Flavia comes out to play
Via Will Bunch, news of Flavia Colgan’s Daily News blog, Citizen Hunter.
It may not be snarky, and I may not be on the blogroll (yet), but it’s worth a read.
the smedley log - suburban scrawl
And they’re off…
The current Featured Blog Poll is up at Philly Future. The three lucky finalists are Badminton Stamps, Pesky’Apostrophe and Phillyville. Pollling goes through this Sunday at 3 p.m.
If you’re a Philly blog reader (geographically, or even in spirit), click here to vote.
My absent mind
Could I be any more remiss? On the tails of the minor miracle of helping pull together last Saturday’s Norgs unconference, Karl’s family then celebrated the baptism of young Emma. Belated congratulations! God bless.
Friday Random Ten XLIV
(the bugs are taking over)
1. Sunny Day Suicide – Chlorophyll (The Philly File Cd)
“If you want to live, some things must die;
leave yourself behind.”
2. Certain Slant of Light – Vigilantes of Love (Blister Soul)
“Let the doubts all perish at sea-
-you gotta’ learn to dream all over again.”
3. Lebanese Blonde – Thievery Corporation (Garden State soundtrack)
“A half a million thoughts
are flowing through my mind…”
4. Hurry Down Doomsday – Elvis Costello (Mighty Like a Rose)
“In time you can turn these obsessions into careers
while the parents of those kidnapped children start the bidding
for their tears.”
5. Acoustic #3 – Goo Goo Dolls (Dizzy up the Girl)
“And I tried so hard to reach you,
but you’re falling anyway.”
6. Southbound Again – Dire Straits (Dire Straits)
“Southbound again—last night I felt like crying.
Right now I’m sick of living, but I’m going to keep on trying.”
7. Latter Days – Over the Rhine (Good Dog, Bad Dog: The Home Recordings)
“Nothing like sleeping on a bed of nails;
nothing much here but our broken dreams;
ah, but baby if all else fails,
nothing is ever quite what it seems.”
8. Occam’s Razor – Adam Again (Homeboys)
“I will paint you in a corner
in a room where the light is off”
9. No One Said It Would Be Easy – Sheryl Crow (Tuesday Night Music Club)
“But I think we’re here to stay;
I can’t imagine it any other way.”
10. God Part II - U2 (Rattle and Hum)
“Don’t believe in excess;
success is to give.
Don’t believe in riches,
but you should see where I live.”
Playing favorites: 10
Song I’d forgotten I liked (since I hadn’t heard it in, oh, five years): 1
Artists I’ve seen live: 1, 2, 7 & 10
No query on the title quote; it’s too easy… isn’t it?
Who else is spinning today? Ben, Brian, Marisa, Mark, Matthew, Philadelphia Story, Sherri
How we think
Radio Times, one of my favorite diversions from the morning talk radio nut-o-sphere, had a great second hour this morning. Discussed were ideas about how humans “multi-task” (as well as if they can actually multi-task), and the ways in which technology may be affecting (enriching?) intellectual capabilities in younger people. Or something like that.
I have so many ideas spurred by this line of thought, but no time to put them down, so I’ll just link to the show in two formats: streaming audio or mp3
Valerie McDonald Roberts
Greg at Keystone Politics interviews Valerie McDonald Roberts, a Democrat running for Lt. Governor this year. Very thorough, very well done. Read it if you want some perspective on candidates in PA beyond just those being blessed by the party machines.
Philly IMC at the UnCon
The Independent Media Center of Philadelphia has posted a video report from the Norgs Uncon. A nice snapshot of what the day was about. View (or download) it here.
They say everyone looks different on screen, but…
I watched the West Wing last night and was floored by how off the portrayal of this guy was. I’ve met him a few times (most recently at Saturday’s uncon), and it’s amazing what the camera can do to a guy!
After the unconference
Having spent a day in the confines of the Annenberg School with forty or so other folks discussing the future of norgs, I’m impressed by the thought that there may be hope for organized journalism after all.
Industry types mixed suprisingly well with non-industry types. Ideologies were varied. The room was swarming with ideas from not only veteran journalists and editors, but also from bloggers, students and people simply passionate about the future of news delivery. It was pretty exciting.
I looked up early on in the give and take and realized Jeff Jarvis was going to have the jump on all of us, as he live-blogged the event. Meanwhile, the ubiquitously blogging Atrios went surprisingly low-tech for the day. And Dan Rubin, who was also present, has a post on the experience titled Blue Sky on a Gray Day.
You can read their posts for more of a “who” and “what” account of the day, but I wanted to share some of my thoughts too. The thread I took from most of the discussions was the need to make the news relevant to its audience. While some might argue for more flashy, entertaining content, what about stressing relevance not by compromising substance for style, but by giving it depth and context? [Read more →]
Jane interviews Paul Lang
Shame on me for not posting on this sooner, but Above Average Jane has an excellent interview with state senate hopeful Paul Lang. It’s a must-read, especially if you live in the 6th district like I do.
Ben Who?
A portrait of the blogger as a young plagiarist
I haven’t had much interest in the whole Ben Domenech flap, but I know there are many bright young conservatives out there in the blogosphere. Couldn’t the Post have gone after one with his (or her) own ideas? (And, no, the advent of dueling partisan hacks doesn’t really constitute a balanced debate—it’s just a headache in stereo.)
Thought for the Day
Alex offers a question for which I have no solid answer:
How do you know you aren’t brainwashed?
Friday Random Ten XLIII
(hope you’re lightyears away)
1. Any Side of Anywhere – Vigilantes of Love (Audible Sigh)
“Think I recognize the place but the furniture’s rearranged;
yeah we always stumble in here under a different name…”
2. Waiting for You to Come Around – Lost Dogs (Green Room Serenade, Part 1)
“Here’s my bright idea,
to write this note.
So count this as the first move;
forgive the lump that’s in my throat.”
3. On the Lie – Goo Goo Dolls (Ego, Art, Opinion and Commerce)
“He said that Jesus Christ was just like a cop,
you know, you never know when they’ll come.”
4. High and Dry – Radiohead (The Bends)
“You’d kill yourself for recognition; kill yourself to never ever stop.
You broke another mirror; you’re turning into something you are not.”
5. It’s a Hard Life – Nancy Griffith (World Cafe 10th Anniversary)
“At the dairyline in Chicago, a fat man in front of me:
He’s calling black people trash to his children,
but he’s the only trash here I see.”
6. Who You’d Be Today – Kenny Chesney (The Road and the Radio)
“It ain’t fair you died too young
Like a story that had just begun
But death tore the pages all away”
7. Streets of Philadelphia – Marah (Point Breeze single)
“I walked the avenue till my legs felt like stone;
I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone.”
8. 5 Minutes – Garrison Starr (Somethin’ to Hold You Over)
“…but it feels like love, not some rigged-up holiday;
I believe in someone who can bring me down again.”
9. Imperia – Fountains of Wayne (Out-of-State Plates)
“The day you drew your final breath
and parted from the Earth
is carved into the stone that
bears your name and date of birth.”
10. Mountains of Burma – Midnight Oil (Blue Sky Mining)
“Pack your bags full of guns and ammunition;
Bills fall due for the industrial revolution.”
Seen live: 1, 2, 7, 8 & 9
Favorite: 4
Least favorite (but not as bad as I thought): 6
And by the way: Can anyone guess this week’s title quote?
Who else is spinning? Ben, Brian, Fred, Lauren, Luna, Marisa, Mark, Matthew, Sherri
Has anyone seen spring?
When I was 20, I worked in a restaurant as a prep cook. There was a small, but merry band of us who arrived about three to four hours prior to opening time. One of our merry band was a guy named Mike.
Mike used to show up about the same time as the rest of us. He’d punch in, then he’d disappear for about a half hour. The manager would show up at some point (usually 20-30 minutes after us); he’d notice Mike wasn’t in sight, and he’d ask the usual question: “Has anyone seen Mike?” [Read more →]
The dogma of “preemption”
A man approaches you in an alleyway. He pulls a knife as he comes closer. As he continues toward you, he says he’s going to kill you. There’s nobody else around, but you have an aluminum bat under your coat. You produce the bat from underneath your coat as he approaches. Before his initial knifestroke can reach you, you strike him with the bat. You continue to do so until he’s disabled.
What has happened here? In modern international terms, you’ve preempted an attack.
Is the situation any different if he’s on the other side of the street? Say he’s still walking along with a knife, but now he’s 50 feet away. He’s shouting threats in your direction, but he isn’t actually approaching you. You can reasonably discern that he’s capable of making good on his threat (should he ever decide to actually approach you). Sensing a growing threat, you lumber across the street and start pummeling him with your baseball bat. [Read more →]
The Norg: Adapt or you will be assimilated?
Oh, wait—that’s the Borg. Or is it? The Norg (a contraction of “news organization”) is what this Saturday’s Un-Conference at Penn’s Annenberg school will be addressing.
What’s an Un-Conference? It’s an amibitious effort to harvest ideas about the 21st century news organization. The seeds will be an eclectic mix of citizen and mainstream media types converging in a decidedly non-conferential fashion. Read more from Will Bunch.
Come to think of it, that Borg analogy may have some relevance, but hopefully resistance is not futile.
As I had forgotten…
“It is always a matter, my darling,
Of life or death, as I had forgotten. I wish
What I wished you before, but harder.”
-Richard Wilbur
It’s not the first time I’ve referred to Richard Wilbur in a blog post (and not likely to be the last, either). The poem from which the above quote is derived is probably my all-time favorite. I’m not sure if it started out of some urge to romanticize the struggles of youth, or because it simply tapped that directly into my own sense of those struggles.
As I age slowly here behind a computer keyboard, I often think of the younger people I see every day, and also of my nieces and nephews. I don’t envy them (well, aside from that “youth” aspect). Here’s to hoping they clear “the sill of the world” more easily than I did.
Mayan Princess
I saw the film Ask the Dust the other night, and it lit my head full of ideas. Mostly it reminded me of one or two similarities between my experience with women and certain experiences of the main character.
And maybe it helped me further my personal understanding of certain compulsions I’ve had. Oddly, even the phrase “Mayan Princess” (which shows up in the story) ties in with my personal experience… but that’s probably as far as I should go with this post.
