Josh Kun, Director of the Lear Center's Popular Music Project, writes in The New York Times about Shawn Kiehne, a k a El Gringo, a white Southwestern country boy who's beginning to take the regional Mexican music scene by storm. Of German stock, Kiehne learned to love the music while working with Mexicans on a Texas ranch. He now writes and sings his own songs in Spanish and Univision Records is distributing his first record. Read the article.
THE NEWS
Do movie critics really matter? One did: Pauline Kael. Her impact on American culture and what we watch now is surprising, and yes, sad. more>>
Tired of academic books about hip hop? So is John McWhorter. And he's an academic. With a provocative new book about...hip hop. more>>
Guitar Hero comes to the cell phone. Can you still look cool playing air guitar on your Blackberry? more>>
Are you visually illiterate? Director Peter Greenway has the cure: a multimedia extravaganza using computer projections and light effects to "dialogue" with some of the world's most famous paintings. more>>
Brad Pitt is working with LA-based firm GRAFT to design a 5-star “green resort” in Dubai. No word yet on when Frank Gehry will make his big-screen debut as a hunky, romantic hero. more>>
Tired of buildings that just sit there and do nothing? Take a look at "the world's first building in motion," an 80-story tower planned for Dubai with independently rotating floors. more>>
Has Vanity Fair built the Web Page to End All Web Pages? Well, no, but check out its clever BLOGOPTICON, a handy reference to all things political, cultural, dazzling and dim online.more>>
Has your thinking taken on a "staccato" quality? One blogger claims to "have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print." As more of daily life, relationships, news, political debate and entertainment comes at us via the click-driven Web, perhaps our minds are changing HOW we think. more>>
Fashion and architecture join hands, sling a Chanel bag over their shoulders and tour the world in a new museum designed by Zaha Hadid. In tribute to that Chanel bag. more>>
Harrison Ford just plays Indiana Jones. He isn't really an archeologist. But he's now on the board of directors of the Archeological Institute of America. Really. Really? more>>
What's an industry without an awards ceremony? The 12th annual Webby awards were handed out June 10th and Oscar could learn something from the word limit on thank-you speeches. more>>
Is there a science to great movies? Is an old Alfred Hitchcock Presents half-hour more captivating than a new episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm? Researchers at New York University are using functional MRIs and ICS (inter-subject correlation) analysis to find out. more>>
When digital camcorders are as pervasive as cell phones, will we all be stars or paparazzi -- or both? more>>
Enjoying the hot model on a billboard? Say "cheese" because a new wave of billboards feature discreet cameras that record your gender, age and how long you stood their drooling. They're not snapping your face yet, but that's just a matter of time. more>>
Will Americans find a new series about themselves -- designed for the Arab world as a diplomatic initiative -- entertaining? The Sundance Channel will find out this week as it starts airing "On the Road in America." more>>
A sequel to D.W. Griffith's Intolerance? The failed Hollywood spectacle is the inspiration behind a new fine art show of paintings in NYC. more>>
No joke: how many people does it take to build a spaceship in the sci-fi video game Eve Online? It took just under 4,000 players eight months to complete. The complexities of training, materials, and management that this demanded is one reason the Harvard Business Review claims that high-level game playing may be a better sign than an MBA that someone's qualified to run an internet startup. more>>
Can we hope at least for virtual peace in the Middle East? G.hos.st, the first joint technology venture of its kind between Israelis and Palestinians, offers a free, Web-based virtual computer that lets users anywhere access their desktop and files. It's still in alpha right now, but check it out. And say a little prayer. more>>
Virtual reality healing? Virtual Iraq, with a sim engine from Full Spectrum Warrior, is proving valuable for treating severe PTSD in veterans returning from the real Iraq. more>>
Not so Ready to Share: Two New York designers feel so knocked out by knockoffs they refuse to sell their work to people they suspect might copy it. Why? Because customers have returned their originals after knockoffs appeared at a discount fashion chain. more>>
It may not be long before the writer's room of your favorite TV show has been outsourced to India. This year, the networks found shows for their schedules created in Britain, Australia and Israel. more>>
Celebrities, athletes, anyone: Paparazzi got you down? Welcome to the world of AntiRazzi, a new service which provides "personal paparazzi" who will offer candid photos of you to subscribing publishers at cut-rate discounts. No more stalkerazzi! more>>
In the new Wii Fit, avatars take the place of a high school P.E. coach or Jane Fonda scissor-kicking in spandex. Two million Japanese have already snapped up Nintendo's latest brainchild.more>>
The Green Zone as a destination for family fun and entertainment? more>>
You can always trust PBS to get it right, right? Maybe not so much. more>>
Six million U.S. television viewers vanished in the last year. Where did they go? more>>
Microsoft hopes an online video contest will produce fun, user-generated ads to sell Vista to a still skeptical public. Are you ready for your close-up, Mr. Ballmer? more>>
Children's picture books change -- slowwwwwly -- to incorporate everyday technology into their stories. more>>
How many online identities are too many for a ten-year old? One mother takes a tour of virtual worlds for kids with her daughter. more>>
The world of online dating can be excruciating. But Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar, in their "I Want You To Want Me" visualization project for MoMA, make it look deliriously fun, sweet, and even, well, hopeful. Watch
The haptic screen Tom Cruise used in Minority Report has come to CNN. Will this dazzling, inherently entertaining way of playing with graphs and images bring more clarity or depth to campaign reporting? Or is it one step closer to Romper Room news? more>>
Besides piano-playing cats and stunts gone wrong, can online video offer up wisdom...and grace? Open your heart and watch. more>>
Toss your keyboard and mouse: it's time to fly hands free in Second Life. more>>
When you've caused your own downfall and lost everything, what's next? Perhaps a stroll past a newsstand to see how a brilliant graphic artist succinctly nails you in a way even you find entertaining. more>>
"We hold these videos to be self-evident..." How YouTube and the Web are changing our political process. more>>
THE CENTER
HH&S Director Presents at UN Population Fund Conference in Middle East
Hollywood, Health & Society Director Sandra de Castro Buffington traveled to the Middle East to present three papers at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Strategic Communication for Behavior Change: Youth Pop Culture, Media and HIV/AIDS conference in Muscat, Oman on July 1-4. Conference participants included four-person national teams made up of a celebrity, a journalist, a young adult "Y-PEER" educator, and a UNFPA staff member from nine Arab countries and key Balkan States.
Offering an orientation to the importance and power of youth pop culture and entertainment media in behavior change and HIV prevention, Buffington delivered presentations on Strategic Communication for Behavior Change and Development: A Paradigm Shift; Working with Producers and Creators in Hollywood to Incorporate Sexual and Reproductive Health, including HIV/AIDS in Popular Television Programs; and Incorporating Health Issues in Entertainment Television Programs: Ethical, Legal and Economic Issues.
Buffington said the "Y-PEER" initiative is an innovative way to empower young people and celebrities in the Middle East to educate each other on critical HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health issues. The brain child of Dr. Aleksandar Sasha Bodiroza, Programme Specialist with UNFPA, "Y-PEER is a comprehensive approach to the promotion of health and well-being of young people in the Arab States, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and East Africa through strategic and innovative communication and partnerships. Its primary focus is prevention of HIV and promotion of sexual and reproductive health and gender equality. The Y-PEER initiative takes its origins in grassroots movements and continues to be directed and implemented by young people from developing countries."
LEAR CENTER PUBLICATIONS
If you missed these events, catch up by reading these newly published, illustrated transcriptions from the Lear Center.
Albert Bandura: 2007 Everett M. Rogers Colloquium
Dr. Bandura discusses his pioneering work in the area of social learning and social cognitive theory, including its direct influence on the design of the original entertainment education telenovelas in Mexico.
The Glass Closet: In and Out in Hollywood and Washington
Panelists include ASC Professor Larry Gross and journalists Ray Richmond, Greg Hernandez, Karen Ocamb, Shana Krochmal, David Ehrenstein and actor Wilson Cruz. Moderated by publicist Howard Bragman.
Between Father and Son: Music and Creativity Across the Generations
Josh Kun, director of the Popular Music Project, moderates a unique father-son dialogue on music, creativity and technology between Motown legend Lamont Dozier and his son, hip hop/R&B producer Beau Dozier.
Ready to Share: Fashion and the Commons - iSummit 2008, Sapporo
Johanna Blakley, Deputy Director of the Norman Lear Center, will be speaking on July 31st at the fourth global iSummit to be held in Sapporo, Japan. She will discuss how the fashion industry treats most of its creative output as a commons -- shared resources that can be freely reused, recreated and recombined and address how this industry manages to thrive with virtually no copyright protection. Check back for video and more!
iSummit 2008, Sapporo
Global Digital Culture Inspired by Japan
July 29 to August 1, 2008
Ready to Share: Fashion and the Commons
Keynote Speaker: Johanna Blakely
July 31, 2008, 10:40 AM
Conference Hall
Josh Kun: The Kidnapped Country: Violence, Drugs, and the Crisis of Mexican Culture
The headlines mount daily. Drug gangs battle next to a kindergarten in Tijuana. Top-ranking police officers are assassinated. Mexican President Felipe Calderón calls the violence a sign of success that the government is winning the war. But against who? And at what cost? L.A.-based writer, scholar and Director of the Lear Center's Popular Music ProjectJosh Kun visited Zócalo to explore the current crisis in Mexico within the broader context of contemporary globalization, drawing on personal, cultural, and political sources—from testimonies of victims to local blog accounts to the drug ballads of popular songs. Monday, July 14 at The Actors’ Gang
Beyond the Anchor Desk: the Rise of Citizen Journalism
Lear Center Director Marty Kaplan moderated this intriguing panel June 10th at the Paley Center for Media (formerly Museum of TV & Radio) in Beverly Hills. The discussion focused on how citizen journalists using new media in addition to traditional broadcast outlets are changing the way we receive news and how that change is impacting national and global issues, including this year’s election. The panel included:
Bill Delano, Filmmaker/Producer, Not Your Average Travel Guide Robert Greenwald, Award-winning filmmaker (Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism) and viral video pioneer Max Lugavere, Producer/Host, Current TV Tony Pierce, Blog Editor, Los Angeles Times Marvin Putnam, Partner/O'Melveny & Myers LLP (currently representing JK Rowling in her copyright infringement case) Jason Silva, Producer/Host, Current TV
Everett Rogers Award: Call for Entries - DEADLINE JUNE 30th
The Lear Center announces the call for entries for the fourth annual Everett M. Rogers Award for Achievement in Education-Entertainment.
The Lear Center’s Hollywood, Health & Society project administers the Rogers Prize, which commemorates the work of Everett M. Rogers, former associate dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Communication. A fellow and past president of the International Communication Association, Rogers was one of the nation’s most influential communication scholars. He mentored generations of students who now serve on the faculties of leading research universities around the country. His research broke new ground in health and entertainment communication. Read more about the Award.
Ready To Rumble
Lear Center Director Marty Kaplan contributed a graphic novel on earthquake preparedness to a comprehensive sourcebook on earthquakes for media. The Los Angeles Earthquake Sourcebook, produced by the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, working with USC and the Annenberg School for Communication, is part of a yearlong effort that includes a public awareness campaign using social networks, mobile technologies and alternative media and a major public preparedness event, planned for a prominent downtown venue. Kaplan's book was illustrated by Art Center alumnus Darren Ragle.
Norman Lear Chats with BusinessWeek Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler
Norman Lear speaks candidly about his youth, his career in film and television, and his life as a political and social activist and philanthropist.
The Economics of Attention
Attention is increasingly considered to be a form of capital. The Lear Center and frog design sponsored this cross-disciplinary panel to look at how the attention economy is informing new business models in advertising, media, and design. Panelists included Richard A. Lanham, Professor Emeritus of English at UCLA and author of The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information, and David Merkoski, Creative Director at frog design. Marty Kaplan, Director of the Norman Lear Center, moderated.
A new record was set this summer when a federal jury ordered Payless ShoeSource to pay $304.6 million to Adidas for trademark infringement. It was the largest award in a trademark-infringement case in U.S. history, and now Payless has decided to settle a similar case with K-Swiss.
Wait? Payless ShoeSource? The home of insanely cheap shoes? The mecca for drag queens in search of size 16 stilettos? I don’t know about you, but I assumed that the biggest trademark-infringement cases in this country would probably involve something more lucrative than sneakers. Turns out the previous record was held by big-pharma Pfizer, but that award, decided in 1999, was $143 million, less than half the mega-judgment against Payless.
What happened? After all, it’s not that Payless tried to pass off their cheap sneakers as Adidas by putting a misleading label in them – Abibas, for instance. No, their tragic, infringing error was putting two or four stripes on the sides of their shoes – according to the suit, this tricked consumers into thinking the shoes were made by Adidas . . . even though Adidas shoes always have three stripes.
As a long-time aficionado of Payless’ cheap wares, I think I can safely say that anyone who’s ever set foot in a Payless ShoeSource knows immediately from the bargain-basement prices and the intoxicating smell of vinyl that none of the shoes on offer are from the big brands.
It’s quite acceptable to dismiss “The Media” these days as a craven, bottom-line driven industry that caters to the lowest common denominator. It is easy to find appalling examples of a lack of interest in the public interest, but I think it’s important not to forget the good work that media can do . . . . even when it’s not trying to do anything good at all.
Just last week, the American Civil Liberties Union launched a new project called Rights/Camera/Action. Through their focus groups and research, ACLU recognized that entertainment and the arts have a profound impact on American public opinion about civil liberties. To kick-off the initiative, I moderated a panel on the topic at their national membership conference. The panel included a delicious selection of artists, from internationally acclaimed playwright Ariel Dorfman, who wrote Death and the Maiden, to actor Kal Penn, star of the raunchy Harold & Kumar movie franchise. Most of the panel was composed of successful documentary filmmakers, who have attracted awards and occasionally record-breaking box-office dollars to serious films tackling tough issues. While the topics of their films range from tragic miscarriages of justice in North Carolina to institutionalized torture in Afghanistan, one common thread in their work is the benefit of exposing information to the broadest possible audience. Whether it’s the citizens of Winston, North Carolina, reading a series of articles in the local paper or ACLU members gathering at someone’s house to watch Taxi to the Dark Side, or even stoned teenagers at the Cineplex watching Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay, the media – for good and for ill – has the power to pull people together and, for a precious moment or two, provide them with a shared experience that may just lead to an idea, a conversation, or a new way of looking at the world.
According to actor Kal Penn, the creators of Harold & Kumar had no interest whatsoever in stirring any political pots when they decided to send Harold and Kumar to Gitmo. The filmmakers knew they’d be pushing people’s buttons, but they didn’t necessarily have an agenda when they let the boys get high with President Bush at his Crawford ranch.
But an agenda’s not necessary to have an impact. An audience is.
There have been countless articles recently bemoaning the lack of female characters in the summer movie slate. Even A-listers like Gwyneth and Cameron are slumming it in movies barely tailored to their star-power. It’s enough to make a grown-girl moviegoer cry.
That’s why just about every person of the female persuasion that I know has already (yes, already) bought tickets to see Sex and the City, which premieres May 30. Desperation? Perhaps, but the show was sui generis, the first of its kind to take female sexuality front and center, and to make it funny. Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle have tried their best to fill the gap left by Sex and the City’s TV demise, but Cashmere’s been pulled and Lipstick’s ratings suggest that the girls have gone elsewhere.
At a Lear Center panel about fashion and TV, Sex and the City scribe Michael Patrick King told us about the challenges of writing a show in which fashion itself served as a kind of character, alongside four appealing leading ladies. The writing staff of SATC had a certain amount of control over the scripts, but so did Pat Field, the show’s costume designer, who would transform the meanings of scenes by incorporating sly and outrageous fashion statements.
And here, I think we have one of the reasons for the great anticipation for the SATC movie: the TV show didn’t treat fashion as window-dressing. It wasn’t just a marketing ploy to move more Manolo Blahniks. SATC did more than offer depictions of women’s fashion fantasies – it validated the connection that many women feel between style and substance.
Fashion and music are inseparable industries, joined at the hip and usually happy to be so. Designers make fabulous clothes for musicians (and concert T’s for their fans); fans emulate their idols, and their idols, in turn, try to capture fresh new trends from the street. It’s a thriving ecosystem – one that the Lear Center has studied in some detail – and it has spawned many a celebrity designer, from J.Lo, to Jay-Z, who have found a way to translate their fashion sensibilities into mass produced apparel.
We all know how troubled the music industry is – I promise not to bore you with the details – but a recent development demonstrates why the fashion industry continues to rake in the money while the music industry unravels. We’ve all watched as our favorite indie record stores were shuttered, and now we sit slack-jawed as the big guys – Tower Records and Virgin – close their most iconic stores. The most recent casualty is Tower Records on Broadway in New York. Long a hang-out for NYU students, the store’s demise is a clear sign of the failure of the industry to deal with digital technology and the copyright issues that have poisoned the relationship between consumers and corporate gatekeepers. Even more telling is the fact that the old Tower store is being replaced by a Steve & Barry’s – a place that once sold cheap concert T’s but now enlists celebrities like Venus Williams, Sarah Jessica Parker, Amanda Bynes, Stephon Marbury and Laird Hamilton to hawk cheap fashion designs of their own making. Customers at the 264 Steve & Barry’s stores are generally aghast at the ultra-low prices (well below H&M, Wal-Mart, Old Navy, J. Crew and Forever 21) without sacrificing quality and with the extra sizzle of a brand-name celebrity endorsement. What thrifty fashionista could resist?
Save the snark for another public folly. Sure, the just-revealed plans for the Grand Avenue civic park, which will run downhill from the Music Center to Spring Street, come nowhere near to living up to the hype that accompanied the park's announcement three years ago — "a world-class destination," "the new 'Central Park' of Los Angeles," "the most dramatic public space in all of Los Angeles." But if it gets built, the view from Music Center Plaza to City Hall will be much better than what's there now, and the city will get a new stage for civic engagement, which may turn out to be more important.
When the 16-acre park was announced as part of the $3-billion Grand Avenue redevelopment project, what troubled me was the delegation of the civic park's design to a developer, Related Cos. True, Related will pony up the $56 million to pay for a "base" park, but the land belongs to the city's citizens, not its developers. I was concerned that an opportunity would be lost if the design emerged from a sole-source contract, rather than from a competition that would tap into L.A.'s creative energy.
That's why the Norman Lear Center at the USC Annenberg School, together with the Los Angeles Times, launched a rump park design competition, which ultimately attracted more than 300 proposals. I also wheedled the Grand Avenue Committee, Related and the design team it hired to conduct a public charrette, to Webcast its outreach events, to use online visualization tools and polling, and to consider the unofficial design submissions, plus the ideas that the Lear center solicited from architects and planners around the country. We called our effort "Grand Intervention." (You can browse the imagined parks at GrandIntervention.org)
Did it make a difference? There was no way to change the biggest constraint on the park project: its low budget ceiling of $56 million. More than half of the cost of the "base" design unveiled Tuesday by Rios Clemente Hale Studios is infrastructure — relocating ramps to underground parking lots, making the landscape weight-bearing, providing electricity and plumbing.
Brad Pitt is working with LA-based firm GRAFT to design a 5-star “green resort” in Dubai. No word yet on when Frank Gehry will make his big-screen debut as a hunky, romantic hero. 
When you've caused your own downfall and lost everything, what's next? Perhaps a stroll past a newsstand to see how a brilliant graphic artist succinctly nails you in a way even you find entertaining. 
The headlines mount daily. Drug gangs battle next to a kindergarten in Tijuana. Top-ranking police officers are assassinated. Mexican President Felipe Calderón calls the violence a sign of success that the government is winning the war. But against who? And at what cost? L.A.-based writer, scholar and Director of the Lear Center's 
Lear Center Director 
The Lear Center announces the call for entries for the fourth annual Everett M. Rogers Award for Achievement in Education-Entertainment.
Lear Center Director 
A new record was set this summer when a federal jury ordered Payless ShoeSource to pay $304.6 million to Adidas for trademark infringement. It was the largest award in a trademark-infringement case in U.S. history, and now Payless has decided to settle a similar case with 
It’s quite acceptable to dismiss “The Media” these days as a craven, bottom-line driven industry that caters to the lowest common denominator. It is easy to find appalling examples of a lack of interest in the public interest, but I think it’s important not to forget the good work that media can do . . . . even when it’s not trying to do anything good at all. 
There have been countless articles recently bemoaning the lack of female characters in the summer movie slate. Even A-listers like Gwyneth and Cameron are slumming it in movies barely tailored to their star-power. It’s enough to make a grown-girl moviegoer cry.
Fashion and music are inseparable industries, joined at the hip and usually happy to be so. Designers make fabulous clothes for musicians (and concert T’s for their fans); fans emulate their idols, and their idols, in turn, try to capture fresh new trends from the street. It’s a thriving ecosystem – one that the 
