Justine Ezarik -a.k.a. iJustine- our modern-day Digital Renaissance Woman, back from CES, is in Miami for NATPE and checking out the South Florida scene

iJustine video: Justine at NATPE. January 28, 2012.
http://youtu.be/Q3S1yKyYhyw
http://ijustine.com/natpe-in-miami-2/


Justine Ezarik, a.k.a. iJustine, modern-day Digital Renaissance Woman and well-known YouTube Partner, back from CES, is in Miami for NATPE and checking-out the South Florida scene.



iJustine video: we in miami, trick. January 29, 2012.
http://youtu.be/gPQFUzahJEM


I originally meant to post the two videos -below- of lovely multi-tasker Justine about three months ago, back when she was visiting Norway and taking some awesome photos and videos of that beautiful country that's been the sad subject of so many posts of mine here since the massacre in Utøya, and home to so many friends, talented musicians -and, let's be honest, very beautiful women.

Plus, in case you missed it, Justine finally explained, to those who didn't know, what the reality of the Swedish Fish situation was. So there's that!


Curiously enough, that video of Justine and her Norwegian tech friends doing the glacier trek was one of the things that I had waiting for me in my YouTube inbox one night three months ago, when I'd  come home from spending a few hours with my Dad when he wasn't doing very well after he'd taken a fall earlier in the afternoon at the Hollywood ALF he's living at up the street. I'd had to jump into the gridlocked traffic on US-1 and rush up US-1 to get him and then head south to the Mt. Sinai ER in Aventura, with a large and disconcerting gash above his right eye.

Right where he had had surgery back in 1973 after he was the innocent victim in a car accident in North Miami Beach, while I was in Junior High School.

When I finally got home and flipped on my computer and the TV, with Jimmy Kimmel

about mid-way thru his monologue, I was both physically exhausted and emotionally distraught, and driving home I'd once again been mentally debating my idea of whether or not my visiting Sweden and Iceland soon for two weeks to just get away from here for a while and clear my head is such a great idea.
Something I've mentioned a time or two here before.

But as she has so many times before, especially the rough last year-and-a-half, with all of its upsetting ups-and-downs concerning my Dad's health, Justine made me laugh and smile when I really needed it... so there's that.
She's Pittsburgh thru-and-thru!

Something my Steubenville-born dad would surely appreciate if he only fully comprehended the whole Influencer scene.

 

iJustine video: EPIC GLACIER HIKE! October 27, 2011.
http://youtu.be/pD0xXf9-_lI



iJustine video: Moose meat and glacier wounds. October 27, 2011.
http://youtu.be/n5JAIrd8IFI


Months after I'd originally planned on doing so, I'm going to be over on South Beach Monday afternoon to take some photos and shoot some video of the space on Lincoln Road that was supposed to be the new H&M store many months ago, but which is, well, STILL not open.


I'm going to try to get some straight answers from some responsible people as to when that soon-to-be cash cow store is going to be a reality, but if by chance I run into Justine, with her camera in tow, well, that sleuthing of mine may well have to wait until another time.


Even though I'm NOT a fan of reality shows anymore, per se, since the only one I consistently watch is CBS's The Amazing Race, Justine is definitely someone whose quirky personal adventures, misadventures and hijinks I would watch on the small tube. 
Yes, smarts, savvy and personality still counts for a lot with me, and Justine has enough personality for any two women.
Take that as a hint, NATPE programming types looking for new ideas.


-----


http://ijustine.com/


The trip to Norway: http://ijustine.com/?s=Norway&x=14&y=11 


Justine's photoshoot for Maxim magazine: http://youtu.be/YLKU4tkWH2s 


Photos at: http://www.maxim.com/amg/girls/girls-of-maxim/91021/ijustine.html 

Justine Ezarik's media portfolio, besides ijustine.com, consists of the following portals:

twitter.com/ijustine, 

youtube.com/ijustine, 

youtube.com/otherijustine, 

youtube.com/ijustinereviews, 

youtube.com/ijustinesiphone, 

youtube.com/ijustinegaming, 

ijustine.spreadshirt.com, 

dailybooth.com/ijustine, 

facebook.com/ijustine, 

myspace.com/ijustine

Yes, there's a Justine for every demographic!

A head's-up for those of you with YouTube Channels, esp. those of you who DON'T receive anywhere near the volume of visits that Justine gets.

Which is to say, all of you.

And me!

After originally planning on posting it over Christmas week but not being able to do so for reasons that some of you know about, in the next day or so I'll be posting the fascinating and instructive video of ABC News' 20/20 program from September called "YouTube Generation" that I've already spoken to some of you about via email. 

I'll also post some of my pithy observations about it.

A must-read! As Romney forces & GOP Establishment fear Gingrich's breakthrough in South Carolina, Wash. Post examines S.C. voters' daily media consumption for its electoral & social portent

The Washington Post
By Evelio Contreras, Marc Fisher, Kat Downs and Jon Cohen
January 20, 2012
-----
Below, the everyday media world of three South Carolina voters who are avid news consumers...
Prepare to see this effort copied by newspapers and TV stations across the country!


The Washington Post
Polarized news market has altered the political process in South Carolina primary

By Marc Fisher
January 20, 2012

LAURENS, S.C. — Once upon a time — oh, about two presidential elections ago — Dianne Belsom would get up in the morning and read the paper, taking in news stories about candidates and campaigns. Some stuff she agreed with, some she didn’t.

This morning, Belsom wakes in her splendidly restored pink Victorian on Main Street in this rural South Carolina town, makes coffee and settles in at her desktop to fire up Facebook. There on her news feed are more than 100 stories that some of her 460 friends have posted since Belsom went to bed eight hours ago.

Read the rest of the article at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-south-carolina-a-window-on-an-ideologically-polarized-news-market/2012/01/11/gIQA2ygPDQ_story.html


This article accompanies a quiz on the Washington Post's website to measure the reader's daily media consumption.
-----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics

Libya may change in 24-36 hours; WSJ's Alan Murray, social media expert Clay Shirky on effect of Facebook, Twitter, et al in revolts in Egypt, Africa

Facebook and Twitter Are Changing the Middle East 2/18/2011 9:42:59 AM
In an interview with WSJ's Alan Murray, social media expert Clay Shirky discusses the effect of Facebook, Twitter and other social media in the recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and what it could mean for the Middle East at large.

http://online.wsj.com/video/shirky-facebook-and-twitter-speed-up-revolutions/E0BAA515-5056-4F4A-AC5E-C684BADE46CA.html

When Clay Shirky speaks, very smart people with resources and connections listen -and so should you!
He believes that Libya is the next domino to fall... ker-plunk!

Pull-quote from the Shirky interview: "Governments are NOT afraid of informed individuals, they're afraid of informed synchronous groups."

Hmm-m... that's Joy Cooper's biggest fear at Hallandale Beach City Hall.

http://www.shirky.com/

http://www.shirky.com/weblog/

New York Times video: Tunisia, After the Revolution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeTY4zl02-4

Libya teetering on the brink of great change...
I've been listening intently this morning to the 6 a.m. BBC World Service World Today broadcast and have heard a fascinating interview with a Libyan-born expert in the U.S. who actually knows Colonel Qadafi and his son, Sayf.

Following a BBC correspondent's report from Tripoli, scene of so much violence this weekend, and even now, the scene of sustained gunfire, the expert in the U.S. being interviewed was quite negative about the speech Qadhafi's son made today on Libyan TV, and what he characterized as the very strange behavior he exhibited.

He said that Libyan people would not respond well to the behavior or words, esp, his wild gesticulations during the speech as well as the very threatening manner, which made it seem like it had not been rehearsed.
Almost like the first time he saw it was when he was reading it.
Hmm-m...

See it for yourself.

BBC video of excerpts of Sayf al-Islam Qadafi speech:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12520550

The situation is moving very, very rapidly...
How will Libya transition into next phase of development?

Another expert said that it's his sense of things that with the eastern part of the country basically opting out of central control, Qadafi will be out of Libya within the next 24-36 hours because the army and police are starting to realize that they have no future if he is around.

He no longer is able to control things and "the genie is out and can't be put back into the lamp."

BBC's Middle east Protests web page:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12480844

BBC-TV video segments on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12513941

Listen LIVE to BBC Radio's World Service here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/audioconsole/?stream=live

Facts on Libya at the CIA Factbook:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ly.html

The Channel 4 News Snowmail that I received by email on Sunday afternoon, written by Krishnan Guru-Murthy, said as follows on Libya:

LIBYA

The Libya uprising is showing its differences and difficulties. While Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain have been playing out on television cameras, amateur video, mobile phones and Twitter the Libyan protests are much harder to follow. International journalists have not managed to get in the way they did with the others. Access to the internet is restricted, and websites such as YouTube which can upload video, and social networks seem to be disrupted. However the phones still work so we have been gathering testimony the old fashioned pre-internet way. Amid reports of hundreds of people now killed in the protests in and around Benghazi there is clearly huge determination by the demonstrators. We spoke to one man there who told us "A lot of people are dying in the streets. There are a lot of cars with troops from outside Libya, I think they are Nigerian, from African countries. They have guns and they shoot anyone they find on the streets...From the eastern part of Libya, the protesters have received some heavy artillery, they haven’t used it yet – they're telling us they are going to now. Nobody knows the number (of dead) because there are many hospitals – they go to four or five different hospitals. Most of them are being shot by snipers, from far away in the head or the chest by Africans. Most of them don’t speak good Arabic, they speak French." Obviously there is no way for us to check these claims on the snipers but they give you a good idea of what the talk is going around the protesters at least. Heavy gunfire could be heard in the background and the man had to break off to shout at friends to get inside.

And it is clear Tripoli is far from calm too. We spoke to a woman there who told us "I live in the east side of Tripoli but I cannot go out. My husband went out this morning, he said the streets were empty, people were scared. So I said, ok let my son go to the store but my son – he didn’t come back and I hear from people – I call them and they say why did you send him? People have gone to the court – I hope he didn’t go there because he’s young and very nervous. For two days I kept him in the house but I hope he didn’t go there. Oh my goodness, there’s something happening now – they are shooting I’m sorry I have to go.". So we are gathering what we can, and will have the latest. We will also be discussing what the West can and should do about Libya. The US ambassador Louis Susman was pretty unsubtle in a diplomatic way this morning with Andrew Marr - it was clear he thinks Britain has been wrong to deal with Gadaffi in a way that makes him seem like a legitimate leader.

Here are the two news segments they aired last night on Libya.


Channel4 News February 20, 2011 Libya unrest
http://bcove.me/4tbtcgj2


Channel4 News February 20, 2011 Libya discussion
http://bcove.me/idmo6ot5

Once again, Alan Mutter at Reflections of a Newsosaur blog has it right about the American news media: ‘Objective’ journalism is over. Let’s move on.

Sometimes, with a news article, column or blog post that's particularly cogent, well-argued and well-written, there's little left for your humble blogger here in South Florida to say other than to encourage you to read it for yourself and become educated.

Well, today is one of those days, as Alan Mutter out in San Francisco has such a persuasive and common sense post today on his must-read media blog, Confessions of a Newsosaur, on the myth of a fair-and-balanced animal called "objective journalism" in the United States.

That legendary animal NEVER actually roamed this land, from sea-to-shining sea.
It was all merely a journalism industry construct that was passed down from one generation to another.

Alan has, by far, one of the most varied and successful journalism and venture capital backgrounds of anyone you could possibly meet in the U.S., literally, the nexus of both the legacy media as well as the new media. Even now, he's on the adjunct faculty of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley.
http://journalism.berkeley.edu/

Which is why his opinion really counts for something.

-----
Reflections of a Newsosaur blog by Alan Mutter
Musings (and occasional urgent warnings) of a veteran media executive, who fears our news-gathering companies are stumbling to extinction
Thursday, December 02, 2010
‘Objective’ journalism is over. Let’s move on.

It’s time to retire the difficult-to-achieve and impossible-to-defend conceit that journalists are now, or ever were, objective.

Let’s replace this threadbare notion with a realistic and credible standard of transparency that requires journalists to forthrightly declare their personal predilections, financial entanglements and political allegiances so the public can evaluate the quality of the information it is getting.

This not only will make life easier for scribes and the public. It also could do wonders for the sagging credibility of the press.

Read the rest of this post at:
http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2010/12/objective-journalism-is-over-lets-move.html

See also:

http://paidcontent.org/

http://www.mondaynote.com/

http://mediagazer.com/

http://www.beet.tv/

http://www.mediabistro.com/

http://www.mediabistro.com/webnewser/

http://www.jackshafer.com/slate_columns/slate_columns_index.php

http://www.jackshafer.com/

http://www2.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45 - Jim Romensko

http://www2.poynter.org/

http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/

http://journalism.indiana.edu/

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/

While savvy Channel 4 News (U.K.) gets even better, lazy U.S. TV network & cable newscasts AND shallow South Florida TV newscasts race to the bottom

Jon Snow guides us through what is new on the Channel 4 news website.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mkfeCqBuy4

While savvy Channel 4 News (U.K.) gets even better, lazy U.S. TV network & cable newscasts AND shallow South Florida TV newscasts race to the bottom.

It's okay, you're among friends.
You don't have to be shy about venting your frustration about how embarrassingly banal the American network TV newscasts have become of late, of the utterly predictable never-ending dog-chasing-its-tail quality of the U.S. cable newscasts, or the brain-dead nadir that local South Florida TV newscasts reached over this past summer, where you thought they couldn't go any lower and get any more insipid -but then they do.

And you are dumb-struck once again.
And you are reminded all over again what part of America you live in.
The part of America where they can't support a News Radio format.

For instance, recently, the 11 o'clock newscast of one Miami TV station really DID spend more time talking about who might be featured on a prospective Miami-based "Housewives" reality show than they did on what had happened that day at the Broward County Commission's FY 2011 Budget meeting in Fort Lauderdale, and what some of the programs slated to be cut might be and their impact on citizens.

And to compound this, they also DIDN'T mention which Broward commissioners voted for or against the 2011 budget, nor display the names or tally on-screen.

Yes, actual votes by elected officials, that boring civics stuff, especially when compared to talking about dopey Miami wannabe celebs, whom we just know in our hearts will be loathed across the country like they already are among their small circle of friends in the 305 or 954.

And if you're thinking globally not locally, the antidote for all that shallowness, banality and low-quality journalism is closer at hand than you might otherwise think.

And no, I'm not talking about the new and highly-popular Breaking News Twitter feeds, http://twitter.com/BREAKINGNEWS, though for some people, though not me personally, that may actually be a nice addition to their handy news toolbox.

I've written often here over the past year or so about how much I've integrated the Channel 4 News (U.K.) and BBC Radio 5 live diet of news and information into my busy schedule to make more sense of the world.

Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/#two
Listen LIVE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_five_live

Especially since I no longer get the hard copies of all the international relations and foreign policy journals I subscribed to when I was living up in the Washington, D.C. area, and actually could use what I already knew and had read at events at embassies, the IMF, the World Bank, SAIS and myriad think tanks, plus the great schedule of Russian-related events they had over at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center, under Blair Ruble, back when it was inside of the Smithsonian's castle on The Mall.
http://wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm
http://wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1424&fuseaction=topics.profile&person_id=4997

The very informative post-Noon Channel 4 email news updates I receive like clockwork before 1 p.m., the so-called Snowmail, named after veteran news presenter Jon Snow, and authored by him and other Channel 4 correspondents, gives me a real insightful head's up for what to expect later in the day on that night's newscast at 1900 G.M.T., but which I watch much later.

The fabulous Catch Up service on their website allows me to look back at anything that I may have missed within the past 7 days, which tends to happen a lot in the middle of the week due to evening local government meetings I attend.

As I've stated here previously, I often find myself watching the missed news segments on Saturday mornings before I get around to watching the Premier League matches on Fox Soccer Channel, or something on The BigTenChannel.

Plus, the Channel 4 broadcasts are broken down into news segments that are embeddable, thus making them perfect for blogs and websites, as I've used plenty here over the past year to great effect.

Well, at the end of September I received this new video from London that's p at the top of this post, and I think it gives you a pretty good appreciation for what is now available to you if you want to know what's going on in the real world outside of the rather shallow intellectual confines of the Sunshine State.

Such a deeply distressing story on so many levels...

Aid worker may have been killed by US grenade in Afghanistan

Jonathan Rugman reports aid worker Linda Norgrove may have been killed by US grenade in Afghanistan.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid601325122001?bctid=631900533001


Channel 4 News homepage: http://www.channel4.com/news/

Channel 4 News Catch Up Service: http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

Channel 4 Blogs homepage: http://blogs.channel4.com/news/

Sayfie Review Meetup for Broward County on Thursday July 15th in Fort Laudedale at Big City Tavern at 6 p.m.

http://www.meetup.com/Sayfie-Summer-Meetup/12138/

When: Thursday, July 15, 2010, 6:00 PM,

Where:, Big City Tavern, 609 East Las Olas Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FL,

Happy Hour until 7:00 p.m. We will have a section reserved for us.
Just ask for the Sayfie Review group.

Dear David, Last week, SayfieReview.com invited its readers to the Sayfie Summer Meetup on July 15th. Since the announcement, dozens of Sayfie Review readers and Florida politicos have signed up to attend get-togethers in 14 cities - from Niceville, Florida, to Nice, France! The Sayfie Summer Meetup is a chance for Sayfie Review readers everywhere to gather and connect with each other. Check out our webpage where you can sign up to attend or organize a Meetup near you on July 15th. We are also randomly giving away a brand new Apple iPad WiFi + 3G to one of the attendees at each of the two Meetups with the highest number of registered attendees on our Meetup page (as of 5 p.m. on July 14th). I hope you will be able to join us and connect with other readers of the Sayfie Review on July 15th. Click here to find or set up a Sayfie Summer Meetup near you! All the best, Justin p.s. Use the hashtag #SayfieMeetup on Twitter. email: justin@sayfiereview.com phone: 954-523-2427 web: www.sayfiereview.com

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."