Pay TV [aus der Sammlung Appelt]

- wirf nen Euro rein und lass die Puppen tanzen -

Photo C. Schanzenbach

Vernissage am 25.09.09 – 19:00 Uhr

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In der Ausstellungshalle Auf AEG in Nürnberg, Muggenhoferstraße, präsentiert der Sammler Wilfried Appelt mit seiner Austellung “Astronauten zur Venus” eine ungewöhnliche, höchst subjektive Zusammenstellung seiner Sammlung: Beispiele von mechanischen Rechenmaschinen bis zu den Anfängen der Home-Computer treffen auf Werke zeitgenössicher bildender Kunst.

]]> http://extweeme.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/dawn-of-new-media/ Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:54:03 +0000 ispigel http://extweeme.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/dawn-of-new-media/

We’ve had an interesting Twitter discussion (twiscussion?) amongst Croatian tweeps about new vs. old media, freedom of the press and the general frustration with the quality and integrity of mainstream media in Croatia.

The main trigger for the discussion was a TV show where the host, Aleksandar Stanković, spoke with investigative reporter Hrvoje Appelt who was recently fired from the magazine “Globus”, part of EPH publishing empire. Appelt had been invited to Parliament some time before (YouTube video, in Croatian) to speak about political corruption and the press. His speech in parliament was largely ignored by TV and the printed mainstream press. However an interview with Appelt was published on the independent portal “H-Alter”, confirming once again that new, independent media such as this one can often be relied upon for much better information than the mainstream giants.

Back to Twitter. A PR professional, Krešimir Macan (@kmacan on Twitter), livetweeted the whole TV show for the benefit of those who were not watching. After the show, a huge discussion erupted on Twitter (hashtag #HrMedia). A general frustration with the bullshit we are being served daily by our expensive, tax-funded national HTV, the two private national TV stations (RTL and NovaTV) and the printed press has been mounting for years and now erupted on Twitter with many participants agreeing that “something needs to be done about this”, “we tweeps and bloggers can contribute”, “how can we support Appelt” and similar thoughts.

Disclosure: I don’t write for H-Alter, but I have been somewhat involved with the portal since it’s founding, so in a way I’m not “neutral” in this whole discussion. Having said that, my main point in our recent discussion was, and still is, that the best way for the social media community to contribute to quality journalism and freedom of the press is to support H-Alter. At this point, it is the only independent portal in Croatia doing a serious, continued analysis and reporting of political events in Croatia and the region, with some very valuable contributions from the global scene as well. Here, then, in usual “multipoint” form, are:

Top 4 reasons why our social media community should support H-Alter:

1. H-Alter alredy *is* what many in the community “demand”: a high quality, independent source of news and analysis. No need to reinvent the wheel.

2. H-Alter has one of the key ingredients, which would not be easy to create anew: An established, small but very good editorial team, plus a good and (slowly) growing team of contributors.

3. H-Alter is truly independent and has shown on many occasions that it has the balls to publish what mainstream media cannot or will not.

4. H-Alter is already online – thus, given new talent and energy, it can be built on as a platform, to extend from the current portal format into new social media directions (blogs, Twitter etc.)

Now assuming that at least some of my social media friends agree with this (either now, or I talk them into it at a forthcoming tweetup), the next question might be “how can we help”? To answer that question, I need to note that even well-intentioned help needs to be managed by someone from the staff, and the H-Alter staff, being extremely small, has somewhat limited resources for “help management” – however this is something that could be discussed in more detail later. Anyway, how might the community help the portal?

Top 4 ways in which our social media community can support H-Alter:

1. Promotion: H-Alter funds are severly limited, ergo: very little room for promotion, ergo: limited reach. Soc. media, community, bloggers, owners of other portals could / should promote it like crazy

2. Writing: Good writers are always welcome but not easy to find. Being a great tech / gadget blogger does not necessarily make for a great political / news journalist (although it doesn’t necessarily preclude it either!)

3. New platform development, helping to extend H-Alter into new social media directions. Note: social media content and new directions still need to be managed / edited!

4. Money: this is currently one of the top bottlenecks in further development of H-Alter. The budget is almost comically small, ergo: not enough editorial resources or money for contributors. Helping (in whatever way) to increase the budget of the portal, although not necessarily the main forte of the social media community, would be a big big help.

There – hopefully this blog post, being more “topical” and “functional” than most of my writings, will help to contribute to the discussion we’ve all been having. Comments / feedback is more than welcome, here on the blog or on Twitter (@ivospigel) or at the Friday tweetup!

Pogledajte snimku gostovanja istraživačkog novinara Hrvoja Appelta na HTV-u u emisiji “Nedjeljom u dva” emitiranoj dana 5. srpnja 2009. godine. Iskreno rečeno meni je bilo mučnog gledati emisiju iz više razloga. Najviše me je pogodilo to što se voditelj sprdao sa Appeltovim idealizmom, umjesto da poštuje čovjeka koji nakon 11 godina kopanja po “kanalizaciji” društva prožetog korupcijom nije izgubio taj svoj idealizam. Isto tako, interesantno je kako su se izbjegavale dodatne priče o temama koje je Appelt istraživao, u biti se prošlo samo preko onih tema o kojima je on govorio u svom 25-minutnom svjedočenju u Saboru i nije se govorilo (ili bilo dopušteno govoriti?) o dodatnim stvarima. Šteta, jer se u sat vremena moglo i produbiti koju temu.

U svakom slučaju podržimo njegovu ideju da SMS porukom pomognemo slobodi medija u Hrvatskoj. Sve što treba napraviti je poslati SMS na broj 66478 riječ SLOBODA i sa 3,66kn (PDV uključen) pomoći Appeltu u njegovoj inicijativi da oformi nezavisni medij.

National Book Award Finalists for Young People’s Literature, 2008

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (Simon & Schuster)

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt (Atheneum)

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell (Scholastic)

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (Hyperion)

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp (Alfred A. Knopf)

Appelt, Kathi. 2008. The underneath. New York: Atheneum.

Most simply put, The Underneath is the story of a faithful hound dog, Ranger; his master, the cruel and possibly unredeemable Gar Face; and a small calico cat and her two kittens, Puck and Sabine. The story is set in the swamps, woods, and bayous in the wilderness somewhere between Louisiana and Texas. But that is the only thing simple about this haunting, suspenseful, mystical and poetic tale.

Woven into the story of Ranger, Gar Face, and the cats, are the magical stories of Grandmother Moccasin, a monstrous and venomous snake; the Alligator King, more than 100 feet long and a thousand years old; the shape-shifters, Night Song and Hawk Man, and the loblolly pine, who watches and remembers and sometimes intervenes in the fates of mammals, reptiles, and shape-shifters.

The underneath refers to the porch under which Ranger and the cats seek protection, but Grandmother is also underneath, trapped for a thousand years under the loblolly pine in an earthenware pot; and so too, is the Alligator King underneath, as he waits in the depths of the bayou, the Petite Gateaux, for the man he knows will hunt him.

“Do not go into that land between the Bayou Gateaux and its little sister, Petite Gateaux. Do not step into that shivery place. Do not let it gobble you up. Stay away from the Gateaux sisters.”

The story spans more than a thousand years and chapters alternate between the stories of man, animal, and reptile.

“A thousand years later…
Here is another listener.
Puck, wet and cold,
listening for his mama,
listening for his sister,
listening for his old hound, Ranger,
listening to the creek running by.
All he heard was loss.

Loss. A small, hissing word. A word that simmers into nothing. Beneath the old pine, Grandmother stewed inside her jar. Loss engulfed her as it had a million times before in this dark space. Lossssss! She whispered.
A word that scrapes against the skin.”

Each short chapter is written in similar fashion, a poetic style with recurring themes – loss, love, promises, and the price to be paid for one’s actions. Words are repeated as well,

“Do not trust a living soul. Do not.”

This is a book like none other that I have read and there is much “buzz” about it in the librarian community. I applaud Kathi Appelt’s bold foray from picture books into juvenile fiction, however, I am not entirely sure that this book will connect with young readers, particularly the stated target audience of grades 3-7. In 311 pages (I read the Advance Reader Copy, the actual final copy may have a slightly different number), there are only about twenty lines of dialogue. The Underneath is suspenseful, in that the reader will want to discover the fate of the protagonists and how their stories will intertwine across the ages, but I am not convinced that young readers will persevere through Appelt’s poetic prose. I confess that having received and Advance Reader Copy back in June, I was not initially interested enough to finish this book. I set it aside and only picked it up again because of the keen interest surrounding it. I may be wrong, but I predict that adults will love it, and children’s reviews will be mixed, at best. Time will tell.

Geburtstag hin, Ständchen her, einem wird man heute nur mit schlechtem Gewissen und entgegen jeder politischen Korrektheit gedenken, einem, der die Nation in Verehrer und Hasser spaltet, einer, der Alte auf Friedhöfe und Kinder vor Schulbusse schicken würde, der Frauen als Opfer und Männer als Kanonenfutter seiner schrägen Geisteshaltung sieht, einer, der das goldene „Ficken“ Schild vor sich her trägt: Ingo Appelt. Hoch sollst du leben, dreimal hoch, wenn du versprichst, Deutschland in Europa nicht mehr so bloßzustellen, wie bei deinen Auftritten von 7 Tage, 7 Köpfe.
Gedenken wir doch lieber den wahren Helden des 20. April, nämlich dem ersten Nutella Glas, das 1964 das Licht der Welt erblickte und im italienischen Alba vom Band lief. Die Zahnärzte und Ernährungsberater gratulieren ebenso, wie tausende Teenagermädchen, deren bester Freund du in tränenreichen Stunden des Selbsthasses und Liebeskummers wurdest.
Aber auch politisch wurde die Welt vom 20. April geprägt, immerhin erklärte 1998 die Rote Armee Fraktion ihre Auflösung und den Ausstieg aus der APO und wurde damit ein würdiges Mitglied unserer Gesellschaft. Vermutlich, weil der letzte aufrechte Streiter für Terror und nackte Gewalt im Knast verreckt ist oder mit seinem Bewährungshelfer in eine Alten-WG geschickt wurde. Danke RAF für den Polizeistaat, der euretwegen geschaffen wurde und heute verfassungsgemäße Spionagesoftware für Privathaushalte entwickeln und versenden darf. Den SS-Virus zum SicherheitsSchutz des Staates oder die StaatsSicherheit zum Schutz der Regierung… Auch hier empfiehlt sich der 20. April als Start dieser sog. Antiterroraktion „Statt gegen Bürger“ aus historischem Bezug …etwas, was einem Jubilianten dieses Tages zur Machtvollkommenheit noch gefehlt hätte.

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