Oh, say it ain’t so! The creative team behind The Sarkeesian Effect has fallen apart in a wave of mutual recriminations and accusations and general bad feelings! Owen is accusing Aurini of blackmail! Aurini is accusing Owen of being a nerd who can’t get laid! They’re both accusing each other of trying to take the money and run!
And apparently Roosh V — yes, that Roosh V, do you even know of any others — played the Yoko Ono role in this breakup. (Sorry, Yoko, it really wasn’t fair to drag you into this, so I’ll post a video of your awesome Walking On Thin Ice at the end of this post.)
Owen announced the firing of Aurini in this video:
Oh, sorry, that wasn’t Owen announcing the firing. That wass Tammy Wynette singing D-I-V-O-R-C-E. Here’s Owen:
Whoops. That was “The Breakup Song” by the Greg Kihn Band. HERE’s Owen:
Ok, that was actually Frida — you know, from ABBA — doing “I Know There’s Something Going On.” I dunno, it’s a pretty good song, don’t you think? And it’s sort of relevant.
Anyway, here’s the actual video from Owen. It’s not that long. You should watch it. He’s fully clothed in this one. Well, at least from the waist up.
I’m not quite sure if Owen actually has the authority to fire Aurini, but then again I’m not an expert in Shithead Breakup Law. In case you didn’t watch the video, he says he plans to finish the, er, film without Aurini. And he apparently has all the money.
Aurini, meanwhile, has offered his side of the story in a blog post:
Jordan Owen has decided to split the partnership he and I formed to produce the GamerGate documentary about Anita Sarkeesian, with the planned title The Sarkeesian Effect. Conveniently after collecting the funds I begged you for in my last post.
Aurini, despite being fired and not having access to the duo’s Paypal account, pledges that he too will see the, er, film to its completion, thus raising the possibility that there will be TWO COMPETING SARKEESIAN EFFECTS, sort of like when Black Flag got back together, but as two competing bands, with one touring as Black Flag and the other just as Flag.
“This project will see fruition,” Aurini writes, “and it will be a palpable blow against the Social Justice movement.”
A BLOW, A VERY PALPABLE BLOW!
Alas, I knew him, Horatio.
A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!
Anyhoo, Aurini claims that the film “is as good as in the bag,” with not much beyond editing left to do, and claims to be puzzled as to why Owen would take his ball and go home at this late state in the production. He claims
there was absolutely no disagreement over the film at all, and Jordan’s role as Producer, by this point, had mainly devolved to signing the cheques while I did the editing, and others did the animation.
The only logical reason to split the project at this point was because he’d just received the final month’s funding…
But just when you think Aurini is going to start in on a rant on what a dirty thief Owen is, he heads in a totally different direction, insinuating that Owen’s REAL reason for the breakup had less to do with money than it did with, well, let’s let Aurini explain:
After the past two months of communiques with Jordan, I strongly suspect that he undermined this project because of an irrational jealously of Roosh, and any man who’s able to relate to women easily.
He’d been asking me for advice about women since the get go – which led me to recommending my colleague Roosh who has done much to support us – but every time I spoke about him, it seemed to fill Jordan with rage. Eventually leading to a panic attack that got him kicked off of an airplane – the last time I saw him in person.
That’s right. He’s saying that Jordan Owen is some kind of Omega Male Luh-huh-LOOOOOSER who can’t score the HBs!
Then Aurini asks for more money:
I ask that you continue to support me as I pull the last strands together, and cancel your financial support to Mister Owen. He does not have the technical capacity to put this film together the way it needs to be done.
Oh, this is going to be good.
Oh, and here’s that Yoko Ono song, which seriously is probably one of my top ten favorite songs of all time.
H/T — Skiriki, for being the first to alert me to this exciting development.
H/T — To Mike in the comments, who pointed me to that pic of the formerly dynamic duo, which I knew was out there but just couldn’t find!
In the name of all that is good and holy, please no.
Actually, that would be a delicious irony now that I think about it, but who could sit through more than 10 minutes without hurling.
Oh hi viewers, my name is Jordan Owen. When I am not playing the football in my tuxedo, I am thinking how I am sick of this world. I work on movie for months, and what do I get? My partner betray me. My movement betray me. Feminists betray me, everyone betray me. YOU ARE TEARING ME APART, ANITA!
Ah ha ha.
So now I make movie alone about how Sarkeesian is evil. I go to her and I say “Oh hi Anita, do you want to do interview?” She does not agree for interview because she is chicken. Cheeeeeep cheep cheep cheep cheeEEeeEeeeeEEee!
Ah ha ha.
So anyways, how is your sex life? Better than Roosh’s, I imagine. Did you know he wants to legalize rape? Ah ha ha, what a funny story, Roosh.
So anyways, this is my movie. I hope you enjoy!
Oh hi doggie!
It’s funny. These guys think every woman is Lisa when part of what makes The Room so funny (there is so much that makes it funny) is how unbelievable nearly every character and aspect of the film are.
Aside from saying a line each time I remove something from a shooping bag Lisa and I don’t have much in common.
But guys toss footballs everywhere they go, right? That’s a thing?
Trawl through their monthly Sarkeesian Effect “Paid Updates” (visible via Jordan Owen’s youtube) for a few more shots of the two of them.
November’s update starts with, and frequently reuses, a larger version of that
street cafe shot, including a badly ‘shopped GTA reference on a wall behind them.
January’s didn’t crack me up in the same way, but it does have a photo of both of them in a car, with approximately the same expressions.
December’s update probably doesn’t serve your needs – it only contains night-time shots of empty bits of Owen’s home town. This apparently offered him “a wonderful special private place of deep personal joy”. Based on how the whole Effect project is working out for him, and as the photographs don’t involve other people, I genuinely wish him all the best with that.
@kirbywarp
I got the results of the test back, you definitely win 1 internet.