While in Montana last week for Off the Grid Camp, I shot this video of Scoble giving a tour of the massive food store in his recently deceased mom’s basement. She was a member of the Church Universal and Triumphant cult which believed World War III was imminent back in the 80’s. They may have only been a little early in their prediction.
Last night was one of the best SRL shows ever! Tons of machines, copious amounts of fire, big range, brilliant lighting and weeks of hard work by the crew to produce this 40 minute spectacle. As always, Scott is the go-to man for the best pix.
My good friend Josh Wolf was jailed yesterday by a federal judge for standing up for the right of a free press, something that is guaranteed by the First Amendment. It all started when Josh filmed a protest around the G8 summit last year and posted part of it up on his blog. The mainstream media saw this and reproduced it for their newscasts without Josh’s permission. So he sent them a bill and got paid.
Then one day the FBI knocks on Josh’s door and asks for the complete unedited version of the tape that Josh has. He refuses and is eventually subpoenaed before a federal grand jury investigating the burning of a SF police car during the protest. Josh is well within his rights as a journalist to not have to give up his source material. In fact, there is a shield law in California that guarantees this. Except that this is a federal case, and the feds don’t believe in shield laws or the First Amendment. The feds claim that since the SFPD gets some federal funding that the police car in question is federal property and it’s burning is a federal crime. This is such ridiculous bullshit I don’t know where to begin. Under normal circumstances, the local police department would and should be investigating this. Since the feds have taken on the case, the normal rules don’t apply. Josh and his lawyers believe this is a witch hunt and that the feds really couldn’t care less about the burning police car. Josh has stated that he has no footage of the burning car incident and even asked the judge to see for himself. He declined.
The bottom line is the video tape is Josh’s property. He should be under no obligation to be compelled to give up this private property. By doing so, all journalists are automatically deputized by the police to collect evidence for them. That’s not Josh’s job nor should it be.
I just donated $100 to Josh’s legal defense fund and I would encourage anyone reading this to give what they can. Josh is one of the nicest and most principled people I know. Not many people will go all the way to the mat on principle. Josh is a rare exception. Unfortunately, we need more rate exceptions as our freedoms slowly erode.
UPDATE:
Yes he is and I got to witness it live tonight and then meet him. I’ve been a fan since first discovering Ren & Stimpy however many years ago. Tonight John K came to the Castro Theater in SF to present a bunch of rarely seen and some banned cartoons that the networks never let him air. The Adult Party episode of Ren & Stimpy was pure brain breaking genius from start to finish. It’s also on the recently released Lost Episodes DVD
3 more shows tomorrow/Saturday. An afternoon kid-friendly show at the Castro, an adult one in the evening and a gig at the Cartoon Art Museum where John might draw you some twisted knowledge. Stay up to date with Kricfalusi’s world on abundantly updated blog.
Irina and I were podcast interviewed by our new employers.
Yes, it’s true. We did.
Apparently testy festies are all the rage across the heartland.
“A fresh calf testicle tastes like lobster. You never had anything like it. Bull nuts taste like shoe leather. You can have ’em.”
–Bob Zeier, 75 year old cattle rancher
Last Friday, I was one of a handful of videobloggers who presented at a Meet the Vloggers session at the Apple Store in SF organized by Josh Wolf. It went amazingly well, surprisingly. Public speaking isn’t really my bag but I’m finding it’s not hard to talk about GETV. Plus, showing a 5 minute video means I really don’t have to say much. Fellow videoblogger Jason Buckley, the genius behind Washington Interns Gone Bad, put together a highlight video of the session.
Yes, today’s the 4th of July and it has some special significance for me. It’s not just because I’m an American citizen that still believes in liberty or that I found a horse on Flickr painted all wrong. My grandfather, who passed away several years ago, and I share the same name and we share today as our birthday. Also, I *heart* my Internet friends who made this. Thanks Susan!
