Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

MTV Picks UM Student as Florida Rep for National Vlogger Program

Posted on December 21, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

MTV has just set up a national corps of citizen-journalist vloggers: they've hired a young person from every state and DC to do weekly video reports covering politics in their state.

Florida's correspondent is Anthony Wojtkowiak, a fourth-year student in UM's Communications program,

I am a fourth year Video-Film Honors student in the School of Communication at the University of Miami. This year I will travel to Dominican Republic and Kenya to do journalistic reports about projects meant to help the poor. I was an intern and am now a consultant for Knight Foundation. I also edit a web site at University of Miami called mediaforchange.org. It has tools and ideas for how to get involved in activist causes, but is unfortunately down for repairs right now. I was a Resident Assistant in Pearson Residential College for three years and I really enjoy impacting people's lives positively. I hope to be a postive role model for young people, and I hope to make a difference and find other people who will do the same.

Posted in Miami | Comments Off on MTV Picks UM Student as Florida Rep for National Vlogger Program

Mail Is Down

Posted on December 20, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

The entire University of Miami domain seems to be having holiday troubles, and it's taken my regular mail server down with it. UM is officially closed for the holidays at present, so I don't know how fast the repairs will be.

If you need to reach me urgently…use the phone.

Or, there's always my backup email address of myfirstname.mylastname@gmail.com, but I don't check that as obsessively as I do the usual account.

Update (12/21): It's working now.

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Mail Is Down

I Like It

Posted on December 20, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

John Edwards's holiday ad has a bit of a sting to it:

I like it. But then I'm probably biased: although I think there are several Democrats who'd make a good President, I think that on the issues I'm probably most in agreement with Edwards. I just wish I had more faith in the quality of his organization — who you come into power with has proved to matter almost as much as who you are. (From that point of view, Obama may have a small edge; Clinton has the most carefully tuned machine — but is it tuned to the right pitch?)

I used to say that I had a lot of trouble swallowing Edwards's views on trade. I'm still dubious of his protectionist instincts, but I think that the trade deals — especially some of the bilaterals — we've entered into in the past few years are on balance not good for us or for our counter parties. They seem designed to lock in certain ideas of industrial structure, labor relations, and other (anti)social policies in order to put them outside the reach of democratic processes. So while I may not agree with Edwards's philosophy here, many of his specific criticisms seem more on target now than they did four years ago.

Posted in Politics: US: 2008 Elections | 1 Comment

More Strange Music

Posted on December 20, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

OK, I think this is a bit weird, a more serious piece of strange than Stairway to Somewhere: someone has set a complaint to music. And not just any complaint, but Mackris v. O'Reilly, the infamous sexual harassment complaint filed against TV bloviator Bill O'Reilly and settled for an undisclosed sum.

There's a video with a lengthy excerpt of this work at O'Reilly's Sexual Harrassment Lawsuit Sung Like Handel's “Messiah”. And here's how they describe the project:

The piece is a setting of the sexual harassment complaint lodged against Fox News pundit, Bill O’Reilly, by staff producer, Andrea Mackris, in October 2004 and recorded at its world premiere in January 2007. It includes all memorable moments from the original complaint and more – paranoid rants, clumsy sexual innuendo, and the famous falafel fantasy. Composer Igor Keller has produced this concert-length work in the form of a baroque oratorio, in the style of an updated Handel’s Messiah, for 28-piece chamber orchestra, 26-voice chorus and three soloists. It’s an oratorio for the 21st century!

There's also an extensive FAQ.

I'm in no position to judge from the excerpt if this this is good art or not (although I am suspicious). I did go see “Jerry Springer: The Opera” the last time I was in London, and despite what one might think about the idea of basing an opera around Jerry Springer, it was good. So who knows.

Posted in Kultcha | 3 Comments

Commissioners and Desperate Developers Do Dirty Deal

Posted on December 19, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Despite the language, I'm with Critical Miami on the substance of this one:

Ladies and gentlemen, your county commission is out of its collective fucking mind: They just approved $347 million for a new Marlins stadium (more then double what the actual team will contribute!), overrode the UDB veto (to allow building past the development boundary, and note that Katy Sorenson, Rebeca Sosa, Carlos Gimenez, and Dennis Moss are the only ones that stood up against development), and generally passed the whole downtown overhaul that was proposed last year. I'm with them on the streetcar and on Museum park, but not much of anything else. Update: The budget for the 800-unit replacement to the Scott and Carver housing projects can suddenly accommodate only about 150 units.

Ungood. The money for the Marlins is especially stupid since there's precious little evidence that the community actually wants to spend tax money on them. Or that they deserve it.

Posted in Miami | Comments Off on Commissioners and Desperate Developers Do Dirty Deal

Kudos to Miami Law Firm

Posted on December 19, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

The WSJ blog gives deserved praise to Maimi firm Stearns Weaver for its holiday card:

truck.jpg

Where most year-end greetings come with photos of adorable children and picturesque snow scenes, this one featured a picture of a food-bank truck (pictured) with the following text:

Past contributions by our firm have enabled the Daily Bread Food Bank to deliver over 1.3 million meals to those in need in our community.

This year, we decided to contribute a truck to help make the deliveries a little easier.

When you see this truck in our community, you may notice that our name is not on it. That is because the gift of this truck is made in your honor. It would not have been possible without you.

Nice work, gentlepersons.

The Daily Bread Food Bank (an affiliate of America's Second Harvest) is one of the charities our household donates to.

Posted in Law: Practice | 1 Comment