Won't You Just Die Already!!

picture from the dallas observer

Tonight there was a "Seattle as a No Newspaper Town?" panel and town hall to discuss the future of print media in Seattle..... Sounds absolutely boring and about 10 years too late. I can't even remember the last time I picked up a newspaper. You can't turn back the clock and unfortunately the time for change for most newspapers has passed.

Here are some tweets from the town hall tonight:

dont want print media to disappear though. so hoping the solution involves saving actual papers made from paper.

cannot sit idly by and watch newspapers die.

what upsets me is the classism of the discussion. not everyone has high-speed internet. (gets applause)

Why in the world would professionalism and ethics be lost due to change in MEDIUM?

I am amazed by the confusion and how the discussion can be very similar to the "We must save the auto industry" discussion. It's not like we have to re-invent the wheel, there are plenty of online new sites that are flourishing online and I recommend that we look to the political arena which has really been the leader in online news.

Here are two great examples
The Huffington Post - probably the closest thing to an online newspaper. Its format is newspaperish and it's content comes from a core group of staff writers and guest contributors which in the past has included Hillary Clinton, President Obama and John Cusack just to name a few. It's a model I could easily see implemented locally. Core staff of writers and guest contributors from the community.

Real Clear Politics - is more of an aggregator and it has been so successful that it has launched many spin offs. They aggregate what they consider to be the best news from the web and contribute original articles and commentary from a small group of core writers. Another great model I could see being implemented locally, pull in some great local blog content, pull some national news from the AP and have a core group of writers that can contribute some local newspapers.

So this brings me back to... what will we do with one newspaper in Seattle or none.. gasp! The answer is...we will survive. The time for discussion has long past and it's time for action and I have my money on someone like Patrick from WestSeattleBlog.com and Justin from CapitolHillSeattle.com to bring us the future in Seattle news.

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Reality Campaign: Clean Coal

New Reality ad directed by the Academy-award winning Coen Brothers. This is an amazing ad, you can learn more and join the campaign at http://www.thisisreality.org/



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Random Seattle News: Electronic Billing, Pets and Naming Parks

Finally electronic billing has arrived!

As a new option, customers of Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities now can choose to receive their bills electronically....To learn more or to sign up, visit either utility’s Web site. Seattle City Light’s is http://www.seattle.gov/light/. Seattle Public Utilities’ is http://www.seattle.gov/util/services//.

New Seattle Parks
Somehow with this big budget deficit Seattle still has the budget for more parks. I'm not complaining I personally think it's great, I just would have assumed that parks would have been the first thing to go.

The new parks are in Northgate and West Seattle. You can read all about the new parks and how to submit potential names for the new parks here

Spay or Neuter Your Pets For Free

To commemorate Feb. 24 as Spay Day USA, for the entire week of Feb. 23 through March 2, the Seattle Animal Shelter is offering certificates for free spaying and neutering to pet owners in need of financial assistance to have their pets sterilized. This offer ends at 5 p.m., Monday, March 2. For more information, call (206) 386-PETS (7387) or visit www.seattleanimalshelterorg.

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Slumdog Millionaire

Neighbors of "Slumdog Millionaire" child actor Mohammed Azharuddin cheering as they watch the Oscars on television in Mumbai on Monday.

(Indranil Mukherjee/Agence France-Presse)

One of my favorite movies of 2008 "Slumdog Millionaire", cleaned up at the Oscars last night. As someone who watches trends on the Internet for a living, I was fascinated by the discussions last night around the movie and it's awards. First I want to point out that I love Danny Boyle and thought the movie deserved all the awards that it won, especially when you consider what it was up against(Benjamin Button...!). The movie has sparked a huge interest in Bollywood and Indian culture altogether so look for more Indian influenced movies in 2009 and 2010.

What I found most interesting as I browsed my Facebook, Twitter and blog posts last night was that most negative comments about Slumdog came from the east coast. Words that seemed common in the criticism include: manipulative (especially in reference to how it made them feel) & overrated.

This blog post from Cinema Blend probably says it best.

"Too bad it’s also a forgettable, obvious fairy tale robotically programmed to tug at the heart strings of ignorant philistines. Slumdog Millionaire might be last year’s John 3:16 for most, but it’s last year’s 3 A.M. Lifetime original shitfest for me" (Cinema Blend)

So here are my conclusions:

• My east coast friends have amazing taste in movies and my west coast friends and I are just a sucker for a fairy tale.
• Life on the east coast is just so much harder, darker and so existential that a movie with a happy ending is just an insult to their very being.
• Indian culture is just not as popular on the east coast kind of like how Mexican films (Amores Perros, Y Tu Mama Tambien) are more popular on the West Coast due to the huge hispanic culture out west.

Well I am a sucker for fairy tales and Slumdog Millionaire was a great one. So if you have not seen this movie yet go out and see it for yourself.



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Why I Love Seattle Pizza Fusion

With all the restuarants coming and going on Capitol Hill I hardly have time to notice them. One restaurant that has impossible for me not to notice is Seattle's Pizza Fusion. Not only are they eco friendly, have gluten free options, organic ingredients, have tasty pizza, they are also one of the only retail businesses to understand the power of social media.

Check them out on Facebook and my favorite Twitter
Check out the review at Seattle Metro Blogs


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Where Are My Browncoats? Where is the Dollhouse Love?

I was sad to hear that Dollhouse had one of the lowest premiers for a network drama. I personally thought the show was great and had alot of potential. Joss Whedon is a genius and if I have learned one thing, it is to trust the guy. Joss has never let me down before, just look at the amazing work he has brought us: Firefly, Serenity, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel.

Calling all Browncoats and overall Whedon fans, don't let another great show get cancelled. If you missed the first episode you can watch it on Hulu for free http://www.hulu.com/dollhouse




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Music Video - Antony & The Johnsons - Epilepsy is Dancing

I love the new Antony & The Johnsons album "The Crying Light". It has been playing non stop over the last week on my iPod. Check out the video of Epilepsy is Dancing produced and directed by the Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix & V For Vendetta).




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AIDS Action & Awareness Day This Wednesday Feb 18th

Just a reminder that AIDS Action & Awareness Day is this Wednesday February 18th. Read all about it at the AIDS Action Blog http://aidsactionday.blogspot.com/

Also the City of Seattle is showing a great video on February 16th. Learn about civil rights issues and health care struggle around the AIDS crisis in Seattle circa 1980

The onset of AIDS “was a health crisis, but it was also a civil rights crisis,” recalls Carol Sterling, former director of the Chicken Soup Brigade. This week, Community Stories looks back to the 1980’s and the start of the AIDS epidemic in Seattle. The history is told through the words of people--including Sterling, City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, Seattle Gay News Editor George Bakan and AIDS Program Director/King County Bob Wood--who lived and worked on the front lines in the community.

Learn about this important history by following this link now: http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=3170902.

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Free Parking on Monday

My favorite thing about President's Day is the Free Street Parking.


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New Startup FertileFoods

Here is an update on my current projects.

Fertile Foods
I am working with a great team on a new startup called Fertile Foods. There isn't to much I can say at the moment other then it is going to rock. So if your pregnant or planning on having kids in the near future please check out our Healthy Pregnancy blog.
http://www.fertilefoods.com/healthy-pregnancy/
http://twitter.com/fertilefoods


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Friday Night Triple Threat: Terminator, Dollhouse & Battlestar Galactica

Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse

Eliza and Summer are the perfect combination. Fox might actually have a winner, not since Xfiles or Firefly has Fox been so exciting on a Friday night. I personally think Terminator is only getting better and I give the Dollhouse premier a solid "b". I think the show has alot of potential, it's Joss Whedon for frakin sakes, he won't let us down.

Battlestar Galactica

Right after Dollhouse it's over to the Sci-Fi Channel. Season is amazingly dark, with answers in every episode. It's almost too dark that I wonder how the show is going to end. In the meantime I will just enjoy the 3 awesome hours of sci-fi. Is this to good to last?

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Map Your Hikes With My Tracks

If only my iPhone could do this



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Steven Seagal vs Vampire/Zombie Hybrids - Trailer

Trailer from the new Horror action movie Against The Dark starring Steven Seagal. How can you not watch this movie, it has Seagal, Vampires/Zombies, what else could you ask for!

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Check Out Levar Burton Online

Years after Reading Rainbow Levar Burton is still teaching and innovating. Check out the audio to this latest blog post. Curses, Compassion and Gettin’ Kicked to the Curb…


Check out his blog at http://levarburton.com/
Levar on Twitter http://twitter.com/levarburton

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Movie To Watch This Friday: Fanboys

I have waited 2 years for this movie. Go see it this Friday



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Trailer: Immaculate Conception Of Little Dizzle

This was one of my favorite films at this year's Sundance Film Festival and one of the craziest movies I have ever seen. Unfortunately due to the fact that it was very unique I feel like the press pretty much ignored it and focused on more of the mainstream films like 500 Days Of Summer and the Informers. Look for it at Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF)

The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle trailer


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