Looking at this classic scene from Jerry Maguire, one sees echoes of our current crisis in Myanmar.
In this scene, Tom Cruise plays “the international community” literally begging to be allowed to administer humanitarian aid and deliver food to the brutalized citizenry of Myanmar. Cuba Gooding Jr. is in the role of “Myanmar’s junta”, openly mocking the international community’s earnest desire to help the people. Enjoy.
Who new Tom Cruise operated on so many levels?
On a side note, even New Media platform NowPublic can’t seem to get any news out of Myanmar to fill in the gaps of traditional media. Looks like the generals really have the place locked down.
Laying out the precise reasons why Canadians are involved in Afghanistan, why the progressive left in this country really ought to be getting behind the mission (and why they largely aren’t), and why we ought to be optimistic about solving the larger problems facing humanity, of which the Afghanistan war is merely one aspect. That’s what.
It’s a fun (if lengthy) romp through the thought processes of two leading intellectuals on the issues that matter. Read the Afghanistan dialogue and enjoy.
The Yellow Pages and related phone directories are bulky paper monsters that constitute a huge waste of resources and energy. Adding insult to injury, these products don’t even seem to serve any useful purpose in a paperless Information Age. It’s waste for waste’s sake.
When was the last time you actually picked up a phone book rather than checking online (or just calling 411)?
Let’s force our government to take action and force the publishers of these products to implement an opt-in requirement for anyone who still wants these dead trees brought to their door.
Thanks to eco-friendly media maven Michael Klassen for leading the charge on this issue with his paperless blog post (Letter to Vancouver Sun re: Phone Books).
UPDATE: Thanks to some very spot-on corrections by some very helpful people, I’ve been informed that virgin trees are not used in the production of the Yellow Pages and have changed the content of this post to reflect that. I humbly stand corrected.
Nonetheless, given that so many of these books do go straight to a recycling bin, I still stand by the statement that “the Yellow Pages and related phone directories are bulky paper monsters that constitute a huge waste of resources and energy”. Thank you for your assistance, people.
It’s the 60th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel. In a nod to the more positive features of this nation known more for the rough neighborhood where it lives, Currents presents one of the greatest authentic tourism commercials ever produced. Enjoy.
Many readers of Currents have been kind enough to compliment the overall design of the blog. The design does meld functionality with style nicely for the most part. But one thing that hasn’t transitioned well since the switch to Wordpress is the title.
No, I don’t want to change the actual name of the blog (again). I like the name Currents.
But the title is small, around 16 pt, and not particularly noticeable. I’d like to change it to something like Arial Black, 24 pt, possibly in fire truck red (but more likely remaining black), adapting the text height to ensure it the top of the new bigger title doesn’t get cut off. While I’m at it, I will also need some advice on how to adapt my sub-head if necessary. I need to know how to change the Wordpress theme code for my title so I can go in and make the changes.
The first Wordpress guru who can give me a step-by-step code edit process that works for editing my blog title will win the Currents Title Change Contest (yeah, well, it is what it is). Leave your code-altering suggestion in the comment for this post. If you can instruct me in how to make this change, I will donate $10 to a charity of your choice through GiveMeaning.
So… win ten bucks in karma, be recognized as a Wordpress guru who likes to help hapless un-techie people. Thanks in advance for your help, y’all.
I’ve been taking stock and come to the happy conclusion that things have been awfully pleasant lately both in my personal and professional life. I’d like to thank all my friends and colleagues in Vancouver’s creative community for their inspiration (read: me stealing your best ideas). One classic Savage Chickens cartoon from the audaciously funny Doug Savage pretty much sums up my new take-over-the-world attitude (hopefully not inspired in turn by Dr. Evil, but you never know).
Doug’s story, by the way, is an fantastic tale of a guy following his creative passion with bloody-minded efficiency. Read the story of the Savage Chickens below:
When I was a kid, I drew cartoons all the time. I drew cows and alligators and pigs and superheroes. I drew a platypus named Ed. I drew a dead dog named Dead Dog Bob. I drew everything I saw and everything I wanted to see.
Many years passed. By a strange series of coincidences, I found myself working in an office. The more I used a keyboard, the worse my penmanship became. The constant hum of computers made my brain twitch. That’s when I stopped drawing cartoons.
Then the chickens came.
Like some sort of haunting supernatural force, the chickens bubbled up from the ol’ subconscious mind. In a trance-like state, I drew them on office whiteboards. I drew them in notebooks. I drew them on anything that sat still long enough. People started asking, “Who’s drawing those damn chicken cartoons everywhere?”
The chickens were unstoppable. To retain my sanity, all I could do was grab a stack of sticky notes, and release the Savage Chickens.
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