...and mentions ConvergeSouth. (Not the movie)
In this week's Creative Loafing, you can find out about blogging in Charlotte. At least it will get you started. One of the problems with paper, I suppose, is that it is finite. One reason to get a blog. Blogs are infinite.
If you don't know Creative Loafing, let me just say that they are the premiere alternative weekly in the Charlotte and Greater Davebeckwith County region, which is a part of the fiefdom of Anonymoses. Obvious, I know, but important, although not here.
Anyway, this, this Creative Loafing, this alternativity is, well, essential to Charlotte and Anonymoses, as well as thousands of other non-conformists in the uniformity of Charlottality.
And that they would devote the time and energy to figuring out this weblog weirdness is commendable, regardless of their patience. May they start a weekly column, and may they have me do it, and may they pay me large sums of money for doing it.
You may recognize some of the people discussed. Karen Shugart did a fine job with this primer. She even mentioned ConvergeSouth...so maybe more Charlotteans, or Charlatans, or Charlhestons for that matter, will get involved. For if they do, they will find that the blogosphere is actually the latest stage in social evolution, and that magazines can even benefit from partaking in the blogversation.
Some day, CL, as it's lovingly typed by lazy typers throughout the county, will seize the reins and become an essential part of this latest manifestation of democracy, because when it comes to that Schopenhauerian question: "Champagne or Freedom?, they opt for Freedom.
"Fries. And biggie-size it!", my corpulent amanuensis carked at the polyester semaphor with ears for orders. "And make it snappy!"
So yes. Make it snappy. Then make it a point to send representatives to ConvergeSouth in order to see and be seen. The future leaders of the world are gathering. And a few knuckleheads.
Blogs mentioned are these:
ace pryhill
anonymoses
converge south
charlotte capitalist
charlotte101.us
anna-banana.net
pam spaulding
tbo talks
save cms kids
dump cms
the 704
drunk-in-a-midnight-choir
charlotte mommies
Thanks, Creative Loafing and Karen Shugart, for the complimentary and informative article.
(via Pryhills)
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Monday, August 15, 2005
Flights of Fancy Captivated by Mandie
...as the Tarheel Tavern opens it's doors for the 25th Edition: "Flights of Fancy".
Thank you for choosing Mandie's Transport. The airport is the next stop. All those heading out of state or country can now retrieve your luggage...
The tavernous headbirth of Blogmeister Bora Coturnix, graciously dubbed "Tarheel Tavern" by its caring 'tender, never ceases to amaze and thrill as it evolves, week by week, as if flying in the face of those who would cage evolution itself, then lower it into a pit of acid, that it might not compete with the official doctrine of reaction disguised as creation, and these weekly evolutions fan out and dance their wondrous fractal math of chaos and growth and change, such that a lesser shepherd might lay down his panpipe and take up the sackbut. But not Mandie! For Mandie carpaid the blogum and molded it into a shape not unlike herself, that is, if she still looks like the portraits on display at the Postal Service.
Of course I jest. All is good.
Go look!
Thank you for choosing Mandie's Transport. The airport is the next stop. All those heading out of state or country can now retrieve your luggage...
The tavernous headbirth of Blogmeister Bora Coturnix, graciously dubbed "Tarheel Tavern" by its caring 'tender, never ceases to amaze and thrill as it evolves, week by week, as if flying in the face of those who would cage evolution itself, then lower it into a pit of acid, that it might not compete with the official doctrine of reaction disguised as creation, and these weekly evolutions fan out and dance their wondrous fractal math of chaos and growth and change, such that a lesser shepherd might lay down his panpipe and take up the sackbut. But not Mandie! For Mandie carpaid the blogum and molded it into a shape not unlike herself, that is, if she still looks like the portraits on display at the Postal Service.
Of course I jest. All is good.
Go look!
Sunday, August 14, 2005
ConvergeSouth: The Movie
OCTOBER 9, 2005
BLOGSBORO, NC
TARHEEL TAVERN
ConvergeSouth
It was a weekend unlike any other in this small Southern city. Celebrities and blogebrities were everywhere. You would trip on them as you walked. And if you ran, forget about it, collision with fame was a certitude. Anyone who was anyone was in Blogsboro to lend their support, influence and money to the blogtival, and to the historically African-American institution who was hosting the event this momentous and pivotal year. So far, over a million has been raised, which will go toward creating a "Blogospheric Studies" department at A & T University, along with scholarships and such, as well as other projects like the network of "poverty oases" hosted by the University of North Carolina, at their many branches -- with Greensboro, Chapel Hill and A & T triangulating as pioneers, soon to be in all branches.
(A "poverty oasis" is a place in the university where the poor and luckshy can come and gain valuable skills, connections, food and work. )
"Word of this event started to saturate the media by late summer", says blogger Synonymoses, "and before long Hollywood and Independent directors were fighting over the rights to covering the event.
Spielberg wanted to call his "Blogging Private Ryan", about war-bloggers during the current unpleasantness in Iraq.
Michael Moore pitched for "Blogging for Columbine", a story about how students are sublimating their violent urges and learning how not to kill people by killing time instead.
David Lynch's "Oil Peaks" is about Peak Oil and its coverage in the blogosphere.
The Farrelly Brothers' "Jog Blog" will star Jack Black as a jogging blogger.
Francis Ford Coppola is doing "The Blogfather" about Mister Ed Cone, pioneer and gentleman blogger.
George Lucas will do "Blog Wars" to get more of the anger out.
Gus Van Sant's "Even Cowgirls get the Blogs" is about how the blogosphere is now seeping from the Headland into the Heartland.
James Cameron pitched"Blogtanic" but retracted it when told it would not hold water.
John Hughes' "Blog Alone" is about a blogger's life prior to discovering the blogosphere.
John Sayles' "Blogwan" is a story about West Virginia bloggers who rebel against their ISP after The Bhagwan is reincarnated as Glenn Reynolds, who proceeds to make them all drive Rolls-Royces and chant nonsense in Hindi.
Jonathan Demme is working on "Stop Making Blogs" and the sequel, "Silence of the Blogs".
Kevin Costner's "Steppin' with Wolves" is about a night out with FOX executives.
Martin Scorsese's "Raging Blog" covers the more vituperative bloggers among us.
Mike Nichols' "Who's afraid of Virginia Blogs"is about the lack of blogging representation from Virginia, our state to the north (should you have forgotten).
Oliver Stone, what else?: "GWB"
Quentin Tarantino - "Blog Fiction", about the work of Billy the Blogging Wordjones and others.
Richard Linklater "Slack Blogger" is a blogumentary about yours truly.
Rob Reiner's "Spinal Blog" is about bogus blog musicians.
Robert Altman... "B*L*O*G"
Tim Robbins' "Blog Roberts", about the blogging of neo-Supreme, John Roberts and/or a simple love story about bloggers who are named Robert.
Steve Martin's "Blogfinger"is about Carpel-Tunnel syndrome.
Tim Burton's "Edward Bloggerhands"another movie about Carpel-Tunnel.
Woody Allen & Roman Polanski are whipping together "Young Girls Who Blog".
Robert Redford's "Horse Yeller" is a sort of cross between "Old Yeller" and "Horse Whisperer", only the character yells at his horse, mainly because he is still using dialup.
Spike Lee's "Blog the Right Thang" is a blogumentary joint about ConvergeSouth.
One mustn't overlook the music at this veritable Blogstock, this Blogapalooza, this Tangleblog. All the best bands in the South were in attendance. REM, Dave Matthews, James Taylor, Allman Brothers, Ryan Adams, Josh Joplin, Love Tractor, B52s, Hootie, Arvo Part, and all the rest. Oops. Arvo is not from down here. Maybe next time.
Writers and novelists, always curious, also came out in droves, as did political beings such as Jesse Jackson (an alumnus of A&T), John Edwards and Liddy Dole. Andy Griffith even made a cameo appearance, whistling that famous melody, and partaking in a discussion on poverty with Mister Edwards and his lovely wife, Elizabeth.
The hightlight was, of course, the appearance of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton...who stole the show even more than Mister Internet himself, Al Gore, who was also there. Along with their esteemed and beautiful wives!
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates made appearances, as did Misters Ellison, Grove and Chambers. Flipper and Lassie were allowed in free. Flipper, bless his heart, wound up having people throw buckets of cold water on him, and complained that the sidewalks needed sweeping.
Of course, the cream of the blogosphere were in attendance, including Hoder, Jay Rosen, Dan Gillmor, Sybril Bennett, Nancy McLaughlin, David Hoggard, John Robinson, Lex Alexander, Ruby Sinreich, Ed Cone, Michael Moran, Christie Seals, Allison Perkins, John Teleha, Ted Vaden, DeWayne Wickham, Jeff Jarvis, Phil Meyer, Bob Steele, Francisco Camara, George Curry, Kevin Sites, Duncan Black (Atrios), Amanda Congdon, Dave Winer, Sandy Carmany, Tiffany Brown, Herb Everett, Roch Smith, Jr., Ruby Sinreich, Michael Bowen, Jimmy Wales, Sue Polinsky, Iddybud, Seth Godin, Dave Taylor, BL Ochman, (Sir Tristram) Tris Hussey, Toby Bloomberg, Andy Wibbels, Denise Wakeman, Steve Rubel, Rick Bruner, Wayne Hurlbert, John Jantsch, Neville Hobson, Biz Stone, Eric Alterman, Stowe Boyd, Henry Copeland, Wil Wheaton, Wiley Wiggins, Cory Doctorow, Arianna Huffington, Al Franken, Lawrence Lessig, Doc Searls, David Corn, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, James Wolcott, Juan Cole, Matthew Yglesias, Andrew Sullivan, Evan Williams, and God herself!
Can't wait to see the movies!"
Are you through now, Mister, ah, Synonymoses?
"Quite! Except to thank hometown bank, Bank of America, for their generous sponsorship."
And now a word from ProductPlacement...
ConvergeSouth
BE THERE OR BE STUPID
MIT Media Lab founder to build $100 PC for developing world
MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte has a plan to build a $100 PC for the developing world.
Proposed is a Linux-based, full-color, full-screen laptop using innovative power (including wind-up) and to do most everything that a conventional computer will do. These laptops will be WiFi- and cell phone-enabled, and have USB ports. Current specifications are: 500MHz, 1GB memory (no hard drive). See http://laptop.media.mit.edu/
Proposed is a Linux-based, full-color, full-screen laptop using innovative power (including wind-up) and to do most everything that a conventional computer will do. These laptops will be WiFi- and cell phone-enabled, and have USB ports. Current specifications are: 500MHz, 1GB memory (no hard drive). See http://laptop.media.mit.edu/
USA TODAY Founder: 'Support our troops' bring them home alive
The Gig is Up. We've played make-believe long enough...
Sacrificing the very lives of our children for a fake war that only benefits the president and his club buddies is growing tedious. The hoodwinks are losing their opacity. The Prince of War has worn out his welcome.
excerpts:
'Support our troops' — bring them home alive
They're burying young Marine reservists in Ohio this week. Fourteen of them, ages 19 and up, were killed last week when their amphibious landing vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
President Bush won't be at any of the Ohio funerals. He has not attended any funeral for any of the 1,840 servicemen and women killed in Iraq, although he has met with some groups of families who lost loved ones.
Bush simply called this latest tragedy a "grim reminder" that we are at war. It also should remind anyone who knows anything about war that lightly-armored amphibious vehicles never were meant to transport troops on bomb-laden roads. They were designed for sandy beaches.
...
"Support our troops" has become a sad, empty slogan for Bush.
Public support for the troops still is there, with candy, cookies and yellow ribbons. But government support sadly is lacking. No effective overall war plan. Inadequate or outdated equipment. No exit strategy.
That's why the best way to support our troops in Iraq is to insist that Bush bring them all home. Alive. Sooner rather than later.
Sacrificing the very lives of our children for a fake war that only benefits the president and his club buddies is growing tedious. The hoodwinks are losing their opacity. The Prince of War has worn out his welcome.
excerpts:
'Support our troops' — bring them home alive
They're burying young Marine reservists in Ohio this week. Fourteen of them, ages 19 and up, were killed last week when their amphibious landing vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
President Bush won't be at any of the Ohio funerals. He has not attended any funeral for any of the 1,840 servicemen and women killed in Iraq, although he has met with some groups of families who lost loved ones.
Bush simply called this latest tragedy a "grim reminder" that we are at war. It also should remind anyone who knows anything about war that lightly-armored amphibious vehicles never were meant to transport troops on bomb-laden roads. They were designed for sandy beaches.
...
"Support our troops" has become a sad, empty slogan for Bush.
Public support for the troops still is there, with candy, cookies and yellow ribbons. But government support sadly is lacking. No effective overall war plan. Inadequate or outdated equipment. No exit strategy.
That's why the best way to support our troops in Iraq is to insist that Bush bring them all home. Alive. Sooner rather than later.
Someone Tell the President the War Is Over
Frank Rich - New York Times
excerpts:
LIKE the Japanese soldier marooned on an island for years after V-J Day, President Bush may be the last person in the country to learn that for Americans, if not Iraqis, the war in Iraq is over. "We will stay the course," he insistently tells us from his Texas ranch. What do you mean we, white man?
...
Mr. Bush has lost not only the country but also his army. Neither bonuses nor fudged standards nor the faking of high school diplomas has solved the recruitment shortfall. Now Jake Tapper of ABC News reports that the armed forces are so eager for bodies they will flout "don't ask, don't tell" and hang on to gay soldiers who tell, even if they tell the press.
...
The president's cable cadre is in disarray as well. At Fox News Bill O'Reilly is trashing Donald Rumsfeld for his incompetence, and Ann Coulter is chiding Mr. O'Reilly for being a defeatist. In an emblematic gesture akin to waving a white flag, Robert Novak walked off a CNN set and possibly out of a job rather than answer questions about his role in smearing the man who helped expose the administration's prewar inflation of Saddam W.M.D.'s. (On this sinking ship, it's hard to know which rat to root for.)
...
Only someone as adrift from reality as Mr. Bush would need to be told that a vacationing president can't win a standoff with a grief-stricken parent commandeering TV cameras and the blogosphere 24/7.
...
To this day it's our failure to provide that security that has turned the country into the terrorist haven it hadn't been before 9/11 - "the central front in the war on terror," as Mr. Bush keeps reminding us, as if that might make us forget he's the one who recklessly created it.
...
Now comes the hard task of identifying the leaders who can pick up the pieces of the fiasco that has made us more vulnerable, not less, to the terrorists who struck us four years ago next month.
excerpts:
LIKE the Japanese soldier marooned on an island for years after V-J Day, President Bush may be the last person in the country to learn that for Americans, if not Iraqis, the war in Iraq is over. "We will stay the course," he insistently tells us from his Texas ranch. What do you mean we, white man?
...
Mr. Bush has lost not only the country but also his army. Neither bonuses nor fudged standards nor the faking of high school diplomas has solved the recruitment shortfall. Now Jake Tapper of ABC News reports that the armed forces are so eager for bodies they will flout "don't ask, don't tell" and hang on to gay soldiers who tell, even if they tell the press.
...
The president's cable cadre is in disarray as well. At Fox News Bill O'Reilly is trashing Donald Rumsfeld for his incompetence, and Ann Coulter is chiding Mr. O'Reilly for being a defeatist. In an emblematic gesture akin to waving a white flag, Robert Novak walked off a CNN set and possibly out of a job rather than answer questions about his role in smearing the man who helped expose the administration's prewar inflation of Saddam W.M.D.'s. (On this sinking ship, it's hard to know which rat to root for.)
...
Only someone as adrift from reality as Mr. Bush would need to be told that a vacationing president can't win a standoff with a grief-stricken parent commandeering TV cameras and the blogosphere 24/7.
...
To this day it's our failure to provide that security that has turned the country into the terrorist haven it hadn't been before 9/11 - "the central front in the war on terror," as Mr. Bush keeps reminding us, as if that might make us forget he's the one who recklessly created it.
...
Now comes the hard task of identifying the leaders who can pick up the pieces of the fiasco that has made us more vulnerable, not less, to the terrorists who struck us four years ago next month.
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