philly

Philebrity Has a Real Blogroll

Lordy. Go check it out on their site. I'm not kidding! Next thing you know, they're going to allow comments.

The Situation: Rachel Maddow

The NY Times has an article today on the new MSNBC show: The Situation with Tucker Carlson which is on every night at 9p on MSNBC. I've watched this show, but not for Carlson. I watch it for Rachel Maddow. She's supposed to be on about four nights a week as a nightly panelist discussing the issues of the day.

I almost feel weird saying this, promoting a show with Carlson as the host, but go watch it if you have cable. Maddow is as smart or smarter than anyone out there.

And if you want a quick summary of the article, they trashed the show and didn't mention Maddow.

MSNBC should follow "Crossfire's" lead and end the misery. "The Situation" is too light a cross to bear, and now its time to fire.

I'm Gonna Need Sleeping Pills

I'm definitely going to need the aid of sleeping pills tonight to be able to go to bed. I expect to get up around 6.30a - 7a on Saturday morning to head over to the site. Early morning photos of the last minute preparations and getting settled in. Anyone gonna be out there watching on the big screens at 8a? I'll take some photos of your crusty eyes if you're there.

And Mr. Katie Holmes, I won't be needing any lectures, thank you.

live8 philly

First Live 8 Post on Philly Future

I put up my first post over on Philly Future about Live 8. Just some initial thoughts that ran through my head that I wanted to get out there before I thought about it too much. I'll primarily be blogging over there on issues related to Live 8, I want to use Philly Future as a gathering point, it's better suited than my little blog.

Also, as I noted in my post over on Philly Future, I'll be selling prints of some of the photos I'll take at the event and donate the profits to a charity to help make poverty history. My photos will be up on Philly Future, my Flickr and afterwards, more polished shots on my photoblog. So take a look over there in the next couple of days and see if you see something you like.

Philly Future's Live 8 page.

live8 philly

WiFi Parkway

I'm on the parkway right now blogging this. It works. Eureeka.

I'm back now inside and just added the above image. I fled with stormclouds, thunder and lightning looming. It didn't actually start raining though. But it works. I was in Logan Square [pictured above] right by the fountains and had 6mbps. I'm not sure where the access point was and didn't want to go any further towards the Museum for fear of getting soaked with a ton of expensive electronic equipment on me.

Eddie Vedder at Live 8 Philly?

I've been hearing constant murmurs of Eddie Vedder [and the rest of Pearl Jam?] making an appearance at Live 8 here in Philly. Specifically, on WYSP, all day. There's supposed to be some kind of announcement at 5p today on the air. Listen in.

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Live 8 Parties in Philly

The Inky has this article highlighting several events/parties going on over the weekend in celebration of the event. I'm not sure where I'll be after the official event is over.

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Live 8 Philadelphia Press Pass

UPDATE: My photos are slowly filling up a Live 8 Photo Gallery page I've created on my photoblog.

I applied and I got it. I just got the email stating that I am one of the lucky bloggers receiving full press credentials to cover Live 8 Philly on July 2^nd, that's this Saturday.

I was going to cover the incredible event anyways equipped with my D70 and my laptop + WiFi card, but now, I'll have more access which should result in some cool stuff. I'll be posing, live, over at Philly Future throughout the day with photos, Q&A, observations, etc... So get ready folks, this is gonna get going soon.

I didn't know the names of everyone else's blogs from the email, so I'll wait until they're up on Joe Trippi's site at some point. Congrats to everyone and I'll see you all there.

There's also the slim chance that up to five of us will be given the opportunity to travel to Edinburgh [and back] to cover the start of the G8 Summit.

In addition, Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines has donated his airplane to fly the Live 8 crew from New York to Edinburgh and back, and up to five bloggers will be given the opportunity to fly to Edinburgh and back with the Live 8 group. The idea is to blog the trip, including the beginning of the G8 summit. The flight departs from JFK in New York at 7 p.m. on July 3; the same airplane will bring the bloggers and whoever else back to New York on July 7. Lodging in or near Edinburgh will also be provided.

A kid can dream... I just saw [1.15a 6.30.05] that John from AMERICAblog will be heading to Scotland. How many spots are left?

Some info I've already been compiling about Live 8: general info, internet/wifi access, traffic.

One of the bloggers also selected, coming to Philly all the way from Dallas, TX: Anna of annatopia. Read her reaction to the news and welcome her in advance to Philly!: Anna will unfortunately not be able to make it to Philly. Another Philly-area blogger selected is Chris Bowers of MyDD. Matt from The Blogging of the President is another member of our gang. And Brian from Audio Activism is another blogger coming to town. This is going to be awesome!

live8 philly

NYT on Bush's Fort Bragg Speech

Last night Dubya got up over at Fort Bragg and gave a speech. It was on the anniversary of the granting of sovereignty to Iraq. We're still there. We're setting up army bases. Our people are dying — 1700+. Iraqis are dying — 100,000+. He's still lying and humming and hawing.

The NY Times' Op Ed Page took the opportunity to call out the Prez on the crap he spewed last night.

We did not expect Mr. Bush would apologize for the misinformation that helped lead us into this war, or for the catastrophic mistakes his team made in running the military operation. But we had hoped he would resist the temptation to raise the bloody flag of 9/11 over and over again to justify a war in a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with the terrorist attacks. We had hoped that he would seize the moment to tell the nation how he will define victory, and to give Americans a specific sense of how he intends to reach that goal - beyond repeating the same wishful scenario that he has been describing since the invasion

Sadly, Mr. Bush wasted his opportunity last night, giving a speech that only answered questions no one was asking. He told the nation, again and again, that a stable and democratic Iraq would be worth American sacrifices, while the nation was wondering whether American sacrifices could actually produce a stable and democratic Iraq.

Just as I thought, I didn't miss much and what I missed was a whole lot of 9/11-Iraq-Progress bullshit.

Printing Photos

I'm getting more and more comfortable with the RGB to CMYK color conversion to print my photos. I took about fifteen .tiffs with me over to PHOTOLounge [formerly known as Cbop] and I picked them up on Monday afternoon [in the pouring rain]. They all turned out nicely. I'm confident at this point to start printing nice large versions of my photos. I'm going to have to drop down a little from the 300dpi I'm at right now, but I'm sure they'll still turn out nice and crisp. The blacks are coming out nice and black and the colors are nice and saturated. Oh digital, how I love thee.

Some of the shots I printed out: Tony and Anne, ESP: Corridor, ESP: Tree Root Cell, Pat, USPRO Championship, Emily, Skateboarder, Pink Lady, Hello Kitty Purse, Underwater Building, Italian Market Festival.

Anyone wanna buy a print? Take a click over to my photoblog and have a looksy.