Gawd, someone just take Chrysler out back and put ‘em out of their PR misery! From the blog, AgencySpy:
Fox Business Happy Hour co-anchor Cody Willard called out Chrysler today during an afternoon broadcast. Willard held up a copy of the Wall Street Journal, which had a full page ad (rated at $200k) that stated, “Thank You, America”, (for that huge lump of cash we just conned you out of).
Full post, with videos, here. Now we all know when it’s time to let the media old-schoolers go.
From the blog, Social Times:
Days after sending aircraft out to strike Hamas militants in Gaza, the Israeli government is launching a curated channel on YouTube and multiple Twitter streams in order to participate better in the blogosphere. Yesterday, followers of “israelconsulate” on Twitter could view live coverage updates of a citizen press conference held in order to further disseminate information regarding Israel’s stance on the war. Another Twitter stream tracks where Qassam rockets are falling in Israel.
Full post here.
Originally uploaded by lownight66
Photo stream from Patti Smith’s 62nd birthday show at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom is here. Oh yeah.
Wow. What a year it’s been! 2008 was one for the ages. And one whereby I got out the camera and the Windows Movie Maker and became a hardworking citizen v-journalist… or whatever you care to call it. Here are some of my video highlights for 2008. In no particular order:
1.) Coming in with the most views, over 32K on YouTube alone, is Tornado Rips Downtown Atlanta. My queendom for a bat-light with that one. But people still clicked-on. I have since picked-up a light at an Abracadabra Video yard sale for about $20.
2.) The video quality came out poor in this one. The usual compression issues I struggle with. But I have since decided that Vimeo’s quality is so much better that I will use that sharing site from here on out, rather than YouTube. Still, Obama SC Volunteers remains a fave for 2008 as even though Obama didn’t win SC, it captured the essence of the Obama win overall. Eyes on the prize. Eyes on the prize.
3.) By far THE best, most informative conference I’ve been to in the new media realm was the heavy hitter-ridden 1st Computation & Journalism Symposium at Georgia Tech. An interview from that with Michael Skoler, Executive Director, Center For Innovation In Journalism, American Public Media is here.
4.) Although it didn’t come to be for Georgia, Obama’s Phantom Swing State turned out well and made a nice HuffPost’s Off The Bus offering.
5.) The feel-good All Saints’ Episcopal Church Habitat build video was fun to shoot, and is now featured nicely on the All Saints’ website.
6.) Brrrrrr… this one done for Insider Advantage (a client) makes me cold because it was so freakin’ cold that King Day outside of Ebenezer Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue during a Presidential election year. It makes me laugh though. Poor FP Bill. His meds were way off that day. Heck, Bill’s meds were needing adjustment all year long!
7.) I think my personal, all-time favorite moment captured on tape in 2008 was the infectious laugh of an unsuspecting Bernita Smith. Bernita battled not only Republicans all year long, but a wicked-ugly diagnosis of breast cancer too. Bernita is the face, the laugh, of one tough fuck-you-to-cancer Georgia peach.
Thanks for clicking-on throughout 2008. May our 2009 be half as interesting and exciting as 2008!
Back in July, I caught a few moments on video at Manuel’s Tavern with Reverend Joseph Lowery… talking about, at the time, the Obama candidacy. And hope. And promise.
This mercifully short video accomplishes so much: it is not only watchable, with compelling music to get us beyond simple talking heads, it wets the appetite for more.
It makes the viewer want to explore what James Risen, the National Security reporter for the NYT, knows. Risen obviously knows a lot. Much more than me or you. I thus purchased his book from Amazon after viewing this video.
The video is also easily shareable and/or embeddable. I embedded it with a couple of clicks here and slapped it on my Facebook page. And I Twittered it too. No muss. No fuss.
When it comes to the New Journalism Army, ANP is always the one to watch. They are setting the bar. Word.
Now that Caroline Kennedy has been cured of her allergy to the Democratic Party, she should certainly be designated Senator from New York just because she feels like it. Think of how a slide show a day of old Kennedy family photos could breath life into old, flagging media plantations!
The never-flagging, trend-setting Huffington Post shows you how it’s done. They’ve likely had 10-trillion hits to their front-and-center slide show already.
In other Kennedy matters, Matt Towery talks about the Kennedy family role in the Obama nomination here. It’s all in his new book, Paranoid Nation. Order your copy by clicking ad to your right. On book store shelves this week too.
The above bon motes are from Elliot Eisenberg, an economist with the National Association of Home Builders. Eisenberg then went on to say, according to the AJC, ‘Atlanta should continue to build even though demand isn’t there.’
Full story is here. Read it and weep.
Still not sure if Eisenberg is brilliant or a babbling idiot who’s just making shit up off the top of his head. But that’s the whole economic mess in a nutshell, eh? Just who ARE the smartest people in the room? No one seems to be able to tell the court jester from the king anymore.
Together with the new homeowners, Ponchitta Ridley and family, and Habitat for Humanity, All Saints’ parishioners built a home. Fall 2008. Atlanta, Georgia.
more about "New Video, Sadden’s Grocery, From All…", posted with vodpod
Here’s a preview of the “Do Over” photo session. (See some post below.) It was taken with my really crappy 3 megapixel cam, so it’s not great. Merely a preview of the good stuff to come from some other person’s camera.
Below is the news alert found my InBox today from the increasingly hideous Cox Media Plantation product, AJC.com:
It lives on their homepage this morning too. See for yourself, but you’ll have to get there on your own devices. Out of principle, imaging that I have some that is, I refuse to link to the insult.
I mean, I’ve been insulted many times before, and will likely be many times more. But the violation of my InBox with this kinda trash really takes the cake.
Over 30 years after this portrait was taken of my family/step-family in the 70′s (I forget which year. ’72 or ’73 likely), my family/step-family will be gathering for a portrait again. Same people, same place. Minus that wonder dog, Spud.
Spud belonged to the photographer, a family friend. She, of course, has long since gone to reap her most-just rewards in the Happy Hunting Ground. Spud remains possibly the best dog I ever knew. She healed broken hearts. She really did. But that’s a story for another time, and I diverge…
The photographer was/is South Carolina artist/teacher, Blake Praytor. If you have Flash, you can view a gallery of his work samples here. (You Who fans won’t want to miss the shot of Pete Townsend from the early 70′s “Jumpsuit Tour.”)
I thought of Twitter as chiefly a news dissemination and babble-lite tool. Until it introduced me to Israeli political pop artist Mike Darnell and his powerful work. Now if I could only understand Hebrew, I could even hear his words! But art offers its own language of course.
Ok, it’s official. Despite sending out possibly THE most convoluted, confusing press release ever written (so I won’t bother you with duping it over here, even if I could as it came in as a .docx file) the Atlanta Fire and Rescue Dept. confirmed the closure of Fire Station #23 on Howell Mill Road by order of Mayor Franklin. A CL blog post about it all is here.
A petition to protest this closure is here. Sign it if you care to. I wonder what fire and rescue unit(s) respond to Atlantic Station now? Sure would be hate to get caught in one of those high-rises and have to rely on Atlanta Fire and Rescue to come get me out of there. Lord knows where the help would be coming from.
See more on this matter in post below.
NOTE: Atlanta City Council members can’t really be expected to communicate what they don’t know. I heard from District 9′s councilperson, Felicia Moore, today Dec. 2nd at 1pm that she knew nothing of fire station closings in the city, BUT that the Mayor Franklin could close stations without Council approval. Or notification for that matter. (As she did with Station #7 earlier this year.) So this post should really be titled Atlanta Mayor’s FAILURE To Communicate. With her council or her citizenry.
ORIGINAL POST: We citizens of the City of Atlanta have a better chance of being alerted to a terrorist’s bomb in India than we do to the proposed closing of an Atlanta fire station. This time, the ax is being waved over the head of Fire Station #23 on Howell Mill Road, near the HEAVY INDUSTRIAL AND RAILYARD AREA, let me repeat that in case anyone doesn’t get the HAZARDOUS WASTE POSSIBILITIES… HEAVY INDUSTRIAL AND RAILYARD AREA of the City of Atlanta.
Yet here in the age of the Internets, not a single communique was sent from our City Council members to the citizenry of the areas effected by this proposed closing. Only the quick action of a concerned neighbor who’d heard a rumor and got on the neighborhood discussion board alerted the constituency and the ‘hood about the proposed closing, and to the closing now being an agenda item on TODAY’S council meeting at 1pm… less than two hours away from me typing this. From the neighborhood discussion board:
Fire Station 23 found out about the proposed closing on Thanksgiving morning, so there was no prior word or discussion about it as far as they knew. They don’t have any details… no proposed closing date, no confirmation, nothing. What they do know is that this issue is on the City Council Meeting agenda at 1pm TODAY. The meeting can be seen on the local city government channel. Someone thought it was also viewable live on the internet, so if anyone can find it, please post it.
Agenda is posted here: http://apps.atlantaga.gov/citycouncil/agendas2.htm Due to the incredible number of items on it, I still haven’t found it mentioned. If anyone can isolate where it is, please pass that along.
After the results of today’s meeting are known, the area neighborhoods/neighbors can better organize/start efforts to rally for Fire Station 23 staying completely open.
Not unbelievable, but inexcusable. Hell, Station #23 services the very railyard area of Atlanta that burned so spectacularly in Gone With The Wind. If Broke Atlanta closes station #23 and it all burns to the ground for real this time again, I’ll alert the media on Twitter I suppose. You can find the commemorative plate on eBay here.
UPDATE: Someone from council person’s Claire Muller’s office returned my call about this matter. She too could not find an item on today’s agenda directly related to Fire Station #23, although she did say such an item could be “buried” somewhere. Such as in an item about “budgeting.” Imagine that. She promised to ask around and find out if such a proposal would fall under the sphere of the Finance Committee or the Public Safety committee. And call me back, as she promptly did with my initial phone call to Muller’s office. Close the sunroof; pigs is a’flyin’.
LATEST: Kathy from Muller’s office called again. To let me know that Councilperson Muller knows not much about this whole matter. That Muller had just heard chatter, same as the ‘hood. That it’s likely an “administrative” issue and not a “legislative” one. She passed the buck to the Mayor’s office and told me to call the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, Greg Giornelli. At this point, I think I’ll let some paid journo take over the matter.
VERY LATEST: The Atlanta fire people weigh-in on the matter. It’s true. They’re going to shut-down Fire Station #23. In 30 days! Pray no hazardous waste EVER comes through this town, Terminus, again. Scary stuff. From a Battalion Chief’s email to the community:
We were notified on Thanksgiving morning that Station #23 will be closed within the next 30 days due to the budget cuts. I am currently in contact with my Battalion Chief and the Fire Chief as to providing you and the other community groups with the most accurate information. Chief Coxton (my BC) has offered to meet with you or answer any questions that you may have.
Here is the e-mail that I received from him:…
Captain, you may direct any question or concerns to me and I will keep the Fire Chief informed. Please provide our citizens with my cell phone number and email address. Also, if a community group or NPU would like for myself or Chief Cochran to attend one of their meeting just let me know. Additionally, provide all citizens with as much factual information as possible, share the information from our meetings. Do not report to citizens that you do not know anything, we want to share as much information as possible.
Thanks,
Bernard Coxton, Battalion Chief
City Hall East
675 Ponce Deleon Ave N.E.
Suite 2001
Atlanta, GA. 30308-1807
(404)853-7060 Office
(404)227-7396 Cell.
(404)853-7061 Fax
bcoxton@atlantaga.gov <mailto:bcoxton@atlantaga.gov
Three cheers to the Atlanta Fire Department for bothering to communicate willingly with the people they serve. So deeply sorry that our bloated, broke city government can’t move them into the Mayor’s communications department. They not only know how to put out fires, but how to use email and cell phones in the digital era.
Jeff Jarvis, bless his annoying heart, points his readers and ‘sumers to a wonderful video today… shot entirely by a still camera, but one that happens to also shoot HD video. You can get into one of these Canon 5D MkII’s for about a grand. Let me repeat… A GRAND.
Here’s what a pro did with it, just after buying one off the shelf and charging that puppy up:
Canon EOS5DmkII, One night in Beijing. from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
Granted, the shooter here is a pro (a shooter for The Guardian in China), but he demos a product that is perfect for the pro’sumer level. And one that can help a newly-mined multimedia-ist take their journalism endeavors right on to the next level.
Remember folks, don’t get discouraged – just get using. The more you use any kind of gear, the more comfortable you will get with it all. One of these days, I’m even gonna take my Panasonic DVX100 off of automatic settings. I know that happy day is coming!
