Ze Frank
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ze Frank (born Hosea Jan Frank on March 31, 1972, first name IPA: ['zei], rhymes with "say") is an online performance artist, composer, humorist and public speaker based in Brooklyn, New York.[1]
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[edit] Personal Life
Frank was born to German-American parents and raised in a suburb of Albany, New York. He graduated from Brown University in 1995 where he studied neuroscience.[1] Information given in the show indicates that he has a sister and that he was educated at a Montessori school.
Beginning at Brown, Frank played guitar and sang lead vocals for a funk/jam band called Dowdy Smack until its dissolution in 1998.
[edit] Career
In 2001, Frank created an online birthday invitation and sent it to seventeen of his closest friends. Forwarded wildly, the invitation soon generated millions of hits and over 100 gigabytes of daily web traffic to Frank's personal Web site.[2] The site grew to include interactive group projects, short films, animations, and video games, many Flash-based, including children's educational videos featuring handy tips such as "Don't vacuum your face".
Frank won a 2002 Webby Award for Best Personal Website and was featured in Time Magazine's "50 Coolest Websites" in 2005.[3] Frank debuted onstage at the Gel conference in 2003, and later spoke at the TED Conference in 2004 and 2005.[4]
On March 17, 2006 Frank launched a daily video blog known simply as the show with zefrank. Each tightly edited three-to-five-minute episode combined Daily Show-style commentary on world events with songs, observations, and occasional games or challenges for his viewers to participate in. the show quickly became the most popular portion of his site and helped to increase Frank's visibility in the blogosphere while attracting also the interest of those in the "old media" of film and television. Frank signed with the United Talent Agency (UTA) of Beverly Hills, California for representation. The show ended on March 17, 2007 as planned, exactly one year after its start.
Frank has served as an adjunct professor at ITP/NYU, Parsons School of Design, and SUNY Purchase.
[edit] References
- ^ a b St. John, Warren (June 18, 2006). "And You're So Funny? Write My Script". The New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
- ^ Kukec, Anna Marie. "Web designer's email invite forwarded millions of times", Daily Herald, April 23, 2001.
- ^ Murray Buechner, Marryanne (June 20, 2005). 50 Coolest Websites 2005. Time. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
- ^ Ze Frank's speech at the TED Conference (2004) Monterey, California (video)
[edit] External links
- Ze Frank's site
- zefrank.com wiki
- Ze Frank on IMDB
- Warren St. John interviews Ze Frank (June 18, 2006) for The New York Times (video)
- Interview: Ze Frank, performance artist by Mark Hurst of goodexperience.com on December 4, 2002
- "Net Neutrality and the Arts" by Adrienne LaFrance, NPR Boston, June 26, 2006.
- "Ze Frank, YouTube, and Making Money" by Heather Green, BusinessWeek, July 28, 2006
- Video of Ze Frank discussion of the internet at the February 2004 TED Conference in Monterey, CA. Duration 19:42
- Ze Frank on creativity, an interview with about-creativity.com March 29, 2007
