Gore’s Current TV Live

by Erik Olsen on

So after all the hoopla, all the acerbic musing about whether we
need another 18-34 demographic TV channel, Al Gore’s Current.tv is finally live and
broadcasting to select cable outlets around the country. I think some 20 million households are being covered, so most
likely you’ll be able to see it.

Lots of articles were run this weekend about the effort, including this one in the
New York Times, and this one in the
LA Times. All the speculation so far about the channel’s
success has been more or less positive. Optimists are crossing their fingers that the channel will indeed usher in an
entire new genre of compelling, user-created TV that takes us away from mainstream tripe. But critics are saying the
channel is likely to be the “same ol’ same ol'” in an already over-saturated marketplace. Personally, I hope the former
is true.   

Why? Because I really admire what they are doing. In fact, as folks here may remember, I submitted
a video to them that became a finalist in their
user-created content contest. It was tremendous fun, and the piece will supposedly air on TV sometime today. In fact, I
was psyched to see that Time
Magazine this week mentioned my piece, calling it, “a gripping, sensitively shot video of Indian
families cremating their loved ones on the Ganges“. That’s positive, right?

The Current Web site is completely new as well, and has a much nicer look and feel than the earlier iteration, whose
color scheme was kind of an electric vomit. They break out what’s on and what’s coming up on the channel, and provide a
nice overview of their “pod” system (one wonders what Apple think about that name?) which breaks out stories into
themes like “Current Parent”, “Current Soul” and so on.

Everyone give this new channel a look. Find out if it’s on in your area and watch it. Or at the very least check out
the Web site and give it a once and twice over. And if you’ve got some interesting ideas, submit them. You never know,
you might become a star.


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Fearing Other Races

by Erik Olsen on

A fascinating piece from
National Geographic about human fear that ties in nicely to our notions of travel. The study shows that people are
more readily afraid of others who are not their own race. In the study, blacks and whites were shown images of both
black and white men and given a mildly uncomfortable electric shock (you have to love any study that administers
electrical shocks). When shown the same images later, however, without the shock, they found that people dropped their
fears of people of their same race, but continued to fear of members of the other race. I find the methodology a bit
confusing (why the need for the shock in the first place? Perhaps just for kicks?), but it makes sense in evolutionary
terms because confrontation with different groups probably often led to conflict.

As one of the scientists put it, “Millennia ago, when groups stayed segregated by tribes and clans, the association of
difference with something bad or fear-provoking may have been reasonable or served a purpose.” That is, “humans may
have developed a predisposition to associate people of a different social group with a negative outcome”…like getting
their asses kicked.

This ties nicely into travel because travel is the way we overcome these fears. Right? Isn’t that one of the reasons
we venture out? To know more about the world outside our immediate lives, to encounter people who do things differently
and look different so that we can better understand ourselves as individuals and gain insight into the human condition?
To control and reduce our fears? We are fulfilled when travel strips us of prejudice and contributes to our personal
growth. We visit foreign places that reveal our collective history, that capture our imagination, and that give us
faith that the species will continue to survive and strive toward greater happiness for all. Or maybe that’s just
me.

More DiCaprio and a Bit of Phriday Philosophy

by Erik Olsen on

Sorry for the DiCaprio deluge today…if two posts can be called a
deluge…but I just came across the young actor’s environmentally
conscious Web site and thought it was worth looking at. It is suprisingly informative, if a bit shrill, IMHO.
Still, good for him to put forth the effort.

The site takes on the issue of global warming, offering links to news and events related to oil consumption,
greenhouse gases and ocean conservation.  DiCarpio himself has
penned an essay on the subject
of global warming, and offers a short Flash
film to boot.

Lots of stars these days (and in days past) have made a public stand on important issues. You might remember Brad
Pitt’s recent jaunt to Africa to rail against global hunger, and
we’ve moaned a bit here about the anti-war wanderings of
Sean Penn. I guess I’ve come around a bit to see these efforts as something positive. We’re inundated with so much
information these days, that it’s hard to focus on certain issues, and actors often serve as points of focus, casting
their celestial light on things we might otherwise be distracted from. Ours is a celebrity obsessed culture, a fact due
to some kink in our genetic make-up that makes us look up to those others look up to, a kind of societal pecking order
mechanism that has always been a part of the human constitution. While perhaps misguided (shouldn’t we really be
celebritifying the scientists and activists who really make change happen?), that is who we are. Why fight
it?

Following Fat Steve

by Erik Olsen on

Everyone undertakes big adventures for their own reasons. For some, it’s a matter of personal accomplishment, for
others they just want to see the world, others might want to spread some kind of message. I know one guy whose goal was
to sleep with a woman on every continent.

Steve Vaught has a
goal, too. The 350-pounder has set out on a grand adventure to lose weight and gain self-respect. Vaught, who calls
himself “Forrest Lump”, is walking across the country to shed weight in a culturally iconic mixture of Forrest Gump and
the Subway Guy.

And of course, no such exercise in self-flagellation/promotion could possibly go off without a
Web site where you can tune in and watch in real, or semi-real-time, the
poignant struggle of a man seeking socieital acceptance through self-induced torture.

And of course I don’t mean to be cynical, but one does wonder what marvelous food-industry or footwear sponsorships
lie in wait for our corpulent crusader.

Sound Print

by Erik Olsen on

With the explosion in podcasting, it is sometimes easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of audio content
available out there. There is so much to listen to. And face it, much of it is crappy and poorly produced.

But I’d like to bring your attention to a fine site that is doing quality international journalism. The stories over
at Sound Print are well put together and many of them, depending on your
global interests, are wonderfully informative. They are very NPR-like (which is fine…I
LOVE NPR), which means they can be a bit dreary and boring at times, but for the most part, the stories are vivid and
fascinating. Just to sample, listen to a few of the stories from the
Global Romance series.

If I have any complaints, it’s that there is no way to put these stories on your ipod…so they are not technically
podcasts. They are in Real format (something they should fix…hint hint).