Filesharing at Seattle University

So I just finished my digital journalism final, and I really like how it turned out.

It's 5 minutes. Click here to watch it in HD. Or watch a lower quality encode below:




Filesharing at Seattle University from Angelo Carosio on Vimeo.

Hilary, You're Splitting the Democratic Party. Stop

At the beginning of this primary season, we assumed that the Democratic candidate would be Sen. Hilary Clinton. The media referred to her as the “presumptive democratic candidate,” and her campaign nailed the point into our head that the race would be decided when she won “Super Tuesday.”

“I will win the nomination.” she said months ago.

Now, after splitting the Super Tuesday delegates with Sen. Barack Obama and losing 11 straight contests afterwards, she has come to the realization that she no longer is the frontrunner in this election. A man with the power to inspire and bring people together has put together a stunning grassroots campaign aimed at getting votes from the ground up, and it’s working. Contests are slipping out of Hillary’s fingers, and her once large delegate lead has disappeared.

Her response, however, is doing nothing more than hurting the democratic party. Instead of realizing that it's possible she isn’t what the American people want, instead she is attempting to attack and belittle Obama’s credibility in moves that could be potentially fatal for the party’s hopes to win the general election. In Ohio, Pictures have been circulated from campaign officials that attempt to make Obama look Muslim, and she has even called his patriotism into question in a picture showing Obama singing the national anthem without his hand on his heart. Playing race and religion cards are nothing more than fear tactics, easily targeting middle American states like Ohio.

Bill Clinton said it best in 2004: "If one candidate is trying to scare you, and the other one's trying to get you to think, if one candidate's appealing to your fears and the other one's appealing to your hopes, you better be voting for the one that wants you to think and hope. That's the best."

These tactics may be more tolerated in a general election, but Hillary needs to be reminded that whoever wins this contest still has a long way to go to defeat John McCain, and whoever it is going to be needs all the support they can get. Primary elections are supposed to be about issues and electability, not attempting to alienate your opponent from people who might be seeing him on a general election ballot. Hillary has even said that she and John McCain have the experience necessary to run the white house, but Obama lacks it. Should he win the nomination, its statements like that that will hurt his chances of being elected, as the people who used to support her vote for McCain instead of Obama.

If Obama had lost 11 straight contests and then come back with several squaky wins putting a very small dent in the lead, the media and the party would most likely be pushing him to get out of the race so the Democratic Party could unite under Hillary. Due to her once front-runner status she is still in the race, and insisting that "this is the beginning of her comeback" and rumors are abound that she's planning on using sneaky tactics like seating Michigan and Florida delgates to reclaim the lead. Most states coming up have been the kind of states that favored Obama. His lead will only increase as time goes on.

Here’s my message to you, Ms. Clinton. The odds for you to legitamately become the democratic candidate are very very slim. Every minute you stay in this race, every negative ad you put out against Obama harms the man who will probably be representing your party in the general election. The position of both of your candidacies is that Americans are ready for someone who isn't George Bush. Shouldn't you do everything you can to make sure we can elect someone who isn't endorsed by the man? Republicans are starting their run for November with McCain in front, and the Democrats need to do the same. Obama has had win after win in almost twice the states that you have. Texas and Ohio were so close that the delgates given to both candidates bordered on even. Obama has a significant ammount of support, and airing negative adds to swing a couple hundred thousand people to your side isn't going to change that. The best thing you could do for the Democratic party right now is to drop out and support Barack Obama. If you stay in, you will only disenfranchise all of the young voters who turned out in record numbers this election to support him.

After 8 years of Bush, we need a change. We need as many votes for the Democratic candidate as possible, and the longer that this is drawn out, the harder those votes will be to obtain. Swallow your pride, and let the democratic process that has done this country well for hundreds of years work the way that it’s supposed to.

Develoment, Development, Developement!

Everyone living in Queen Anne knows that new buildings and development is pretty much a constant. Just driving down the street it's obvious that new buildings are being put up all the time. Here at the Queen Anne Neighborhood Blog, we're ahead of the cranes, bringing you news about new development before there are any signs of it going on. Currently, there are some big projects underway that we hope to give you a first glimpse of.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Currently on the corner of 5th and Mercer St. in Queen Anne sits a Seattle Center Parking lot, one which is probably worth more than most people make in several years. Since such a large parking lot can't occupy prime real estate for too long, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation has decided to build a new, permanent campus on the site. Based on community input from the Design Review Board, the concept is "intended to reflect both the foundation’s Seattle roots and its focus on reducing inequities and improving lives around the world." according to the foundation's website.

In addition to the huge campus, the foundation will add nearly 2000 jobs to Queen Anne, and bring with it an increase in traffic, hotels, and foreign diplomats visiting the area. The ground is being broken for the building in July, and it will compleley change the face of Queen Anne as it is known today. Look out for this beautiful building to be completed in a couple of years.

Seattle Center

The Queen Anne staple Seattle center is also recieving a large rennovation in the coming years, something this park has not seen since it was built in the '60s. The Seattle Center has been working closely with various Queen Anne groups like the Land Use Review comitee to develop a plan for this campus that moves it in to the 21st century. According to the Seattle Center website, large changes will me made to the overall camus, including the removal of the "fun forest" amusement park area in favor of more open space, more transportation options, and additional programs for young and old people alike. They are also trying to emphasize sustainable design in all of the aspects of the Center's redevelopment.

There are some interesting things in store for this area, and the more jobs that are created here, the more people want to move here, fueling the need for even more development. It's a continuing process, and one that any Queen Anne resident should stay on top of.

Queen Anne St.: The Backbone of a Community

The sun was shining in Queen Anne on Tuesday, a rare sight this time of year anywhere in Seattle. People were out everywhere, encouraged to leave their homes and offices to enjoy this sunny exception in an unusually cold winter. I'm out too, walking down Queen Anne St, a bit south of the Seattle Center. This street is the main throughfare for the Queen Anne neighborhood, and contains enough hotels, restraunts, coffee shops, and businesses to spend an entire day shopping without ever leaving the street.

The first place that I come to is a park that it's impossible to come to this area without noticing: The Seattle Center. Built in the '60s as the site for the World's Fair, it's known as a place for tourists by most Seattle locals. Walking into the center, the huge fountain glistening in the sun, a woman and her child play in the water jets, while a man wails on his saxophone in the background. There is lots to do here that isn't necessarily the expensive tourist traps that the Space Needle elevator and the EMP are - The Pacific Science Center has laser shows to classic rock music on the weekends, as well as huge-screen IMAX movies all week. There are several theatres scattered around too, and currently the Seattle Repretory Theater is doing a production of "The Diary of Anne Frank."

This huge park always has something going on, and it's definitely a place that Seattle residents should visit more often.

As I continued my walk down Queen Anne St, I made it to a more commercial area with shops lining both sides of the street. I found myself inside Twice Sold Tales, a bookstore which only deals in used fare. The store was tucked away on a corner, and once inside it's clear that this isn't an ordinary bookstore. The sterile, expansive, corporate America feeling you get from stores like Borders and Barnes and Noble is gone.

At Twice Told Tales, it's been replaced with a dark cavelike feeling, with books packed in everywhere you look, and several cats roaming around at their pleasure. It's hard to get cash for your old books here, but easy to trade them in and find something else in the store instead. A friendly staff, huge selection, and the good feeling you get supporting local businesses will bring me back to this store the next time I'm looking for a good read.

My next stop would be Uptown Espresso. In a city with coffee shops across the street and next door to other coffee shops, to be successful is to be different. The first thing I noticed about Uptown is the lamps that were on the tales - every one was different from the others.
Mine happened to be a windmill, and I sat down and enjoyed the best cup of hot chocolate I've had in a while. The textured walls, festive lamps, and general atmosphere made this coffee shop feel more like I was enjoying a cup at my own home. The woman at the counter looked over to me and asked "If you were a superhero, which one would you be?"

I quickly responded: "Batman, duh."

Queen Anne St, (and Queen Anne in general) is an exciting place full of good businesses and good people. I only spent an hour walking down the street and visiting stores and parks, but I'm sure one could spend much more time here if he had it. As I came out of Uptown, the sun had been hidden away behind growing cloud cover. I knew it wouldn't last long.

Easy Street Records: A Queen Anne Staple

As I walked in to Easy Street Records last Tuesday, I was greeted with a familiar smell that I can only describe as "music store." The musty smell of old records in their cardboard cases mixed with plastic CDs makes me feel at home in any store, and Easy Street Records in Queen Anne isn't an exception.

Since opening up shop 5 years ago in 2003, Easy Street records has been offering free in-store concerts for bands who want to be able to promote their music without much hassle, and they are always well attended by Queen Anne residents and music lovers all over the city of Seattle.

Tuesday's show was an album release party for an indie rock band out of Portland, "The Helio Sequence." As the band set up at the end of the store behind a garage door, the crowd found spots to watch among the shelves of records and CDs. There was hardly any lighting and a bare bones stage, but what matters most to the people attending was the music. The Helio Sequence rocked out hard playing songs from their new album, and the several-hundred strong crowd was definitely enjoying it.

The staff at Easy Street records said that they enjoy doing the in-stores, and that it's always interesting to see what bands decide to make a stop there -- usually accompanying another show in a bigger venue around the same time. The in-stores are usually lower key performances - sorter and with less glam, and that's an element that can draw some people to them that might not want to be part of a 500 person mosh pit at the Paramount. There are more than 20 shows at Easy Street every year, and in the past such famous artists as M.I.A and Pearl Jam have performed, all for absolutely no money.

"Pearl Jam was definitely my favorite of the in-shows because we didn't announce it," employee Tanya Jessen said. "They just showed up and started playing, and before we knew it the entire store was packed."

Most shows are announced however, and if you're ever broke in Queen Anne looking for something to pass the time, check out the big rotating sign outside of the store to see if there are any good bands scheduled to perform. They also post upcoming store events on their website.

Mobile Video

Recently in a conversation with my mom, she was telling me about the recent cell phone boom in India.More people are getting cell phones, and that's great. Businesses and the whole economy of that country can benefit by more people being connected. The interesting aside to the growth, however, is that because of it more and more people in India are using their new cell phones to consume media. While here in the US we may have a TV and an iPod too, that definitely isn't the case for most people living there, and televisions are much more rare. So what do Indians do instead? Gather round the ol' cell phone and watch a translation of Friends!

Mobile video is popular here too, whether it be on an iPod or on a cell phone. People are consuming more and more media on the go, and more and more media on small screens and stock earbud headphones. Mendel had brought up the point in an earlier entry that he disliked this because it results in people never having any time to just "be" since they can watchSouth Park during all their free time on the bus, and although i agree with him, I also dislike this new trend for a different reason , and David Lynch seems to agree with me :P

It seems to me that as more people start watching their television and movies on smaller screens, the people producing that media might start having to compensate for that with a different style of production. The music industry has compensated for the fact that 50% of iPod owners use stock earbuds with the "loudness wars," which are virtually eliminating dynamic range in new music and can ruin it in extreme cases. Are we going to start seeing new TV shows doing something similar? Are we going to see cinematography with more close-ups and detail shots so people watching on an iPod nano screen can actually see what's going on? Are directors even going to bother with small details and good sets if most people aren't going to see them anyway?

I myself have never watched a TV show on my iPod, and maybe used the stock earbuds for about 1 day (mostly to advertise my new iPod owner status). Are these things sufficient for anyone reading this? I guess I maybe don't understand since I like to consume media in the best environment possible, or else I don't think it is worth it. The director intended movies to be viewed on a screen the size of a room, and while watching them on a television is acceptable, I just will not have the same experience on a cell or iPod, period. Same with music, if I can't hear everything that's in the song, why even bother?

Maybe I'm just a media perfectionist, but I'm sure that there are others like me, and we're getting the short end of the stick.

Late Night Ramblings

I've been thinking recently, as always, about file sharing.

What I've been pondering is what the next step should be for the record industry. What, in my opinion, should happen so that they will make money and keep the consumers happy at the same time, neither of which seems to be happening recently.

Obviously one of the main factors in this debate is the money. Recording artists require inflated coke addict inducing salaries, and bands are wondering why their albums aren't selling. Some of them are even choosing to independently distribute their albums. Record sales are going down, and they can't support themselves, so they blame it on the pirates and start a crusade. This is the largest mistake they could have made.

The people who used OiNK were the people who had such an extreme addiction to music that they could never get enough of it. We're the people who hear songs we like and spin them on a dance floor for hundreds of people to hear, and possibly go home and buy from iTunes. More importantly, quite a few of us are the people who also buy music in addition to pirating it. Every month I spend large amounts of money on used CDs. I love collecting them, having the linear notes and the pretty artwork. To me that is worth the money - I may have pirated the album before, but having that CD makes it feel more real to me. Having lots of them on a shelf just looks GREAT.

Since this is the case for many other music addicts that I know, they are doing the wrong thing by pissing us off. We're the people with the 200+ CD collections, not the ones who listen to the same 100 $.99 iTunes songs over and over (Grace Carosio). Because we're angry at our peers and fellow file-sharers being sued and tired of DRM, we're all off buying only used CDs and directly supporting the artist, and then pirating the new releases so they see none of our money.

Here's what I think a solution could be that logically follows from all these things. I know I'm living in a dream world, but this could really work.

Firstly, they need to accept that piracy is never going to stop. They need to compete with the pirates by doing one thing: meeting their price, creating a free online database containing large quantities of music. A place where all of the music you'd ever want is available in a bare bones form: as a V2 VBR mp3 download. Ads would be fine, p2p would be fine. They could still make money on this. A monthly fee could be charged for a subscription which removed the ads and allowed you to download in better qualities. The site would be highly used, and advertising could provide large amounts of money.

In addition to that, they need to boost album sales in the physical realm by emphasizing what makes it different from the digital version."Alive 2007" was packaged as a book, and contained a 50 pages of photos from the concert it was recorded at, as well as a bonus disc with music videos. This kind of stuff can easily happen more with some effort. Innovative packaging, and sweet incentives to buy physical copies. Vinyl is coming back in a big way, another thing that can be capitalized on because vinyl offers a completely different experience. Mass producing it means that prices could go down and audiophiles like myself would squeal with joy. People pirate because there isn't much of a unique experience when an album contains 3 pages of linear notes and 40% filler songs. Ringtone rappers record a whole album based off of one 30 second ringtone. Why do they expect it to sell?

“The main problem is that the artists are not getting as much help developing as before file-sharing. They are now learning to peddle ringtones, not records. They don’t understand the value of a perfect piece of art.” - 50 Cent.

When the internet came and people could get their news for free, traditional newspapers didn't attack the new technology, they embraced it. They understood that people would still buy their product even if it was available for free online. Today, up to 20% of the profit of a paper usually comes from its website, and they still have just as many, if not more subscribers than before the internet. The digital age is here, and it's not going away. The only solution is to embrace it.