David Speers

Note To Self: Get back to Story Slams at Letage before Kevin Lee moves

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:07:00 -0400

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

An unflinching look at the beauty and contempt of Women In War Zones.

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:30:00 -0400

“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.

Spurn, Spurn - ing, Spurns

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:02:00 -0400

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)

Save your company money: Watch this video on online marketing...

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:52:43 -0400

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.

Acquisition - users come to your site through various channels
Activations - happy user experience, users enjoy first visit
Retention - users come back, visit the site multiple times
Referral - users like product enough to refer to friends
Revenue - make money from you product

If everyone figures this out I’ll be out of a job so please keep this between us ;-)

1 Reason You'd Be a Fool for Attending My Block Party

Sat, 31 May 2008 10:12:11 -0400

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).

5 Reasons You Would Be A Fool to Miss My Block Party

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:02:00 -0400

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

"I’m the type who’d be happy not going anywhere as long as I was sure I knew exactly what..."

Tue, 27 May 2008 08:58:00 -0400

“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.

You know … I really thought Weezer was relegated to the...

Fri, 23 May 2008 13:08:00 -0400

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

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

Fri, 23 May 2008 11:45:20 -0400

“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

Top Ten Reasons I'm Running The Broad Street Run Again Next Year

Mon, 05 May 2008 18:19:00 -0400

- approaching the halfway mark, City Hall.

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

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.
Being served cold beer in small cups by Temple students deadens the pain in my knees enough to finish.
Watching the homeless scream with wild abandon and realizing they were cheering for me.
Literally running into Governor Rendell at full stride and only being able to muster an awkward “Hey … Edward?!”
Getting random schwag including an obligatory T-shirt and a not so expected bottle of Calcium Supplement.
Who else out of 22,000 people running will tweet as they run?
All you can eat Philly Soft Pretzel buffet when you finish.
Having the opportunity to unexpectedly run the whole race with my cousin from Kentucky (unexpectedly met 1 mile in, finished side by side)
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).
Discoverig that I’m a little tougher then I expected (not much)

Animal Robots .01 The Flying Jellyfish(courtesy of Smibs and...

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:26:49 -0400

Animal Robots .01

The Flying Jellyfish

(courtesy of Smibs and Truemors)

Kids with Accents .01 Hey Dude by the Beatres

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:02:00 -0400

Kids with Accents .01

Hey Dude by the Beatres

"I’m Out Like A Clinically Obese Kid in Dodgeball"

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:36:00 -0400

“I’m Out Like A Clinically Obese Kid in Dodgeball”

- My brother and I are now departing for a ten day whirlwind-tour of the mother land (literally). Dublin, Liverpool, Newcastle and Edinburgh. Trite and insepid posts to resume here on, or after or before April 25th (how’s that for commitment).

What happens when a Knight Rider Fan remakes a 1962 Ford...

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:37:44 -0400

What happens when a Knight Rider Fan remakes a 1962 Ford Commercial? What my photography proffesor would call a ‘Happy Accident of Insanity’ Video courtesy of my friend Celie Peete

"I’m not sure but I think one of the hipsters in the front row just had an aneurysm during the..."

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:19:30 -0400

“I’m not sure but I think one of the hipsters in the front row just had an aneurysm during the last guitar riff.”

- my acute observation during last night’s Explosions In The Sky concert. Do yourself a favor and experience them before you’re too deaf to appreciate it.

Piranha-oia: Are Flash Mobs evil?

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:00:00 -0400

“There’s a whiff of the lynch mob or the lemming migration about any overlarge concentration of like-thinking individuals, no matter how virtuous their cause.” - PJ Orourke

207 seemingly unexceptional people going about their daily lives suddenly and inexplicably freeze, like statues, in the heart of Grand Central Station. People in the middle of conversations, coffee sips and hastened stride standing like modern wives of Lot. Three minutes later they simultaneously unfreeze and go about their daily business as if nothing had ever happened. No, I’m not describing the plot of Clockstoppers II, but rather the latest demonstration of a recent social phenomenon known as a Flash Mob.

What’s a Flash Mob?
Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary of English defines Flash Mobs as “a group of people who organize on the Internet and then quickly assemble in a public place, do something bizarre, and disperse”. The Internet, text messaging and cell phones have made it possible for individuals to opt into a living, breathing network of like minded individuals to become, essentially, a cyber flock that acts with one mind. Finding their roots in the performance arts, Flash Mobs tend toward the fantastic and surreal. Massive public pillow fights, a seemingly random crowd spontaneously breaking into applause in the lobby of a hotel and countless other ‘wouldn’t it be cool if a 1,000 people did (Something Bizarre) at (Some Specific Time) in (Some Public Place)’ have set the early precedence for future Flash Mobs. To this point, these Flash Mobs have been benign but there is new evidence that more nefarious powers have recognized the opportunity of the Flash Mob and are trying to harness the power it wields.

The Dark Side
In the animal kingdom it appears that groups of individual fauna working together as ‘Mobs’ fall into two general categories:

1. Flocks: less powerful individuals organizing together primarily for companionship and defense. For example: Elephants surrounding their young to protect them from predators.

and…

2. Swarms: less powerful individuals organizing together primarily to overpower and prey on the weak and unsuspecting. For example: Piranhas de-boning a baby bird that has fallen into the Amazon.

So far we’ve been lucky enough to see the vast majority of Flash Mobs fall into the first category, bringing groups of people together in harmless experiments of fun, but how long will it be until we start seeing the second and darker category introduce a new era of Flash Mobs? If recent news reports are any indication, it’s already here.

“A Jacksonville, Oregon, man was shocked to find people rummaging through his personal belongings on the weekend as the result of a fake advertisement that someone had placed on the popular Internet classified ad site, Craigslist. The ad stated that a homeowner, Robert Salisbury, was forced to immediately vacate his house and move out of the country. As a result, the ad went on to say, the sheriffs department had declared the contents of the home, as well as Mr. Salisbury’s horse, abandoned. It urged anyone who was interested in the home’s contents to drive to the house and take whatever they wanted.”

Read the full Ottawa Citizen Article
Watch the video report

In a state of ‘Paranaha-oia’ a swarm connected only by Craigslist and their shared opportunism stole the better part of an innocent man’s material wealth. The instigators who incited the swarm to cover their own robbery got caught, but only because of their own hapless blunders (police were able to track their IP address to there home). The copy cat mobs that are coming, and they are coming, will inevitably learn from these initial mistakes and plan accordingly. If we take the time to think about it, the real shocker with this new Flash Mob is not that it happened but that we had 25 years to prepare for the ‘evil’ hordes:

“In 1973, the story Flash Crowd by Larry Niven described a concept vaguely similar to flash mobs. It described how, with the invention of popular teleportation, an argument at a shopping mall, which happened to be covered by a news crew, swells into a riot. The broadcast coverage attracted the attention of other people, who use the widely available technology of the teleportation booth to swarm first that event — thus intensifying the riot — and then other events as they happened. In actuality, flash crowds are used to start up and heighten riots. When a riot begins and is televised, others join in, resulting in the participation of millions of people. Commenting on the social impact of such mobs, one character in Niven’s story, articulating the police view, says, “We call them flash crowds, and we watch for them”. - Wikipedia

Word to the wise
The take away here is not that Flash Mobs are bad or even that you shouldn’t participate in them, for the vast majority the opposite is true; they’re good fun void of malice and victimization. The real take away is simply a reminder of something you’ve known all along; think about what you’re doing. Don’t assume that just because it has a spiffy web 2.0 interface or even the adoption of your community that it’s legal or more importantly right. Do your due deligence and dig a little bit under the surface of the group, and what motivates them, especially the leaders. In the end it still comes down to the concious decisions of individuals that determines the nature of any group, especially Flash Mobs.

How do you know when Mayor Nutter is taking money from the NRA?

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:07:52 -0400

When you see this!

Kids always let you down, don't they?

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:28:50 -0400

Two pics in one day? You know you love it :-)

You thought you had issues?

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:50:00 -0400

see more crazy cat pics

"There is pleasure in the pathless woods,There is rapture on the lonely shore,There is society..."

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 02:02:00 -0400

“There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea and the music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more.”

- Lord Byron (from the opening quote of Into The Wild).