Grant Robertson · new media superhero

Wow. When I met Newt Gingrich in 1994, I had no idea that he’d develop a distaste for the constitutional amendment that allows me my livelyhood.

From MSNBC:

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: My view is that either before we lose a city, or if we are truly stupid after we lose a city, we will adopt rules of engagement that we use every technology we can find to break up their capacity to use the Internet, to break up their capacity to use free speech, and to go after people who want to kill us, to stop them from recruiting people before they get to reach out and convince young people to destroy their lives while destroying us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OLBERMANN: If you’re going to destroy freedom of speech, bub, you’ve already lost all the cities.

To paraphrase Pastor Martin Noemuller’s poem about Germany in the ‘30s and ‘40s: First they came for the Fourth Amendment, then they came for habeas corpus, then came for free speech, and there was no one allowed to speak up.

I’m not normally a big fan of Keith Olbermann but, I think he sums it up quite well. If you start ripping up the constitution just to protect a few (even millions) from a terrorist attack, you’re already exacting more damage on the “American way of life” than any terrorist could hope to create with unlimited resources. A history professor like Newt should really have a better grasp of the whole slippery slope phenomonon, don’t you think?

X and I had an awesome time. Great Zydeco/Acadian band, and a really rockin’ DJ set afterwards. Ran into Dave of Let’s Get Baked With Matt and Dave, a spot-on vegan baking podcast that’s broadcast on CKDU. Super nice guy. We chatted for a bit about participatory culture, and the meteoric rise of Video podcasts.

Thanks to Chris for the tickets, and thanks to Dave for chatting with the half drunk guy that recognized you and started asking about your podcast.

I can’t say I’ve been following the lonleygirl15 saga. I’m not a big YouTube user, as uncool as that might make me. So, you can imagine my surprise when I discovered this on The Reluctant Midwesterner, “I was recently surfing through the YouTube universe and came across a video blog by LonelyGirl15. The music used in this video is by Lisa DeBenedictis . I was absolutely and uterly transfixed by the vocals. Searching the web, I found the re-mix community”

I read enough Digg and Boing Boing to know the Lonelygirl15 “brand” (geez, that says something about the level of market penetration doesn’t it?). Turns out that this lonelygirl 15 video uses a remix of “Brilliant Day” by my pal Lisa DeBenedictis.

How’s that for the power of the internet? Lisa, a mostly self produced singer/songwriter who composes out of her bedroom, licenses music under the Creative Commons and becomes one of the most remixed artists ever. In turn, one of those remixes falls into the middle of the largest YouTube meme series yet, which makes the LA times when it’s (maybe) revealed that Lonelygirl15 is a filmmaking project, and not actually a homeschooled girl with parent issues.

This weekend I spent a few hours working on The Download Squad’s new podcast. First episode should be out in the next week or two.

On another note, had breakfast this morning afternoon at The Armview. Yum.

The RIAA vs. John Doe was also picked up by Boing Boing. I guess I hit a nerve.

I was a guest on WNYC’s Soundcheck in the July 17th “look back at 2006″ episode. The host and I discussed the decline in CD sales, and rise in digital download sales, and the effect this trend is having on the industry.

Listen to Grant Robertson on WNYC’s Soundcheck.

I’ve been asked to appear on WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer this Monday. We’ll be discussing the migration from CD to digital download formats and some of the issues that have arisen as a result. Yep, Soundscan data has everyone talking about the democratization of the music business.

Soundcheck is a very well respected show, and John Schaefer was recently named a “New York Influential” by New York magazine. I’m excited and honored to be on the show, and I look forward to talking with John.

Tune in to WNYC on Monday 7/17 at 2pm EST or, download the podcast.

Boing Boing posted a link to an ephemeral film on despotism. Those who listen to my podcast, The Revolution, know that I’m a huge fan of the ephemeral films at archive.org under the Prelinger collection, so this makes me smile a bit.

As a big huge ephemeral film fan, you should also check out these gems from the Prelinger Archive.

Panorama Ephemera

Edited by Prelinger himself, this is a survey course in epehemera. If you watch one thing, this is it

Coffee House Rendevous

Shows coffeehouses sponsored by churches and community organizations and how they function as gathering places for countercultural youth.

Duck and Cover

A staple of atomic age ephemera, recently used on The Daily Show with John Stewart. Described by Archive.org as “Selected for the 2004 National Film Registry of “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant” motion pictures. Famous Civil Defense film for children in which Bert the Turtle shows what to do in case of atomic attack.”

Your Name Here

Parody of early 1960 promotional films. Very funny. Described as “The ultimate generic industrial film, built around every script and visual cliche”

Perversion for Profit

Anti-pornography film produced by financier Charles Keating, linking pornography to the Communist conspiracy and the decline of Western civilization.

Victory Is Our Business

Patriotic motivational film for World War II industrial workers.

This is Coffee

Loving tribute to America’s favorite stimulant.