Entries from August 2006 ↓

Yesterday was Ze's 100th "the show".  It's vlogging at its best, funnier and with faster download times than Amanda Congdon!  On top of the humor aspect of the site, Ze's doing some interesting things with interactive content, including but not limited to a worldwide project to make an earth sandwich and playing a game of chess over a wiki.  Talk about vlog 2.0!

Ze's been on the web for a long time, being goofy.  In fact, I linked to him back in December of 2004.  Go me!

Lore reports that Warren Ellis is starting a comics collective called, as you may have guessed from the title, Rocket Pirates!  Submissions are open, and will remain open indefinately, or as Warren puts it: "The submissions process will remain permanently open. Unless, you know, I change my mind. I am unpredictable and I drink a lot."

All comics on the collective will be free to access, at all times, which is, in my humble opinion, the only way to go.  I guess I wasn't busy enough, after all.  Time to get cracking on those solo comic projects I've been dreaming up!  Or get Theo motivated, but honestly, that could be a whole lot more difficult.

If you haven't seen it, feel free to check out the comic Theo and I did between October 2005 and May 2006.  It had its good moments. :)

Claire Hoffman is brave.  Joe Francis is gross.  Either might be an oversimplification.  Claire covers the adult entertainment industry for the LA Times, and as such might be a bit of a masochist, or perhaps at this point simply finds the wanton excesses of American society both trite and banal.  Joe, the founder of the Girls Gone Wild empire, reveals himself as a young, frightened kid on a power-trip.  In a way, being gross is an act.  Sadly, that doesn't make it any less gross, and in a way all the more disturbing.

Claire's article covers Joe Francis, certainly, but it also covers a disturbing trend in our society.  It's not that we're losing our inhibitions, necessarily, it's that we're selling them.  Whether it's for a t-shirt and a trucker hat or for that elusive "fifteen minutes", people are becoming all too willing to do anything in front of a camera, for any reason.  Ironically, even Joe has a problem with this.  Like Dr. Frankenstein, and Girls Gone Wild his monster, it has inevitably turned against him and taken away that exposure of innocence he urgently sought and replaced it with a calculated exhibitionism.

But the women are changing, Francis tells me, and that makes him sad. In the beginning, when "Girls Gone Wild" cameramen first popped up in clubs, the women who revealed themselves seemed innocent—surprised, even, by their own spontaneity. Now that the brand is so pervasive, the women who participate increasingly appear to be calculating exhibitionists, hoping that an appearance on a video might catapult them to Paris Hilton-like fame.

The story is interesting, and it's difficult to stomach.  But I think it's honest and it's necessary, because like it or not, this is our society.

Gross, innit? 

Read the complete story: 'Baby, Give Me A Kiss', by Claire Hoffman: LATimes

Joe Francis, the founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" empire, is humiliating me. He has my face pressed against the hood of a car, my arms twisted hard behind my back. He's pushing himself against me, shouting: "This is what they did to me in Panama City!"

It's after 3 a.m. and we're in a parking lot on the outskirts of Chicago. Electronic music is buzzing from the nightclub across the street, mixing easily with the laughter of the guys who are watching this, this me-pinned-and-helpless thing.

Francis isn't laughing.

(via r.stevens) 

On the evening of July 27th, the Deleting Online Predators Act passed in the House with 410-15-7; otherwise known as a ridiculously gigantic margin.  The bill, which is incredibly vague, threatens once again federal internet subsidies for schools and libraries unless they take measures to block social networking sites and chatrooms.  The goal is to block children, specifically; adults should still be able to ask permission to access the sites.

How many times are we going to try and put walls around the internet?  How long will it take us to realize that our kids are smarter than we are and that the only way to really protect them is to be there, paying attention to their lives, and getting involved.

Though advocates for the bill constantly mentioned MySpace, the bill is broad enough that any site that allows "communication among users" could be blocked.  In the Web2.0 world, this could mean pretty much every site out there, before too long.  Blogs, forums, chat, IM, Skype, Amazon, Ebay, Livejournal, and online games are all at risk.  Why not just outlaw the internet for anyone under 18 years of age, or better yet, 21, and see how much we've shot ourselves in the foot when, in less than a generation, we don't have any web innovators anymore.

From Library Journal:

"This unnecessary and overly broad legislation will hinder students' ability to engage in distance learning and block library computer users from accessing a wide array of essential Internet applications including instant messaging, email, wikis and blogs," said ALA president Leslie Burger. "Under DOPA, people who use library and school computers as their primary conduits to the Internet will be unfairly blocked from accessing some of the web's most powerful emerging technologies and learning applications. As libraries are already required to block content that is "harmful to minors" under the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), DOPA is redundant and unnecessary legislation."

DOPA is in the senate now, and it needs to be stopped.  Please make your voice heard on this one, or else it's another Patriot Act in the making. 

ZDNet has a great rundown on DOPA if you want the background skinny. 

(via geekaresexy) 

Susann from McGill's GSLIS called yesterday about some funding they found for me.  I called her back this morning, and in the interim dreamed that perhaps they had seen my library experience and wanted me to do some sort of work study bit in the library there, since I was obviously so well-qualified.  It's not work, sadly, but it is an international tuition waiver, which means that, for my first term at least, I'll be paying Quebec tuition rates instead of international rates.  She told me that it's a $3500 difference for the term, and I'm definately not gonna quibble about that.  I do wish more people would just call me up, out of the blue, and offer me money, though.  It's a disappointingly rare occurence.

I'm getting more revved up, and more scared, about the impending departure.  In the meantime, I've tried to make the most of being where I am and particularly in taking advantage of the people I love who are nearby.  I went to Friday Harbor over the Fourth of July to see Cree and Benj and Gypsy, and to meet Nomi and Anne and Renee and little Aye-la.  It was unaccountably good to see these, my friends, my best friends, of gradeschool through highschool and beyond, doing well, living happily, in good relationships and making healthy choices.  All of them went through rough patches, during which I didn't speak with them much if at all.  We all have to go through things on our own sometimes, and nothing I could have done would have helped, I think.  It's great to have them back, though, even if I am leaving.

This past weekend I went to Port Townsend, where I was born and where my mom lives still.  It was a little hectic but a lot of fun in a house packed with my mom, Abby and myself, Coyote and Paul, and even Kas and Lavinia.  Kas is another best friend from highschool, my acting buddy, and has been living in Holland with his musician wife.  Last time I saw him was four years ago when I graduated from Evergreen, and our visits always seem to be for too brief a time.  Brief or no, at a visit every four years, I'll take what I can get.  Seeing my sister and mom is always nice, of course, and being in Port Townsend is ever-relaxing, even when the time spent is busy and occupied.  Abby got along well with everyone, and vice versa, which is nice since I imagine her being in the picture for a long, long time.  I wasn't worried, but it's still nice when these little details work themselves out.  

She'll meet my dad this weekend, which should be interesting.  I'm sure they'll get along, even if my dad's a little strange.  Still, I'm a lot strange, and she seems to like me okay, so that shouldn't be too much of an issue.  I've yet to meet her parents, though I imagine I will before I head east.  So far, she's been a gem about meeting my family, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being a little nervous about meeting hers.  It's not that I've heard horror stories, or have any reason to be concerned, except she's been so good and my family likes her enough that I want to be able to return the favor.

August 15th.  Now less than two weeks away.  Sweet zombie jesus … 

… please keep my ailing sanity in your prayers as I get ready to leave behind the city and friends and woman that I love to pursue some silly graduate school … thing.  It'll all be worth it, right?