viewfromaloft

Holiday get-togethers for bloggers, and those who read downtown's blogs.

The Militant may or may not be there. Will El Chavo do a photo "ese"? Can Garza sing opera on skates? Can Shannon beat the Burbank traffic? Will Wonton trip anyone? Come on people. Group hug.  Dates for the 3bn on skates, and photographers on the streets, are set.  For more info, go to  blogdowntown events. 

and for the record . . .

Downtown News Editor, Publisher and Owner Sue Laris comments over at Angelenic about the "The Downtown Blogger" cartoon by Doug Davis:

Thanks for all the attention. Our cartoonist, Doug Davis, who creates his cartoons with his own point of view, will be especially thrilled. You’ll note that he has a specific series going, one he adds to from time to time, called “Downtown Snapshots,” of which this is one. The intent is to be gently humorous, not a deep needle. Just a cartoonist’s vision of what various Downtown “types” are. He has satirized me in some of his work, too, but usually in the cartoon strip in the Calendar section, not the political cartoon. He saves the deep needles for politicians, I find. The point is that I, too, have experienced the cringe. Not so bad. Kind of fun. Kind of not. But a cartoonist needs to be given his freedom, so onward we go.

<snip>

Hey, for the record, we do print material provided by bloggers from time to time. Ask Eric Richardson. We’ve printed 800-word pieces by him. And when we get our new web site up and operating, we plan to link to all the Downtown bloggers.

With that, this blog closes the subject.

Quick Notes

TELL ME MORE: The "What's the Story?” Workshop series that has writers/actors perform works-in-progress in front an audience will have the last performance of the year Tuesday, Nov 27 at Cafe Metropol. Dinner and Drinks are at 7pm, and the show starts "promptly" at 8pm. Joining the approximately ten readers/actors/writers are musical guests Ivan Johnson & David Johnson.  Stacie Chaiken, a faculty member of the USC School of Theatre, is the artistic director for WHAT'S THE STORY? @ CAFE METROPOL (923 E 3rd St LA). Reservations can be had at 213-613-1537.

Sense of Humor

Team Angelenic and artist Devin Fountain combined forces to respond to a political cartoon called "The Downtown Blogger" that currently appears in Downtown News.

In short, the Doug Davis Urban Scrawl takes a dig at a "fictious" group of downtown bloggers and implies the online scribes only offer contradictions to their very own idealistic messages.

Meanwhile, Garment & Citizen recently ran an op-ed that defended urban journalist Joel Kotkin that in part stated: 'Many of Kotkin’s critics label him a crank who brings nothing more than a negative outlook and a caustic tongue to discussions of urban planning."

"Kotkin is strident—I’ll give all of his critics that much. But no more than the public relations machine that has hummed along in support of Downtown’s residential development, as many bloggers with direct or indirect stakes in an upscale makeover have joined the traditional array of print publications and developers’ advocates in the feel-good blitz of recent years."

So, according to the two local fish-wraps, downtown L.A. bloggers are somewhere in between being out of touch of the real Downtown and part of a well oiled public relations machine that drank the developer Kool-Aid with a "caustic" tongue.

As you can expect, the 3bN discussed the illustrated barb by Davis in a flurry of e-mails late Saturday morning and passed around some ideas for another political style cartoon. I even drew up three more versions for fun, then entered political cartoon illustrator rehab over the weekend. Thanks to professional intervention, I have passed the need to post them. Besides, the satirical bite in the e-mails would be a hard act to follow.

Coverage, Coverage, Everywhere.

WGA "On Strike" sign on 4th between Main and Spring.

Writers often use a font that links them to the typewriter, even in the age of the laptop and the word-soon-to-be-verb Blackberry.  "It's courier!" proudly said ta striking writer. Actually, except for the swooping R, "On Strike" looks like ITC American Typewriter Condensed.  I did wonder why the font wasn't bold, "On Strike" wasn't on the top half of the sign, and there's no exclamation point.

Exclamation points can be found on the blogs

No Media Firewalls: Quote 37

"But the mass documentation of the fire also speaks to the way technology is changing the way we view events." "Blaze fans flames of Internet fame" LATimes April 3, 2007 [VFaL]

Here were some ways blogs were used to update photos and stories coming from the California wildfires of 2007.

More Press for Brady

Following the Source: USC Anneburg Master's Online Journalism student Brian Frank went straight to the source last weekend, taking in an afternoon with blogger, neighborhood activist, and L.A Loft King Brady Westwater--who has a few stories to tell.  Downtown as subject can also be heard at Annenberg Radio online, where you can find reports like How to be a Derby Doll, and a visit to Skid Row's Inner City Kids. Meanwhile: Brady links up some reviews for BOXeight's fashion show , and does 1,000th post. 

Question for Readers

Simple demographic study: Shorter posts, longer posts, photos all day or less essays/reporting? Discuss.

Inside 'The Alex'

I spent some time with a resident of the Alexandria Hotel and posted it at Blogdowntown. Straight to the Source.

Morning Coffee Snorter

We title it "Feed at Last!  Feed At Last! , Thank God almighty . . .: VFaL concurs with CurbedLA's one line review of  the "front page" story of undernourished models rescued from the Downtown garment manufacturer, as seen in the satire driven newspaper The Onion:  F'ing Brilliant.:

"There were girls lying everywhere—draped over furniture, sprawled spread-eagled in the corner, and huddled close like animals," FBI Special Agent Curtis Froman, who oversaw  the raid, said at a press conference. "Many of them had been given nothing more than a pair of tube socks or men's briefs to wear."

Desperate Angle: VFaL's Onion style report on over filming on Wisteria Lane.  We'll leave it to the experts at The Onion from now on. Speaking Of: LAO brought forth to the blogs the Daily News finding (tipped off?)  parking stripes to advertise "Desperate Housewives." LAist still won't watch the show.

Disguised Readers: Urban Memo emailed VFaL last week about "what's up with the LACityNerd site?" and we haven't been able to find out. You have to be a invited member to read the fave blog. Even BloggingLA wonders why.