Robert Scheer and How He Got to Vietnam

Robert Scheer knows a lot of people. Some of the people he mentions in this clip recorded at the Media Makers 99% Summit I haven't a strong connection as to who they are or were. Lots of history gets lost that way.



I have heard of Paul Krassner but not to clear on the details. The good news is that I should probably find out why this man is important or at least why does Scheer think so.

For more information about Robert Scheer you can check out www.truthdig.com.

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Dear New York Times This Is Why I Haven't Been Back

Dear NYT,

I got your most recent e-mail. Yes, I have cut back on traipsing around your web site. I know that I have 20 free visits. I appreciate that, I do. My friends, relations and colleagues keep sending me NYT links trying to get me to go check out a news story on your site.

I slip up now and again. Yet, like the song lyric says, I'm trying to walk away from a love.

You see, I don't like being made to feel like I am a poacher. I'm not. When you had open access to the Times I'd step in to read an article, find a source to cite or get lost in the photo slide shows from the magazine or your photographers and journalists media projects.

Actually it was Bitman that lured me to the web site and next thing I'd know I am exploring the photo essays. The videos of AO, JD and Sam were growing on me. It wasn't like I'd keep it to myself, I did communicate with other folks who also checked out the site.

And the old school NYT Archives?; totally faboo. Love it and might have mentioned it to a few library folks. I will try to curtail that in the future. I like archive digging but that also eats into the 20 visits per month.

So why haven't I been back?

First of all, this Internet thing does cost me money. I have to pay for the phone lines, the DSL connection and related charges. So do you plus an infrastructure I don't have to carry.

I know it takes cash money to produce a newspaper. Your newspaper is worth it but dang if I can abide or cypher your pricing schemes.

Dude/Dudette, it makes no sense.

$799 for total paper and digital access per year
$499 for digital only access for a year via smart phones and my desktop
$385 for actual weekday paper and all digital access for a year
$390 for Sunday only paper and all digital access for a year
$220 for Kindle only access per year
$195 for Web only (desktop) access
$19.99 for a monthly Kindle only access
$0.99 cents a daily Kindle issue
$1.75 to $2 for the print newspaper, depending on where I bought it.

It boggles my mind.

If I just look at it from a Kindle point of view, I'm not paying $19.99 a month to read the NYT on an six inch e-reader. I just figured out Article Mode but that only works for the text stories. The other features I like are not going to be accessible on an e-ink Kindle or my cheap smartphone because that would be a separate subscription.

I might splurge 99 cents on a day paper purchase but do I get to keep the day or does it disappear at midnight?

Once every other week I do buy the a paper edition. I get to hang on to it and read as much of it as I can. It takes a while.

You see my problem?

It's not you. It is me.

I'm not paying three separate subscriptions.

I don't want the paper version more than once a week. I don't want to start tracking how many times I've been to the site and I don't want to see that little tag that says I have four visits left.

I'm not a poacher, as many current and ex-journalists have cast web visitors like myself. Some of them even work for your newspaper. They should know better than to refer to visitors as poachers.

If they feel that way about it I don't have to come to the New York Times.

I think it is time for a trial separation. I've been looking around. I've even voluntarily gone to, you know, the Los Angeles Times web site.

Sigh, I know.

It's not the same but I need time to think.
I'll let you know.

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Andre Coleman - Citizen Journalism Session Part 3

This is the last exerpt of Andrea Coleman's presentation at the 2011 Citizen Journalism Session.



It is a meeting place that all bloggers, reporters and journalists can stand in agreement.

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Andre Coleman - I'm A Reporter

I made a mistake yesterday in that my rant about my feelings about bloggers and journalism should have been in a separate post from the actual recording. So I'm just going to err on the side of caution and just let the video speak for itself.

This is the second video of my recording of Andre Coleman's talk at the 2011 Citizen Journalism Speaker Series. Andre Coleman is a reporter/journalist with the Pasadena Weekly.



There are things I agree with Mr. Coleman and things I don't. The truth is I have to acknowledge that I have very strong feelings about newspapers, journalism and blogging.

I invested a lot of nickles, dimes and quarters in purchasing newspapers. I've invest a lot of time participating in blogging and community building. Which is why I have said and continue to say I'm not a journalist.

Unless I record that once in a lifetime video in which case "Yes, I am and pay me."

One of these days maybe I'll whip up a post on the 10 Things Journalists Need to Get Straight About Bloggers and New Media. I'll be able to write that post once I finish removing a number of bias cut logs in my eyes.

This could take a bit of time.

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Andre Coleman - Intro to Citizen Journalism Session Part 1

Update April 5, 8:29PM - Folks I need to make it clear that I made a mistake in not separating my remarks from Mr. Colman's video. Unlike Dogbert's pappy, I do not take down posts once I've written and published them. There was a better way to write this post.

In hindsight, you should have seen what I ditched. Never tweet when angry and never post when your fingers are moving faster than your brain.

Original Post

I am a blogger. I am also a writer. I do a lot of stuff actually so I really don't like labels. But let's say for the moment that I am a blogger. I have to say I'm a little touchy about current blogger/journalist relations.

They suck.

I have had a few days to think about the citizen journalism session. The Pasadena Community Network has weekly meetings on Tuesday nights. The focus of the meetings is to develop journalism skills that can be applied to blogs, web sites, mimeograph reporting or how ever you want to do it.

There is also the Pasadenan which is also citizen driven content with an editor and staff moderating the content. That is cool. Works for me. I have no objection to anyone development better writing or reporting skills.



It is getting better but there is a long road to the junction of peace. This is reporter Andre Coleman speaking at the March 29, 2011 Citizen Journalism Speaker Series that was held at the main branch of the Pasadena Library. Mr. Coleman write for the Pasadena Weekly.

My Thoughts

First of all I support anything a person can do to make their writing better. Many bloggers take workshops, online classes and actively work on developing their skills. I am not a journalist but I do make use of some of the classes and webinars at Poynter's NewsU. Special shout out at the great tutorials at the Knight Digital Media Center.

Good writing and reporting transcend labels.

I do not hate reporters and good journalists. I was raised in a newspaper town with two major newspapers and six or seven alternative newspapers. It truly saddens me that we have lost a huge chunk of the respect and the importance we use to hold for newspapers in this country.

I have people around me that use that term blogger as a pejorative. (Not referring to Andre Coleman. I have other real world examples that like to point with pride the ink in their veins.)

Many of these people are ex-reporters, current reporters and soon to be ex-reporters that do not apply their training to find out what is happening with contemporary bloggers and technology.

You want to lump me in with the fat guy sitting naked at his keyboard? Go for it. That just shows ignorance. That is not a good thing for journalists to display but if that is what you want to do why should I stand in your way? But I am not the one that put the shiv in the back of newspapers.

Newspaper management did it to themselves.

Newspapers in the 1980s and 90s did not want to pay attention to people outside of their chosen proven money demographic. They did not court the next generation. They totally did not get the beginnings of early on-line communities or the Internet.

If you do not talk to me or connect with me in some way why should I buy your product or service?

Some of the current silly rabbits in newspaper management and related media companies think all they have to do is take a person previously known columnist and change the word to blogger and then people will come a running back.

Many in the industry blame bloggers for stealing content from their newspapers yet provide links to stories and want people to tweet the news story. However they don't want others to summarize or add additional context to a news story that omitted an important perspective.

News management wants bloggers to promote newspapers but you don't want us reading your content.

My admittedly limited understanding of the corporate news management perspective is that I should pay for content I do not read or cannot use, such as sports, that I should be grateful that said content exists and that I should not want or need to have any further communication with those that generate said content.

Oh, and don't tell anybody else where I found the content that does not interest me on account they might read it too.

Tell me again why I want to have a relationship with newspapers?

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Citizen Journalism Discussion at Pasadena Library

The term citizen journalism is often used as a pejorative by mainstream media unless those same citizens make it easier for mainstream and corporate journalist folks to whip up a quick story.

Just got an e-mail that Andrea Coleman of the Pasadena Weekly will be having a discussion about citizen on March 29, 2011 in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at the Pasadena Central Library. 285 E. Walnut St., in Pasadena starting at 6:00pm.

I happen to think the term is more expansive than the professionals give credit and most times they don't or they are dressed up in carpet bagging clothing. Yes, I have biases and opinions which is not the same as reporting and journalism.

I am a blogger, not a journalist but I have friends all over the joint. If I can find my camcorder and find a way to get home back I'll try to make it but no promises.

I've been burned before by these type of events. I hope it is really is a discussion and not folks betting up on bloggers, non-corporate reporters and independent story tellers.

I'll need 24 more hours to improve my mood anyway.

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Cinema Studies – Would You Watch A Chick Flick?

My initial answer is usually “No.” In my head a so-called “chick flick” is fluffy, superficial and it reeks of girly-girl craziness in pursuit of beefcake. Or so I have been told. If I dig a little deeper inside of myself I think “How do I know this?” Well, movie reviewers and critics, mostly male but some female critics have passively taught me the negative confines of a chick flick. So I wonder, do women see movies differently than men?

Cinema Studies is many things from how each element in a film contributes to the creation of an movie experience to the importance of a film against the context of its time. Let me start with an movie that I was guilty of pre-judging when I saw the initial ads and reviews.

The Notebook is based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks.  Had no prior knowledge of Mr. Sparks work.  I might have seen the commercials for the movie and read a few of the reviews. It was enough to cause me to dismiss spending money on the film. That was a mistake. This is the trailer for the film: 

About a year ago I saw the movie on television. Loved it. I couldn’t figure out how I had missed it.  Looking back at the reviews I can see why. I was told that it was sweet, corny and well worth the risk of diabetic shock?  Yowser!

I found that the movie invited me into the past and the present with a love story involving class, wealth, loss and the endurance of love. The same qualities that I found in Casablanca, The Quiet Man and What Dreams May Come. For me, it was the story and the craftsmanship used to tell the story.  If the movie touched me in a positive way but freaked out some of the men that reviewed it does that make it a bad movie?

It could be that, to a professional movie reviewer who has seen a lot of movies, this was a paint by the numbers job. For myself who spent umpteen years watching the Late, Late Show and knows a turkey movie when I see one, I don’t think this was the case. How many good films might have been ignored because they didn’t resonate with the perceptions of the predominately male reviewers? I don’t know. I don’t even know if it is a fair question.

If, on the other hand, watching the movie makes you feel bad about your love life (or lack thereof) is it a good movie because it re-enforces cultural memes about finding true, everlasting love? Shannon at Three Girls Grown Up pulled a double whammy on herself. She read the book and viewed the movie.

So there is the subjective way to view film and an objective way to see a film. For students learning filmmaking there is process you can employ to really understand how the film was crafted. Tendrape at the Communications and Culture Blog reviewed the film looking at how certain decisions were made to invoke mood and experience.  She also looked at how certain mythologies are conveyed in the film:

This movie reinforces attitudes that go along with other popular films today like encouragement for the underdog and living the American Dream. Even though Noah is not working to become a millionaire or something with money which most often is associated with the American Dream, he doesn’t stop trying to get Allie back and eventually all his enduring efforts paid off similar to the dreams goals panning out in the end.

Women who love film/cinema/movies might bring a different perspective on what the see in a movie. They can also shine a light on forgotten or ignored film history. Here are some examples.

Other Cinema Blogs That Inform

Stacia at She Blogged By Night gives a review and critique of BorderTown. Stacia intertwines a synopsis of the movie with how Bette Davis performance in the film enhances or detracts from the presentation.  There is also a mention of the racism directed toward Latinos in the 1930s in the film. Raquelle from Out Of The Past, A Classic Film Blog uses the 1961 movie, The Young Savages to focus in on how Puerto Ricans are portrayed in New York City, 30 years away from BorderTown.

Raquelle has another great post about the dilemma of just focusing on the film or performance or do you allow the actor’s real life to influence your appreciation of the film:

I am far too nosy and inquisitive to not learn about the lives of classic film stars yet is it right for me to dig up the dirt? Should I honor their legendary careers by avoiding their personal lives? If so, why should I? If they did bad things, why should I overlook them? What about those stars who were genuinely good people? Should we avoid them too?

Campaspe at Self-Style Siren evaluates the screen relationships between two great character actors, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. She point out an interesting aspect of one of their scenes in The Maltese Falcon:

How well these two always managed to flesh out relationships that were somewhat superficial on paper. In The Maltese Falcon their more-than-business association is startlingly plain, but it's all in the playing. When Lorre attacks Greenstreet, yelling "You, you imbecile! You bloated idiot! You stupid fathead!" we hear not just a criminal sidekick but also a frustrated ex-lover.

Lolita’s Classics features a tribute to Animator Lottie Reiniger. Reiniger used black paper and scissors to create her animations and the work is stunning. You can view some of Lottie’s wonderful videos at Lolita’s blog. As Lolita points out:

Even though many people think that the first feature-length animated film was Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Adventures of Prince Achmed really is the oldest surviving animated feature film.

Bunny Fontaine loves B-Movies and writes about them at The B-Movie Buffet. But Bunny also grooves on retro movie fashions at her blog The Jaded Pussycat. Check out the 1960s fashions from the Dean Martin film The Silencers and then wonder about the so-called good old days when things were more “innocent.”

Sometimes a film can inspire folks to create their own works of art. Diane at Whidbey Island pays tribute to Hollywood fashion via reconstructing costumes from movies. The  costumes are scaled to doll size. You can see costumes from Imitation of Life, Funny Face and Rear Window.

I end with Norma Desmond’s The Flick Chick review of a contemporary movie, My Life in Ruins.  From what I’ve read this may indeed be a chick flick and not a good one at that:

I can’t remember the last time I saw a film where the plot machinery was so clearly visible and where everyone involved seemed to be proceeding with a “let’s just get this over with” attitude. I wasn’t even expecting that much from this, just light, fluffy summer entertainment but I find it difficult to be entertained by things that never aspire to more than the lowest common denominator.

I think the difference for me is that the plot and structure of the movie is being judged and not the fact that it doesn’t have bombs, gore or transforming robots as an instant negative.

This post originally appeared on BlogHer, where I am a Contributing Editor.

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