We know you’re all waiting to see the new print issue and we’re excited to have it ready for you. In the mean time we thought we’d give you some peaks into the world of making LEGENDmag. We’ve been doing everything from design, to photoshoots, to writing and editing. This week, take a look into our world.
In this first installment kc! gives us some idea of how much time it takes to design things and why sometimes being inexperienced is the best way to do new things.
No, not that kind of chicken. It now appears that the first presidential debate will go forward as scheduled tonight. I don’t believe that John McCain was trying to dodge it out of fear, as some have stated. Instead, the kind of chicken that occurred here was a high-stakes game of it with Barack Obama, in which McCain appears to have been the one who blinked first. This may be more damaging than anything that could actually happen during the debate itself. The debates, after all, are largely useless.
Let me clarify: They’re not so much totally useless as just highly inefficient. Undecided voters aren’t undecided based on the candidates’ positions on the issues. These positions, after all, have been out there for a year now, and issues-based voters long ago encountered them and made up their minds. Voters who operate principally from partisan identification knew even before then, since they were going to vote for anybody (or at least almost anybody) who had the requisite “R” or “D” after their name. The people left undecided now are people who decide based on emotional response, personal identification and perceived character.
A debate can kind of showcase that, but is really a pretty poor medium for it. Too much question, answer, policy, position, blah, blah, blah for that. We have another medium much better suited for showing us what people are made of. Reality Television. I would like to make the modest proposal that, in lieu of all these debates, the McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden teams compete against each other in The Amazing Race in weekly episodes over the next 6 weeks.
There’s a showcase in which undecided voters can find out the things really important to them in making up their minds! Things like which team launches which bold and risky strategy to block the other, and who blinks first in response…
When it comes to buying phones here’s the thing, some people try to get the newest coolest thing they can find and others look for the the phone that looks and functions well. Sometimes you can’t avoid it and there’s nothing wrong with wanting cool. When I can’t find what I feel is a gadget that fits all my criterion I usually opt for total non-participation or participation on a small scale so that I can get done what I need and that’s that. What people don’t always tend to do is think of how to play the game or finding a phone or gadget that helps you play the game in an entirely different way. Enter the cell phone game.
The hard part about the cell phone game is that no matter how great your phone is capable of being (iphone) it’s still a slave to a carrier. Their rules, systems, prices, service and all of this whether it’s good or bad. Then you have carriers with tons of rules but atleast have a great service to back it up. At the same time though you device can’t match up most times. If you’re lucky enough to have both a great carrier and great device you’re probably paying $100 or more for your voice and data plan. The last choice would be using skpe on your computer but for the most part being confined to your home space. Or using it on your laptop with a cell card and ummmmm having to carry around your laptop. But I digress lets get back to the phones for now.
Right now I have a Boost mobile phone. The phone I have isn’t fancy by any means. The phone itself sucks ass. Here take a look.
So why use a crappy phone, well because my phone bill is $60 bucks a month and I can call anyone in the country any time i want on the sprint network. This means my service and reception are great and I don’t get huge on phone bills, but come on, no one wants this phone.
But what I’ve been waiting for is something that doesn’t make me compromise. See here’s the thing. While most other people were happy with their phone (including really buggy phone email), I had a Clie Peg-UX50/u (pictured below), wifi, bluetooth, IM, PDF’s, video recorder, camera, email, calender, todo’s… the whole bit.
It’s not that special until I tell you this was back in 2002. So in 2002 I was shrinking-down movies and watching them on my Clie, while waiting in the doctors office. I loved that thing (and I still have it). But most of all what I loved was the freedom of not being tied down. They had some services where you could talk to other people (with voice) via the internet, but it was always a work around, the technology just wasn’t there yet.
Now enter 2008 and the Nokia N810 Internet tablet WiMAX edition (pictured above). I can use Skype or Gizmo (cheap/free internet phones services) over my internet device using WiFi. What’s even better is that there’s nation-wide roll-out (possibly starting in Chicogo, Boston, and New York) of a service called WiMax. It’s basically internet on your handheld device where ever you go, without needing a cell card or something like that. So I pay for internet and get phone too all in my pocket. The cool thing is that if I’m fine finding Wifi spots and only talking then I can do that.
The point is that it’s my choice, I don’t have to be dictated too about how much my plan is, when I can talk, 5 or 10 my circle or milky roll over mintues. I get things my way on my terms (mostly). Some people might call this a hassle, but I call it the cost of true independence from the cellular phone companies.
I would like to start a new movement today. I have a goal that I’m going to need help with. I’d like for everyone to help me get rid of the hyphens. No more should there be any such thing as Japanese-American, African-American, Indian-American, Mexica-American and so on. That fact that we think different is what makes us unique and independent, that fact that we look different is trivial in the grand scheme.
I would like to say that there are some things that were done in the past with these names that were supposed to help. You couldn’t give stipends to the Japanese Americans after WWII unless you singled them out, you couldn’t have afirmative action unless you could classify certain people, on and on. But in the end these terms do us more harm then good. Especially because I don’t hear people say Irish-American, Polsih-American, or German American too often.
So lets do away with all the in betweens and just be Americans.
Thank you to each and every one of you who was moved by Troy Davis’ story and who took the time to sign the petition or call the powers that be in Georgia to let them know that you were against his execution. A miracle occurred just two hours before he was to be executed and the Supreme Court intervened, granting Troy a stay of execution. This is only a week-long stay, so there is much more work to be done to save Troy’s life. He is alive, but he is still wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, and the appeals process cannot go on forever. We must fight for Troy’s right to be heard in court and for the “justice” system to re-evaluate the validity of the original conviction. The real murderer walks free and justice has yet to be served. I encourage you all to learn more about Troy’s case and the cases of so many others who may be put to death for crimes they did not commit. Thank you again, so much, for hearing the voice of one man and responding in such a powerful way. We CAN make a difference.
PEACE.
I’m shocked to find myself even asking this question. As a fan of individual empowerment and self expression I’ve taken it as an article of faith that more media produced by more people is inherently a good thing. Democratization of information access is good. Opening up production of news to voices beyond the mainstream media is badly overdue. A profusion of alternative points of view is healthy. Despite having subscribed (and still subscribing) to these views, what I’ve noticed while avidly following the news in this election has left me wondering:
Is there too much media?
With so many outlets, expanded access to them, and especially with all of them picking up and feeding off of information from each other, the velocity of information in 2008 has increased markedly over 2004, which was itself noticeably speedier than 2000. Unfortunately, bad information propagates as quickly as good information in this environment.
Suppose, for example, I launch the story that Sarah Palin wrote an article for her high school newspaper urging underage girls to bear the children of reptilian aliens. Entirely fictional, but there are places I can post this story online where a significant number of people might see it. With a certain amount of plausibility, catchiness and volume of readership (I think I have the catchiness down, probably falling short on plausibility) my “story” will be mentioned secondhand, passed on in e-mails and posted to other blogs. With enough of this chatter, talk radio outlets will begin pro and con discussion of reptilian babygate. Enterprising 527 groups will incorporate it into campaign ads that they produce purely for online distribution to garner media coverage. The mainstream print and television media will start to mention it in their campaign coverage.
It will be thoroughly debunked by fact checking sites, and my original post will meanwhile have been taken down from the blog where it ran, and the editors there will have barred me from future posting. But by then the “fact” of Sarah Palin’s pro-saurian reproductive advocacy will be circling the globe, being kept alive by the endless recursive loop of one media outlet’s covering another media outlet’s coverage of it, which gets covered by another and…
I’ve chosen a deliberately ridiculous example here, but so far this year we’ve seen exactly this mechanism generate huge amounts of spurious news based on only slightly more robust storylines.
Part of the problem is that the proliferation of media has created a vast zone where news, opinion and satire liberally commingle. There are places where this is obvious (personal blogs, opinion pieces in all media) and others that situate themselves in a journalistic setting but do not consistently apply journalistic standards (political blogs, talk radio, shows on cable news outlets).
Even worse, the pressure created by competition between media and the need to constantly fill the volume increasingly encourages the mainstream news outlets to report “news” that has not been properly reviewed or checked. With “airtime” (for all media, not just broadcast) vastly in excess of the amount of properly evaluated news, fluffy noise expands to fill the space.
And let us not forget that these mainstream news outlets are, at the end of the day, commercial enterprises. They might not be in such a hurry to pass on half digested facts if there was no money to be made from selling the space they occupy.
I’m not entirely sure what I think of what to do in response. Certainly constricting the volume of media produced or constraining access to it is abhorrent to my democratic and DIY impulses. I have to believe it has more to do with the need for responsibility from both purveyors and consumers of information to insist on quality amidst the quantity.
I’d be very interested (back to democracy and free expression here) to hear what you have to say…
Friday, September 19, 2008 is officially PARK(ing) day–a one-day, global event centered in San Francisco, where citizens collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks!
This basically translates into people occupying parking spots for the whole day and decking them out with grass, benches, and trees (or whatever artistic things they can think of); while paying the parking meter on the spaces. Great if you are a pedestrian, but a little taxing for the cars. Nevertheless, if you are driving to the city on Friday, plan on finding a garage, otherwise, enjoy!! 
Derrick May, who is one of the Godfathers of Techno once said “Techno is the
modern black man’s soul music.” For Derrick, the creation of Techno was an
escape from the abandon buildings, the rusted auto factories, and a crime
ridden city, as well as a look into a future music. So what happens when
you combine the tools of techno such as TR 909’s, 808’s with the Montpellier
Philharmonic Orchestra. You get modern day techno genius composer Jeff
Mills’ CD DVD combo called Blue Potential. Blue Potential is a 2 disc set
live recording of some notable Jeff Mills techno tracks reinterpreted with
drum machines and backed by a live Orchestra. Filmed in France at Pont du
Gard, Blue Potential reinvents “the modern black man’s soul music” to a
higher level of timelessness. Hopefully that this breaks some ground one
the stereotypes that techno is all about a “night at the Roxbury” with two
coked out club goers bobbing their head to the right. Blue Potential is
ground breaking for music as a whole taking a sound from an abandoned motor
city and integrating it with music of the fine arts. Blue Potential
stretches beyond of what people might think techno music is or what it can
be giving us yet another forward look into the future of “the modern black
man’s soul music.”
You woke up this morning and your regular routine began. You may have made some coffee and taken a shower before heading to work. Perhaps you overslept and rushed to meet the bus. It does not seem like an out of the ordinary kind of day. You may see or speak to those who mean the most to you throughout the course of your day, and you think nothing of it. You are young, and while there are challenges in your path, you have faith and family to get you through. Suddenly, you find yourself caught up in a situation that you have no control over and no real involvement in. This situation lands you in jail through entirely circumstantial evidence and the statements of another man who is the only other suspect in the case. A man has been shot, another pistol-whipped and lastly, a cop has been murdered. Nine witnesses are found who say that you are the one you responsible. No physical evidence is ever found to convict you, including the gun. This does not matter. A cop is dead and someone needs to take the fall. This is Georgia, boy, and you’re just a poor black man in the wrong place at the wrong time. You’ll do.
Meet Troy Anthony Davis. On Septemeber 23, the state of Georgia plans to execute this man, after sixteen years on Death Row. Sixteen years in which Davis has maintained his innocence and fought tooth and nail to prove it. His case is complicated, but the injustice is stark and clear. Here is a quicky summary of the key details:
Troy Anthony Davis has been on death row in Georgia for more than 16 years for the murder of Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail at a Burger King in Savannah, Georgia – despite strong evidence suggesting he is innocent.
–There was no physical evidence against Troy Davis.
–The weapon used in the crime was never found.
–The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony.
–Seven of the nine non-police witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony. —Many of these witnesses have stated that they were pressured or coerced by police.
–One of the two witnesses who has not recanted or contradicted testimony is Sylvester Coles, the principal alternative suspect. Mr. Coles has admitted to carrying a .38 caliber pistol the night of the shooting, the same gun used in the crimes for which Troy Davis will be executed.
–Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles.
Troy Davis has never had a hearing in federal court on the reliability of the witness testimony used against him.
“By far the most frequent cause of erroneous convictions in our catalogue of 350
cases was error by witnesses; more than half of the cases (193) involved errors of this
sort. Sometimes such errors occurred in conjunction with other errors, but often they
were the primary or even the sole cause of the wrongful conviction. In one-third of
the cases (117), the erroneous witness testimony was in fact perjured.” -Hugo Bedau and Michael L. Radelet, Miscarriages of justice in potentially capital cases, Stanford Law Review
You can read more about the case and the shockingly obvious misuse of power, the courts and the media involved here
You can also sign a petition and send a letter to the powers that be in Georgia, to grant Davis a stay of execution and a re-trial. Link to Petition
If people like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sister Helen Prejean, Congress Woman Sheila Jackson, and the POPE have found a moment to send letters and advocate on his behalf, I am sure you can take moment today to help save an innocent man’s life. Do it. If you are not compelled by this post, read the report by Amensty International above. It is shocking. I ask you to do this, not only for Troy Anthony Davis, but for his family. Troy’s family has suffered unbelieveable amounts of pain over the last sixteen years, as they have fought side by side with their brother to find justice. “…with Liberty & Justice for all.” As Troy Davis asks, “Where is justice for me?”
My heart breaks for this man and I feel that I must do something. I have a voice and today, I use it to speak for Troy, a man I have never met. A man who I believe deserves the opportunity to be heard. He asks for nothing more than a fair trial. I ask for nothing more than a moment of your time to plead with the state of Georgia to hear him.
May you each find a moment today to breathe this air, hug those you love, savor your freedom and do something kind for someone else. Sign the petition. Do it now.
Thank you to Mike Hraba for opening my eyes to this situation. Visit Troy’s Website for more information.
Peace.
I know I know. Everywhere you look, someone is talking about Sarah Palin. For many of us, I think there is a general sense of complete confusion as to how on earth this happened and what on earth John McCain is thinking. There is also a renewed sense of fear about where our country is headed if they win the White House. I vote that we all move to Canada, but I digress. Someone said to me recently that choosing her for his VP is nothing more than an insurance policy against assassination. That might make a lot of sense, considering that there’s no way he chose her for something irrelevant like her track record or experience. Since the moment that her nomination was announced, there have been endless spoofs, discussions and jabs at this woman. Look, I don’t know her personally, but what I do know scares me. We are dealing with such tenuous times right now and we simply cannot afford to have anyone in the White House who isn’t willing to find new solutions to old problems. I’ll say it. Obama and Biden are the only chance we have at this moment to avoid WWIII. Russia is teaming up with Hugo Chavez to store nuclear missles closer to American soil. Iraq is a mess. Iran is ready to blow. Robert Mugabe is still in power. What on earth does this woman think she can do to help us deal with these situations? Killing moose and fixing traffic lights in Alaska hardly compares to the second most powerful seat in the world, especially at a time when it’s all about to blow up in our shiny American faces.
This short film was made by a man named Ari Sandel. Two years ago, he won an oscar in the “Best Live Action Short Film” category for a film titled “West Bank Story.” (www.westbankstory.com) Here is what he had to say about the inspiration to create this movie.
“I was so stressed out the other night over the possibility of Sarah Palin becoming a potential president that I made this 2 minute video…Its simplistic and quick (I made it in a few hours off of picsfrom google)…but I felt I had to express my concern some way. Nothing against her as a person but these are facts that need serious consideration.”
Take a close look at the state of the world and who are our options are for the best chance at peace and progress. Pass this along, especially to those who may still be on the fence about who to vote for.
Peace. Peace. Peace.
For those of you unfamiliar with the local San Francisco band, Live Evil, let me fill you in! It all began in San Francisco in the pathetic but brilliant mind of one Laurent Martini. He was a bespeckeled french nerd, scrawny and social awkward, attending a private french school and wondering when the hell he was ever going to see a girl naked. One afternoon he was introduced to the music of Poison and a little wound began to open a fester. A wound that was then infected with more Metal by the likes of Def Leppard and Motley Crue. This dorky little french kid suddenly discovered his true identity: Rock God. He began to write raunchy, filthy lyrics about sex and booze and drugs, all of the things that his new Rock idols sang about. The only difference was that while Brett Michaels and Nikki Sixx had actually experienced all the glory of their lyrics in real life, Laurent hadn’t. It would be many years before he would. After a couple of years, the dream died on the outside. Laurent grew up and went to college and became a pretnetious antiques dealer. Somewhere inside him, however, there was a voice. This voice screamed “Blow Me!” (which coincidentally is the name of one of his more eloquent songs)
A couple of years ago, with the help of the show Mortified and his own larger than life ego, Laurent actually put together a band (Live Evil) and they learned a couple of his original songs. Yes, those same songs that he wrote as a 14 year old kid. This led to actual shows in actual bars and clubs. This led to a Live Evil stage production (Heavy Metal Playground) in the San Francisco Fringe Festival last year, which won awards for “best of the fest.” This lead to his life story being optioned for a film and Live Evil merchandise being created. All of it leads up to Friday night. Together with his bandmates, “The Purge”, “Porkchop” and “DeathBone”, Laurent (now “Live”) has done the seemingly impossible. He has grown up and become every mother’s worst nightmare.
This Friday night, September 19, Live Evil will be holding their first ever CD Release party for the album “You’re Welcome” and they invite you all to come and share the love with them. I can guarantee that it will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen. This will be two parts fist pumping arena rock concert, one part failed high school talent show. “Live Evil is an endearing cocktail about a childhood dream that refuses to fade.” Here are the details:
What: Live Evil CD Release Party for “You’re Welcome”
Where: Fat City, 314 11th Street @ Folsom, San Francisco
When: Friday September 19, 9:00pm
Who: Live Evil, The Hacks and The Tomorrow Men
Also, check out the following sites for more information and to listen to some music!
www.liveevilrocks.com
www.myspace.com/liveevilrock
Be there or be super square, people.
Peace.
Alright, here’s the thing. I know that Comedy Central is owned and operated by a big old corporation, and is anything but Independent. HOWEVER, John Stewart and the Daily Show are, these days, one of the only sources for news that I actually trust. I know it’s all ironic and tounge and cheek, but they are so skilled at exposing the double talk and double standards of politics that it’s hard to ignore. I offer to you this absolutely brilliant example of the blatant hypocrisy of the Neo-Con talking heads. Thank you to John Stewart and the fact checkers over the Daily Show for exposing the pathetic flip flopping of these very influential political “experts”. Get the word out, people. We’ll only win this election if more people’s eyes ae opened to the shameful lies and hypocrisy that is the Republican agenda.
Peace.
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Bringing cinema quality cameras to those of us not named Lucas, Spielberg, or Scorsese, RED first suprised us with the ONE. It shoots film-like, movie lot quality for just over $17k! Compared to rival six-figure rigs, ONE made the major league stuff accessible to the minors. Once again they’re knocking down the barriers of price, size, and quality with SCARLET.
It’s a 3K (read: better than 1080p) camera that fits in the palm of your hand for less than $3,000! Holy [insert appropiate explitive]! This means that any ol’ Nick Newbie has access to some cutting edge ish? Only from the indies, baby!
Some key specs:
My friend Cat Stevans used to have this daily “ritual” of giving $2 a day to a homeless person. I have always thought that this was a nice gesture, despite how broke she might have been at the time, she felt compelled to give. Many of us feel this way and may feel overwhelmed by the number and variety of charities out there. We may also have some concerns about exactly where our money is going. You send a check, you enter your credit card information into a website, and hope that your $20 actually finds its way to a child in the inner city or an old woman in New Orleans. It may feel good to give to a cause, but what if there was a way to know exactly where your money was going? Now, there is. A new organization and website, accugive, does just that.
Here’s how it works. Various community organizations like hospitals, churches, schools and shelters create “wishes” for their needs. These wishes can be as simple as a school in need 20 rulers for a math class or a child who needs clothes. You can log into the accugive website (www.accugive.com), browse through the various wishes that have been posted and donate a “microgrant” to grant a specific wish. Once the microgrant is received, you will recieve a “thank you” from each organization to which you donate. It’s that easy. You now know exactly where your money went! Here’s another great aspect of accugive: the organizations that sign up for donations will never be charged a fee! There are also never any fees applied to those who wish to make a donation. They are a privately funded and 100% volunteer run organization. So, every penny of your donation will go directly to the people who have asked for it!
So, collect your pennies, people! Go and help make the world a better place, one wish at a time!
Peace.
