Sigh…

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While in Japan for the past year, I missed (well, that’s not the right word) the continued degradation of American broadcast news. I don’t have a television right now, so I haven’t been watching television news since I got home.

Last night, I caught an episode of CNN.

How sad.

It’s not even worth discussing the quality of news on television anymore. What was most shocking was how plastic and unreal it all appeared. They’ve managed to package reality in a way that is not real.

And even what used to be basic rules of good journalism are now delivered with a wink and a tittering laugh as if to say, “How silly that we have to continue with this facade!”

The moppet in the anchor chair practically exploded with enthusiasm while waving the latest edition of Time magazine before the camera — synergism at its most desperate in the AOL Time Warner kingdom. She forgot the disclaimer then, but managed to throw it in after the last segment, an in-house stroke job covering the $40 million sale of a penthouse atop the new AOL Time Warner Center in New York City. In a perfect Elle Woods moment (and I don’t mean that in a good way), she mentioned that the building in question was owned by CNN’s parent company, “but not that any of us here would ever be able to afford that apartment!”

Me, Here And There, Online

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I sound stiff as a board in this interview, conducted by Yukiko Kojima, who is an English student at Mie University in Japan. Ms. Kojima did a bang-up job putting the interview together — perhaps I can blame the lack of much life in my answers on the fact that I responded to her e-mail questions in a jet-lagged haze the first few days after returning to Seattle. Or maybe I just need to loosen up a bit.

Regardless, thanks so much to Yukiko for thinking of me for her interview, and for being such a professional.

Also featured online is a collection of some of my Japan photos over at Menstream, a publication out of Singapore.

Monsanto Doesn’t Like The Truth

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Monsanto likely wouldn’t be too happy with the “Got Milk” parody posted below. The frankencompany that wants to genetically reengineer — and then own — the world’s food supply has sued a dairy in Maine for telling customers that the dairy’s products are free of artificial growth hormones.

Monsanto, which is a major producer of artificial growth hormones used on dairy cows, believes the Oakhurst dairy’s “no hormones” labels constitute misleading and deceptive advertising.

Monsanto Sues Dairy in Maine Over Label’s Remarks on Hormones
nytimes.com (free registration required)

Monsanto, the maker of agricultural seeds and chemicals, has a reputation for responding strongly to critics of its biotech seeds and its artificial growth hormones.
The company has been pressing government officials in Maine to get Oakhurst to change its labels and tone down its marketing. On July 3, Monsanto filed its suit against Oakhurst in the United States District Court in Boston, seeking an injunction preventing Oakhurst from using the labels.
Monsanto says not only are the labels misleading to consumers but also that there is no way to distinguish between milk that comes from cows treated with artificial growth hormones and milk that comes from cows not treated.
In a statement released after the suit was filed, Monsanto said that “these misleading representations directly disparage Monsanto’s Posilac bovine somatotropin product and the milk from cows supplemented with bovine somatotropin.”

If ever a company deserves to be disparaged, it is Monsanto.

Got Mutation?

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No, I don’t got milk. And why would anyone want to get milk if it’s the Hulk’s drink of choice? Who are the advertising geniuses who thought a raging, green, mutated monster was a good poster child for that mostly-unnecessary hormone cocktail called milk?

Sunny Seattle Summer

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It’s summer in Seattle — there’s no time for silly things like work and responsibility. It’s sun time, and that usually means as many afternoons as possible spent at Madison Park beach, on the shore of Lake Washington. My other favorite location is the grassy area on the tip of Luther Burkank Park on Mercer Island.

The blues and greens in Seattle are even more vivid than I remember. It’s a welcome change from the constant summer haze that obscures what’s left of Japan’s natural beauty. And the amount of greenery in Seattle amazes me after a year spent in the concrete jungles of Japan.

Of course, the downside to all this green will come in October when the skies turn gray for the following nine months or so. All the more reason to leave my computer…

A New Phone

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Being without a mobile for a week wasn’t that big of a deal — but I wouldn’t have wanted to go much longer.

After seeing all the crappy phones and interfaces that are currently being offered here in the States, I ended up going for small and simple — the Motorola V70 shown above.

After getting used to a camera-phone during my year in Japan, I had been shopping for a similarly equipped unit here — mostly for use in posting pics directly from the phone to this site. But all the models I saw were either too large, too clunky (physical design or interface), or just plain ugly. It’s still first-generation time here in the States when it comes to camera phones.

I was considering the Sanyo 8100, which is offered by Sprint, since I used a similar Sanyo in Japan. But although the 8100 was a bit shorter than the one I’d been using, it was noticeably thicker — to the point where the, um, pocket bulge would be too much.

It seems like most people in the States still carry their phones tucked away, out of sight, whereas in Japan mobiles have basically become accessories to be carried, displayed and in view much of the time. The cascades of dangly baubles just adds to the “notice-my-phone!” factor.

I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to do posts to this site from my phone, but glad to have gotten a small, simple, no-nonsense phone. I figure within the next year there will be more appealing camera phones.

On the subject of camera phones, Dan Gillmor has a few comments about some of the social consequences of the devices. He only scratches the surface, and his thoughts seem almost quaint to me after having lived in a society where camera phones are already so pervasive. I suspect there will be many more social problems with the use of camera phones in the U.S.

We may as well get used to the idea that visual recording devices will be everywhere before too long. The trick will be to use technology to offer solutions to counter-balance the invasive nature of this trend.

In the meantime, your ass may end up here.

A Civilized Culture, Eh?

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As America continues along on its clumsy, reactionary path to the future, its northern neighbor quietly and confidently charts a different course.

Another plus for living in Seattle — it’s close to the border. Of course, any day now Canada is likely to be included on the U.S. government’s Axis of Evil list, and Bush will create jobs for the ailing economy through construction of a border wall that’ll put all others to shame.

A Night In Tokyo

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Speaking of group shots, here’s one of a collection of amazing friends that I miss so very much already. Shibuya, 11pm on a Saturday night. One last coming together before half of us scattered to different parts of the world. Miss you all. And I promise to get the rest of the photos posted online soon.

Sharing Photos

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A post by Tom Coates about cameras communicating with each other reminded me of something I was thinking about last week in Tokyo.

After an all-nighter, a group of about a dozen of us crowded together to take “morning-after” photos (still too happy to realize how wrecked we all looked). We asked a young girl who’d just stumbled out of a club into the morning light to be our photographer. Someone handed her a camera, and then another, and another — she ended up with half a dozen cameras lined up on the sidewalk beside her.

Later that same day, as we all wandered through Yoyogi Park at dusk, we passed a large group of students posing for a group photo. The designated photographer had more than a dozen cameras lined up in a neat row beside her. There were film cameras, digicams, phone cams, and disposables.

It’s already possible to share photos easily with phone cams, but the quality of those shots is not yet great. Wireless needs to be built into higher-quality digicams so one camera can be used, and then the shot sent immediately to any similarly-equipped, surrounding digicams.

Far better to share shots immediately than to worry about parking yourself back home at a computer, trying to remember who wanted what shot.