Is CHBP good for local businesses?

Capitol Hill Block Party. Its kind of a big deal. Some people are excited, I'm sure. You'll see them bouncing up Pike and Broadway on the day of but if you look at the comment section of any given local blog (here / here), you see hate.

So I did a video interview with CHBP planner Jason Lajeunesse. Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought that would be a good idea.



My goal here was to put Jason's authenticity on display. Quotes in text articles lay flat within the context of the journalist's words. Video interviews are less easily manipulated. And here, you can look Jason in the eyes when he admits "getting people to shop durring the block party can be difficult" and decide for yourself if he is being genuine or not.

Cinematography is by Brody Willis. I performed the interview and edited the video.

laser light show on broadway

my friend angelo put this video together for seattle university's student newspaper. i'm glad to see the spectator take advantage of multimedia like this. i'm thinking i might want to swing by and take a look at this art exhibit while its up.

Lasers bring life to an empty lot from The Spectator on Vimeo.

parking in the neighborhood

sdot will be hosting a community open house september 17, at first baptist church. please come and voice your opinions.

parking on capitol hill is a longstanding issue. are there too many people and too many cars to all park happily in the area? do more people need to ride the bus? do we need to tear down some unwanted buildings and put up a parking lot?



frankly, nobody can answer these questions better than the people who live on the hill, the people who bring value to the area. what city organization knows better for capitol hill than the residents and small business owners who live and work there? if sdot does not get your input, how will they know what to do?

i will be there to ask for an expansion of the zone 21 permit. i think anybody who buys a parking permit should be able to park anywhere on the hill and not worry about 1hr restrictions or putting money in a meter! so i hope to see you there and maybe afterward we can all grab a drink at rosebud!

no foie gras movie

i am not surprised that narn did not answer my request for a video interview. it is my fault, perhaps. my yelp page is covered in notes of foie gras appreciation such as "people who do not like foie gras, do not like kittens" and "my last meal before i die shall be foie gras" so they are in their right mind to group me together with the "get a life and go home" crowd that typically laughs at them as they protest outside lark and quin's.

quin's owner has the right idea here. 10% of all foie gras sales go narn.



i think he may have learned from the cigarette companies. not to say that foie gras is like nicotine addiction but the idea that sometimes the best way to fight your enemy is to support them.

but where the cigarette companies do it because they have to, Scott Staples does it because he is punk rock.

i am interested in making a movie about the foie gras protesters, not because i am interested in their politics. i don't want to share their views any more than i want to fight them. i am interested in this sort of epic battle that they have stirred, the clashing of titans.

foodies will never stop eating foie gras. it is not because they lack ethical discretion. we simply live by a different world view. one where putting a tube down a bird's throat is not cruel. it is no more cruel than keeping a goldfish in a bowl. but doesn't take my word for it.

anthony bourdain puts it better than any of us could.



the animal rights activists will be around to protest foie gras for as long as there are liberal arts institutions to create them. there will always be people to look at "the big picture" and see the grey areas in life and i appreciate them. i really do.

my point of view, as the film maker, will always be subject to scrutiny. and my job will be to make that point of view accessible. transform it into something to be consumed in mass.

edit: my photo is used on capitol hill blog. yay!

foie gras

if you are looking for something to do friday night, you might stop by lark. there will be a foie gras protest at 7pm. this could be a great opportunity for you to show the world how you feel. weather you choose to express yourself by picking up a picket sign or a fork, in just an hour you can earn yourself a whole weekends worth of satisfaction.

if you miss the event at lark, you have no reason to fret. the protest crawls over to quin's by 8pm.
my plan is to interview narn later this week and ask them three basic questions. first, how would they frame the foie gras situation in seattle? second, what are the counter arguments? third, are they prepared to answer those points? my main concern is not doing something cliche or obvious with this video. and of course, a fair and balance sane discussion would be quite refreshing.
i would not be surprised if narn declines the interview. i would say there is a 5% chance that i will get an interview because i have no built in audience with this blog. but we'll see.