Eric Deters is Going Nuts!

Eric Deters is going nuts. Mr. Deters posted this to his Facebook page on 2/16/12:

But it gets way more disturbing:

All this coming from a man who, when he first started hosting shows on 700WLW in 2008, identified himself as a Democrat and an Obama supporter.

Duke Energy's Utility Claims Debunked by Photos of Existing Streetcar Lines

Perhaps as a political favor to Gov. John Kasich and others intent on embarrassing Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, this past week Duke Energy triggered a round of fevered talk radio folderol by announcing it had stopped negotiating with the City of Cincinnati with regard to relocation of its utilities near streetcar construction. Specifically, Duke demanded that the City pay for all utility work within eight feet of streetcar operations, increasing by several orders of magnitude the volume of work previously budgeted by the City.

In the past, Duke might have gotten away with such a preposterous demand, but dozens of people around town, expecting no payment for their work, have compiled a large number of photos of utilities near recently-built streetcar and light rail tracks in other cities around the country. These photos are not a pie in the face of Duke so much as a pie in the face of those members of the public who allowed themselves to get tricked by Duke's move. To be fair, not all of the utility access points pictured below are the same type as those Duke owns and maintains in Cincinnati, however some surely are.

Portland

Manholes between tracks:

Manholes between tracks:

Immediately next to the tracks:

Next to light rail tracks:

Between tracks:

Immediately next to the tracks (I'm seeing three):

Immediately next to the tracks:

Immediately next to the tracks:

Immediately next to the tracks:

Next to the tracks:

Next to the tracks:

Next to the tracks:

On a station platform:

Immediately next to the tracks:

On the right:

Seattle

Immediately adjacent to the track:

Immediately next to the track (bottom of frame):

Phoenix, AZ light rail

Charlotte, NC light rail

And one more from Portland, OR:

12,874

The Tyranny of DSLR Video

If you took a film or video class between 1908 and 2008, your end product looked like what it was: crap. Then, just as the world economy was in free-fall, full-frame DSLR video appeared like that lobster in Multiple Maniacs:

...and suddenly your amateur crap looked like Soy Cuba. On February 7, 2012, the second generation of DSLR video cameras arrived. Nikon just released this ridiculous promo video for its D800 camera on Vimeo:

So here's the dilemma presented by the ubiquity of DSLR video: will it kill film in the same way it killed photography? I believe it will, at the very least, kill independent film culture as we currently know it because with the point of entry so much lower, young people will cease being seduced by films and filmmaking. Photography and film schools thrived until the appearance of digital technology because photography and film students got off on the barrier created by their exclusive knowledge. Photographs and movies were everywhere before 2008, of course, but only people who took an intro class or two had any familiarity with the tools and processes.

The other fundamental challenge facing the future of independent film is that web videos need to "go viral" (I cringe as I type that) if there is any hope for them being seen by a wide audience. Since the appearance of Youtube in 2006, people have been producing videos designed to go viral -- and such videos can never be serious. What's more, people paradoxically click on low-res videos that look funny, rather than slickly produced videos like the frivolous motorcycle doctor we saw above, so save the $2,999 you budgeted for a Nikon D800 and just pay bums $5 to punch each other.

[...]

On the matter of not owning a television, I recently got in this tangle with someone online:

>People who don't watch tv LOVE pointing out that they don't watch TV

People who make fun of people who say they don't watch TV are like hipsters who say if you complain about hipsters you are one.

>Not watching TV doesn't make you special.

Oh yeah it does. Don't own a TV and you're a one-percenter. Subtract a car from the equation, and you're Warren Buffet, or maybe Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud.

Sleazy Art School Advertising

Higher education is a dirty business, especially art/music/writing/theater or any program that takes advantage of an 18 year-old's impulse to be famous or work for or around people who are. I periodically click on art school advertisements that appear on my computer, and today happened upon this:

[Click Here for a larger version of this image]

You have just been disappointed by a screenshot from the opening page slideshow of the Nossi College of Art in Nashville, TN. I mean, if they really wanted to reel them in, they should have just posted this (scroll way down):

(almost there, keep scrolling)

(a little more...)

[Man up and make this image your desktop wallpaper]

12,363