Oaktown

Dangerous Dame

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Are you a big fan of any specific previous work by Timbaland? What about Hip Hop in general?

I think he is a genius . His beats have so much of his character and have so much humour in it , not gangsta kinda prangsta ! My favorite timbaland stuff is probably “slide” and “ain´t that funny “ with missy .

My favorite hip hop stuff of all time has to be public enemy : it takes a nation of millions to hold us back , nowadays i like clipse a lot . But overall i´m not too into the gangsta stuff like dr.dre , it is not musical enough for me ... The rappers too nasal ...

- An Interview with Björk, Brooklyn Vegan (via George), 04.17.07

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Date Stamp: 04.21.07

A light rain covers San Francisco. It's 6:33  pm. I'm sitting in the mezzanine at the Hotel Metropolis trying to angle appropriately for the complimentary wifi that seems to elude me. Felicia and Melissa are napping in our kryptonite colored room. I've just coordinated dinner plans with some of my very favorite people like Mita and Mr. West and I trust that our evening will only begin with tapas.

I'm very happy.

I've twittered about random things like leg cramps and Dixie bands and cannoli while I've been here and they are all true. I'm still battling the muscle tightness that cropped up last night at the Element Lounge. MJ's web 2.0 birthday party featured some ridiculous pop confection - at least 4 songs featuring Fergie and the Timbaland/Nelly Furtado/Justin Timberlake hit twice - along with the requisite megamixes and reggaeton and after trying to play it cool and take it easy, I was overcome. We danced it out. We walked it out. We got George to break it down. And then, because I'm old, the back of my right leg seized up. It hasn't quite relinquished it's hold.

This should be a problem because we spent the day walking the city. Breakfast at Cafe Mason was followed by a cable car ride to The Buena Vista and many an irish coffee, many a joke, and one camera lesson on the wonder of the macro feature and food shots. We then trekked through North Beach and found the "WashBaG crawdad feed" that featured the most excellent Dixie Band covering some of your 80s favorites including Rockwell, Phil Collins and the Eurythmics. We didn't stop there.

Can't Stop. Won't Stop.

So we continued on through the Italian rooted enclave until we found Mara's Italian Eatery and had the finest of pastries, gelatos and coffees before walking back to Union Square and then on to the hotel.

In betwixt all that, I've seen Smokler and Tim Ferriss and Jaschu. I've danced with strange women and been drunkenly encouraged by strange men. I've discussed local politics and web industry gossip and eaten my face off.

I've felt both special and normal at the same time. I've felt at home.

Huh.

So, if this feels like home what does LA feel like to me right now?

A question for another day, methinks.

This post's playlist:

1. To Dry Up (feat. Charlotte Savary) by Hope & Sorrow
2. Don't Sit on the Pickets by Racetrack
3. Morning Child by 4Hero
4. Interlude by Jay Dee aka J Dilla
5. You Broke My Heart by Cavalry of Light
6. Sweaty  Wet/Dirty Damp by Gameboy/Gamegirl

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I'll come back to a lot of the things I'm going to touch on here more deeply later (particularly twitter, the digital ethnorati panel, and the new "online identity" conversations) but here's what my very tired brain is thinking about:

Twitter:

• How did I stay connected to people at SXSW before twitter?
• I do have unlimited text on my phone, right?
• Twitter is not for your personal conversation. Let's try a one interaction AB conversation (and use the @username convention) and not AB AB AB AB AB AB where I don't know if you're talking to me or not. Remember we don't all have the same friends. We do still have IM and Direct Message and E-Mail for that.
• It is not rude to stop following someone.

• Samhita and Erica are some of my new favorites. Get Familiar.
  
• Laina and Ms Jen are now officially part of my sxsw inner circle
• I'm awfully excited I finally got to meet Rox and RKB in person
• It's nice being able to talk work stuff with work friends like Amy and Cruftbox at SXSW
• George, Lynne, Tiffany, Lainie, and Tracy are all my ace #1 peoples but you know this

• Buzzfeed
• Juiceboxxx
• Laist
• Blackholicus!
• Thunderstorms!

• I really need to come up with the "Agency Constitution" for my production team
• I really need to form a production philosophy that we'll adhere to. A mantra, if you will (and not negative ones like "No more phases" and "Not a production issue").
• I don't have any design/agency/business role models. I should get some.

• Summary thought: Now that people have developed online identity, they are now seeking a sense of place and that often means at points where online and offline worlds intersect.
• We really need to stop thinking about offline and online as separate.
• public vs. private is still a huge (and unsolved) issue.
• SF nerds name-check plazes all the time but I don't think it has much average user application (or provides a service that people are clamoring for)

• New etiquette rules really need to be established for online and mobile communication
• Reputation, Identity, Presence, Nameplaces - these are my kinds of buzzwords
• How does the desire for someone like me who wants a persistent online identity exist at the same time that many people (particularly young people) like the concept of disposable identity? Are their tools and applications that can make the web better for both types of folks?
  
• What about those who want no online identity but still wants the tools that are increasingly requiring identity creation?

• Short form/online content creators are mostly thinking about how to navigate big media negotiation instead of thinking much about the new challenges they face as their content gets monetized (unions, guilds, talent, production value)
• I don't know enough about the VLOG community

• This requires it's own post.

• Do we get to self define ourselves as the "Ethnorati"?
• When unexpected communities begin using a tool in unexpected ways, is there a kind of "byte flight" where the intended/existing community leaves for other options? (See Orkut, see fotolog, See even Friendster)
• I'm not sure I subscribe to the assumption that online access is for all (at least not in the "a laptop in every living room, a broadband connection in every wall" kind of way it was discussed here)
• Are there companies thinking about technology tools from ethnic/geographic perspective? Who are they? Who is running them?
• Aren't the tools being created from a commerce perspective different from the ones that academia and/or socially progressive organizations need in the communities they service?
• Does perception matter in this case?

• snooze

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James Brown

As I said on Mr. Kelly's post about the man, it is surreal to go to bed thinking about Eddie Murphy's most recent version of him and then to wake up filled with thoughts of the original product.

As James said and as I believe, "Do it to death."

Gonna Have A Funky Good Time

James Brown

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