So I know we said we love and admire US slashies here at Never Underdressed, especially ones who appear in Girls, but is actress/singer/general cool person Zosia Mamet asking too much of us by requesting money to pay for her music video via the crowd-funding site Kickstarter?

Mamet and her lesser known sister Clara (who is, according to the video that outlines their Kickstarter case, an actress/writer/director’, but oddly not a musician) call themselves The Cabin Sisters and want to raise $32,000 to make a video for their song about ‘ the universal feeling of unrequited love’. Clara explains, ‘The song just sort of happened, we wrote it in a matter of hours, so to do an actual music video to the song would be really kind of full circle.’ 

Lots of US media outlets seem to think the sisters are being cheeky asking for the cash, even if they promise to reward generous donations with 45-minute Skype sessions (yup, the two will call you up and sing into your computer if you pay them $2,000). Jezebel takes a particularly stern view, saying ‘Zosia and Clara Mamet think their sh*itty folk song is so good it deserves a music video ... a song that, from the brief snippets I heard on their Kickstarter, I could have probably come up with while taking leisurely p**p.‘ Ouch.

At least the campaign is well publicised on social media. Queen of the World Lena Dunham posted a link on her Twitter account (she’s got more than a million followers so, you know, that’s some reach) but quickly followed it up with a tweet saying, ‘Not sure about Kickstarter yet (though I do believe it can coexist w/ charity) but am sure I love my friend & co-worker!’

That’s the thing: I don’t think anyone is sure about Kickstarter yet. For every useful community project facilitated by the site, there is some peer pressure-funded preposterous performance put on by somebody you knew at university. 

Support the arts and give us a tenner, their pleas go. Well, no, you want to say, I go to work and that’s how I get my money. I don’t just ask the internet for cash. This is capitalism, baby. Yeah it’s flawed but I thought we agreed that it’s the best we can come up with for now. 

I’m down with charity; of course I’ll get out my debit card if you’re raising money for a good cause but is faffing about singing songs detailing unrequited love really a good cause?    

Generally Americans are an altogether more generous bunch, renowned for their philanthropy and giving, bequeathing museums and libraries with wings named after themselves, holding lavish balls to pay for operas and ballets, but it’s possible that the Mamet sisters have made a request too far. At the time of writing, their campaign had raised a paltry $1,646. So nobody has signed up for a Skype then...