I'm sitting on the couch right now, watching my sister, Mandy, play the new Zelda game Amanda & I bought Billy for xmas. In a little while we'll head over to Amanda's Godfather's to hang out for the New Years.

I actually have a lot I need to write about - but now isn't the best time. I do want to say though that I'm very, very excited about Edward's announcement of his running for President in '08 - I also love that he did it using the internet. Well - here's to the new year... cheers.

[From the AP] BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three more Marines and a Soldier were killed in battle in Iraq, the military said Friday, making December the year's deadliest month for U.S. troops with the toll reaching 108. [...]

December was shaping up to be one of the worst months for Iraqi civilian deaths since The Associated Press began keeping track in May 2005.

Through Thursday, at least 2,139 Iraqis have been killed in war-related or sectarian violence, an average rate of about 76 people a day, according to an AP count. That compares to at least 2,184 killed in November at an average of about 70 a day, the worst month for Iraqi civilians deaths since May 2005. In October, AP counted at least 1,216 civilians killed.

We've lost. Assuming that anyone can even put occupying a foreign land into those two terms: "win" or "lose". The violence is escalating, month after month... after 48 months of this - how can anyone there have any hope?

The 60% unemployment rate. The 600,000+ Iraqis displaced from the fighting. The 40% of professionals who have fled the country since '03. The (at best) 10 hours of electricity a day (keep in mind, it's 32 degrees at night right now in Bagdad). The poor and already-dead are the only ones who remain in the worst parts of Iraq - everyone else is gone, either by choice or by circumstance. Happy new year...

Flash Version   |   'Save As'   |     |   2'20

Originally posted at Project Pedal

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This vlog marks the beginning - the roots of Pedal's inspiration, and its upcoming monthly video-podcast. I treated this cut as if I were [... Continue reading here]

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, inspiration

Last night, before we ordered-in Thai food and started watching 'Stranger Than Fiction', Angela and I decided to make some pecan bars. And of course, because we're dorks, we taped it.

Flash Version   |   'Save As'   |     |   8'45

A short conversation we had while hanging out at the Cafe last Wednesday.

Amanda: "What is that? A vagina?"
Justin: "What? (Looking up from his drawing of a man in a business-shirt) Where's the vagina?"
Mike: "Uhh... it's between a woman's legs."

i've been tagged by mike who was tagged by rick, who was tagged by steve. so here goes..

1. when i was 15 i was picked up in Nashville, Tennessee by the FBI and spent a night in jail.

2. while shopping in Europe, when i was 17, i was stopped on the street in Paris and asked to model in a Vidal sasoon fashion show.

3. my step-mother is the great-grand-daughter of ab del kadir al-jazairi, who was king of Algeria during the French invasion.

4. i was a complete gothic girl in high school. for three years i dyed my naturally blonde hair jet black every month. i wore only black clothing... mostly old fashioned stuff of silk and lace. lots of dresses and funky tights with black boots and lots of rosaries. i read anne rice books while eating lunch alone in the library everyday. until my bestfriend and boyfriend of three years hanged himself in his bedroom because i found him cheating on me and said i couldn't talk to him anymore. after that.. i couldn't stand to look in the mirror and see black.

5. i once stood in the middle of a crop circle in the English countryside while visiting friends in catch paddock, nunney catch. it was amazing. i remember the wind going crazy and the ground felt electric.


i realize that some of these suck, but mike made me. also.. i wasn't able to come up with anything that no one knows because i live my life as an open book... i may be incredibly shy, but if you ask me the right question about myself, i have a big mouth.

so now it's your turn... i'm tagging justin colbert, bonny, mark, angela, and zach.

Ok, so I don't know who started the ball rolling on this game of Blog-tag, I think many scholars agree that no one knows for sure where it originates from (you'll have to excuse the bad joke, I'm at the office and it's very early, apparently I make very lame jokes at this time of day).

I've been tagged by Rick, who was tagged by Steve, who was tagged by Steve Garfield, etc - the rules are pretty basic: I have to come up with 5 things about myself that not too many people know. Here we go:

1) My favorite food (ever!) is a Macaweenie from the International Hotdog House in the "Birthplace of the Republican Party", aka Jackson, Michigan (Ironically the city was named after the Democratic President Andrew Jackson). What's a "Macaweenie"? It's an awesome hotdog covered with some awesome mac & cheese. It's strange because I don't generally like or eat hotdogs, perhaps it's my favorite food because of good childhood memories that are subconsciously tied into it. The building has since been remodeled, but it used to be in the shape of a giant dog.

2) When I was younger - during a snow day, I took my younger brother, Nick, over to my friend's house to go snowboarding all day. A few hours later I tried to do a 360 jump, key-word being "tried", and came down all crazy. The funny thing was I didn't have a snow suit then, I had just piled on, literally, 7 or 8 layers of thick sweat-shirts, pants and socks. So when I landed and felt an unbelievably strange and painful snap / pop in my arm - I couldn't tell if I had dislocated it, or broke it (because ever time I attempted getting my snow-soaked cloths off, I freaked). It took a few hours to get me to the hospital (firstly because my Mom was out shopping with my aunt Bonnie and there was no cell-phones at the time, and secondly because the closest hospital was in Jackson, 40 minutes away on a day when the roads weren't covered in slush). Long story short'ish: after looking at the X-Rays it turned out I did indeed dislocate my shoulder out of its ball-socket... and I also, three inches below that, managed to snap my humerus bone in half. I still have metal in my arm from that and huge scar to boot.

3) Both my Mom and my Dad have identical twins. And on-top of that: after my parents divorced, my Mom remarried James, who has a paternal twin.

4) A year after I graduated from High School my best friend, Tim and I rode our bicycles from Onsted, Michigan to Florence, Oregon to San Francisco, California - it took us 55 days. We never slept in a hotel and we never hitched a ride. I really don't like bringing it up, but Amanda said I "had too!" post it because "let's face it, it's the coolest thing about you"... which is kinda' sad.

5) One of my all-time favorite films is Baz Luhrmann's 'Moulin Rouge' (actually I first saw Moulin Rouge in Portland on my bike trip in an empty theatre... I had no idea what the movie was about when Tim & I bought the tickets, we just really wanted to see a movie and it was the only one that was starting soon).


Now it's my turn to tag people! Amanda, Ryanne, Justin, my Mom &... Amanda Congdon - you're it!

Justin has been telling me the last few days he needed my help with his next vlog - but he couldn't tell me anything about what I had to do or how I would be involved. Tonight he dropped by after work with a duffle-bag of (what's the right word) "interesting" shirts and a guitar. This is what happened:

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Last Tuesday (the 5th) we (Justin, Angela, Amanda and myself) went to the Ask a Ninja DVD release party (aka - "Ninja Day") at Cinespace in Hollywood. It was a delight.

Sadly none of us managed to grab a gift bag (which had free DVDs in them) before they disappeared. I don't know what I was thinking not grabbing one as soon as they announced it - the place was packed!

But it was more than worth it - after the 'Neu Tickles' finished playing the now-famous "I M Ninja" song - Kent & the 'Ninja' himself (Doug) came out on stage and did a funny skit and even sang a song. Then a few us hung out in the smoking room overlooking Hollywood Blvd until 11:30.







I like how Rick summed up the night on his blog:

It's an important event because it shows that videobloggers can compete with the big boys in the offline world, too. I know the Ninja team has declined buy-out offers in the past, and I agree with their cautious stance. As pioneers in the commercial vlogging space, they are sending a message to publishers and studios - we don't need you to survive.

Thanks so much to all of you who helped in spreading this open-source documentary! I just wanted to post a quick update - as well as remind people to continue in educating yourself on what's happening with Net Neutrality.

I don't know the numbers for Arin's cut of the project (I'm going to guess they are huge) but I personally reached over 1,000 views on the cut I posted here. Which I know is small potatoes to a lot of people, but I'm not out to single-handily inspire 500,000+ people - it just feels to good to be involved.


One argument I wanted to address is the "hands off" perspective on this problem. There are a number of sites and groups out there who argue that the internet has always been free and should continue to be free - by "free" they mean unregulated. They argue that any legislation or protections the Senate might push through would only do damage to the internet.
This mindset is flawed for two reasons, a) it suggest that government lacks the capacity to do any good or to protect any person, place or thing. But more importantly, b) the assumption or suggestion that the internet has always been "free" or unregulated is anything but true.

Since day one of the internet it has been protected under common carrier regulations. But in August of last year the FCC made a very, very dumb decision - they changed the definition of DSL services to "information services", as opposed to "telecommunications services". Which threw the whole future of the internet up in the air - and every major telecommunications company is swooping in the for the kill while they still have the chance. Like I added near the end of the cut I posted, Verizon alone has over 200 lobbyist on the hill for this issue alone - that doesn't even include AT&T, or Comcast, etc.

I will be adding this information to the 3rd cut of the video I'm working on - I think it's important for people to know that this "hands off" argument is at best uninformed and at worst disingenuous.

(Again) Please! Spread this video! It's super easy. Just select the text within the box below - then cut & paste it into your own blog, a bulletin, your profile, your myspace or facebook page... really it can go almost anywhere.

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Originally posted at Project Pedal

I've been getting geared up for a big push - financially speaking - with a promotional video-blogging community.

There's a 5+ minute promo that I've cut - which I will be posting here in conjunction with the other site (assuming they advocate the project).

Dig around - over the last few months, I've made a lot of little changes and updates to the site. Some of you might have noticed we now have an overview route, promotional tips, a more accurate project synopsis, et cetera.

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding