Tom Morello, Celebrities Support Occupy LA

Rosanna Arquette in front of city hall, joining Occupy LA protesters (photo courtesy of Flickr user cheeseslave)

Occupy Los Angeles has captivated the local media, and celebrities have started to chime in on the conversation. Celebrities have shown their support of Occupy LA by appearing in person or posting on Twitter to express their support of the movement.

Funk music icon George Clinton tweeted,

Actor Danny Glover showed up at City Hall on day eight of Occupy LA, speaking directly to the crowd in front of City Hall:

Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello also made a couple appearances to the Occupy LA stomping grounds. On his initial visit to the protest earlier this month, he performed a few songs and expressed his support for the Occupy LA movement, according to Rolling Stone Magazine. In the following video, Morello encourages the protesters, saying, "...take the motherf---in' power back, people."

As a show of good favor for the protesters, on his second visit Morello offered 175 free tickets to his show later that day at the Troubadour, to be "distributed democratically," according to the Occupy LA website.

Morello has also made appearances at Occupy Vancouver, San Francisco, Seattle, and Wall Street in the last two weeks, according to Rolling Stone.

Guitar Lessons in Los Angeles News has speculated that one of the main reasons celebrities have been mostly showing their support under the radar, is because they themselves are part of the 1% of the country who are wealthy, exactly the population that the Occupy movement is protesting.

Morello, though known for his iconoclastic music and activist image, probably spent hundreds of dollars flying all across the country to the various protests. He is also planning to depart for a concert tour in the U.K. according to Rolling Stone, from which he will surely earn a hefty sum for his performances. The fact of his wealth and his free use of it draws out the ironies of the following statement recorded by Rolling Stone:

It's the malfeasance of the bankers and Wall Street super-rich who torpedoed the global economy that's caused so much human suffering and environmental devastation, and we're calling them out.

What about the celebrity super-rich, Morello? How about the Hollywood entertainment industry that sells greed and materialism not just to Americans, but also to the global masses? How about the carbon emissions from the dozens of planes you flew in all across the world, which in and of itself has devastated the environment? When is it time to not just call out Wall Street, but Hollywood Boulevard and celebrities fortheir excessiveness and rapacious greed for fame and wealth?

Comedy Central's Jeff Ross roasts corporations at Occupy LA (photo capture of LosAngelesVideograph youtube video)

Just this kind of criticism may be why most celebrities are trying to stay out of the spotlight, even though they may support the protesters in private. Though celebrity support may lend a sense of legitimacy to the movement, their presence may ultimately undermine the core ideologies of the protest. Leaders of the Occupy movement would be best served avoiding high-profile wealthy persons of all occupations, if they want to keep their morale and purposes focused and strong.

KTLA versus NBC-LA

 

Though KTLA and NBC-LA cover the same area and topics, the visual and writings styles in which they represent their material are fairly different.

Opening up KTLA's homepage, viewers are immediately bombarded with a flashy continuous news feed. Their site and their articles are graphic,  flashy, and in your face. Their headlines go for a slightly snarky snazzy angle, capturing audiences with guilty pleasure news and entertaining news. The articles start with a large photo and an straightforward article, and a video is posted at the bottom.

NBC on the other hand, has a cleaner, less graphic-y homepage.There are less pictures, and their headlines are more straightforward. The articles start with a large video window, then some written reporting, and a lot more video listed clearly on the side.

When comparing the Lindsey Lohan article, KTLA's sources were TMZ and Twitter, not very serious or reliable sources. NBC's sources were officials and authorities, like the morgue official, and people who worked at the courthouse, much more reliable and believable sources.

Kaskade Street Concert Incites Hollywood Riot

Hollywood Boulevard before the riot, photo by Kailyn Lori Jean on Twitpic

A riot erupted at the movie premiere of the "Electric Daisy Carnival Experience" at the Chinese Theater, on July 27th, according to LA Weekly. Rave fans and young people across the city merged en masse upon the Hollywood and Highland area, responding to DJ Kaskade's invite on Twitter:

Reported by the L.A. Times, the giant truck-turned-stage with lights and speakers was suppose to cruise straight down Hollywood Boulevard, according to Michael Duddie, general manager of Supperclub Los Angeles. Although the after party was planned to be held at Supperclub, Duddie claimed that they were not responsible for the block party.

According to Duddie, the truck unexpectedly turned off course, turning down Highland Avenue, surprising the fans and inciting their anger.

See what happened next:

LA Observed, Observed

 

LA Observed is a quick and easy news outlet for those who want a fast download of what's going on in L.A. They provide morning-to-late-night news coverage on a few topics throughout the day.

In the morning, they focus on big headlines, providing summaries on the main news featured on well-known papers and websites, like the WSJ, LAT, Entrepreneur, etc. These brief updates are usually straightforward, with no personal opinions of the author affecting the pieces. Most of the news is related to Los Angeles in some way, but not always, especially on some of the more bloggier posts.

Since L.A. is a media and entertainment-centric city, a great majority of the news is related to arts and culture. From what I observed, all of the news items are aggregated, and any first-hand accounts are specifically written on blogs under LA Observed. Even so, the aggregated stories are professionally written. All the stories are very short articles, no more than 500 words, often times just a few paragraphs, or even just a photo/video with one line of explanation. 

Some stories, especially Mark Lacter's pieces, are kind of dry and posted with no pictures. The straight-out blog posts are labeled blogs, and the ones posted throughout the day are of varied styles and subjects. Some are photo-centric, and others are reiterations of previous news articles with a heavier opinion slant, and still others are lifestyle blogs about living in L.A.

Obama's Government Shutting Down Pot Shops

Seriously, Washington needs to get its act together. Today, feds passed out closure warnings to California pot dispensaries currently legal under California law. What the heck are they talking about??

For the last two years, the federal government has been saying it will let marijuana dispensaries operate without interference. What do they think they're doing, by pulling a Sarah Palin and reneging on their promises this late in the game? If Obama really wanted to get tough on marijuana, he should have thrown it into the pot of gumbo when he was marching along Washington trying to pass his health care bill.

At this point, it only shows how eager and desperate he is to get some extra votes come Election Day 2012. Getting tough on marijuana in the 16 states its legal in won't win you big points. Making fun of the desperate attempts of the GOP to find a passably appealing candidate actually might be a better tactic than making 600,000 U.S. pot smokers unhappy.