First, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has sent in applications throughout February for theBME World Tour Intern Contest. I appreciate the effort that all of the applicants put into their videos and for taking the time to help me get to know each and every one of them as best as I could through their videos! Some were really fun to watch and others were a bit painful!
With Jen’s help, I’ve compiled a list of the finalists. I’d like you to watch their videos and then vote at the bottom of the videos. Vote for your FAVORITE 4 applicants! You’re only allowed to vote once. This will help me to figure out who the readers of BME want to see out there on the road with me. The winners of the poll won’t automatically be the winners of the contest but it will definitely help to show who the BME community wants as well as who can get the most people over to BME and voting for them!
I have been working on the logistics and may possibly end up choosing two teams to go out with me because it’s been too hard to narrow down just to four interns! These are the cream of the crop. They’ve either got great talents as writers, photographers or video editors or they just have some supremely awesome quality about them that came through in their applications or video. I really wish I could take them all! Help me to narrow it down because lord knows I can’t fit 18 of us in one suitcase!
Voting closes March 1st at 12:01am PST. I’m hoping to announce the winners on March 1st so we’ve only got a couple days to get those votes in! This will get reposted daily until then!
Ed
Thaddeus
Megan
Chez
Richard
Darah
Kaelahbee
Alberto
RobW
Timothy
Ari Oh
Kristen
Ferg
Adrian
Stewart
DeseRae
Jens
Nae
Now that you’ve watched the videos, VOTE for your favorite 4 applicants. Pick the 4 people you’d want to see out on the road together! Help them get out there by casting your vote! Remember, voting closes March 1st at 12:01am PST so get your friends voting for you!
Comments
158 responses to “The real FINALISTS are..”
I would honestly feel really disappointed if Kaelahbee won. She NEVER has her septum ring visible (she flipped it down for the video) which wouldn’t matter, but why wear it just for the vote?, she calls stretching “gauging” and gives TONS of bad advice about doing so on her blog/formspring, and has the most obviously popular tattoos (kurt hasley sleeve? really?) swallow on your hip? Why would you want someone that really doesn’t have ANY idea about the true art of body modification representing such an amazing and passionate website?
Cindy: your comments are incredibly shallow and show that you have some kind of vendetta against her
By your line of thinking, no one should Javier modifications that aren’t public which would preclude the majority of those with modifications. Who cares of she wears her septum retainer up?
Secondly, her tattoos are “too popular”? Is that a joke? Should we pin down everyone who has tattoos that someone else has? Lets remove anyone from the running who has tribal, Japanese, faeries, skulls, hearts etc! Oh, now that means that I can’t go. Who wants my spot?
“Gauging” has become common place terminology. Just because we don’t use it on BME doesn’t mean the real world doesn’t use it.
I want to express my deep respect for the BME community for all of the time, work, and effort put into this current project and all endeavors over the years. With this in mind, I want the question that follows to be taken as a general point of interest rather than a critique and/or accusation, being that I am not well informed of the overall selection process or the pool of applicants. The question is: Why does there seem to be a lack of diversity in the sense that a majority of the finalists are from the Americas, are white (playing into the conventional paradigm), and of a similar age? Is this representative of a global modification community?
#155 Cindy: Now now now! We all know you’re name is not REALLY Cindy… You’re the same person who lurks my blog/formspring/etc and leaves hateful comments (and I do indeed know your true identity). It’s really no big deal. The fact you don’t like my Kurt Halsey sleeve is incredibly comical. I DO in fact wear my septum down, but even if I didn’t, why would that matter? It’s not as though that is my ONLY modification. And I’m sorry, my dear, but I know the correct terminology and I do not call stretching “gauging” (In fact, as I read this to my boyfriend, he made sure I knew that I constantly correct him on this)… I realize that by posting on my blog and myspace that I was a finalist, I would receive some negative followers (because I have people who cyberstalk me all over the internet but ~hate me, just waiting to see what I get into next), but if those are your only concerns and you don’t have a legitimate reason to frown upon me, I’ll consider myself as well off as the next candidate. PS; did you forget to mention my incredibly cliche ship tattoo, too? I’ve also got script on my chest!
If you can conjure up some legitimate reasons why I should not be chosen, then I will listen. But these are just nonsensical! Let’s make conversation on my integrity, my personality, and my ability to get the job done… oh wait, i’ve got all those covered… very well actually! 🙂
#156 Rachel: This IS indeed a person with a personal vendetta. Woe is me! That is life, I suppose. 🙂
Ps “Cindy”, thanks for your formspring comment! But I’m still in the running so you might want to hold onto it for a few days 😉 (As fellow BME members, that’s not a very nice thing to say to someone, is it?)
“You were never gonna get the BME internship, do you know why? I’ll tell you; because you a silly little cocksucking bitch who just gets tattoos and piercings cos everybody else does! Grow the feck up and try to be yourself for once…”
(As fellow BME members, that’s not a very nice thing to say to someone, is it?)
Richard Kennedy seems to have set the bar pretty damn high, as far as audition videos go.
Cindy: I want to say thank you. I was actually on the fence about including Kaelah but you’ve helped to show that she can handle the negative comments you’ve thrown her way with the level of class and professionalism that I would expect from someone that I would select to represent BME.
Go Kaelah. Haters will keep on hating but you are handling it with class!
Reclaim: There is no problem with your question at all.
The answers are pretty easy. Basically you asked why everyone was from America, white and all in the same age range.
The answer lies simply in the numbers. BME’s largest audience hails from America. According to the demographics, BME’s readers are something like 90% white and 18-35. The finalists that made it into the last round were American, Canadian, and Scottish and Australian (or Canadian living in Australia, I should say).
I had very few minorities apply. I was not going to pick someone who wasn’t as qualified simply because they were a minority. I picked the best candidates from the people that applied. The finalists ranged from 21-36. I think that’s a really good range. It’s harder to find a group of people outside of that age range who could take 6 weeks to 3 months off from their lives so that’s why I think the majority of applicants were 21-30.
The one thing that did surprise me was simply the amount of women that applied. It was awesome to see so many women taking the chance and applying!
So all that being said, it does make sense that if BME’s readership, again according to the demographics that I have from sites like quantcast and google analytics, BME’s readers are primarily white, from the US or Canada, 18-35 and female. It makes sense to me that those would be the same demographics from the applicants that applied and that the final applicants would be of similar demographics. Part of this tour is to get out there and get outside of our demographic and reach new people. Hopefully we’ll bring a whole new slew of people on to BME from outside of our usual demographic.
Thanks for taking the time to answer and I hope this helped answer your question.