Benelopy Cringlsey

Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz are right outside my office door. Filming is being done in and around the broadcast centre for what I assume to be Elegy.

Fun times.

Oh, and Penelope's stand-in is apparently one of our applicants for next year.

No cellphone, no camera, I can't even post proof that I'm easily as tall as either of these two (rare for me!)

Comments on Comments

The Tyee is launching what they call “…a new approach to readers commenting here…”

As a frequent reader, but extremely infrequent commentator (commenter?) on their website I’m very interested to see what comes of this. More often than not comment strings on blogs or online journals quickly degenerate into bickering matches that sidestep whatever article or issue started the discussion and become increasingly hurtful as they grow. Why? What gives?

I am a long-time internet user. I frequent forums. I browse blogs. I peruse postings and observe online communities and the squabbles and infighting that inevitably take place.

For the world at large the issue caught on fire when Kathy Sierra started getting some startlingly obscene and threatening comments on her blog, which led her to finding more threats and even some frightening photoshops on other blogs. The "startlingly obscene and threatening" link will take you to a story from Wired about the sources of the threats.

The double edged sword of online anonymity is razor sharp. We love the feeling of security, but we abuse the power it bestows upon us. Comments, postings, and rants often feel venomous.

It’s as if when logging on we’ve collectively come back from the Secret Wars, and as was the case for our good friend Double-P, we find the mask or costume we wear has come with a little added bonus.

Or have I got this wrong? Are the original authors and content creators more like our beloved Peter Parker with readers and playing the roll of Eddie Brock?

Our online relationships are symbiotic. While mutualism would be nice, more often than not what we wind up with is parasitic readers venting their rage – a rage free of the bounds of regular interpersonal relationships because of the strangely empowering nature of anonymity.

This is a big story right now because online journals and blogs now rival traditional media, but even back in the days of Wildcat! online tough-guyism has been an issue. The term “flamer” took on new meaning as we learned (or tried to) how to deal with a world in which everybody is an instant expert.

One site I think has it right, Something Awful. This may seem ridiculous at first when we compare the content to the material covered on “serious” sites, but if we break it down to the relationship between readers and the site the issue is clearly one of ownership or partnership from a users perspective. They've got a heap of regulars that want the community to continue to exist, and contribute to the site and community through posting in the forums. Only a certain few are actual writers for the front page, but many feel a sense of ownership or at least partnership because they have ample opportunity to contribute.

The site’s readers have spawned many an internet war, including hijacking virtual communities, mass-swarming other sites, stalking each other, and generally just being inappropriate.

The forums, unlike comments on blogs or journals, exist because of a real community. Sure it’s dysfunctional, but the site is better off because readers are more than a fake email address and a few angry comments.

Users can be put on probation, banned so they have to sign up again, and even permanently banned where steps are taken to try and ensure they will never return. People are held to account for their words and actions, something very difficult to achieve for a blog or website with no persistent community.

Sure there are the regular posters in the comments sections of sites like The DesmogBlog, Insidethecbc or The Tyee, but what other than deleting their posts can be done to weed out the bad seeds. Breaking from the article/comment format has allowed the users and moderators at Something Awful to build something more than the simple reactionary relationship we see on the web.

Perhaps then, the past is the future. The potential to spark a debate, and exist as a responsive and dynamic organization, can be found in the form of a forum.

Would users stop flying off the handle or hijacking debates? No.

But could a site deal with users who prove themselves to be reactionary hot-heads? Yes.

In any case, I'm looking forward to watching The Tyee's new approach to comments. I, like many others, am saddened when a great discussion about an article is taken over by loudmouths with an axe to grind.

some photos

Breakfast

I love eggs!

I hate shopping for eggs because I always think of things like this.

Back at home in rural Canada we got our eggs from a farmer. They tasted better, and the chickens sure as hell weren't all locked up in "battery pens."

Now I've got to pay top dollar for organic free range eggs, whereas I used to be able to buy dozens for a buck-fitty straight up.

Stupid city.

The Sun Run

Helen and I ran the Vancouver Sun Run.

As a tribute to the absolutely ridiculously massively hugely gigantic number of people registered, we decided to pace ourselves at exactly one minute per thousand people registered to run.

54:45 was my time, pretty close eh...


OR

Helen had a hangover and I hadn't run in about a week so we took it pretty easy (or were unable to really giver.)

Truly My Favourite Band

Music is probably the single most important thing in my life. I could be (and have been) cold, alone, hungry, sad, dirty, hungover, and injured - but a good bit of music will pull me up out of the muck.

One of the bands that really inspires me is Folky Strum Strum and the Postmodern Bluegrass Boys (or Orchestra, or just Folky Strum Strum.)

I've done my fair share of jamming with songsmith Ian Bruvold, and always found him to be a creative if offbeat (but usually on or at least very near the actual beat) musician. The same goes for Reno Fitch, and especially Graham Kerr who I do believe is quickly becoming Western Canada's best bass-clef-based musician.

I can remember the first time I heard these guys rip through a set, actually it could have been more of a meander or stroll.

It was fantastic. Ian, Graham, and Reno became something more than a tall guitarist, a tall mandolinist, and a tall bassist. They became a a musical distillation of rural Canadian life during a time that saw farmers turning into oilmen and oilmen turning into drugmen. That, and they didn't have to stand on a stage to see over the crowd while doing it.

There is constant talk about style in music. We analyze genres and scenes, we pick apart influences and commonalities. For the most part, and I say this with no great joy, bands can be categorized. But the Folky Strum Strum became more than a genre or scene or a fusion of styles. They were, during their brief existence, the touching voice of something beyond human. Hearing their songs live was like tapping into actual meaning.

Louis Armstrong said, "What we play is life."

Folky Strum Strum did, and I hope we all can find whatever truth they managed to connect to.

Ian Bruvold, I hope my praise doesn't embarrass you too much. You're pretty good at the music stuff.

The Mojito

Sweetness and citrus
Summer and rum I sit and sip
Muddled lime and mint

I love a good mojito.

Work

I've had a few jobs over the last few years; Painter, carpenter, editor, computer technician. There are a few more I could add to that list, but rather than focus on what I've done I'd like to focus on what I do.

Right now I'm working at BCIT, I've got the ever-so-impressive title of Assistant Instructor - Broadcast Journalism.

It's a fabulous job for so many reasons, number one being that sharing information (teaching) is actually the best way to learn AND it's about the single most rewarding thing you can do.

As my contract expires in June I have begun the search for employment, and I realize that I've been working for the competition. Not BCIT, but the students in the Broadcast-Journalism program.

Should I be pleased that I've done (from what I hear) a good job, or should I be terrified that now there are 42 more budding journalists vying for the small pool of jobs in the region - this set had even more training that I did, although I'm not sure if that makes a huge difference because so far the most important things I've learned about broadcasting I found out on my own or while working.

K'naan nets a BBC3 World Music Award

K'naan is awesome and completely deserves the award.

His album The Dusty Food Philosopher is a breath of fresh air in the polluted world of hip hop.

The winner for the Americas category is Gogol Bordello. Their new album Gypsy Punks sounds (to me anyways) like a more frantic while less Latino Manu Chao. If that doesn't sell you on it then you should load up your ipod with nothing but Manu Chao for a week, and then load up on Gogol Bordello for the next week. BAM! Two weeks of contempo-folk-world-punk will make you see the light and sell your crappy major-label hard rock to 12 year olds on craigslist for just enough money to buy a bottle of rum and a couple o cd's at scratch.

More fun than a barrel of baby red-pandas with sweet ass mohawks wearing plaid zoot-suits.

Another streaming mag

I keep trying different solutions (all free) for streaming the Mag. Googlevideo was easy with the uploader, and they don't shut me down because the show is more than 10 minutes long.

Revisiting Citizen Journalism

Just about a week ago I wrote a bit about how I was concerned with France's move to outlaw the distribution of images portraying violence by anyone other than professional journalists. This week an interesting story cropped up right here at home that deals with this exact issue.

A Vancouver firefighter and his son are facing charges after a fight with police. The fight, and a tasty finger-wagging was captured by a tourist (from what I've heard) on their cellphone and was posted to Youtube.

For your viewing (dis)pleasure.


I'm not a fan of violence, and I'm not sure I see much news-merit in the story other than to remember, if this were France sprintrjm would be in some trouble.

Painting and Sculpting with Bees

I have been completely in love with Aganeta Dyck's work for some time now, and I feel she rightly deserves the fancy GG award she just won.

Her shoes are brilliant, and I really really really really like the Sports Night in Canada series.

Marilyn the Poet

I'm pretty proud of my mom.

Leaf Press is using one of her poems on their site.

Le Citizen Journalism

France has brought in a new law that forbids ordinary citizens from distributing video or images showing acts of violence. Not that I'm a fan of violence or anything, but the story caught my eye because of what it means to citizen journalism there.

The law sets up fines of up to 75,000 euros and up to five years of prison time for those found to be distributing images of some offenses - stuff like:

• Torture
• Acts of barbarity
• Violence committed by an agent of the state in the exercise of his duties

That last one is particularly troubling n'est pas?

The law is specifically targeted at happy-slapping videos, but groups like Reporters Without Borders are concerned that the law is so broadly written that it poses a great threat to the safeguard against abuse of authority that is citizen journalism.

Images and video are understandably crucial for television news, but I'm not sure that we actually need to see violence to be informed of its existence. I for one don't really like seeing the stuff, but I think the fact that individuals risk their own safety to expose things like torture and brutality speaks to our collective hope for a peaceful existence.

Banning the distribution of videos and photos like this deals a heavy blow to ordinary people fighting for social justice. It makes one wonder what France has to hide.

What?!?

This was flagged in my email as important

I Love Maps

And I've found some really cool maps here. The countries of the world are all scaled according to statistics. It's kind of predictable, but a few are real eye openers - Overall a great bit of mappery.

5 Ring Circus

Friendly

Wanna give out hugs? Clean yourself up a bit.

YEAHBLARGHURGHHHYEAH!

This is awesome!

I try to point as many people towards Radio3 as possible, so go there and hear.