Archive for the ‘etc.’ Category
mickikrimmel on November 5th, 2008
I has it. Today, it feels good to be an American. Our world is imperfect but we have the power to change it. We have the power to become better. We have the power to correct past mistakes and to grow as a people.
I am disheartened by the way many of the CA ballot propositions turned out. I am frustrated by the fact that rich people who don’t even live in our great state can create legislation by preying on the fears and emotions of people through advertising and lies. I am angry that even on this day I must face the fact that our noble legal system is not immune to the pressures of (well-funded) religious groups.
But today I am hopeful. I know that with effort and dedication we can make our state better. A lawyer friend of mine explained to me that the reason we legislate through propositions in CA is because California requires 2/3 vote in the assembly to enact any fiscal change. Since that level of majority is virtually impossible to achieve, we’re stuck with the proposition system to get anything done. This means that the general public makes the decisions by a simple majority. That’s not entirely a bad thing. But when the information we are given comes from interest groups creating their own commercials and controlling the message, how can we be expected to make the right decision? How can we be expected to understand the long term legal and fiscal implications?
I don’t know what the answer is but I hope we can find a better way. I hope we can work together to improve CA and the systems that govern it.
mickikrimmel on September 17th, 2008
I recently returned from Finland where I attended the first Nokia Open Lab in Helsinki. Nokia invited 35 bloggers, social media geeks and mobile technology nerds from all over the world to Helsinki for 3 days of workshops (and heavy drinking). Like most of the attendees, I wasn’t really sure what I was getting into but I felt like I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go to Helsinki and to spend the weekend with my international peers. Roland Tanglao created a wiki for the participants and together, we started piecing things together and planning our trip.
I spent my first day in Helsinki with my good friend Tv. He gave me a tour of the city including a trip to the hilarious (intentionally I hope) modern art museum Kiasma and an amazing fortress island called Suomenlinna. Basically, it was Tv’s mission to keep me outside (and awake) to help me through the jetlag.
Once the event officially got going, it got pretty intense pretty quickly. (agenda). The workshops covered topics including: social media, geolocation, new media, corporate management and the environment. Each workshop was introduced by a presentation then we broke into groups to discuss and brainstorm that particular topic. These workshops made up the meat of our participation. The discussions were fun but there was something in the formatting of these conversations that limited their potential. I felt like we did a really great job summing up the current state of social media and all of the things geeks are excited about. But with a room full of experts, I was hoping to break the glass somehow and come up with some interesting ideas about what would come next. I wanted the conversations to go a little bit further. I wanted to challenge some of our current assumptions of what “social media” is and talk about how to overcome them. Why do I think we didn’t quite get there? A few reasons:
First of all, the room was full of experts. For some reason this very select group of people was invited to participate and talk about these specific topics. Yet we didn’t really know who was in the room. I didn’t know whether the person sitting next to me ran the social media department of an international news organization or worked for Nokia. So some introductions would have been nice. I think it would have been worth the time to allow everyone to briefly say who they are, what they do and why they think they were invited to Nokia Open Lab.
Time was limited. By the time the conversation warmed up (particularly because we hadn’t introduced ourselves), we had to organize our thoughts to present to the larger group (and the internet via the many live media streams). As the event came to a close, several people said they felt like it was just getting started.
And finally, not all of the presenters were the best facilitators for really thoughtful conversation. I like the idea of introducing a workshop with a presentation to get the creative juices flowing. It’s a simple model really. Presenter sums up history and current state of a particular topic, maybe even shares some alternate viewpoints, then tasks the groups with taking that conversation to the next level. We got that from a few of the presenters (geolocation & environment in particular) but it was lacking in some. I guess I felt like the structure of most of the workshops was quite loaded. The presenter knew what he/she was trying to prove in the session and our discussion was directed in such a way that it would echo his/her thesis. An interesting way to prove a point but perhaps not the best use of the creative minds in the room.
This brings us back to what Nokia was doing with all of us there in the first place. The lab was the first of its kind for Nokia and the organizing team were clear that it was all very experimental. Good on Nokia for allowing their team the freedom to experiment! Throughout the two days of workshops, I began to piece together some of what Nokia might have been trying to accomplish. My new friend Steve Lawson was the first to suggest that the event was put on primarily as an internal training program for Nokia regarding social media. He brought this up while he, Phil Campbell, Ilicco Elia and I were podcasting from the hotel bar. Yeah, I know. How else would you spend your time in a designer hotel in a European city than podcasting? Anyway, that theory makes a lot of sense to me and shines a little light on why the sessions felt so engineered. They really were aiming for a particular outcome (maybe).
As the event unfolded, Nokia as a company began to take shape in my mind. And a very positive form it took indeed. The selection of discussion topics and presentations portrayed Nokia as a forward-thinking, community-centric, “open” kind of company. Not a bad portrayal for a group of folks partial to those descriptors and with all sorts of ways of sharing them.
In the end, I did come away with a very positive view of Nokia. They are a company on the cutting edge of mobile technology and they are exploring all the ways that technology can empower people and change our world. The event did inspire some interesting ideas and mostly, I’m glad I had the chance to meet so many interesting folks. After meeting so many amazing people, I felt really honored to be counted among them.
A random note about Finland: All the guys have shaved heads. Don’t they know it’s cold outside?!
mickikrimmel on August 26th, 2008
I rarely use Facebook. Myspace even less. It’s my own fault. I’ve ruined these services for myself by accepting too many friends. They have now become useless. I need a way to set levels of friends. Some people should be invited into the outer circles of my world without being given the key to my soul. I don’t value a YouTube “friend” the same as my boyfriend. Sorry, but I’m more interested in what my boyfriend has to say. At least typically… It’s too much work to customize my experience on Facebook and Myspace and in the meantime I’m overloaded with too much crap. Who are these people anyway? It’s a shame too because I’m missing out on some real connections with actual friends.
Facebook is just too fat. Every time I open it, I feel this huge weight drop on me. Oh shit, I’m gonna have to dig through a million messages to find anything important. I don’t give a fuck about who owns me as a pet or who threw what at me. It’s simple, really. I SHOULD BE ABLE TO CONTROL MY OWN GODDAMNED EXPERIENCE. I should be able to tell you what I care about and that should define how Facebook looks to me. Don’t get me started on YouTube. I can’t even bring myself to open that shit.
Email is the same. Messages are sent to these pits to die. If you need to get in touch with me right away, call me. Twitter me. IM me. Do something where you know I will receive the message in a timely manner. How did email become the de facto mode of communication? How do you know I’m checking my email? What if I don’t check it today? Then what happens to your message? How does it become my fault that I didn’t respond to your stupid email? By sending a message to the pit of death, you are making assumptions about MY behavior. You are assuming that I’m going to be checking my email today. You assume that I read my facebook messages. How am I supposed to know which email/facebook messages are worth reading? Do you really want to mix up your important message with all the spam from YouTubers?
I’m the one that has to manage all this shit. I’m the one that has to decide who to respond to and when. Why do my tools put all the power in the hands of the people sending me messages? Why do I feel powerless when I’m opening MY email/MY facebook/MY myspace?
Sorry for the rant. If I owe you an email, try calling me instead. kthxbai.
See also.
mickikrimmel on July 3rd, 2008
2008_07_03_gapfire_26
Originally uploaded by dsearls.
Doc Searles posted some amazing pictures of the Gap Fire raging through Central California. This one spoke to me. A portent of things to come? Perhaps. Or sad proof of human stupidity backdropped by another? More likely…
mickikrimmel on July 2nd, 2008
We’re basically doing the same thing. I’m spending a lot of time on my music and you’re working on your company. We’re both working creatively to make something new.
mickikrimmel on June 28th, 2008
So I’m chilling on Friendfeed experiencing some minor frustration with how difficult it is to subscribe to people. I can see a list of folks following me but I can’t subscribe to them unless I click on each individual profile. And even when I do click on each individual profile, it doesn’t tell me anything about who this person is. So I scan down a page of each person’s posts and decide if I think he’s interesting enough to subscribe to. This is a time consuming process so I give up. Still, I’m excited about the potential of a one stop shop to check in on what folks I’m interested in are interested in. So I commit to spending a bit more time tailoring my friendfeed experience. I check out what types of things I can pull into my feed so that I can use friendfeed to track my own activity as well as others.
Oh look! goodreads! I know some of my friends are using that and I’ve been reading a lot lately. It might be nice to share my list on friendfeed - so I’ll go sign up for goodreads. Click.
I pause for a moment before signing because dammit I really don’t feel like creating another social profile on yet another social website that will require me to add friends all over again just to make the damn thing useful. I remind myself that I’m really just interested in using goodreads as a bookmarking tool to import my reading list into friendfeed. To do that, I don’t really need to add a bunch of friends on goodreads. So I push on.
I create a profile and guess what comes up as soon as I enter my information! A handy tool to add my friends who are already on goodreads. Sure, why not? I’ve done this before (facebook, etc.) and since it’s not asking me to invite anyone new (I don’t like to spam people with invites), I’ll type in my info and see who’s on here. I enter my gmail log in information and goodreads returns a handy list of all my friends already using the service. I peruse the list to see some really smart folks on there and think, yeah, I might like to share book recommendations with them. So I click “Add friends.”
Guess what happens next… Yep! Goodreads proceeds to send an email on my behalf to my ENTIRE ADDRESS BOOK. Business contacts, family members, friends, everyone. I start receiving a bunch of bouncebacks because gmail saves every email address you’ve ever sent a message to in your contact list. To be fair, there was a step in the process that gave me the opportunity to OPT OUT of inviting all my friends but it was buried in a multi-step process that I had embarked upon already to invite my friends “already on goodreads.”
Whether intentional or not, this is very bad design. It is disrespectful, it is sneaky and it is bad for users and the entire social web industry. There’s a page about this tactic on the microformats wiki I encourage you to take a look at.
This brings up an interesting question for creators and developers of social services (like me). How do you provide an easy way for new members to add friends (thus making your service useful) without invading privacy? The solution put forth on the microformats wiki is to “support social-network portability.” You can see there a list of cutting edge services already compatible with this approach. It’s going to take some time before this is recognized by users as an option. For the less savvy among us, it is just easier to import your friends from email/facebook/whatever. I need to do some more thinking on this…
mickikrimmel on May 20th, 2008
Well, I’m on my third week of roller derby practice with the LA Derby Dolls. It’s amazing. The practices are kicking my ass. Literally. My ass muscles feel crazy! I feel really confident about my skating and I’m progressing rapidly. And that is 100% because the trainers fucking rock. They’re veteran Derby Dolls and they take time (a lot of time) out of their lives to train us newbies. They practice 2-3 times a week as it is and on top of that, they come in to make sure we (Fresh Meat) know what we’re doing. They don’t take it easy on us, let me assure you, but they make sure we don’t kill ourselves. Tonight was my 5th practice and it was the first time I got to try knocking anyone over. And damn did it feel good! We practiced blocking, push assists and whips (when you reach out to a skater behind you and whip her around the track).
Big huge thanks to all the girls for being so supportive and for making practice so damn fun. And especially to the trainers. So far, I’ve worked with:
Myna Threat
Puncharello
Amber Alert
P.I.T.A
Tara Armov
Axles of Evil
and Casey Bomber.
Tickets are still on sale for the upcoming bout on May 31- but not for long - they sell out every time. I’ll be working the merch stand.
And the big news: some of the Fresh Meat girls are going to play in a scrimmage (flat track) with Freshies from other leagues on June 8. While it’s not an official game, this will be my first roller derby competition (if I’m ready in time)! More details soon but save the date.
mickikrimmel on May 20th, 2008
YOU’RE BREAKING MY HEART
(Pat Genaro / Sunny Skylar)
Reggie Goff (with the Velvetones)
Also recorded by:
Frankie Avalon; Remo Capra; Vic Damone; Flanagan Band;
Ralph Flanagan Orch.; Jan Garber; Robert Goulet;
Dick Haymes; Dean Martin; Los Ãndios Tabajaras;
The Ink Spots; Joni James; Frank Sinatra.
You’re breaking my heart ’cause you’re leaving
You’ve fallen for somebody new
It isn’t too easy believing
You’d leave after all we’ve been through
It’s breaking my heart to remember
The dreams we depended upon
You’re leaving a slow dying ember
I’ll miss you, my love, when you’re gone
I wish you joy, though teardrops burn
But if some day you should want to return
Please hurry back and we’ll make a new start, dear
Till then you’re breaking my heart
(Instrumental Interlude)
I wish you joy, though teardrops burn
But if some day you should want to return
Please hurry back and we’ll make a new start, dear
Till then you’re breaking my heart
UPDATE: whentwitterisdown.com (refresh. many times.)
mickikrimmel on May 20th, 2008
I’m mucking around with my wordpress theme so please excuse any weirdness in the coming days until we can bring you the new hotness. Thanks!
mickikrimmel on April 25th, 2008
mickikrimmel on April 3rd, 2008
mickikrimmel on March 7th, 2008
mickikrimmel on March 5th, 2008
Check out our all star rock band at the NNN party at SXSW.
Micki Krimmel is The Epic. First name The.
Tantek Celik is Open Fail. You’re not going to miss his thunder.
Sean Bonner is Metro Fail! His rhythm shakes the city!
Rudy Jahchan is Patch Fail! One eye is all he has, and all he needs!
Props to Rudy for getting the band back together. We’ll see if the fails can get their shit together and back me up for once.
mickikrimmel on March 5th, 2008
mickikrimmel on March 5th, 2008
