The Literartist

UPDATE: I am delighted to let you all know that I am partly syndicating this blog with The Eagle, the Official college newspaper of AU! I will now be blogging for the The Eagle on a weekly basis so you can also expect weekly posts from now on in The Literartist as well.

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Dang it, why didn’t I think of that? You know that feeling of missed opportunity, that feeling which makes you want to slam your head against the keyboard for not doing or thinking of it first? You know, like that time you knew you could have easily thought of cutting out

your own version of the Snuggie from your night blue wooly blanket and selling it by the millions; or just coming up with a peculiar boy who’s actually a wizard and didn’t know it yet (come on even I could have done that); or maybe just creating your own little web network for you and your classmates and then letting it explode—supernova style—and become, Facebook. Well folks, its happened again, this time calling for more angry teeth gritting than ever before. YouTube sensation Craig Rowin decided to just ask for a million dollars, and, he got it; sigh.

The 27 year old comedian from Brooklyn started his bid last year in early November by posting up a video of himself on YouTube where he addresses millionaires (Lady Gaga, Chilean Miners, Nelson Mandela, Will Smith’s kids and many more).

“Millionaires, listen up!” he said, confidently addressing his tri-pod held camera. “I have a proposition; please give me one million dollars. Now you have millions and millions of dollars, give me one million dollars.”

So what you might ask was contained in his genius reasoning? The most unexpected element of them all—honesty. Telling his millionaire audience that “I don’t need it for anything specific, but I think it would be awesome.”

Rowin’s efforts finally pay off when a millionaire, namely Benjamin, recently agreed to give Rowin $1 million dollars. First, Benjamin the altruistic millionaire, leaves a voice mail, and then goes the extra length of sending a notarized letter through one of his lawyers stating that Benjamin will give the comedian a million bucks and that Rowin will owe him nothing in return. Lawyer, notarized letter, voice mail, now that’s how to be a millionaire!

In trying to crush the skeptics’ disbelief, that being most of us, Rowin has taken this offering to a public level by further announcing that Benjamin will present the million dollar cheque live onstage in front of a real audience on February 2^nd at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York.

Now how about that? Guy earns a million dollars in three months by asking for a million dollars for three months. The reality now for us is that not many people can copy his technique now that he’s already done it.

The primary objection of performing such a feat would have been pride. The notion of “I will not beg for money and be rich, for that is beneath me” is crushed by Rowin’s blatant style in his “proposition”. Annoyingly he comes out to us not as some shameless beggar but rather as a smart-ass who did what you and I would not have thought possible to do. He who goes, gets; he who asks, gets as well. “If you would like to give me another million dollars, fine, email me at PleaseGiveMeOneMillionDollars@gmail.com” he says in his latest video. Now hold it bitch! That’s just pushing the limit. Or is it? Adieu.