Kali wants to know just how far you’ll go for a million bucks. Seriously. Her blog, Live Wrong and Prosper, catalogs people’s creative responses to the amoral, outlandish and -– most importantly –- hilarious scenarios she’s conceived around this very premise. (Our personal favorites: ”Would you agree to have your corpse left in the woods to be devoured by wild animals?” and ”Would you have a three way with Carol Channing and Bob Barker?”) It’s a no-brainer that something like this would make a good book, and Kali has turned to Kickstarter to make it happen.
For her project video, above, Kali took to the streets and posed her questions to a series of unsuspecting strangers. Pledge $40 toward the publication of Live Wrong and Prosper: Your Morals for a Million, and she’ll film herself similarly pitching whatever question you can come up with, no matter how outrageous. Now — do you really need another reason to do this?
Read what Kali has to say (and politely withhold) below. Support her project here.
How did you come up with this idea?
I don’t remember the first time I played Live Wrong and Prosper, but I remember that I unknowingly played variants on the game even as a kid. I’ve always asked a lot of questions (“inquisitive” is just a nice word for “nosey”) and been fascinated by people’s (including my own) get-rich-quick fantasies, so you can see how this game and I were meant to be together. I got very into playing it in college, although I can’t say which aspect I enjoyed more: coming up with these weird, out-there questions or the kind of information their answers gave me about friends and even complete strangers -– insight into their morals, how much they cared what other people thought, the amount of value they placed on money, and so on and so on. Plus, really, who doesn’t like thinking about pretend ways to make pretend piles of money? That’s just universal, right?
Anyway, I started the Live Wrong and Prosper blog because I ultimately realized that others seemed to tire of playing the game before I did. Aside from being a way to ask everyone on the Internets what they’d do for one million dollars, it’s also given me a chance to answer the questions honestly, and often with included bits of related, obscure information and factoids. Anyone who knows me can tell that you that I love pretty much anything that involves 1) useless trivia, 2) implausible scenarios or 3) potentially embarrassing admissions, so the chance to combine all three is SWEET.
Was alcohol involved?
Why do you ask? And what are you implying?
What’s the best response you’ve ever gotten from somebody?
There are two stories that stick with me. One is that a boyfriend in college answered that he *would* run someone over in a car moving at 30 mph, but that he *would not* eat a bowl of his own shit. So, basically, he would rather potentially murder a human being using two tons of slow moving metal than have a really, really unpleasant meal. I think that tells you a lot about that guy.
Also, once I was at a party where I’d essentially gotten the entire room of mostly casual acquaintances and strangers to play the game, and I asked if anyone would be willing to contract herpes (which has no cure, mind you) for a million dollars. And this guy – I’ll never forget this -– this guy immediately yells, “I already have herpes and I got it for free, so I would absolutely get it again for one million dollars.”
Oh, the humanity!
Where does the inspiration for your questions come from? Got any ones that you are particularly proud of?
I’m not sure that there is anything that doesn’t inspire me. I’d say that mostly I’m curious about things that present moral conundrums, or changes that are definitely not for the better. As often as I’m amazed by what some people would do for money, I’m constantly amazed by what some people wouldn’t do. It’s genuinely pretty fascinating.
And of course, there are stand-outs that, like any parent, I’m quite proud of. Too many to list here, but I think one of my all-time goofy favorites is:
“Would you French kiss Shane Macgowan, deeply and passionately, for a minimum of a minute per kiss, twice a day –- once immediately after he woke up and once just before he fell asleep passed out -– every day, for a year?”
If you know who Shane MacGowan is, you can see why this is a pretty challenging dare (although, to be fair, he recently had an entire new set of teeth implanted). I actually answered the question myself, btw, here.
I guess to sum up I’d say there are an infinite number of ridiculous questions to be asked and I’ve only discovered a few hundred of them. So I’m always trying to figure out what I’ve forgotten.
How have people been responding to your use of Kickstarter so far?
I think people have been really responsive so far. The beauty of using a platform like Kickstarter is that it helps you call on your own support network to aid in completing creative projects, but it also lets you share your ideas and work with people you might not otherwise have connected with. It’s an intimate way to share your work and your passions with people who are genuinely interested in finding new and interesting projects. And I think I speak for everyone using the site when I say that it’s an amazing feeling when a stranger supports something you’ve undertaken as a labor of love. I’m not sure that backers realize just how immensely appreciated their support is. Not just because they’re helping you produce the final, tangible product, but because it’s so incredibly encouraging to have someone inform you that they believe what you’re doing is worthwhile. It really means a lot.
For a $1,000,000 would you apply an irritating substance to your mouth that would make your tongue swell uncontrollably so that you spoke with a lisp and kind of drooled every single day for a year?
Basically, you’re asking if I would take a job drooling and lisping for a year for a million dollars and I say absolutely.
Closing thoughts?
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