested in then environment and community. Maybe you could ask him to write a song for Count High. Or ask permission to use one of his songs, like Upside Down, or The Sharing Song (from the film ‘Curious George’).
Left by Lydia on July 7th, 2008