This evening, I’ll be broadcasting Misnomer Dance’s 2011 season from the Joyce Soho. As I write this, there’s not a whole lot of performance being streamed to the web – it’s just not the norm (yet). I expect that will soon change and become the norm.

Even more exciting, during the intermission of the show, we’ll be featuring videos by other media artists, such as the one below by Brian Gibbs (among others).

I hope you’ll be able to join us tonight, at 7:30pm NYC time!

In 2009, the Park Slope Food Coop stopped selling the 1/2 gallon size Soymilk. I was like, WTF? I still decided to drink it, even though it may have killed me. In fact, I did many other things that may have killed me. But since the Coop’s decision to stop selling this stuff, I’ve seriously cut down on my Silk ways since discovering just how bad the Silk Brand is. And I thought other people should know too.

The Food Coop’s reasons were simple – or as simple as the Food Coop can be (I copied the text below directly from the Coop’s blog [link])

1. In January 2009, Silk – whose soy products were formerly 100% organic — reformulated their product line by converting almost all their products to conventional soybeans. They did this quietly, without telling retailers or changing the UPC code numbers on the products. Many retailers, including the Coop, didn’t find out about the change until consumers noticed and complained. The non-organic soymilks are labeled “Natural.” When we questioned Silk representatives about the change, we were told “there is a shortage of organic soybeans in North America.” However, it has been argued that Dean Foods (which owns Silk) “helped create these shortages by opting for cheaper organic imports instead of supporting domestic farmers with sustainable prices.1” (For the full report, please read the Cornucopia Institute’s Soy Report & Scorecard)

2. Silk does not guarantee that all of their soybeans are free from GMO contamination. Organic Valley’s organic soybeans are ‘Identity Preserved‘ – meaning each batch is tested to ensure there is no GMO contamination.

3. Silk is unwilling to share their sourcing information with consumers. Dean Foods “refused to transparently participate in the [Cornucopia Institute’s] study—depriving their customers of an independently verified review of their practices.” This stands in contrast to many other prominent soy food brands around the country that are fully transparent In their sourcing and production practices.

4. Silk brand is owned by Dean Foods - an agribusiness giant that owns over 50 milk labels around the country including Horizon Organic, a brand that heavily depends on factory farms each milking thousands of cows. Organic Valley is owned by CROPP Cooperative, a cooperative of organic family farmers. The Coop supports other cooperatives, wherever possible, and we try also to avoid companies that source from factory farms.

So – dear readers – do you do anything that might someday kill you? Have you been able to kick your Silk Soymilk habit? I’d love to know how you’re able to resist the smooth silky soymilk that goes oh so well with frozen strawberries and peanut butter sandwiches. I’m still struggling.

RELATED LINKS

• Download the report by the Cornucopia Institute
• Read the Coop’s statement
• Read this Village Voice Article about how Veggie Burger can kill you

Lately, I’ve been spending alot of time over at Arrow Root Media. But today, I realized this metablog was feeling a little lonely. “Update me” it said, whispering to me in my subconscious. “But – but – what do I update you with, dear blog? My loyal readers must receive only the highest quality internet content.”

And so, dear readers, I bring you this amazing video. If you remember the 1980′s, you’ll recognize this – it’s the intro to the television show, The Office, done in the style of Dallas. Enjoy!

I’ve played around with the idea of outsourcing before. And I’m still up in the air about it. I mean it’s great for getting work done cheap. And if you have very repetitive tasks (like data entry), outsourcing is great. But can you really outsource creativity? Well, the 99Designs folks are betting on it.

I recently put together a contest on 99Designs to have my company logo designed (you can vote for your favorites below)

The entire process was actually really helpful in helping me articulate what I was looking for. Over the course of 1 week, I ended up getting 95 designs from over 24 designers. As a business owner, I loved seeing the variety of designs coming in for such a low price ($250). I also loved being able to interact with the designers directly. Most of them were very responsive, professional, and great to work with. However, only 1 of them will end up getting paid. While it’s great for me to get so many concepts and revisions, I don’t feel good about it. Spec Work (work done for free with the hope of getting paid, for the client’s speculation) is simply not a viable long term business practice, but it definitely has its advantages.

Below is a really interesting debate about Spec Work – watch it

Many people are under the belief that no self respecting designer would do spec work, or participate on sites like 99designs or Crowdspring. That’s bullshit – and it’s an arrogant perspective. Personally, I’ve participated in spec work. It’s called interning. But more to the point, I’m pretty happy with the concepts I’ve received so far. One of the designers I received concepts from had worked for Discovery Channel. People who say that you can’t find pros on these kinds of sites are mistaken. Could I have done better if I paid more money? Maybe. But I wouldn’t have gotten 95 designs in 1 week for $250. Then again, the American mantra of more is better does not always apply in the creative field.

There are alternatives. If you don’t want to participate in the industry of spec work, don’t participate in the machine of capitalism. For those looking for less drastic measures, check out Brandstack. You can read a bit more about Brandstack here : http://mashable.com/2010/04/02/brandstack/.

For more on Spec Work, check out these Links :

• AIGA’s Position on Spec Work
• Why I hate CrowdSpring
• Jeffrey Zeldman on why Spec Work is bad : http://www.zeldman.com/2007/08/14/dont-design-on-spec/
• NO!SPEC – to educate the public about spec work

Would you participate in Spec Work (either as a creative or as a client)? Is Spec Work Evil? Let us know what you think!

For the past while, I’ve been working on a new WordPress site for the New Directors / New Films festival. Basically – this film festival is freakin’ awesome. Films like Clerks, Pi, and You can read a bit about the project on my work site. But this post is not about the site or even the festival, but about the promo video that was made for the festival.

Below is the teaser video (made by theLab) – who did a full rebranding of Comedy Central – produced a super slick and interesting video which gives a glimpse of what the festival’s all about.

A Few Quick Observations About This Video

1. There is no melodic score. Instead, the piece is scored by sounds of cinema and digital-life.

2. Bleeps. Cuts. Scratch. Static.

3. There is no actual video of the films. They are all stills.

4. It’s awesome.

What do you think about the video?

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
New Directors/New Films introduces New York audiences to the work of emerging or not-yet-established filmmakers from around the world. Presented jointly by The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, this renowned festival in past years has uncovered talents like Pedro Almodovar, Darren Aronofsky, Nicole Holofcener, Courtney Hunt, Spike Lee, Kelly Reichardt, and Steven Spielberg.

Related Links :

• For more on NDNF, visit the official site
• You can also read more on the NYTimes ArtsBeat Blog.

My wordpress blog crashed. Dreamhost saved it. This is the chat transcript.

ChrisL:

ChrisL:

This Summer, Elastic City (one of my recently launched projects), is giving walks throughout New York City. But these are not your typical tourist walks. These walks are led by artists. Todd Shalom, the founder of Elastic City, realized the idea while suffering from altitude sickness in Cusco, Peru.

The walks intend to make its audience active participants in an ongoing poetic exchange with the places we live in and visit. Artists are commissioned by Elastic City to create their own walks. These walks tend to focus less on providing factual information and more on heightening our awareness, exploring our senses and making new group rituals in dialogue with public space in the city.

The walks have been featured in TimeoutNY, WNYC, Wallstreet Journal, Gothamist, and other publications.

To listen Todd talk about the walks on WNYC, click here, or hit play on the player below

Browse the walks listing and rediscover New York.

People are lining up to meet Sarah Palin. Wondering why? Watch this video from Palin’s fans.
(thanks John Schimmel and Fleeta for the video and article link)

Even though these people think her policies are good, there are many others that don’t agree with Sarah Palin.

Read this great article for more on that…

Inspired by AJ Jacob’s experiment in outsourcing, I looked into outsourcing. But AJ Jacobs has actually done more than just outsource his life. He x-plains in the video below

Watch on TED.com