Click To Play My buddy Spuds just finished this cool video to promote this effort to get people to buy the new book The Ambassador of Lindy Hop on May 26. Frankie Manning is a legendary, Tony-award winning swing dancer who pioneered this unique American artform. Frankie’s autobiography, The Ambassador of Lindy Hop, co-written by…
Month: May 2007
Bahn Mi sandwich from Paris Bakery in Chinatown
Here’s a picture of the BBQ pork bahn mi sandwich that Cindy and I shared today from the Paris Bakery in Chinatown, NYC. Not as good as Nicky’s in the East Village or the hidden bahn mi place a block up Mott Street. But somehow we managed to choke it down. In my opinion, Vietnamese…
Video of swing dancers in the Easter Parade
Click To Play Here’s a lil video of me with a bunch of fellow swing dancers at the New York Easter Parade a couple of weeks ago, recorded by my friend Will. (That’s me in the tan outfit.) We’re doing the "Shim Sham," a traditional swing line dance, adapted from the tap routine the "shim…
SLProfiles offers virtual ribbons to support the Relay for Life
Yo Brewster sent this to me awhile ago, but I’m just getting around to posting now. His excellent SL social networking site SLProfiles.com is supporting the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life initiative by selling virtual ribbons and passing on 100% of the proceeds directly to the ACS. As a nice little social incentive, every…
Code Pink SL presents “Impeach on the Beach” this Sunday
Ana Herzog sends me info about a fun progressive political action in SL, "Impeach on the Beach." The feminist activist group Code Pink invites avatars to gather at Mikianna Island in Second Life to help spell out the word "IMPEACH" lying head-to-toe on the beach. The event is this Sunday, May 6, starting at noon…
Reporters without Borders comes to the world without borders
The Paris-based press freedom Rapporteurs sans Frontieres (Reporters without Borders) has opened a new Second Life headquarters to draw attention to their work in support of persecuted and imprisoned journalists around the world. You can find a "hall of shame" showing prominent persecutors of the press around the world, news feeds from their work around…
Obama reclaims his myspace page: the limits of viral grassroots organizing
PoliticsOnline.com reports that the Barack Obama campaign has "taken control of the volunteer created MySpace page listed under his name." Apparently 29-year-old Joe Anthony created the MySpace page a few years ago after hearing Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention. Since then, it has unofficially hosted news and information about Obama and his campaign,…
“Don’t Stand So Close to Me”: NPR video on Nick Yee’s virtual proximity study
NPR has a new blog called "Bryant Park" that features today a fun video on Nick Yee’s research on social proximity in Second Life. Entitled "Don’t Stand So Close to Me," journalist Win Rosenfeld amusingly explores how our real world social norms about physical space translate to the virtual realm. Check it out! (I shot…
It’s Press Freedom Day: let’s free some press
Happy Press Freedom Day! Here’s some of Rapporteurs Sans Frontieres statistics on press repression around the world this year: 24 Journalists killed 5 Media Assistants killed 125 Journalists imprisoned 4 Media Assistants imprisoned 65 Cyberdissidents imprisoned Also check out Freedom House’s world map of press freedom. Support your local press freedom, freedom of expression, or…
“Plain Dress” and simplicity in virtual living
Quakers have as one of our core values the testimony of "Simplicity." This applies to everything from the way we spend our money to the kind of cars we drive. In particular though, this simplicity has been most manifested by the traditional form of dress associated with Quakers, i.e. "The Quaker Oats Man." Historically, Quakers…