futurebrite

A while I ago I assisted a friend, Karen, on the creation of a music video for her band, Futurebrite. We filmed in one of the few towns in the Bay Area that allows fireworks (even sparklers are banned in most places, shocking to this girl from the South.) My job mainly consisted on lighting sparklers and trying to avoid littering. Nonetheless, it was fun to dabble in a new creative medium and seeing the finished project is very exciting.



If you are loving this video, you can vote for Futurebrite on The Deli music blog to be San Francisco Artist of the Month. Voting ends July 2.

read more: africa's new cities

"Africa is bracing itself for the arrival of the New Cities. That’s the term being used by urban scholars to describe the continent’s next urban phenomenon: Comprehensively planned, independent, relatively self-contained communities, usually built from scratch, and large enough to provide within their borders housing, public facilities, socio-cultural opportunities and employment for their residents...

Based on the assumption of a shared longing for new urban spaces, these cities come with promises of impressive amenities and functioning systems that will enable the urban lifestyle most Western cities provide. And they’re branding themselves accordingly – they’re sometimes called Eco-Cities or Smart Cities — and boast that they will be more connected, global and sustainable than traditional cities.

What is worrying is that there is little recognition of place, economy, context and even poverty in these cities. This begs several questions. To whom do these cities belong? Who is planning them? Are they inclusive cities, or simply profit-driven businesses?"
- Jane Lumumba, Why Africa Should Be Wary of It's 'New Cities' 

read more: re-regulation and government adaptation

"New businesses and the entrepreneurs that create them are intrinsically adaptive, responsive to change and driven by market realities. If they don’t possess these traits they fail." 
- Charles Luzar, What The Government Can Learn from Crowdfunders