Aaron Sorkin re misogyny in 'The Social Network': "These aren't the cuddly nerds we made movies about in the 80's..."

Above, cover of New York Observer of October 11th, 2010, "Good Nerd, Bad Nerd" illustration by Viktor Koen.

Aaron Sorkin on misogyny concerns in David Fincher's new critically acclaimed film 'The Social Network' that Sorkin wrote.

"These aren't the cuddly nerds we made movies about in the 80's. They're very angry that the cheerleader still wants to go out with the quarterback..."

Yeah, I know, I know.
I'm about a week behind in posting about this excellent piece from Sharon Waxman's TheWrap.com.
And second of all, no, I haven't seen the film myself yet, but will likely get to it later this week.

As you read Jeff Sneider's article, be sure to read the informed and opinionated reader comments that area as good as the points that Sorkin makes and refutes.

One thing is clear, no matter how successful you are as a writer, and regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, there are few that have been as consistently successful over the past 20 years as Sorkin, there's always someone you've never heard of who wants to tell you what your real "problem" as a writer is.
LOL!
But first, a nice coincidental introduction to the theme under discussion in the article courtesy of BBC Radio's 5 live film critic Mark Kermode.

BBC Radio 5 live:Kermode reviews Social Network



TheWrap
Aaron Sorkin Addresses Claims of Misogyny in 'Social Network',
The screenwriter himself defends David Fincher's film in a post on Ken Levine's blog
By Jeff Sneider,
Published: October 11, 2010 @ 6:33 pm

Many people who have seen Sony's "The Social Network" have taken the filmmakers to task for the movie's "misogynistic" portrayal of women.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin responded to one such attack from a commenter named Tarazza on Ken Levine's blog, Sorkin's publicist has confirmed to TheWrap.

Read the rest of the fabulous piece here: http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/aaron-sorkin-addresses-claims-misogyny-social-network-21628

Continuing with this theme on The Social Network, my new issue of The New York Observer arrived in the mail later than usual last week, but as I was so busy catching up on some things, including some overdue posts here at the blog, it would hardly have mattered if it'd been on time, which is usually Tuesday without fail. http://www.observer.com/
Yesterday, after the Dolphins surprising victory over the Packers, while waiting to meet a friend at a local haunt of mine, I finally cracked it open.
I was immediately reminded why I love it so much.

One of those reasons would have to be sheer prescient puckishness, as evidence by a delicious and fictitious 'as-written-by' Mark Zuckerberg piece on page 2 by Christian Lorentzen.


Then I read the three-page cover story, which under the illustration had the following:
"In the new Facebook movie, Mark Zuckerberg is a backstabbing, money-grubbing misfit. It works for Hollywood. But the geek stereotype may not apply in New York, where tech excecutives have perfected their own kind of cool." By Leon Neyfakh.
Deftly put!

Here's the problem: these two articles are not available online and may only be seen by subscribers, like myself, or by well-informed customers choosing to buyg a copy, so get yourselves to a large Barnes & Noble superstore ASAP, like the one on Biscayne Blvd. in the Loehmann's Fashion Island down in Aventura.
18711 N.E. Biscayne Blvd, Aventura, FL 33180
(305) 935-9770

Here's their online store locator:
http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/storelocator/stores.aspx?x=y&
You won't regret it.

See the past New York Observer stories on Mark Zuckerberg here:
http://www.observer.com/site-search?keys=Mark+Zuckerberg&x=14&y=0

Past NYO articles by Leon Neyfakh, many of which are tech-related, are here:
http://www.observer.com/site-search?keys=%22Leon+Neyfakh%22&x=34&y=16

Past NYO articles by Christian Lorentzen are here:
http://www.observer.com/site-search?keys=%22Christian+Lorentzen%22&sa.x=6&sa.y=3&sa=Submit
11:45 p.m.
To see a glimpse of some scenes from the trailer of the film -with some Swedish V.O. tossed in- you can see it here on Teresa Tingbrand's report for Aftonbladet TV:


http://www.aftonbladet.se/webbtv/noje/article7869353.ab

http://www.aftonbladet.se/webbtv/

Seeing positive public policy opportunities in a deserved object of ridicule

My comments follow the article.
------------
The Hill
GOP launches sarcastic 'friend czar' Facebook application

By Christina Wilkie
October 21, 2009

The GOP has unveiled a new tactic in its ongoing effort to dominate social media sites like Twitter and Facebook: a sarcastic Facebook Application that assesses a "tax" on Facebook users deemed to have more than the average number of friends.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://thehill.com/capital-living/in-the-know/64169-gop-launches-sarcastic-friend-czar-facebook-application

------------

If you see the trees for the forest in this story,
you'll see an opportunity...

If only I knew someone who could write computer
code so that we could make Social Media applications
that cross platforms and bundled all the info on
selected Facebook, Twitter, myspace, blogs,
websites, et al into a dynamic version of a
Google Alert, creating a forum for news and pithy,
sarcastic or trenchant comments about civic issues
of mutual concern.

Whether that's longstanding, intractable issues in
all our individual regions of Florida, or more recent
issues, like in the case of South Florida, the highly
suspect Miami Port Tunnel; the taxpayer bailout
of the Marlins Stadium and the already ballooning
costs of that rip-off; the expansion into Broward
County of I-95 tolls -Comm. Sue Gunzburger
has written me that she agrees and doesn't
approve of the plan to change the commuter
lanes into toll lanes; the Broward School Board's
entrenched culture of corruption, where members
feel emboldened enough to rip their own auditors
in public for actually bringing waste to light; the
continuing lack of proper and vigorous enforcement
of Sunshine Law violations by Florida cities,
counties and their Advisory Boards, as has become
an institutional practice in my town of Hallandale
Beach, made all the worse because the city attorney,
who draws his salary from the wallets and purses
of city taxpayers, yet just sits idly by, just winking
at everything...

You could share news, tips, first-hand observations
and photos, plus receive alerts when someone
whose past comments you deem trustworthy adds
something new about the individual issue you follow.
And it's with you wherever you go.

Plus, with individual issue applications, it puts you on
record as being AGAINST them so that like-minded
people could arrange Meet-ups once in a while to see
whether there were sufficient numbers to support more
direct citizen action, whether in the form of ballot
initiatives, PAC formation, et al, and not be dependent
on press accounts of events or rallies to determine
whether there was broad or just sporadic support
for your particular position.

No longer would you be left to ponder whether a
particular sentiment about some public policy issue
was shared by just you and a few of your friends,
something you wonder about when the civic and
public policy events you attend are often full of
articulate and very well-informed people, but the
public hearing, forum or summit doesn't receive
any press coverage at all.

For instance, to cite something I'm all too familiar
with personally, and have previousdly written about,
the Tri-county Transportation Summit I attended
on Feb. 21st in Fort Lauderdale at the Broward
Convention Center, which drew hundreds and
hundreds of smart and savvy citizens from all over
South Florida, but which received zero media
coverage afterwards, on a slow news weekend.

When everyone's an informed and empowered
watchdog, and it doesn't genuinely matter whether
a news reporter shows up or not to give your meeting
validity, it makes it infinitely harder for the the
entrenched crowd and their professional mouthpieces
and flacks to try to frame the public debate and
manipulate the media.

The press actually benefits, too, by having access to
a whole new universe of well-informed (if opinionated)
people to interview to give stories some meaningful
context, so that the Tyranny of the Usual Media
Suspects could be ended and no longer monopolize
public discourse.

For instance, to cite one glaring example, the Florida
media's continually quoting of Steve Geller regarding
almost any aspect of gambling in the state, but
conveniently neglecting to mention how much he
and his PAC have received in political contributions
from that very same industry, especially from
The Mardi Gras.

He's not an objective observer, but the press seems
unable to actually go 'cold turkey' on his quotes.
Please give him a rest.

There's a market here in Florida just waiting for someone
to fill the vacuum, as I'd happily pay a few bucks a month
to stay better-informed on the public policy issues that
I'm most interested in.
Just saying...

Meanwhile, some media folks aren't letting the bad
economy get in the way of a good idea whose time
has come.
Mediabistro's dcfishbowl, which I subscribe to,
had this post on Tuesday that caught my attention
and which I followed-up on.
--------------
dcfishbowl
Allbritton to Launch DC Metro News Website

By Matt Dornic
October 27, 2009 08:35 PM

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/online_media/allbritton_to_launch_dc_metro_news_website__141469.asp

The New Republic
The Owner of 'Politico' Is Going After the 'Post.' Again.
By Gabriel Sherman
October 27, 2009
http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-plank/the-owner-%E2%80%98politico%E2%80%99-going-after-the-%E2%80%98post%E2%80%99-again


The Albritton's family owned WJLA-TV, the ABC
affiliate in Washington, D.C. and created one of the
great tools for any Beltway news junkie, NewsChannel 8,
http://www.news8.net/, which provides in-depth
coverage of local news in the greater Washingon area:
The District, Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland.
It also re-airs all ABC News programs on weekends,
and Nightline the following morning at 10 a.m.

I've made pretty clear my strong feelings about this
area desperately needing a similar 24/7 Local News
operation here, so that context and information that
reporters actually know can actually get on the air
in something more than just small bits their alloted
time during a regular newscast.

Would've been nice to watch the myriad Marlins
Stadium hearings from home on TV with an expert
analyst in public financing, a la what Steven Brill's
Court TV used to do so well in high-profile trials.

Reminder, Monday morning is the next meeting of
the South Florida Regional Planning Council,
SFRPC,
http://www.sfrpc.com/council/agenda11-09.htm

re Broward Politics blog: Facebook debate; Wed. mtg. in Hollywood re Johnson Street

May 19th, 2009

1 p.m.

You might recall that the Miami Herald recently

ran a lengthy story about the topic of Facebook

which NEVER discussed the legal aspects of this

sort of social networking tools for public officials

and or govt. agencies.

I read the story closely three times just to make

sure I wasn't missing it.

Nope, the Herald never mentioned it, even while

I kept waiting for them to discuss the obvious reason

for concern in the next paragraph.

(Secret coded messages, for instance, to let

people/lobbyists know inside info, as I've

heard has already happened elsewhere in

the country.

The ol' hiding-in-plain sight angle!)

Par for the course at the Herald of late, sad to say,

that particular paragraph never ever appeared.

See also: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1042555.html

As of now, I plan on being at the workshop at

Hollywood City Hall Wednesday morning at

11 a.m. to discuss the future of the Johnson Street

area of the beach -now that Marriott took a powder-

which was long one of our family's hangouts after

we moved here 41 years ago, and a place my

two younger sisters and I knew like the back

of our hand when we were growing-up down

here, when they had trampolines there.

http://www.hollywoodfl.org/docdepotcache/00000/876/AGEN%2005-20-09%20Joint%20CRA.pdf

That's before the regular Hollywood City

Commission meeting at 1 p.m.

Later tonight, I'm going to try to post something

about that meeting here along with some links to

photographs of the Johnson Street area over the

past 40 years.

I may even try to swing by Johnson Street before

Comm. London's Resident Forum meeting at

the HB Cultural Center at 6 p.m. -his last one

until September- and snap some recent shots

of the bandshell.

Then I'll have a means of comparison, as well as

show the original renderings from the printed

presentation that Marriott and Zyscovich

put together from

over two years ago. which I immediately thought

was the best of the myriad hotel proposals

presented at the time, in large part because of

the public entertainment aspect to the plan.

Trust me, if NMB had had a bandshell/stage like

Hollywood's while I was growing-up down here

in the '70's, especially AT THE BEACH over

at Sunny Isles,

I absolutely guarantee you that my friends and

I would've figured out a way to mobilize and

convince the powers-that-be at NMB City Hall

to give us the go-ahead to make sure that high

school age kids in NMB got the opportunity

to play there for at least 2-4 hours a month on

Friday or Saturday nights, so that people could

get the valuable experience of performing LIVE,

whether as part of an organized school or church

effort, an actual musical group or as a solo act.

It would've been a big improvement over the

impromptu music that took place once in a while

over on the Intercoastal side of Haulover Beach

that I used to be witness to.

Located right near the water, while not exactly

California hip in ambiance, like it would be in

some TV show or film set in Santa Monica, Malibu

or Santa Barbara, it was better than nothing.

That is, until it started raining and everybody

ran into their cars like wet rats, and all the older

kids decided to split and go somewhere else in

their cars -without us!- like Greynolds Park

or the Hollywood Fashion Mall (back when

that was THE place if you were bored by the

usual suspects at the 163rd Street Shopping Center.

down the street from my house), leaving

9th-grade me and my friends stuck having

to wait and catch the H bus on A1A back to the

163rd Street Shopping Center.

Very, very un-cool and embarrassing!

In retrospect, given the resource they have

that nobody else around here has, it's pretty

clear that the City of Hollywood should've been

much smarter 25-30 years ago and and figured

out some logical way of better integrating

high school age kids into civic and social

activities than they did, and one way would've

been simple: music.

Have musical competitions or a battle of the

bands, say kids with bands from South Broward

High vs. Hollywood Hills, while integrating

individual singers or jazz or classical acoustic

musicians in-between acts, and maybe combine

the actual high school bands from different

schools for holiday shows or special occasions.

Maybe if they'd done that then, there'd actually

be extant photos of a young Johnny Depp from

Hallandale performing with his band, if they were

composed of Hollywood kids, at the bandshell,

and he'd be better known for his music than his

acting.

See http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/johnny-depp-shows-up-for-ballgame.html

It's not too late for the City of Hollywood to see the

light and make up for all that lost time and give some

talented local kids in the city the chance to perform

live, and create a very positive dynamic there using

resources they already have.

And you use the spirit of competition to get the best

out of the kids.

If you didn't see this yesterday on Channel 4...

Hollywood Neighbors Get Grief From Squatters

http://cbs4.com/video/?id=76643@wfor.dayport.com

------------------

Brittany Wallman's article from yesterday which

is the basis of this post is at

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-facebook-politicians-b0518sbmay18,0,1817971.story

and the reader comments are at:

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/south-florida-sun-sentinel/TNVRPN21KK2EIEIAI

-----------------

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/05/facebook_debate_take_ii_proper.html

South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Broward Politics blog

Facebook debate, Take II: Property appraiser's office defends it

By Brittany Wallman

May 18, 2009

----------------

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Coral Springs plans to start gathering friends on Facebook

By LISA J. HURIASH, Sun Sentinel

May 10, 2009

There are still some technicalities to work out, but after getting the OK from the Florida Attorney General's Office, Coral Springs plans to debut on Facebook within months.

Mayor Scott Brook, who came up with the idea, said he envisions using the networking site to "talk" to young people the city has not been in touch with.

"It might wind up being the best way for us to communicate regularly, easily and efficiently," he said.

Coral Springs could be the first city in the state to have a Facebook page.

It is the first city to ask the state for a legal opinion about the social networking tool, said Sandi Copes, communications director for the attorney general.

The question is how to make the Facebook page comply with state law, said City Manager Michael Levinson.

The rest is easy: The state said commissioners can't talk to each other on Facebook because that would violate the Sunshine Law requirement that politicians discuss city business in the open. And comments posted to the city's page by its "friends" will be public, too.

----------------------------

Miami Herald

THE INTERNET: City leaders finding it sweet to 'tweet' -

Twitter's gone viral with townspeople using it to send community

news blasts and BOLOs.

By HOWARD COHEN, hcohen@MiamiHerald.com

May 5, 2009

Communication at the speed of send has hit city and county halls.

Palmetto Bay Mayor Eugene Flinn regularly tweets. Cutler Bay Commissioner Ernie Sochin signed up on Twitter this month and immediately posted on the site, Does anyone who knows me think I can say anything in less than 140 characters? C'mon!!

This week, Alec Rosen declared his candidacy for city commissioner in South Miami -- via Twitter. It's a first for Miami politics, he says. "It allows us to communicate directly with people who find something in value in what it is you have to say -- in 140 characters or less," Rosen says. He'll compete for the seat against Rene Guim, who also plans to tweet during his campaign.

Miami Beach public information officer Nannette Rodriguez tweets, too. So does Miami Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, under the name IRL.

Following their every tweet are a host of community activists in Miami-Dade County, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, Coconut Grove, Doral and elsewhere with fast fingers on BlackBerries, iPhones and laptops. They've all mastered the art of the 140-character missive -- the limitation of Twitter messages.

"I heard this in a seminar once, that it's better to reach 500 people who want to receive your message than sending to 50,000 people who don't care," Rodriguez says.

That quote, by the way, would be too long by 10 characters or so in Tweetspeak.

"It's another tool," Flinn says of Twitter, a social networking site founded in 2006 that has more than 14 million followers who answer Twitter's prime directive: "What are you doing?"

On Twitter, you sign up to follow those you want.

"I'm excited about another medium that . . . encourages participation in our government," Flinn says. "It shrinks the world."

Indeed, Oprah Winfrey recently joined in. The talk show mogul already has 561,764 followers who read her latest revelation: no i'm not wearing a weave to which CNN's Larry King responded on his Twitter page, neither am I.

CHANNELING OPRAH

City officials are tapping their own inner Oprahs.

"Governments need to communicate with their customers -- their residents. What what we are doing for them is providing information on legislative actions or events in the community," says Hilda Fernandez, assistant city manager for Miami Beach.

The city of Miami Beach has had a Facebook and MySpace account for awhile, Fernandez says. "Twitter was the next logical step," she says.

The Beach Tweets are along the lines of the following:

Commission meeting ran late with many items continued til another meeting

Public hearing on New World Symphony agreement to be held on Wed at 2:30PM Details: http://tinyurl.com/c9a7tw, and

TAG, you're it! Report graffiti here: http://tinyurl.com/d4abdg

The Beach does not send out tweets on referendums or other major county decisions immediately, Rodriguez says. A city clerk reviews the information before making it public; Rodriguez types the tweet on her Blackberry or home computer.

The city also has worked with its police department to post information on criminal suspects through its Twitter page, MiamiBeachNews. Miami-Dade has attracted 112 followers for its new page, MiamiDadeCounty.

In Palmetto Bay, Flinn, who has 73 followers so far, has posted council meeting decisions as they happen.

Take this message, which arrived 45 minutes into a recent Palmetto Bay council meeting: Breaking news: PB council just approved new fire station at PBVC. Greater safety for residents. Details on web site tomorrow. Great News

PERSONAL CONTACT

"I want to be aggressive and maintain a personal contact and hope it's another venue for people to reach me on these personal events," Flinn says. "Everything is across the board with communication. There's no excuse for not accessing your local government."

Opponents such as Jim Araiza, who was defeated by Flinn for the mayor's seat in 2006, and Coconut Grove activist Tom Falco agree. They maintain Twitter pages of their own -- ionpalmettobay and GroveGrapevine, respectively.

THE 'WATCHDOGS'

"Every city has to have watchdogs, the media can't cover every event," says Grant Miller, publisher of a chain of community newspapers in South Florida.

Araiza wrote a political column for Miller's Palmetto Bay Community Newspaper until he ran for office in 2006. Now, he tweets.

"My attitude is I'm hoping we can improve people's lives by providing commentary on village news, taxpayer issues, to get more residents involved in community affairs," Araiza says.

After his South Miami PR firm won an award for a social networking marketing campaign for a client, Rosen realized the possibilities for his own run for office. "I didn't want to be the cobbler's kid with no shoes, I should do for myself what I do for my clients."

The drawback? One can swamp followers with too many messages -- the quickest way to lose an audience. Flinn, who has posted 55 updates, is mindful of that possibility.

"The hard part with Twitter," Flinn says, "is to make sure people aren't overwhelmed and that my messages don't get lost in the sheer volume of tweets they get."

---------------------------

Slightly off-target but still re Facebook, I found this article below by

the Herald's Andrea Torres quite interesting because it raised the

issue of graffiti taggers actually having the gall to use Facebook

to display their crimes, which after I read it, seemed completely

obvious, but hadn't occurred to me before.

I've been snapping shots of graffiti on road signs in HB and Hollywood

for the past few weeks ever since reading this piece, to see if I spot

a particular pattern.

I've noticed that U.S. Postal Sevice adhesive labels are esp. popular,

in that people can write on them at home, carry them with them discreetly

and then slap them on signs at night or very quickly during the day when

nobody is looking.

This is a REAL problem on Hallandale Beach Blvd. and is the reason

why those labels are NOT in the lobby of the Post Office on Layne Blvd.,

across from the Starbuck's I frequent and instead kept at the front

counter where the USPS employees can keep an eye on them.

--------------------------------------

Miami Herald

Graffiti writers vs. police: a game of cat and mouse

By ANDREA TORRES, atorres@MiamiHerald.com

April 12, 2009

Gang unit detectives and graffiti writers are constantly trying to outsmart each other, so secrecy and paranoia are the norm when it comes to the ways of graffiti.

Writers ride a fine line between making their tags famous and maintaining anonymity. Detectives must link the vandal to the tag.

"It has nothing to do with poverty anymore. It doesn't matter what gender, ethnicity, age or socioeconomic status," said Miami Gang Unit Detective Andres Valdes. "We have arrested kids from Coral Gables, Key Biscayne and Coconut Grove."

To navigate Miami's world of graffiti, detectives and writers get in the habit of recognizing hundreds of short catchy names constantly appearing on property. Valdes sometimes rides the metro in civilian clothes to look for trends and patterns.

"You go around looking for tags that you can recognize," said Hialeah Gang Unit Detective Israel Perez. "When they are not in your area, you share that information with other departments."

Both detectives and writers take pictures of tags. Writers post them on the Web to brag. Detectives archive them to build or enhance evidence for prosecution.

"We have a Hialeah detective who takes pictures every morning, documents it and archives the information," Perez said.

As the hunt for intelligence increasingly moves from the streets to the Internet, some police departments are going undercover online to befriend vandals.

"That type of work requires an undercover computer that won't track back to a police department as the original server," said Perez, who said Hialeah has yet to provide their gang unit with that tool.

Writers are regularly sharing pictures and videos of their stunts on websites such as YouTube, Flickr, Blogger, deviantArt, Facebook and MySpace.

"They do graffiti for notoriety, so they can't help it," Perez said.

Because most writers start young, detectives frequent schools to get acquainted with kids who may be tagging.

"You keep your eyes open for drawings on their shoes, backpacks, hats or their notebooks," Perez said. "Sometimes they give their tag away."

Valdes said training in schools is the most important part of his job.

"Teachers and counselors are at the front of the battle," Valdes said.

Police said an important part of the training is understanding that gang members and graffiti writers live in two different worlds.

Miami writers, who are generally not violent, belong to dozens of crews identifiable by acronyms with interchangeable meanings. Their only mission is to paint.

"They change the names of their crews like they change their underwear," Perez said. "They are generally very intelligent kids so they get creative with their names."

Graffiti crews are not territorial. They are usually born from friendships in neighborhoods and schools, and that does not define the areas they vandalize.

"A gang is there to make money and it is very organized. A crew is not as organized, they just want to put their name out. It can be artistic," Valdes said. "Gang graffiti marks territory and it is used to intimidate rival gangs. It's ugly."

In the courtroom, the purpose of the vandalism or its artistic value is irrelevant. A Florida statute calls graffiti a "blight" and defines it as criminal mischief.

Most writers who prefer to paint abandoned buildings, freight trains and visible public property believe they are beautifying spaces.

"You go out to paint not with the mind-set that you are going to attack people by hurting their property," said Skott Johnson, a former writer. "You go out to find visible spots for your art."

Some writers vandalize alone at night. Others go out in small groups. Usually while a few paint, a lookout stays alert.

"It's an addictive adrenaline rush," said former writer Jay Bellicchi. "You are a kid, so you move fast, try to stay invisible and hope to be able to outrun the cop."

An arrest can be made if an officer or a witness identifies a writer in the act. More than $1,000 in damage is considered a felony, anything less is a misdemeanor. Police officers estimate the damage.

"For a felony conviction, you need a witness. For a misdemeanor, you need an officer to witness it, and a little corroborating evidence," Perez said. "The witness has to be willing to testify in court."

Detectives sometimes persuade the alleged vandal to produce a written confession. A defense attorney can try to prove the confession was coerced.

"They are not bad kids, so sometimes they tell you everything and you wish you could reward them for their honesty, but that's not how it works," Perez said.

Evidence such as spray paint, different spray-paint caps, markers, books with sketches and pictures can also be admitted in court.

"Evidence gathered during undercover investigations may be subject to a motion to suppress in cases where the officers took shortcuts that violated the law," attorney Kristen Sowers said.

First-time offenders are usually mandated to participate in an early-intervention program that includes at least 100 hours of community service.

"If it's their first time, we sometimes call their parents and we let the kids paint over their own tags," Valdes said. "But it depends on their attitude. If they don't paint it, or we see they are repeat offenders, we arrest them."

Depending on the number of prior convictions, offenders could lose their driving rights and be required to pay fines starting at $250. Municipalities and counties are permitted to establish higher penalties.

"If the graffiti offender is a minor, which is often the case, that child's parent or legal guardian may be held responsible for the payment of these fines," Sowers said.

A vandal could be sentenced to a prison term of 60 days to five years depending on the cost of the damage.

According to the Florida Legislature, gangs and crews are the same in that they have as one of their primary activities the commission of criminal or delinquent acts.

"Misguided artists can be put in prison for years and that shouldn't be," former writer Seth Schere said. "They should have access to an appropriate educational program to help them see they can put their talents to use in other ways."

A graffiti writer can be prosecuted in Florida as a gang associate if the writer has a tattoo naming a crew, associates with one or more known crew members, or has authored any communication indicating responsibility for the commission of any crime by the crew.

"Most of these kids don't have evil in them like gang members do," Perez said. "They end up in jail or special schools with real criminals and get out worse than when they came in."

Police said very few vandals get prosecuted because of lack of evidence, and those who do get punished and return to the streets go back to graffiti with a vengeance.

"I remember arresting DUNCE of DYP and now he is popping up again all over the place. You think he would have learned his lesson," Perez said. "I can detain him again, but he could say that someone else is using his tag and we got nothing."