Valleywag
How high is Jason Calacanis on his new videoblogger? "Veronica Belmont is a Rojas-level hire," he reportedly told groupies who showed up for a dim sum dinner in New York's Chinatown yesterday. That may sound like praise for Belmont, the videoblogger he hired away from CNET. But it's really more egotism. The thing you need to know about Jason Calacanis, the boy from Brooklyn who moved to Tinseltown, is that he fancies himself a new-age Hollywood mogul for the Web. Like a studio boss of old, he hopes to manufacture stars. Take, for example, his flashy hire of Peter Rojas away from Gizmodo (like Valleywag, a site published by Gawker Media) to run Engadget. Calacanis parlayed Engadget into a blog network, Weblogs Inc., which he then sold for $25 million to AOL. As an AOL executive, when Amanda Congdon left Rocketboom, he publicly offered her a videoblogging deal — which never panned out. Now, with Belmont, Mahalo's new videoblogger, Calacanis again wants to create a new star. He's fooling himself.
Not because Belmont is untalented. Far from it. We won't weigh in on whether she's "Rojas-level." (She is dating Ryan Block, Rojas's successor as the editor of Engadget.) Let's explore the Rojas analogy for a moment. At Engadget, Rojas never needed Calacanis; he succeeded out of sheer creative energy and a fierce desire to prove himself. Judging by Calacanis's hammy performance on her trailer video, if Belmont succeeds on Mahalo, it won't be because of Calacanis. It will be in spite of him.
Comments
He looks scummy
Put yourself if a straight dude's shoes for a moment and you'll understand the enthusiasm (legitimate or not). No disrespect to VB. She is talented. But she's also hot.
Dude... three links in the story and not ONE to Mahalo. This breaks the social contract of being a slimy gossip reporter. The concept here is you beat me down, but at the very least send a couple of dozen readers!
You level of desperation to get page view up is funny... keep linking to yourself in an effort to save your job... very funny.
Now, the show starts Monday and you can find it at [daily.mahalo.com.]
... you are correct in one aspect: both Peter and Veronica are uber-talents that don't need my help. That being said, Peter, Brian and I made a great team and we crushed Gawker in ever vertical we competed in. So, I can understand you taking shots at us (again, in an effort to keep your low-paying job with Nick Denton).
Congratulations on being "soft fired" by Denton. Watching your post count go down and all the "freelancers" come in to try and save Valleywag from the damage you've inflicted on it has been great.
I give you < 30 days before Nick limits you to two posts and Paul B.--who's a far better writer than you'll ever be--takes over the ship.
your friend 'til the end!
Jason
ps - did I mention the show starts Monday and you can find it at [daily.mahalo.com.]
God I love a good Blog Fight.
This just became my entertainment for the afternoon.
Something tells me those links aren't doing what he's expecting them to do
@JasonCalacanis: So, like, can I have a job?
@JasonCalacanis: Boutin? He's a piker compared to you. At $0 a word, you're my most profitable freelance contributor yet.
Damn you Denton! Who has a log of the comments? :)
@jlgolson: Come see me in my office. NOW.
@Owen Thomas: I'm already in Boutin's office. Sorry.
This veronica chick is certainly no talent. Stroll on down the coast, Jason, in case you've forgotten that being able to ineffectually render scripted humor isn't talent!
Are Jason's ham fists really bigger than his head?! I know, very hard to believe.
Hey Jason, try clicking your own URLs. This is what I get: 404 - Not Found
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