Who is David Speers?

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    Jul
    1st
    Tue
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    Note To Self: Get back to Story Slams at Letage before Kevin Lee moves

    A year and half ago during a distinctly cold Philly night, you know the kind when your malt liquer freezes in it’s paper bag, I experienced one of the greatest nights of live entertainment/theatre ever (which really isn’t saying much when you consider my favorite play is West Side Story; the movie). First Person Story Slam is simply a night of very funny people sharing their ‘true’ stories with complete strangers. Like improve, the unrehearsed nature of Story Slam can be both a blessing and a curse. Some stories are painfully bad, but anything is worth enduring for the true gems (like the one above) that surface at every event.

    If you ever go to the story Slam at Letage, I hope you have the good fortune of witnessing a Story Slam legend Kevin Lee in action. He’ll be there for sure but get their soon, rumor has it he’s thinking about moving to Boston. To Boston? WTF Kev? Do people line up to hear your awkward pauses and painfully embarassing stories in Boston?

    Story Slam takes place every 4th Thursday of the month at my favorite club, Letage, 7:30pm sharp.

    Upcoming Story Slam themes:

    July 22nd: Caught
    August 26th: Worst Ever
    September 23rd: Belonging
    October 28th: Strange Coincidenc

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    Jun
    12th
    Thu
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    An unflinching look at the beauty and contempt of Women In War Zones.

    “Thousands of women have been victims of violent gang rapes in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since Hutu rebels, known as the Interahamwe, fled Rwanda after the genocide in 1994. The DRC was officially at war from 1998-2003, with seven neighboring countries invading the vast nation at one point. As many as 20 rebel military factions remain, preying upon poor villagers, especially women, for their survival. The rebels pillage, rape women, steal harvests and burn villages periodically to maintain their own supplies. This collection of photographs addresses the impact of that violence and the ways women are coping to rebuild their lives”

    Women In War Zones

    It was once explained to me that great art is simultanously a mirror for what is most beautiful and most contemptible in humanity. An elequont adage that was mostly lost on me, that is until my friends Brad Labriola and Scott Blanding showed me their passionate documentary Women In War Zones and the amazing photographs by Melanie Blanding (above) that acompany the project. Women In Warzone follows two young women, Helene and Bijoux, on the long road to taking back their lives after the brutal sexual violence and mutilation of the five year civil war in the D.R. Congo. To put it mildly, it’s not for the faint of heart.

    Both WIWZ and Melanie’s images are simultanously a celebrition of Helene and Bijoux’s quiet victories and an unflinching indictment of their barbaric tormentors. What’s refreshing about this film is that where most would focus on the specific and sensational details of sexual and mental torture, WIWZ explores the mental, physical and spiritual recovery of the traumatized girls and the few supporters who help them along thier journey.

    The Beauty: Doctors, nurses, psychologists and social workers all work tirelessly to heal these broken women. Hundrededs of fellow victims banding together to survive and protect each other, walking miles to fill heavy water jugs to bring to their bed ridden friends. Eyes filled with understanding that only adersity and pain can breed. Friends comforting and encouraging each other in overwhelming hopelessness.

    The Contemptable: Rejection from their society and their own families. Enduring humiliation of incontinence and subsequent odors. Ruined dowry potential as unmarried women. Married women divorced and abandoned by husbands who fear disease or cannot bear the emotional damage. Interahamwe rebels pillaging, raping women, stealing harvests and burning villages to maintain their own supplies and assuage their own inferiority.

    If great art is what I’ve heard, a singular reflection of what is good and reprehensible in us, then both Women In Warzones and Melanies images are some of the greatest art to come out of Philly in recent history.

    Please think about supporting the artists and the women of Congo by…

    … coming out to a gallery showing of Melanies photography on Saturday June 14th to raise awareness and funds for the Women In Warzones documentary.

    … staying tuned to the Women In Warzones website (and this blog) for the announcement of the premiere later this summer.

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    Jun
    4th
    Wed
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    Spurn, Spurn - ing, Spurns

    Spurn (spûrn)

    v. spurned, spurn·ing, spurns

    v.tr.1. To reject disdainfully or contemptuously; scorn. 2. To kick at or tread on disdainfully.

    (This image is an example of what happens when we get spurned in Philly and this is how they do it in Tokyo)

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    Jun
    1st
    Sun
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    Save your company money: Watch this video on online marketing and don’t hire me.

    Dave McClure breaks down the often overwhelming process of online product marketing into 5 basic steps. 

    1. Acquisition - users come to your site through various channels
    2. Activations - happy user experience, users enjoy first visit
    3. Retention - users come back, visit the site multiple times
    4. Referral - users like product enough to refer to friends
    5. Revenue - make money from you product
    If everyone figures this out I’ll be out of a job so please keep this between us ;-)
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    May
    31st
    Sat
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    1 Reason You'd Be a Fool for Attending My Block Party

    Ain’t nobody gonna be there. 

    Strong thunderstorms likely. Storms may produce large hail and strong winds. High 83F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Chance of  Death 64%  - weather.com forecast for the party

    Trying again on the 21st of June. Oh well, see everyone at Letage on 6th and Bainbridge no matter what (get there before 10 and there’s no cover). 

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    May
    28th
    Wed
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    5 Reasons You Would Be A Fool to Miss My Block Party

    1. Last year the cops came and shut us down at 1am, a badge of honor for any block party planner. This year we’re looking for a repeat.

    2. This year we invited twice as many people and purchased three times the food. You do the math.

    3. My really creepy neighbor moved so we don’t have to worry about shiver inducing eyes pearing from behind blinds. SCORE

    4. We co-ordinated with Art Bazaar so that you can spend the afternoon buying hand made crafts and your evening on Orkney St eating our free food and drinking our free beer.

    5. Spontanous dance parties featuring artists like the Go-Team and Kanye with a little Justin mixed in to keep the girls happy.

    How Not to be a Fool:

    Show up to 1016 N. Orkney Street in Northern Liberties between 4 and 11pm this Saturday May 31st. Bring friends and whatever particulars you would like to share. Guests are encouraged. Parking on 5th and on Girard.

    View Map

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    May
    27th
    Tue
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    I’m the type who’d be happy not going anywhere as long as I was sure I knew exactly what was happening at the places I wasn’t going to. I’m the type who’d like to sit home and watch every party that I’m invited to on a monitor in my bedroom
    Andy Warhol prophesying of the coming of Twitter 20+ years before the first tweet was sent. Which begs the question, what was the the first tweet sent? Mmmmmm … I’ll have to look into this.
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    May
    23rd
    Fri
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    You know … I really thought Weezer was relegated to the role of Jr High naustalgia.

    I was sorely mistaken.

    If you enjoy Weezer’s new Pork and Beans music video a fraction as much as I did you’ll get goose bumps.

    video courtesy of dangerously awesome

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    S.N.A.F.U.
    Situation Normal: All Fouled Up

    There are other variations of this acronym that use words that rhyme with duck but I thought it would be best to keep it PG.

    “Most reference works, including the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, supply an origin date of 1940-1944, generally attributing it to the U.S. Army. Rick Atkinson, in The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (The Liberation Trilogy) ascribes the origin of SNAFU, FUBAR and a bevy of others to cynical GI’s ridiculing the Army’s penchant for acronyms.” - Wikipedia

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    May
    5th
    Mon
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    Top Ten Reasons I'm Running The Broad Street Run Again Next Year

    - approaching the halfway mark, City Hall.

    Top Ten reasons I’m Running the Philadelphia Broad Street Run Again Next year:

    1. Running with 22,000 people is like being swept up in a living river of sweaty human beings. The momentum alone is enough to carry you through.
    2. Being served cold beer in small cups by Temple students deadens the pain in my knees enough to finish.
    3. Watching the homeless scream with wild abandon and realizing they were cheering for me.
    4. Literally running into Governor Rendell at full stride and only being able to muster an awkward “Hey … Edward?!”
    5. Getting random schwag including an obligatory T-shirt and a not so expected bottle of Calcium Supplement.
    6. Who else out of 22,000 people running will tweet as they run?
    7. All you can eat Philly Soft Pretzel buffet when you finish.
    8. Having the opportunity to unexpectedly run the whole race with my cousin from Kentucky (unexpectedly met 1 mile in, finished side by side)
    9. Hearing ‘Eye of the Tiger’ playing from the ether as you run through Philly (I’m pretty sure it was coming from every open window on Broad).
    10. Discoverig that I’m a little tougher then I expected (not much)
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