Happy Memorial Day 2010! Thank A Soldier Today

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Oakland, CA - Note. This was originally posted on Memorial Day, 2009. It's worth reporting as this blogger prepares to make the same trip in 2010.

I went to my stepfather's burial place today. Even though I was really ill, I forced myself to go and place flowers at his grave site as I've made it a habit to visit him on Memorial Day each year. He fought in World War II.

But this time, I took my biological father's burial flag with me. Both my father and stepfather died in 2005.

To some who are anti-war, the title of this video-blog will upset them. It should not. I'm against war and always have been, but the reality of my life is that both my late father and stepfather fought in World War II, and in my father's case, Zenophon Abraham Sr. I have his name (he lives in Chicago), and I am the proud owner of his neatly folded burial flag and two bullets wrapped in them. I've never unraveled it.

Chester Harding Yerger III of Oakland is my late stepfather and he  often talked of his time in the service and of attending "Officer Candidate School", and being taught how to kill. While the stories were never ones I looked forward to, I learned that sometime people go to war not because they want to harm people but because they feel their duty to protect America. I used to question this "duty" but now I honor it, even as I disagree with the idea of war.

Why? I frankly can't explain the reason as well as I'd like to but I'll try. I think as I reach deep it's because I now know some people don't feel its their job or "place" to question authority, yet, those same people made it ok for me to question authority. That was my father and my stepfather, especially as they aged.

I think it's also because people who have taken the lives of another in a time of war generally have an appreciation for life that can't be measured. At times my stepfather would think back to the war and cry. That was hard to witness. My father never talked about the war, so I never asked him about it.

My dad talked about Chicago architecture, planes, trains, and automobiles. Not the war. It wasn't until he died and his funeral that I understood his role in the war; he received a 21-gun salute that October day in 2005 and I can feel the noise from the gun fire pass through me today.

It's those memories that cause me to thank a soldier when one is in my presence. I did that on a plane ride as I was standing next to a Army officer in uniform. I asked him where he was going and he responded "Home. And I'm so happy." I said "Hey, thanks for your service"; he said "I tell ya, I really appreciate that."

I got what he was saying. He was telling me, "You know, what we do isn't appreciated by a lot of people and believe me I understand why. But I'm glad you see that I'm carrying out my duty to my country, even if I may not agree with what we're doing all the time."

Thank a soldier today. Even though you may be anti-war, don't blame them for our foreign policies of the past or present. They're doing the best they can in an impossible situation.

Thank a soldier today, or any day. Even though you may be anti-war, don't blame them for our foreign policies of the past or present. They're doing the best they can in an impossible situation. They're serving our country and could die doing so.

Dennis Hopper passes: Blue Velvet his best performance

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The legendary actor Dennis Hopper passed away last Friday and from complications due to prostate cancer. Hopper was 74 years old.

Dennis Hopper and Isabella Rossellini in Blue Velet

While some point to Easy Rider as the movie that made Hopper famous, and contained his best role, this space has a different view. Dennis Hopper's role as the psychotic Frank Booth was just plain scary. It was this blogger's first real introduction to the force that is Dennis Hopper and it was unforgettable.

When Blue Velvet was released in 1986, it was the must-see film of my friend at Berkeley and since I liked her, it was mine too. Frankly, for reasons having nothing to do with Blue Velvet or Dennis Hopper or the movie's famed director David Lynch, I went to see it with her.

Wow.

If you've never seen Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth, we can now see a brief replay thanks to YouTube. BravoTV has Hopper's performance as one of the 100 most scary in movie history:



Here's another scene without the off-film commentary. It's simply shocking and contains strong language to say the least:



Here below, Dennis Hopper tells Bob Costas how he convinced David Lynch to use another gas as a "reference" drug that Frank Booth inhaled. (Meaning Hopper didn't actually use nitrous oxide in the movie.) Hopper explained that Lynch wanted to use Helium gas, but Dennis explained all that would do was make him "sound like Daffy Duck."



Of all of Dennis Hopper's movie roles, Frank Booth was the best.

Dennis Hopper: 1936 - 2010.

But never really gone.

Jamarcus Russell: Oakland Raiders try at getting $10 million back silly

Jamarcus Russell 

The Oakland Raiders released 2007 1st round pick quarterback Jamarcus Russell after three years of expecting the young, green, LSU star and college student to turn a horribly-ran football organization into a Super Bowl contender.

Oakland Raiders Manager of The General Partnership wanted Jamarcus Russell over Notre Dame Quarterback Brady Quinn for the first pick of the 1st round of the 2006 NFL Draft, and righty overruled then-Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin later said he wanted another quarterback, like Stanford's Trent Edwards, but Kiffin made that specific claim after Russell was released, not before.

Hindsight is always 20-20; everyone has it including the Oakland Raiders. What the Raiders did not exhibit was foresight in having a multi-year plan for Jamarcus Russell's training and growth.

Because of that, it's only right the Oakland Raiders absorb the entire $39 million signing bonus they gave Russell, and not attempt to recover any portion of it. That part of it was a "salary advance" is immaterial; it was guaranteed. The Raiders are trying to undo the bad deal they created for themselves. Good luck.

The fiscal pain is undoubtedly hard to deal with given the current economic climate, but its a just punishment for the vast array of organizational problems the Silver and Black have exhibited over Russell's time in the NFL, and before it.

Moreover, it's the Raiders punishment for giving into media pressure and releasing Russell rather than admitting organizational failures and making the necessary changes. The mainstream media reacts with a "throw them out" mentality and knows nothing of football strategy.

The Oakland Raiders Failed

But most of all, the Oakland Raiders caused Russell to hold out of training camp for a long time. A great management owner like The Houston Texans Bob McNair said that "signablity" is important in evaluating first round picks, even though he backed away from the statement in the second video below. Bob McNair would not have picked Russell on that basis alone. That's a criteria the Raiders apparently did not consider, but should have.

That written, Jamarcus Russell was still a good pick by the Raiders; the Raiders just didn't handle him well.

Here's Bob McNair talking about his considerations in picking Reggie Bush or Mario Williams as the first pick at the 2006 NFL Draft:



And talking about picking Mario Williams after the selection was made:



The Raiders signed Jamarcus Russell and gave him a guaranteed contract. It's not Russell's fault the Oakland Raiders weren't ready to develop an offense around him or bring him along over a period of years.

Let's hope they learned their lesson.

Tila Tequila: Time to face reality -- by Nikky Raney

Today, Tila Tequila called herself a journalist on her blog. That was the last straw for me.

Somehow, Miss Tila finds a way to incorporate herself into every blog entry.

Recently she made this claim explaining how her blog is different than all the others:

"I now have MY OWN celebrity Gossip site too, and mine is actually MORE LEGIT, because I don’t put out lies and stories about celebrities trying to defame them by pretending to interview “confidential, unidentified “sources” as they(the media oulet) put it!) so anyway my heart just crushed into 2 pieces because they said some really nasty things about me that were not true at all, and of course as a “CELEBRITY GOSSIP BLOGGER” (and now that I’m in that world) It is a VERY competitive industry!!!! It’s VERY VICIOUS and those other “DIRTY BLOGGERS” as I would like to calll them, are SO DESPERATE to keep their traffic up, that they would write ANYTHING just to say that it was THEIR “EXCLUSIVE” and EXPLOIT and hurt celebrities when it’s not even true!"

I really never wanted to post a rude or judgmental post about anyone, but I think that enough is enough. I already wrote how there is a difference between blogging and journalism, but this is something that needs to be addressed.

Tila Tequila has blocked me from commenting on her blog, because of how critical I have been. This is not meant to be a hateful rant, but meant to inform and educate about what blogging is.

Tequila claims to run a celebrity gossip blog which costs so much money to run, but it is filled with articles that are about things that happened a few days prior. She also has a section called "hottie of the week" which she has updated five times in the span of 3 days. She has made herself "hottie of the week" three times.

"HAPPY PRE-MEMORIAL DAY! I NOW PRESENT YOU WITH THE “HOTTIE OF THE WEEK! GUESS WHO IT IS????????? I DON’T KNOW WHO SHE IS BUT DAMN SHE FINE! LMAOOOOOO!!!!! JK JK! I HOPE YOU ARE ALL HAVING A GREAT WEEKEND SO FAR! AS FOR ME? I’M JUST DOING THE SAME ‘OL SHIAT…. BLOGGING. REPORTING. JOURNALISM. LOL BUT I LOVE MY JOB! YAY! AND YOU LOVE IT TOO CUZ YA KEEP COMING BACK HERE TO READ WHAT’S NEW! YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I ALSO LOVE? TYPING IN CAPS! LMAO!!!! KEEP IT FUNKY YO!"

I think that "celebrity blogging" needs to be redefined.

A celebrity gossip blog is a blog that is focused on celebrities, not on yourself. Posting "dear diary" posts is not about celebrity gossip.

She posted recently about Britney Spears having more twitter followers than Ashton, but this had already been talked about on May 23rd.

Journalism involves interviews, research, editing, and an assortment of things that her blog does not possess. From the numerous grammatical mistakes to the all caps of her titles, I cannot understand how she can call herself a blogger.

She calls herself a mogul as well.

She has recently decided to start an advice section on her gossip blog, but who wants to take love advice from someone who had two failed reality dating shows?

A celebrity gossip blog does not consist of that.

A celebrity gossip blog should have fresh stories and not just attack celebrities.

Tila's desperate attempts to get attention from celebrities is a bit insane. She says that Ke$ha is a "TIla wannabe." And that Hayley from Paramore is "trashy."

She says of Ke$sha:

"Anyway, you fail horribly trying not ONLY to steal my rap swag, and sound stupid while doing it cuz our mutual friend producer(I won’t put his name out on blast for the sake of our friendship but looks like it’s headed to an EX-FRIENDSHIP if he keeps stealing my swag and my writing skills and my sound!!! ughhh! So annoying!) Anyway Kosher, I mean Ke4sha or whatever your name is you fake, pre-packaged, once country singing, folk singer turned “TILA TEQUILA WANNABE” you need to fall back honey!"

and to Hayley she says:

"I SEE WE HAVE OURSELVES A NEW FAMEWHORE HERE PEOPLE AND HER NAME IS HALEY WILLIAMS! "

Her "open letters" to Lindsay Lohan are attempts to attract attention. If Tila truly wanted to help Lindsay and give advice she would have e-mailed or called her. Posting open letters on a gossip site that Lindsay Lohan will never read does not accomplish anything.

You would think all the negative comments that get "thumbs up" would be a sign, but it seems as though she just wants to do what she is doing without making any improvements.

I don't understand how someone could possibly be so delusional.

If you are going to label a story as "breaking news," you should at least post it the same day as it was reported by every other media site.

Writing about yourself in every single post does not contribute anything at all. No one wants to read about yourself. Make a diary if you want that, a celebrity gossip blog is supposed to consist of celebrity gossip, not your innermost thoughts and aspirations.

Tila has spoken about how other bloggers write about scandals and lies and attack celebrities, but she is doing the exact same thing.

"My site isn’t like that. My site delivers to you guys REAL stories and events that has happened and we just deliver the news to you as it is and add our opinions on the stories, just like YOU, the READERS, can state your opinion on each blog post of the news as it comes in…. But here at OMG, we NEVER go out and interview “RANDOMS” and say “HEY GUYS WE GOT THE FIRST EXCLUSIVE” and say nasty, horrible and TOTAL LIES and post it on my site!"

(photo courtesy of benny hollywood)

She consistently posts Twitter updates saying how much she is working on blogging, but then we see the author of the blog entries as "Tila Staff."

"FUCK THAT BITCH! I KNOW HER PERSONALLY AND JUST PUT EVERYTHING ON BLAST! READY FOR THE MAGIC BUTTON?"

"can't write a "Dear Diary" cuz it would be this: Dear Diary, I blogged until I couldn't blog anymore. passed out. woke up. now blog again!"

""alright guys. News is really slow this weekend... so I'm gonna post up some more of my exclusive celebrity dirt on bitches fucked w/me ok?"

She claims to have put her heart and soul into creating this gossip blog, but no one is buying it.

"Also I have spent every single dime that I have left in to building this site, paying the monthly costs, paying my OMG Staff, paying for all the accounts and all the other technical stuff I don’t want to bore you with but so far let me tell you I have spent a hefty amount of money building this site,"

Now, I don't know what staff she is speaking of, because every blog entry inevitably ends up being about her. And the lack of advertisement on her site makes it seem unrealistic. I paid 10 dollars for my domain name, and I can't imagine that it cost her much more for her own domain name. I do not know what "monthly costs" she is speaking of.

Didn't she just post in the first quote I showed, that she is being paid to do this. She claims that this is her job, but then she says that she is paying others. I wish she would just get her story straight.

I think that Tila needs to face reality, and realize the ways she has become what she claims to hate.

So Tila, as you sit on your high and mighty horse and truly believe and claim that you are unlike the others. I would like to point out that your actions speak louder than your words.

So I leave you with some quotes from Tila's "celebrity gossip blog." And I'll leave you to judge if this is "journalism" "reporting" or just bashing. Do these quotes express that Tila is following the standards that she has set for her blog?

"YEA THAT’S RIGHT BIAAAAAATCH! DON’T EVEN TRY TO GET CLOSE TO THE REAL “BADDEST BITCH ON THE BLOCK” CUZ YA ASS WOULD BE CRUSH IN A SECOND WITH YA COUNTRY/FOLK SINGING ASS TURNED “TILA TEQUILA” WANNABE! *SNAPS FINGERS* UH UH HONEY! NEXT!!!!"

"I have gone to these events many times but damn how fun would it be to totally change it up, and now since I have my Celebrity Gossip Blog, I can get a MEDIA PRESS PASS so I can INTERVIEW ALL THE CELEBS FROM THE OTHER SIDE THIS TIME!!!!!!!!!! OMGGGGGG THAT WOULD BE SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait to go there as “PRESS” and bring my film and camera crew and my own paparazzi crew to take exclusives for our site!!!!"

"I”m serious! This is beyond me. But hey. This is “NEW’s I guess????????? I don’t really think it’s news worthy however since I launched my site about 3 weeks ago, I haven’t yet done a Britney Spears Post, so I figured I would Do one today, and ironically, it’s not news at all! LOL.

Oh well, at least I have her in my archives now."

"Ok well this is a Miss Tila Hottie of the week THROWBACK PICture fro last summer!! Yap! This was me last summer………. Deamn times flies and peoplle sure do grow and change a lot right? I feel like a Totally different woman that I am today, then in this picture and the behind the scene video!"

"Plus Piggy, you are NOTORIOUS and KNOWN to talk shit about a celebrity one day, and then try to kiss their ass the next day! That is so sad! This is so pathetic, that I’m not even going to make fun of him anymore cuz that will be blood on my hands when he’s out of a job for real and although I like to joke, I don’t joke when it comes to serious subjects, such as Piggy Perez. I used to really not like that guy/girl/Diva but now, and I’m being TOTALLY SERIOUS when I say this, now I really and truly fill pitty and sorry for the guy."

"They Justice System went SOOOOOO EFFING EASY ON HER! I have TONS of friends from the past who had committed similar crimes as Lindz did but they actually went to jail for ONE YEAR AND ON TOP OF THAT THEY WENT TO EACH COURT DATE ON TIME EVERT TIME!! For Lindz to get off so easy with the REALLY criminal behavior she did, stealing someone’s car, coked up out of her mind, speeding down the highway, almost driving over some people, holding people hostage, I mean WTF!!!!!!!"

So my final words are. Here you go Tila, you are now getting the attention that you have been craving. And this is my final send off. This is the last thing I will write about regarding Tila Tequila. This is something that I needed to get out of my system.

Nikky Raney

The Future of Journalism

Here's my twitter

Danica Patrick, the Indy 500 driver, almost wins Indy 500

Danica Patrick 

Danica Patrick heard the boos, the criticisms, and the questions, and reminded everyone, including this blogger, that's she's a race car driver who just happens to be a good marketer.

UPDATE: Danica Patrick places fifth at Indy 500.

Back from as much as 23rd down, Patrick skillfully manuevered her Andretti Autosport car, and took advantage of both winner Dario Franchitti's need to save fuel, Helio Castroneves' stall coming out of the pits on the 146th lap, and Mike Conway's airborne crash, to finish fifth.

The performance gives Danica Patrick her third top-five Indy 500 race finish in five years. But this one was special because it was as if Danica said "enough, is enough" and decided she was going to power through the experience - boos last week, hot weather, poor-handling car, and the media - and come out a winner.

In a way, Danica Patrick just gave the World as close to an "f-you" as possible. Perhaps Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz should have her company sponsor Danica Patrick instead of GoDaddy.com. One thing is certain: Bartz will get a great race car driver, who just happens to be a savvy marketer and Twitter fiend:

Thanks for all the well wishes! Awesome finish for the #7 GoDaddy crew! Thanks for all the support, I have the best fans! Congrats Dario!
about 1 hour ago via UberTwitter

Stay tuned.

Dario Franchitti wins Indy 500, makes Ashley Judd happy

Judd reads; Dario leads at Indy

Dario Franchitti won his first Indianapolis 500 race, making his wife Ashley Judd very happy in the process.

Judd, who was photographed by television news station WISH Indianpolis' Eric Halvorson reading a book (or a script for a movie?) as the Indy 500 progressed, reportedly jumped up and ran barefoot down pit lane to hug Franchitti.

Maybe Judd's getting used to the win; it was Franchitti's second Indy victory in three years; his first was in 2007; it's Dario's first Indy win of the series in 2010.

Judd greets Franchitti

Dario's win also made Chip Ganassi, the owner of Target Chip Ganassi Racing, the first racing company to win both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500.

In fact, one visit to Chip Ganassi's website already tells you his company's Target-sponsored car and driver won.

The driver, Dario Franchitti, put in what's described as a "flawless" race performance, even though he almost ran out of gas.

Dario only had 1.6 gallons of fuel left at the end of the Indy 500 because he was clocking it. Dario's top speed was 224.287, before slowing down to conserve fuel at the constant request of his pit crew. He did, and just enough to stay ahead and salvage the win.

Indianapolis 500 Race: Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves battle

This update on the Indianapolis 500 Race: Dario Franchitti, who's married to singer (see De-Lovely) and actress Ashley Judd, is in the lead.

According to the Indy 500's Twitter page @IndyTalk, the leaders are 1. Franchitti 2. Helio 3. Tagliani 4. Matos 5. Briscoe 6. Carpenter 7. Dixon 8. Scheckter 9. Bell 10. Hunter-Reay, at the yellow flag.

While Helio Castroneves won the pole position, he's nowhere near the top 10 as of this writing. For Dario Franchitti, this is his first time leading at the Indianapolis 500 Race since he won in 2007. The 5-9, 155 pound Scottish racer with the Italian name is ranked #5 at Indy.

UPDATE: Castroneves is in the hunt according to Indy500 on Twitter:

Lap 68 running order - 1. Franchitti 2. Castroneves 3. Briscoe 4. Kanaan 5. Carpenter #indy500

Indy has Four Women

A record number of women, four, are driving in today's Indy 500: Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher and rookies Ana Beatriz and Simona De Silvestro.

Indianapolis 500 Race: is Danica Patrick, the marketer, ready?

Danica Patrick

The Indianapolis 500 Race has started and there's no question that its most famous current star (other than Kim Kardashian, who's a spectator and Jack Nicholson, who's the honorary race flag waver) is Danica Patrick.

The difference is Danica Patrick's in the race, but you'd never know Patrick, the driver of the #7 GoDaddy.com car, was ready for the Indianapolis 500 Race with all of the marketing tie-ins, parties, and events Patrick attends.

All of this, once a standard part of Danicamainia, now comes into question after Patrick threw her race crew under the bus when she said "it's not my fault" in the wake of an awful qualifying car run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Later, Danica revealed her frustration:



Danica the Marketer

Danica Patrick has become more marketer than race car driver. Just today, her Twitter page @DanicaPatrick has a Saturday tweeted push for screening for chronic bronchitis and emphysema..

Drive4copd.com banner in the sky! Take the 5 question screener!
about 23 hours ago via web

And before that Danica Patrick was in New York City at about the same time as this blogger and at an event with Indianapolis 500 Race legend Mario Andretti, where Danika reports her phone failed to send a copy of this photo:



Fortunately for the phone maker, she didn't tweet what brand it was.

Danica's Twitter tweets are a happy trip from events to product mentions like the iPad or this lovely watch by another sponsor Tissot, which Patrick said was designed in 1913 (ish):



Then, Danica Patrick's part of a group of celebs interviewed by Honda as part of its "Dream The Impossible" documentary series.

With all of this, and sponsors are a necessary part of the business of road racing, how much time does Danica have to think about and do racing? It's one thing to practice, but another to hone and refine her driving. There's a break-even point between the number of sponsors needed to build a race business, the time it takes to deal with them which includes events and parties, and the time needed to become a better driver.

There's no question Patrick's in great physical shape; it's the mental part of racing that's at issue. Is Danica doing too much away from racing? Should she increase her sponsor and appearance fee and cut back on engagements?

If Danica Patrick wins or even performs well at today's Indianapolis 500 Race, these questions will not matter.

If.

Mike Bloomberg "Off-Shore Mayor" Brooklyn Bridge Park & Govs Island to Cayman post by Suzannah B. Troy

http://noticingnewyork.blogspot.com/2010/05/looking-gift-horse-in-mouth-examination_24.html Above link, part 1, Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth?


An Examination of Brooklyn Bridge Park in Terms of the Politics of Development Monday, May 24, 2010 Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth? An Examination of Brooklyn Bridge Park in Terms of the Politics of Development, Part II http://noticingnewyork.blogspot.com/2010/05/looking-gift-horse-in-mouth-examination.html Monday, May 24, 2010 Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth? An Examination of Brooklyn Bridge Park in Terms of the Politics of Development, Part III http://noticingnewyork.blogspot.com/2010/05/looking-gift-horse-in-mouth-examination_21.html by Michael D. D. White. You will learn why Michael calls Bloomberg the off-shore mayor from Governors Island to the Cayman Island and his links in his blog are extremely revealing or as much as they can be when it gets to the mayor's finances and other tidbits.




Please take the time to read Michael's expose, watch my YouTube interview. For me the way Mike Bloomberg has handled real estate and this ruthless tsunami of community crushing development as reckless and stupid as what brought the implosion of Wall Street is about the mayor wanting to do what he wants unchecked. Steve Rattner thought he could do what he wanted to do unchecked and he has been busted.  


Here is an excerpt from Noticing New York and it takes patience and time to get to the really, really juicy bits including the Cayman Islands.


"This three-part article, which is principally about the new Brooklyn Bridge Park currently under development, wends a long, more serpentine path through the politics of New York City development than perhaps any other we have written. As you would expect, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's appearance is much more than a cameo. We don’t offer him praise. Inevitably the metaphor of looking a gift horse in the mouth comes to mind when we contemplate the spectacular change to the city’s waterfront that will one day be Brooklyn Bridge Park. Whatever our government agencies ultimately do, the park will provide desirable benefits that will be extremely hard to complain about. But not conscientiously examining “gifts” that government officials deliver just doesn’t work in the political environment of New York. Besides Brooklyn Bridge Park is not truly a gift; it is something that community activists worked for years to obtain. Our elected representatives are, after all, supposed to be working for us. It is their job to properly administer our available public resources. Whether they are doing so requires a conscientious examination. We hope you will find that conscientious examination takes us on an interesting and worthwhile trip. Now, let our wending look at the politics of development begin. The Shuffling of Dates for the Opening of Brooklyn Bridge Park  On March 22, an initial part of Brooklyn Bridge Park opened, the Pier One portion in the north near Fulton Ferry. An actual opening is imbued with a faintly amazing aspect given that dates announced for opening the park have been shuffled around by innumerable postponements. The shuffling has occurred in truly big picture terms and it also occurred recently on a more micro level. In big picture terms; the park, which involved decades of planning (funding for which was approved in 2000) was originally supposed to start construction in 2003/2004 and be fully open and complete in 2011 (an eight year construction period). By the end of 2004 the public was being told 2008 would be shovel-in-the-ground year and that the construction would take three or four years to complete (i.e. completion would be pushed out one more year to 2012). Such big picture delay is something that press coverage of the opening necessarily alluded to. The rest of the media did not, however point out the shuffling of the opening date that has been transpiring recently on a more micro level,but we did. In late August, just around back-to-school time, the public was told that two sections of the park would open just four months later in December. (We were quite skeptical.) Then, in November, with three of those four months elapsed, the public was told that it would still be waiting another four months for an opening of just one section of park rather than the two promised in August. Let us restate this in terms of what prompted our own skepticism: At the tail end of the two four year terms served by the Bloomberg administration, just as Bloomberg was running for an unprecedented third term by having overturned the city charter to repel term limits,it was being announced that part of a project funded and approved evenbefore Bloomberg took office, the whole of which was supposed to have been largely completed within those two terms, was finally, finally being started! Not only that; the public was being told that it was going to be opened just a mere days after the election. What do you think happened? A scant 22 days after Bloomberg squeaked by (spending more than a hundred million dollars) to win re-election, it was revealed that the schedule of a four month countdown to completion announced before the election was, as we initially hypothesized, quite fanciful." You will have to go to the blog links above to read all the installments and also don't forget my piece on Mike Bloomberg's techno-dream is the tax payer's Titanic as in CityTime.

Dennis Hopper - Rest in Peace by: Nikky Raney

Dennis Hopper died today (Saturday, May 29, 2010) from complications with prostate cancer.

Hopper was 74 years old.

In March, TMZ reported that he was very ill from cancer and that he would not recover from this.

Hopper was very talented. He is best known for starring in and producing the 1969 film "Easy Rider." He also acted alongside James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant."

"We'd gone through the whole '60s and nobody had made a film about anybody smoking grass without going out and killing a bunch of nurses," Hopper told Entertainment Weekly in 2005. "I wanted 'Easy Rider' to be a time capsule for people about that period."

Hopper's life has always been one that interested the public. From his friendship with Peter Fonda to his bitter divorce battle.

This is really sad. Yesterday Gary Coleman died, and today Dennis Hopper. They say "everything comes in threes," but I truly hope that there will not be another celebrity death anytime soon.

Rest in Peace Dennis Hopper

(1936 - 2010)

My heart goes out to his four children, and those that was fortunate enough to have him as apart of their lives.

(photo taken from nydailynews)

EDIT: When I said everything comes in 3, I forgot that Art Linkletter died the day before Coleman. I wish the best to everyone who has been affected.

Posted by Nikky Raney

The Future of Journalism

Gary Coleman Dead of intercranial hemorrage - sad life ends

"Gary Coleman Dead of intercranial hemorrage - child actor dies" happened Friday after the famous child star passed away after a severe head injury he sustained at his home in Utah caused bleeding in his brain and described as an intercranial hemorrage and a epidural hematoma.

Gary Coleman

Gary Coleman, who was so funny in the TV show sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986), became something of a sideshow later in life. In part, his small stature, his parents, and his anger issues, and Coleman's celebrity mixed together to produce what from a distance looked like a terrible life. The Lord called Gary Coleman away from that mess on Friday.

Gary Coleman has openly said his parents did not treat him correctly. Edmonia Sue and W.G. Coleman adopted Coleman and from all accounts they did not care about him at all. Gary sued them for "misappropriation of funds" and they counter-sued for defamation and breach of contract. Consider that there's no record that Coleman knew who his real parents were and the people who took him in as his adopted parents, took his money from his work.

Coleman sued them, won, and was awarded $1.3 million. But nothing could recover the emotional damage Coleman sustained from four years of battling with his parents. The reason why Gary Coleman had the problems the public has been exposed to was because he had no solid family base around him. No real parents, brothers or sisters, cousins, or aunts and uncles. No one who cared.

Gary's marriage to Shannon Price was probably the best thing that could have happened to Coleman, but his anger problems threatened to destroy it too. In an effort to save their marriage Coleman and Price went on the show Divorce Court, where Coleman said this:

"I don't have any friends and don't have any intention of making any. People will stab you in the back, mistreat you, talk about me behind your back, steal from you. And they're not really your friends. (They're) only there because you're a celebrity or because they want to get something from you."

And this statement from the NY Daily News explains why the Lord took him on Friday:

"It's not her fault," he says. "I always feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders every day I get up. ... There are days I don't even want to get up."

On Friday, Gary Coleman got his wish.

Oakland, CA developer retained by SunCal on Alameda Point project

Phil Tagami in front of The Fox Theater 

Phil Tagami, the locally famous Oakland, California developer (and friend of this blogger) known for his firm California Capital Group's renovations of the Oakland Rotunda and Oakland Fox Theater landmark buildings, and his current effort to build a new industrial park development using the land that was once the Oakland Army Base, has been retained to help Southern California-based developer SunCal in its attempt to see the redevelopment of the former Alameda Naval Air Station into what is called "Alameda Point."

Alameda Point has morphed from a desired Alameda redevelopment objective to a name associated with a city planning direction deemed undesirable by a vast majority of Alamedans. In a recent poll, 59 percent of Alamedans' polled said they did not want Measure B, which would approved the Alamaeda Point Revitalization Initiative and have granted SunCal an exemption from the one-new-dwelling-uhit-per-2,000-square feet prohibition that has governed the city's growth since 1973.

The reason for the failure of Measure B at the polls was the overwhelming feeling that SunCal was trying to get around the city's planning process. This even with the developers efforts to work with community leaders and even agreeing to pay for the time Alameda planning staffers spent on the project.

SunCal has reportedly considered a number of efforts to improve their prospects of retaining exclusive negotiating power with Alameda; hiring Phil Tagami as a consultant is SunCal's latest effort and perhaps its best chance at success according to observers who do not wish to be named.

Phil Tagami and Alameda's City Manager Problem

One issue facing Phil Tagami is what observers claim is a problem in the form of Alameda's Interim City Manager Ann Marie Gallant, who's had an interesting past pattern of employment, and some current practices that leave some who do not wish to be named uncomfortable. But the greatest concern expressed by those who want a consistent process is that Gallant is trying to push SunCal out of the picture in favor of a master developer of her selection.

The best outcome for Phil Tagami is to engineer an extension of the Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with SunCal, enjoy Gallant's full support, and have SunCal's involvement in the Oakland Army Base.

Pulling off that hat trick would give Tagami some logical level of control over development in Alameda Point, which is right across the mouth of the Oakland Estuary from The Oakland Army Base.

Stay tuned.