Me dancing the Shim Sham with Frankie Manning at Yehoodi's 10th Anniversary Party in 2008. Photo by OpeningMinds. In just a couple of days, lindy hoppers from all over will be descending on New York City for the swinging-est birthday party ever. The Frankie Manning 95th Birthday Festival will be notable not only for…
Video archive of Cory Ondrejka & Jonathan Fanton discussion now online
For those that were not able to catch the virtual conversation with Second Life co-founder Cory Ondrejka and MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton yesterday, the video archive is now up. Our friends at Treet.tv (formerly known as SLCN.tv) have released in record time the machinima video of the launch of MacArthur Island that happened yesterday in…
MacArthur Island launch a success!
Today was a good day. I was the event producer for the successful public launch of MacArthur Island in Second Life, featuring a conversation between the avatars of Jonathan Fanton, President of the MacArthur Foundation, and Cory Ondrejka, co-founder of Second Life now at EMI. Over 150 avatars, plus another 20-some viewers of the live…
The promise, tool and bargain of Yehoodi as a community website
I just finished today Clay Shirky's awesome book Here Comes Everybody, a cogent description of the sea-change in social organization that we are witnessing due to the advent of online social networking tools. Shirky's book has me thinking about what lessons I can take away from it for Yehoodi, the swing dance community site I…
Show your Filipino pride with Barkada tees!
My friend Ardith and her sister Arlene announce that their Filipino-themed tee-shirt company Barkada(ko) has launched their new website. Back in the day, you had to hunt them down at at a street festival in New York or San Francisco and hope they had your size. Now you can get them on the online any…
Why you should see “Star Trek” in the theater
Last night Swifty, Arfer and I saw the new "Star Trek" movie at the beautiful Ziegfeld Theater in midtown Manhattan. It was just about the perfect blockbuster movie experience. Here's some reasons why you should spend $12.50 see it in an actual movie theater (instead of waiting for DVD/Blue-ray, watching it on your iPhone, etc.):…
Helping “digital immigrants” see Web 2.0 as an asset for youth
Technology Trends: a Look at the Future View more presentations from Global Kids. Last month, my colleague Amira and I had the opportunity to speak to several coordinators of Neighborhood Network sites around the country. Neighborhood Networks are onsite, multiservice technology centers aimed at promoting self-sufficiency for residents of assisted housing. Giving this talk was…
NYC Bag Protest this Sunday May 17!
My buddy Rafi is helping organize a "NYC Bag Protest" — a super cool public action in New York this Sunday to get rid of plastic bag waste. The all-day event combines inspiring talks by Reverend Billy and No Impact Man, a scary attack by the Plastic Bag Monster, fun creation of reusable fabric bags,…
An odd morning: Tom Hanks in a weinermobile, Diane Sawyer on a trampoline
Early this morning, my mom, sister and I got VIP passes to see "Good Morning, America" being taped live at Times Square. Apparently every weekday morning, ABC staff let in a small group of about 30 folks to watch the live taping from 7 to 9am. The VIP pass was nice, allowing us to get…
Dancing is one of life’s greatest pleasures (pic)
This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of me dancing. Photographer Michael Blank captured the lovely Miss Victoria and I lindy hopping in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem a couple of weeks ago. We are both just blissed out and sharing a wonderful moment together. It makes me happy every time I look at…