Lear Center http://blog.learcenter.org/ en Copyright 2008 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:07:15 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss BORN IN AMERICA, HEART IN MEXICO 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.]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/_josh_kun_director_of.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/_josh_kun_director_of.html FeatureStory Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:07:15 -0800 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."]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/hhs_director_presents_at_un_po.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/hhs_director_presents_at_un_po.html Center Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:15:10 -0800 movie critics really matter? One did: Pauline Kael. Her impact on American culture and what we watch now is surprising, and yes, sad. more>> ]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/do_movie_critics_really_matter.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/do_movie_critics_really_matter.html News Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:59:21 -0800 academic books about hip hop? So is John McWhorter. And he's an academic. With a provocative new book about...hip hop. more>> ]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/tired_of_academic_books_about.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/tired_of_academic_books_about.html News Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:57:41 -0800 Guitar Hero comes to the cell phone. Can you still look cool playing air guitar on your Blackberry? more>>]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/guitar_hero_comes_to_the.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/guitar_hero_comes_to_the.html News Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:55:52 -0800 LEAR CENTER PUBLICATIONS 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. OutClosetsm.jpg 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. joshbeau.jpg 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.]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/lear_center_publications.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/lear_center_publications.html Center Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:00:01 -0800 Trade Dress Mess Johanna Blakley

abibas.jpg 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.]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/trade_dress_mess.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/trade_dress_mess.html Blog Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:28:34 -0800 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]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/ready_to_share_fashion_and_the.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/ready_to_share_fashion_and_the.html Center Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:19:01 -0800 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>>]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/are_you_visually_illiterate_di.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/are_you_visually_illiterate_di.html News Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:54:18 -0800 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Watched the Declaration of Independence lately? Scholars believe Thomas Jefferson intended for the Declaration to be performed, not just read. Its words and cadences are powerful and dramatic, written to be spoken in proud, defiant tones publicly in large places. On the 225th anniversary of its adoption by the Continental Congress, a rare Dunlap Broadsheet copy of the Declaration, purchased by Norman Lear and his wife Lynn, was the centerpiece of a celebration that included an extraordinary reading by a group of distinguished actors at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/declaration_of_independence.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/declaration_of_independence.html FeatureStory Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:34:40 -0800 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 Project Josh 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 ]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/josh_kun_the_kidnapped_country.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/07/josh_kun_the_kidnapped_country.html Center Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:06:59 -0800 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>>]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/06/_brad_pitt_is_working.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/06/_brad_pitt_is_working.html News Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:35:27 -0800 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>>]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/06/tired_of_buildings_that_just.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/06/tired_of_buildings_that_just.html News Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:32:38 -0800 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>>]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/06/the_web_page_to_end.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/06/the_web_page_to_end.html News Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:44:39 -0800 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>>]]> http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/06/has_your_thinking_taken_on.html http://blog.learcenter.org/2008/06/has_your_thinking_taken_on.html News Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:42:01 -0800