Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Silent Raves: Great Idea

I give you the newest craze ... Silent Raves. I heard this for the first time today on the radio and instantly thought, what a great idea. Young people coordinate these mass gatherings through facebook or their favorite online meeting places, in which groups will bring their ipods/head phones to a specific location (ie. a public park), at a specific time, and then simultaneously start their music and have a massive dance party outdoors. Genious! Recently, these silent raves took over Boston's Copley Square and New York City's Union Square. The Union Square rave boasted 7,000 young people!!!
The positives. You save the money you would've spent on expensive city nightclubs. People are getting outside, breathing fresh air. The event is free of loud, booming speakers that may be considered noise pollution to any down-lookers (old people).
The neigh-sayers insist this is further evidence that america's youth are traveling further down a road of anti-social behavior, hundred's of kids "dancing in their own little worlds." However, I think this is just another case of people figuring out new, creative ways of coming together.
Questions I have: Do people actually coordinate their playlists and coordinate the start times of the tracks?? And if so, how do you do this with thousands of people???
For more reading: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94541066
YouTube footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8leK1mfNivc&feature=related

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Welcome To My Blizog

Here we go!! I've started an online journal ... blog ... webpage ... whatever you wanna call it. I'd like to think this as being an experiment. Where it will go, I couldn't tell you. Perhaps it'll be a forum for every-day moments of inspiration, perhaps a running journal of life's twists and turns, maybe a means for blowing off steam? Your guess is as good as mine. I'm just gonna jump on the bike, hit the open road, and see where I end up. Why not keep a personal journal/diary under lock and key? Well, I gave it thought, and I figured some things are just better when shared. In a similar vein, Chris McCandless (inspiration for the book "Into the Wild") wrote in one of his last journal entries stuck alone in the Alaskan wilderness, "Happiness is not real unless shared ..." So perhaps I'll garner some sort of "happiness" by sharing my thoughts, bouncing them off loved-ones, friends, and lucky, or perhaps, unlucky passers-by. And for the reader, I hope at least a smidgen of what's written is enjoyable and possibly brings you happiness as well. -David