heathervescent

Chicago Talks at World Future Society

I'll be in Chicago this weekend speaking at the World Future Conference 2013. It's going to be another marathon conference for me, as I am speaking twice at WFS in addition to organizing the APF ProDev day and running a workshop there. Here's the rundown of where I will be. Come by and say hi!

• A Possibility Tour: With Special “Guests” Philip K. Dick, Bina48, Samuel Delaney, Stanislaw Lem, and Donella Meadows. We will visit and view a variety of potential outcomes of our economy, as might be seen through the eyes of noted futurists of the past. Our tour will feature a balanced analysis of commerce possibilities, highlighting the seeds within our existing system that may lead to each prospective reality. Expect a wild romp through the future, with your guide Heathervescent’s cacophonistic flair!
• ProDev Workshop: Mapping the Future of Futurists. I will leading this workshop mapping our territory. Who are we? What businesses are we in? What communities are we part of? How do we participate? We create a Big Map, then step back and ask how we can expand into new territories, seize new opportunities? Session at the APF Professional Development Day.  [Open to anyone with an APF member recommendation.]

• Best of Houston Futures. This is my 3rd year on this panel and I will be presenting my Award Winning paper, The Human Problem, where I describe how to solve all the world's problems. 

I'll be around Chicago all weekend, so be sure to grab me and say hi. If you don't see my purple hair, find me on twitter at @heathervescent. 

Flowers for Grandma

Flowers for Grandma shows an emerging concept called Intentcasting, spearheaded by Doc Searls. Lots of information on his site at Harvard. The idea is a paradigm reverse that enables shoppers to request fulfillment. Retailers respond to the request. As shown in the video, a 5 second request results in 12 responses. 

Watch.

 

There are a few things I'd like to draw attention to. While the main focus of the short is on Intentcasting, several other concepts are braided into this design future. 

• Transparent screens: This is more and more becoming a reality. h/t to Sam, my technical advisor for these product designs.
• System Currencies: The intentcasting application (Syncbidz) uses it's own currency.
• Computer as Transaction device: I used the same SecureCoin from Fly Me to the Moon, integrated into the hardware. It's no secret the SecureCoin is based off Bitcoin, backed by a central transaction infrastructure.
• Voice recognition: The voice recognition was inspired with Windows Live Mobile - an application the predated Siri by at least 2 years. The APIs for voice activated commands exists.
• Seamless sharing: While merely touched upon, specific pieces of data can be share with pre-authorized devices. It's an invisible example of the internet of things + digital asset grid control management with real time changing data.
• Beautiful mobile connective hardware: In both, Fly Me and Flowers, the physical objects that interact with the technology infrastructure must be beautiful from a traditional aesthetic. That smart bracelet is also pure silver. From a personal perspective, I'm not interested in using a bluetooth device until it looks like a beautiful piece of jewelry. I am not interested in looking from Star Trek. 
• Video Cards: This idea came from a conversation with my Technical Advisor, Sam. As video cameras and screens become more flexible and disposable, it's going to be easier than ever to send a video card. 
• Finally, and in my mind, most importantly, this shows a future with the customer/individual in control of their data. The world of the digital data transfer (which is shown in Slices of Life) is hidden and we see only the user experience. It's a positive, delightful, happy experience. There is no fear about who is using or mis-using personal data. 

The technology to make this vision real already exists.

If you're interested in the inspiration for this short, it's from my real life. I really send my grandmother flowers each month. Because that's the kind of world I want to live in.

--

Updates: Rob's Hummingbird comment reminded me to share the shooting story behind it's cameo. It was a Sunday morning about a year ago, and we were shooting at the house. There were these two hummingbirds that would not leave us along. Over and over they would zip around the crew. One was particularly bold. He dive bombed up several times. We kept rolling, something wrong with each take (a shifting overcast Los Angeles sky). Finally, the lighting was perfect and we rolled. It was during this take, Mr Bold Hummingbird zipped into the frame and paused right in front of the camera for more than a split second. I was watching from the porch and my heart almost jumped out of my chest. 

There's also an inside joke for a certain Internet Identity community. ;)

Ignite3 Line-up

I'm really excited about our 3rd Ignite here in Los Angeles on June 7th. We had a record number of absolutely AMAZING submissions. It took a lot of deliberation to select the speakers. Our only consolation for those awesome submittions not on stage this month, is ... you're on the short-list for IgniteLA4!

A note about our venue, V Lounge. We selected a larger capacity venue from our previous Ignite. We loved CineSpace, but wanted to offer a longer program and increase attendance capacity. However, even with the increase, we expect standing room only. We encourage you to arrive in plenty of time and we're working on an even larger venue for next time.

The event is FREE, but please register and support the event by having a cocktail or some snacks at V Lounge, they're donating the space. Space is first-come, first-serve. (Registering helps us plan future IgniteLAs.)

When: June 7, 7:30-11pm, talks start at 8:15pm
Where: V Lounge, 2020 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403 (in West LA)
Cost: Free to attend, but you are responsible for paying for your own food/drinks.
Parking: Valet or neighborhood street parking (decent)

To spark your interest here's a partial list of our June 7th topics and speakers:

• Directed Evolution, Frances Arnold, Caltech
• Another Earth, Amir Give'on, NASA JPL
• Write How To Make The Best Of Living In A War Zone, Liz Grover, Writer/Filmmaker
• Financing the Future, Glenn Yago, Exec Dir of Financial Research, Milken Institute
• An Amazing History of Awesome Stuff Underground, Molly Steenson, Design Researcher
• Asking a girl out with PPT, Jason Porath, Professional Effects Artist and Technical Director
• Mechanical Olympics, Xtine Burrough, Media Artist & Asst Prof CSU Fullerton
• Meditation and Consciousness, Pedram Shojai, Taoist & Qi Gong master, Wellness Expert
• Collaborative Filmaking, Sheila Hardy, Filmmaker,  Eve's Lime
• Teaching Kids Programming, Lynn Langit, Microsoft Evangelist & Digigirls
• The Internet in China, Christine Lu, CEO, Affinity China

If you've been sparked by the above topics, we hope you'll join us on Monday, June 7th at V Lounge to hear about interesting projects by passionate people.

The IgniteLA Organizers,

• Dan
• Heather
• Michael
• Social Animal

Hbombtastic Events

I can't stop myself. I am compelled to create these spaces, these experiences. I hope you'll join me if you are into these same things.

• June 7: Ignite 3 in Los Angeles
• June 12-13: Humanity Plus Summit (ps. I'm speaking!)
• June 15: Geek Dinner REDUX @ Canters
• July 24: Save the Date for Xmas in July

********************************************

Ignite3

When: June 7, 7:30pm
Where: V Lounge (2020 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90403-5608)
What: 5 Minutes. 20 Slides. 15 Seconds per Slide.
Cost: Free
RSVP & Details

Speakers get only 5 minutes to give an amazing, inspiring talk. In LA, there are tons of different communities at the intersection of tech, academia, art, green/sustainability, entertainment, unique lifestyle design, entrepreneurship, digital/collaborative media, and social action that don't know each other but should. Think of Ignite as a set of trailers for exciting projects people are doing that you should know about.

LA Geek Dinner REDUX

The LA Geek Dinner returns for one night.

When: Tuesday, June 15, 2010, starting around 7:30pm
Where: Canters Deli, Mid-Town on Fairfax near Melrose
What: People who self-identify as geeks
Details

How does it work: Show up, order a drink, some food, be open and friendly, meet some new people, have some interesting conversations, eat some pastrami. It’s a chill scene. No uber networking, self-promotion or company promotion. Just be cool. We’re all friends you haven’t met yet. RSVP on our old friend Upcoming

XMAS in JULY: Santa Needs A Vacation

Save the date for Xmas in July: July 24th. Suggestion: Santa like red bikini's! Planning meeting soon.

Ignite Returns to Los Angeles: March 1

IgniteLA is back in LA after a short hiatus. I helped launch Ignite in Los Angeles last year with Dan Gould, the local wrangler, Brady Forrest from O'Reilly and Matt Forrest, (yes they are related) at Social Animal.

Starting Monday, March 1st, we in Los Angeles are kicking off Global Ignite week. That means cities across the world will host local Ignites. We have a great lineup of speakers here in Los Angeles. But first, the details:

• Monday March, 1st, starts at 7pm until 9pm
• Location: Cinespace in Hollywood (1st 50 folks who registered (and show up first) get free valet), 6356 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028 (map)
• Tickets are Free, but please register.
• On Twitter: @ignite2la
  
• Ignite LA Facebook Group
  

And now, our wonderful speakers (in no particular order):

• Karen North, USC, Social Media
• Eric Gradman: Through the Cloudmirror
• Adam Sadowsky: OK Go & the Grand Machine
• Mike Flynn: Something really cool
• Chad Catacchio: How Crisis Commons is Helping Haiti & Chile
• Sasha Chock: Something really neat
• Kasey McMahon: Breaking the Mold: Pattern Recognition, Art and Nanobot Housecleaning Services
  
• Lisa Remmington: Social action through film
• Sekou Andrews: Spoken Word
• Dena Plotkin: Working with difficult people
• Kurt Daradics: Something cyborgy
• Jenny Funkmeyer: Remote Viewing
• Chris Spurgeon: Mapping India: A True Tale of Balls-out 18th Century Science. With Tigers.
  

Note: If you are any of the above speakers, contact me to add your bio and link to your site.

Ignite2LA is organized by Dan Gould (@dgould), Michael Liskin (@rhetor), moi, Heathervescent  (@Heathervescent), and Matt Forrest.

It is co-sponsored by USC's Annenberg Program on Online Communities (@APOCusc) and Social Animal who are graciously managing production--and will put the talks on the YouTube.

Ignite was started by Brady Forrest at O'Reilly. This event is part of Global Ignite Week, March 1-5. As part of Global Ignite Week, there will be Ignite events on six continents in 60 Cities with 600 Talks, encompassing 10,000+ Igniters.

Bootie Performance

Heather's returning to the stage with something old, splashed up and new. I'm bringing the Zombie troupe back to BootieLA, where we did our first stage performance for their Midnight Mashup Show, two years ago in 2006. Last year, we took it to San Francisco and sassed it up for our audience of over 1200 Halloween partyiers. This year, we're bringing it back to LA and I'm mising in a few new things. (What can I say, I like to keep it fresh.)

I've got a great new lead, if you're around the geek LA scene you may know her - Lainie is going to be Gwen. I am also performing in a new role. And I have other surprises. Come now, I must work hard to blow your mind.

This past weekend, we did our first rehersal, and my pal and fellow conspiritor wrote this on her blog:

We had our first rehearsal this afternoon in Heather's driveway. A few songs into the routine, Heather's neighbor poked her head out the sliding glass doors and looked down on the three of us, doing a reworked version of the thriller dance, hula hooping, practicing the six step and doing the robot. She said--wow, has it been a year already?

Last year around Halloween, she looked out and found pretty much the same weird scene below her apartment, except that time we were in full costume.(from Shanny)

I still remember that day, almost three years ago, before I became friends with my neighbor, she peeped her head out after an hour or so of the same thriller mashup to see if she was dreaming. She wasn't. This year, she's coming to the show.

And I do hope that you will come as well. Details and downloads are at the BootieLA site.

* Photo from LA Decom performance, 2006

Bootie LA Reprise

I'm bringing the crew back to Bootie LA for our traditional Halloween show. It's gonna be awesome!

For unHappy Rainbows

From the -"It appeals to the 14 year old boy in me" files - I occasionally like to surf the delightful art at RainbowPuke.com. Here is a typical piece. Are you loling yet?

Happy Birthday Mom

Thanks for being you. Thanks for taking me on all those international trips before I was 16. Thanks for being from California. Thanks for sacrificing so much of yourself to raise me and C as a single mom. Thanks for being who you are (not my mom) and telling me your stories and surprising me with your skills. Thanks for having a love of drama and performance (I must have gotten that from you.)

There's been a lot of transitions in the past year and I'm really happy you are where you are. It's time for life to stop being so hard and for you to enjoy everything you have.

Love,

-Heather

Geek Dinner 008

Save the date - save the date!

Hey everyone,

Just a reminder to RSVP for the blind date with dorkbot on the 15th. That's the day before Twiistup.

We've going to be at Machine Project's Space in Echo Park. It's conveniently located off the 101 / Alvarado exit.

    1200 D North Alvarado Street
    Los Angeles, CA 90026

I'm having it catered, so I need to know accurate numbers for the caterer - aka - don't leave me hanging with at $400 bill this time! It's going to cost about $15-20 per person for an awesome catered meal by a chef that I have personally eaten the most awesome food from. In fact, she just won the Iron Chef Award for Perfect Culinary Excellence (or something like that) this past weekend.

Also we have a sponsor - SK Telecom (who incidentally is looking for cool technology to acquire).We have some things to give away and of course announcements.

Come, eat, drink and play with geeks and people who do strange things with electricity.

<3,

-Heather

Shake it shake it shake it

OK, I've bootstrapped myself out of the funk. Are you are coming with me? Well why not. This Saturday is BootieLA and it's back at the Echo!

I've got a new performance I'm working on that may be debuted next month on Feb 2. Yes, I've been inspired by another mashup. In the meantime, see ya on the dancefloor.

Loving the Materials

It's very important to like your materials if you want to kick ass. I talk about this in episode 2, on getting back on the wagon with GTD.

Rising to the front

I've recently become obsessed with Gwen Stefani. I've got the beat of Hollaback Girl tattoed in my brain, mostly because of DJ Schmoli and A+D's mashups and the three performances I've produced with Gwen mashups: The Original Hollaback Thriller, Hollaback Thriller Redux, and Hollaback Headhunter.

I was often surprised to find out a song I liked and heard on the radio was hers. What really made her stand out in my brain though, was when I saw/heard her song "wind it up".  I don't usually see music videos, so just seeing it was a major accomplishment for me. What I heard blew my mind. I thought it was a mash-up, but it was so obviously her song taking from various inspirations. Brazilian batucada,  musical mash-up with a club beat and a rap ripple going through the song. I was blown away - this was the most innovate music by a single artist since I heard Suba.

I've started listening to her entire discography and I continue to be impressed, inspired you might even say, so much so, that I'm making Gwen my role model for 2008. I'll add her to girl crew of Pippi, Aeon, and Ivy. I need to add some pop-bling to my image and she's the perfect polish.

BarcampLA4 Preso

Here's the preso I gave at BarcampLA 4. It spans online branding, blowing shit up, doing things and how to get your heart's desire. As in all things, be authentic, manage risks strategically and be safe KICK ASS.

xxx

-Heather

ps. I'm a kick-ass integrator.

 

| View | Upload your own

ps. photo credits in the preso go to Kmo and Jenna.

Get Thrown Around - aikido in Hollywood

About 10 years ago I randomly walked into an Aikido class at the Berkeley Y. I stuck around for several years - enough to make fourth Kyu and get my blue belt. I had black hair at that last test. I had planned to get my black belt in 2001, but I stopped practicing and priorities put aikido at the bottom of the list. Then I moved to LA and lost touch with my dojo.

Last fall I started getting a hankering to practice again. I looked around for a dojo or sword class, but didn't find one I liked. Then I found out an old friend and fellow student, lived in LA, was now a black belt _and_ teaching. Andrew was one of my favorite practice partners years ago, so when I found out he was teaching less than a mile from my house, I was so back on the mat.

Except we didn't have many mats. That's changing tonight. You see, when I was up in the Bay Area, I picked up some old Shusekai mats. These are most likely the same ones I practiced on 10 years ago. And now they're here in our dojo in Hollywood.

I'm so excited to doing aikido again - especially shusekai aikido. Perhaps you'd like to join me? Please do, although my favorite applications of aikido are off the mat.

AIKIDO
"The Way of Harmony"
A martial art dedicated to peaceful conflict-resolution with Andrew Reichart Sensei
Presented by Physical Training Center for Perfromance, Aikido Shusekai & Theatre Dojo.

Thursdays
7pm-8:30pm
at BODYWORKS Studio
6575 Santa Monica Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90038

$20 per class
or 5 class block for $75
beginners always welcome

Benefits of Aikido Shusekai training include:
• Increased calm, confidence, awareness, and focus
• Improved stamina, posture, flexibility, and coordination
• Increased poise and resourcefulness in the face of crisis and conflict
• A bearing and attitude that helps to defuse potential conflicts
before they start
• Healing of old fears and traumas related to conflict and aggression
• Meeting good people
• Fun!

Happy Birthday NeilalieN

Shout out across the nation - all the way from Los Angeles to New York City: Happy Birthday NeilalieN!

Although I haven't seen Neil in person since slightly post-Intervista, we've followed each other on the interwebs for more than a decade. I had planned to head to NY to get an update from him personally, but alas, LA has her hold on me.

So Neil - I hope you had an awesome birthday. I'll make it to NYC, when the time is right. Until then, enjoy the warm Pacific breeze I'm sending your way.

xx

-Heather

Hollaback Zombies in San Francisco

It's official. The Hollaback Zombies are performing at Bootie SF on October 13th at DNA Lounge. This time I will be living out my dream as a banana. Details forthcoming, but watch this space.

Vote for my SXSW Panel

OK, so it's not really my panel. Ian Muir put it together, but he asked me to be on it and talk about the kicking ass geek dinners and what's worked to create the LA tech community. I think we have an awesome community here and I'd love to share what's worked for us to help others create vibrate tech communities outside of "the valley."

Description:
BarCamps, Geek Dinners and other events are changing the face of the web community. Rather than relying on blogs and forums, these events provide communities with an opportunity to share and learn in person. The panel will be provided by several BarCamp organizers and will focus on the organization process and the effect on the community afterwards.

If you like the idea show the love with your vote.

I'll get you!

I was just checking up on the streetwars site, to see if they were going to do another LA Game (nothing is planned so far) and I found this video, where I cameo. You can hear me giggle!

FUN!

Updated: A pickle, a camera crew, an orange wig and Bono

It might not seem that a pickle, a camera crew, an orange wig and Bono have much in common, but if you think that, then you weren't at Twiistup 2 in Venice last week. As host of the evening I swapped my purple locks with a bright orange bob straight off Hollywood Blvd!

I've always been a bit camera shy. Sure I'll mug for the lens, but I prefer to be behind the scenes, making things work. Well, that got twiisted up Twiistup night when I roamed around the club with a camera crew in tow. Then I was pulled off for my "interviews". I tried hard to keep a straight face when I heard "we're ready for your interview, heather" and sat down and did my thing.

All in all it was a great evening. I saw tons of friends, learned about awesome companies, even came up with a new tag line for Elephant Drive "back those assets up!" Because of my visibility I was able to pimp my vision of organizing the LA Tech community that plays on a local, industry, national and global level. We've got a long way to go, but we're making fast progress and we have some awesome organizers here in our city of Angels.

Later in the evening Bono 2.0 appeared with a drink for me. He then proceeded to teach me how to head butt the camera. I must admit, I was not a very good student. For one thing, I'm not used to using my head as a weapon. The photos are being uploaded to flickr and it's just a matter of time before the videos surface on YouTube.

If you missed out on the fun, I've got some insane ideas for Twiistup3 in LA - happening in blustery LA wintertime. ;) See you there, or at the geek dinner or at barcamp or at . . .

Updated: See NoodleScar's Video Review of Twiistup and learn about my new stealth start-up making pockets for towels! Sponsored by the awesome Ruby on Rails Development Company ELC Tech in Santa Barbara!

See you at Twiistup

It's time again for some craziness. Take technology peeps and mix them in LA and what do you get? Twiistup. Put a "tornado" in the special code box to knock off $5. See you there.

Milk Drunk

Oh wait, oh wait, before I go. Here is a picture of me and phoenix. He is milk drunk in this photo and I am mimicking his body language. Wait - for some reason the word milk drunk reminds me of A Clockwork Orange and little Alex and how much I loved that movie (and messed up soundtrack)! Anyway, here's to milk drunk!

Wiijing! A Music+Game Mashup = Mashups!

This is totally HOT!!!! It's a Wii being used to live mash up a mashup! And it's at Bootie LA this Saturday night! Check out the video and if you are not impressed, well then, I don't know what to say.

and here a clip of them live in SF:

It's taking interactive music mixing to a whole new level. I might just have to come back from Stunt Car School  to shake mah bootie. More info on Wiijing here and Bootie LA here.

Announcing August G33k Dinner

The next LA Geek Dinner is on August 14th at C & O Cucina in Marina del Rey.

Cost is $20 per person for food (not including drinks). Please bring cash. More details and rspvlist are on the geek dinner wiki. Please RSVP on upcoming for the final headcount - we are limited to 45 attendees.

• Date: August 14th, 8pm dinner, C & O Cucina
• C & O Cucina, 3016 Washington Boulevard, Marina del Rey, CA. One block West of Lincoln Boulevard at 3016 Washington Boulevard at Washington and Thatcher in Marina Del Rey.
• Reservation under "Heather"

Sponsorship for desert or drinks is still available for a very cheap $150!

* Photo by Adam of Travis getting applause for sponsoring the beer (we love our sponsors!)

She's Geeky - No boys allowed

Announcing, Announcing, Announcing - She's Geeky - and girl geek unconference in Mountain View in October.

Shesgeeky invites a diverse range of women working in information technology (broadly defined,) those aspiring to work in the industry AND those who have retired from the industry.

This is an ‘agenda free’ conference about women in technology. This is a women’s only event. Why? Because there is a certain quality of conversational space that is created in a women only environment.

DATE: Monday and Tuesday October 22-23, 2007
LOCATION: Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

Who Should Attend?

Sheesgeeky is for women of all ages who self identify as geeks. You don’t have to code. You can like and use the tools…or maybe you just care about the issues facing women as they work in or around technology development….

Women who are passionate about building technology that’s useful for people and believe that passionate, geeky women’s presence in our industry leads to more opportunity, a more supportive and civilized environment and better technology goals for all.

Sheesgeeky will include women working in:

• Open Source
• Web 2.0
• Biotech
• Hardware companies
• Enterprise IT
• The Nonprofit Technology Sector
• Portals
• Search Engines
• Social Networking Sites
• Research for and about technology/people
• Startups generally
• Product building/management in large organizations
• Your definition of geekiness (if you don't see it here add it)

Sheesgeeky will explore a range of topics designed for our mutual learning.

Sorry, no boys. Register here! $25 bucks. I know a cheap hotel in MV too.  I think us LA Geek Girls should rent a limo and show up in style. hehe.

Oh and this will probably be an ass-kicking time - especially since Kaliya is a fan of openspace - and I think open space kicks ass.

Oh, in other girl geekiness - Blogher is going on right now. Unfortunately, I am not there, except in spirit. Although I might try to attend in Second Life!

Reminder: g33k d1nner 2morrow

Just a quick reminder that the geek dinner is tomorrow night in West Hollywood. RSVP.

Technology and Taxidermy

Insanity? or creativity? It's the text-o-possom!

It's official - Kasey kicks ass. But we all knew that already!

Pimping: Adobe Air Bus in LA

Adobe is bringing their AIR bus to LA. They are currently in the hot hot desert on their way to Vegas. I'd tell them to stop @ the Mad Greek, if I could figure out how to text them... Anyway, they will be in LA in a few days. Check it out.

The event is a free one day mini conference where you can learn how to leverage the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) to bring your web applications to the desktop.

On Upcoming. For more info.

Photo by Mike Chambers stolen from airbus Flickr site.

Pimping: Friends @ Felt Club

This weekend is Felt clubalicious. And showing her stuff is my pal Miriam!

Come check out New Limited Edition Hand Pulled Silk Screen Prints, a brand new line of Hand Silk Screened Tote bags and my awesome Tiny Buttons!!!

Owls, Sculls, Hearts, Birds, Skeleton's...all sorts of interesting vintage imagery!

More details (and pictures of cool stuff) here.

Updated: g33k d1nner July 17 - Galanga in WeHo!

Mah geek homies! It's that time of the month. The reminder for the monthly geek dinner. I know, you have many choices when it comes to geeking out - with Mixergy's web feedback hour, the ruby on rails meetup, the demo hour, the drupal meetup, the podcasters at the brewery, bloggers read, etc, etc. That's all good, but let's just get our geek on and eat what I think is the best Thai in LA - Galanga.

When:

• July 17th, 8pm

Where:

• Galanga in West Hollywood. 7440 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046
• Free easy parking
• We'll be in the back patio

If you're new to the concept:

The Geek Dinners are a monthly gathers of Internet technology lovers in Los Angeles. We are loosely affiliated with BarCamp - because many of us met there. Anyone who has an interest and passion for technology, the internet, internet technologies, software or you just know you're a geek is welcome. Come play with us.

Last month, uWink was nice enough to host us (and Twiistup bought us dessert) and everyone had a great time. I think we had some of the best pptKaraoke. So come on out to West Hollywood and let's do it again. Word has it, we may just have a drink sponsor Verse Studios is buying drinks, so be sure to RSVP! This especially wonderful because Galanga does not usually serve alcohol.

RSVP to the wiki and/or upcoming. We'll have the usual crew, name tags, announcements, etc. It should be fun. Did I mention free easy parking and the best thai in LA? We've got the entire back patio to ourselves.

ps. I still have swag, so I'll be bringing stfuff!

Feeling Angsty?

I remember when I learned what the word angst meant. Or actually the first time I heard it. It was being used to describe some kind German angst or something... I think it was about the time I ran away from Germany in Europe and had Interpol looking for us. That's another story. (Teaser: I was 17 at the time and visiting my best friend in high school who was studying abroad outside of Hamburg. It was a dare gone awry... in a not so bad way - basically we did it for the adventure and to prove we could actually go through with things (we were pretty noncommittal those days).)

Anyway, besides introducing me to Campari (which was my favorite drink until I was 25), the Germans introduced me to angst. According to dictionary.com, there is good reason I associate angst with Germans.

angst [(ahngkst)]

A kind of fear or anxiety; Angst is German for “fear.” It is usually applied to a deep and essentially philosophical anxiety about the world in general or personal freedom. (See existentialism.)

Ah, yes, my old friend existentialism. Love ya Sartre. Simone de Beauvior. Camus. Depeche Mode. The Cure. Etc. Needless to say I was a very angst teenager. Actually, the angsty part of me has changed very little, matured a bit, doesn't come out as often. Any given day you could come home and find me pondering the nature of reality and depressed at how little the evolution is happening (I did that already on the blog today).

Anyway, the point of this blog post is PIMPING this cool event that LeahPeah is putting on called LA Angst. Actually, it's the second LA Angst.

LA Angst is a monthly reading series hosted by Leah Peterson in the greater Los Angeles area. We gather together to read our most embarrassing, humiliating, angst ridden and otherwise absolutely wonderful writing from our youth. Every month, selected readers comb through their middle school and high school writing and pick something that represents how completely impossible it is to grow up without looking back in shame. Join us for some entertaining, therapeutic and hysterical fun!

Yeah. Maybe I can even wrangle up some angsty teenage heather prose from that running away from Germany trip. Or minimally the first time I was in Brazil. Come along to Tangier - they have great pots du creme and martinis.

A Puppet Circus

My body is quivering with anticipation! Will you join me?

Shadow Circus uses life-sized latex puppets to create a seething underworld of
drugged-up dinosaurs, giant cockroaches and bizarre mythological beasts. For the past
seven years, they've inspired both acclaim and terror from the San Francisco arts
community. But this summer, the Bay Area's most belligerent puppetry troupe is
unleashing its surreal vision to its neighbors to the South... That's right, kids, Shadow
Circus is finally coming to Los Angeles...

Wooo! Thanks for the info Wa! xoxox.

Taking it Higher

*Note: This post is staying at the top for a while. For more recent posts, scroll down a bit! :)

For the past year plus I've been busy trying to bring together the Los Angeles technology community. I've been very successful at doing this - although this is not because of my efforts alone. A community is built by the people in it. The people who show up, who collaborate, who contribute. Two years ago, there was no LA technology community. I heard rumors of VIC and Coco's events, but these were phantom dreams. Today we have a very different environment. Before the end of this year there will be monthly g33k dinners, twiistup2, barcampLA4, startupcamp, web 2.0 mixers, drupal meetups, lunch 2.0, demo feedback sessions, ppt karaoke nights and more.

The community has created the demand for these events. (Please note, I do not produce, coordinate or organize all or even some of them.)I want to take it higher. To do this, I am calling the Los Angeles and greater technology community to participate. To be active in creating this community of individuals and companies.

Here's how you can help:

1. Join the list
2. Show up in person (to the geek dinner, barcamps, twiistup, meetups)
3. Support - I hate asking for money (well who likes it).  Most of these events are done dirt cheap. I'd like to see more technology companies financially involved. As sponsors in addition to participants. It's cheap to financially support these events and the companies that do gain amazing goodwill in the community.

Here are some ways you get involved now.

Twiistup2
There are still sponsorship opportunities for interested companies. Come to Venice August 8th. It's gonna be a great time.

Startup Camp LA
I'm helping kick off StartupCamp in LA - a 2 day event in the fall that will focus on best practices, dos and don'ts, VC pitch review and practical how to advice to start a tech company. Including a competition with a cash prize! We're looking for sponsors, speakers, biz plan reviews and general help. Attend, learn what it takes to start a company, build a product or pitch an idea. Come to scope out brand new idea and maybe find the next big Socal Startup.

Lunch 2.0 in LA
Some of us are kicking around starting up Lunch 2.0 - where a different tech company hosts lunch, a tour, a technology conversation at their company. Want to host?

Geek Dinners
I've started offering geek dinner sponsorship. About $200 sponsors drinks or desert at the geek dinner and gets goodwill in the geek community. Totally cheap and gets your insane goodwill in the community.

BarcampLA4
BarcampLA4 is happening this fall. Want to help make it happen? Want to find out when it's happening? Then get on the List!

I leave you with a quote recently arrived in my mailbox

As I let my own light shine, I unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. My playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around me. I was meant to shine. I was born to make manifest the glory of God that is within me."
- Adaptation of Nelson Mandela's Inauguration Speech

The community has been created. How will you participate?

Kiva in Action + Kiva extended

I've been watching Kiva for a while now. My pal Kareem first told me about it last year and I checked into it and then promptly forgot about it. Well, I didn't really forget about it. I started thinking about it in a new way.

You see, I love science - scientific research - scientific breakthroughs. So Kiva got me started thinking about a way for scientists to fund their research with private microinvestments - similar to what Kiva is doing. Now, this mental masturbation distracted me from Kiva itself, and I started mapping out what kind of site it would take to set up a Kiva structure for scientific research. Here's a story about a researching who went and found independent research monies (thanks S for the link). And then there is Moller, who has been working on his dream for a long time. I think this is a great idea, and I definately want to make it happen. So if you want to collaborate with me (hi M!) then let's talk.

But back to Kiva. Kareem recently reminded me about the site again and this time, instead of getting sidetracked in my own ideas, I executed. For less than the price of dinner, I could make someone's dream come true, I could help the world and Kiva made it possible for me to do it. I started looking through the borrowers. I wanted to pick one where my amount would be the final amount and then the loan funded. I found Olga, who is a furniture maker. My $25 was the final amount to fund her $1000 loan.

As I was looking through borrowers, another story caught my eye. Maria lives in Mexico and runs a grocery store. She is 1 year younger than me and has 8 children! Wow. What a totally different life. I contributed $25 to her loan (which is about to be funded).

To realize that $50 can make a difference in Olga and Maria's lives make me ... grateful for being able to help. Make me realize that I really am in a privileged position and I must do everything I can to raise the pyramid from the bottom - not scramble to the top.

You too can make a different. With a tiny amount of money. $25 is so little. Please join me and help raise the pyramid from the bottom. Because in doing so, you raise yourself as well.

PPTs for tonight's g33k d1nner meeting

I am about to jump in the car and drive to Woodland Hills for tonight's geek dinner, but first, here are the ppts that I've queued up for tonight's fun.

Reporting Web Analysis
An Introduction to Second Life
Why we wait for the babel fish
Venture Capital post web 2.0
Logo digitage web 2.0
Using and Enabling the emerging GeoStack
Disruptive tech lifestyle
GeoBlinki!
KFC
Que es la web 2.0?
Social Software for Robots
Web 2.0 and mashups

Ok, that's probably enough. But wow, we're gonna have to do this more often. And it's a great way to get caught up on those conferences you missed. Now, that gives me an idea...

Even if you can't make it tonight, these are some good presos to check out. Thanks to slideshare.net!

Heather is Busy

First off - Hello to anyone stopping by because we met at Twiistup last night. I had a great time and have to write my shout out post. If you're looking to download ooVoo - go here to download the client. If you want info on the geek dinners and barcampLA - go here. And be sure to join the mailing list.

I have been really busy and it doesn't look like it's going to stop. I was at Twiistup last night - which was awesome.

Tomorrow I head north to attend an intense weekend called Fusion with a bunch of futurists in beautiful Mendocino. I'm very excited to participate.

Then, since I will be in the Bay Area, I'm going to attend the Internet Identity Workshop on Monday, Tues & Wed.

Oh - did I mention I'm back on Theory Radio and my show is tonight. In fact, I have an awesome show lined up. Matt is joining me and we are spinning music to trip out too. This music is absolutely insanely amazingly awesomely strange and unique and it blew my mind when I heard it. The show starts at 7, but Matt will be joining me at 8.

Oh yeah, and I still have to pack. So much for sleep these days.

It's MovieTime!!!!

Yeah, so I live in LA. And supposedly everyone here is writing a screenplay. And someone knows someone who knows someone who works, worked, produced, wrote, or whatever a movie. Right, this is LA, remember. Well, here is my first movie pimping. A movie by a friend of mine. But let me disclaim - this movie has nothing to do with LA. It wasn't written, shot, edited, post-produced, or anything here. It's being screened here. You should check it out yo.

Carmen de Jesus, my friend and co-conspirator on many things is the co-writer for Ang Pamana a Filipino horror film.

When the De Jesus-Reyes family get word that their family matriarch, Lola (Grandma) Nena has died, Johnny and his sister Anna must represent their parents in Manila for the reading of the will.  Dark family secrets, shocking revelations, and a world of supernatural forces await.

Are you in? It's playing Friday at midnight. I'll be there with a bucket of popcorn to throw.

FRI, MAY 04 - 11:55 PM    |  Laemmle's Sunset 5

8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood

(corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights)

Advance Tickets available here:  http://www.vconline.org/festival/program.cfm?program_id=66

More details and FAQ after the jump...

New Blog: Mesh and Lace

I'm working on a new blog about my favorite topic: Lingerie, called Mesh and Lace. It's been hibernating for almost a year, but I'm about to dust it off and get cracking again. Check it out.

Art Walk Friends on Display

Artwalk at Theory Labs!
This weekend!
Nine Artists Showing in Theory Labs at the Brewery Spring Artwalk!
Representing Painting, Photography, Oilgraphing, Drawing, Screen
Printing, Light Sculpture, Collage, Masks and Handcrafted Polymer Clay.

Saturday April 21 & Sunday 22 11a.m. - 6 p.m.
2100 North Main Street @ Avenue 20 Los Angeles CA 90031
Come by Theory Lab to check out the Art of these Nine Amazing Artists,
(it's all for sale ya' know!)
and wander around the Brewery to see the rest of Artwalk!

~Sarah Egner
http://snapshotgenius.com/
~Teale Hatheway
http://www.tealehatheway.com/
~JJM Handcrafted
http://jjmhandcrafted.blogspot.com/
~Lenny Jones
http://www.lennyjones.net/
~Miriam Dema McDaniel
http://miriamdema.blogspot.com/
http://www.miriamdema.com/
~Anna Metcalf
http://www.artistadventurer.com/
~Kevin Rolly
http://www.kevissimo.com/
~Tessa Thornberry
http://www.thornberryarts.com/
~Tim Timmermans
http://www.timtimmermans.com/

for more art pimping and promoting, check out my post on blogging.la.

mmmm Yummy Schnitzel

First corporate (ha ha) gig I had was at a 3D VRML company called Intervista back in 96 (which is incidentally where I got my name from - heathervescent). That's where I met this motley crew lead by Tony Parisi. When I was in SF this week, the crew got together. It had been more than 10 years since I had seen many folks - Markus included. This used to be a joke, but I can't remember what it was about. You have to download the 3D browser plug-in from Media Machines to see it, but once you do, you too can experience yummy schnitzel.  

This page has been created in an effort to enlighten the confusion of the American public about the German taste treat Wiener Schnitzel.

There is a fast food franchise in the US called 'Der Wienerschnitzel' which serves 'Wiener' (Würstchen) but no Wiener Schnitzel at all. In addition it should be 'Das Wienerschnitzel'! So the question arises, what actually is Wiener Schnitzel and how is it made? If you can't get to an authentic German restaurant the best way to try the real thing is to make it yourself.

Go. Now. Take it in the Mouth. It's yummy! Wow, I had no idea there were still so many VRML worlds around.

Getting into the Flow

Here are my notes from the Web2Open session on Flow State by Janette Girod of That Voodoo You Do.

Flow state

aspects of flow
- attention is key (to experience)
(attention can be trained)

- make it easy for yourself
(screen out distractions)
beware the rabbit hole

9 components of the flow state

1. Clear goals (not too abstract or long term)
achievable in one single session
sit down, decide what you want to do, by end of the session, you have achieved it

2. A high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention
multi-taking is switching btwn tasks

3. A loss of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness
(work is not extention of your self image  - get your ego out of your work)

4. A distorted sense of time
(you get more out of the time in flow)
set aside a specific allocated time for flow (and block out distractions for that time)
takes at least 15 minutes to get into flow state
the power of 48 minutes (48 minute work sessions with 12 mnute breaks)
requires a timer (egg timer)
timeleft desktop widget

5. Direct & immediate feedback, behavior can be adjusted as needed.
getting something built and out there, for fine tune tweaking
practicing and doing more
pottery class example

6. Balance between ability level and challenge.

7. a sense of personal control over the situation.

8. Intrinsically rewarding action, resulting in effortless of action.
develop and refine your own style.

9. Focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself.
fully occupy the mind, the less it wanders

There will always be interruptions.

What's your Brand?

I'm presenting Online Personal Branding at Social Text's Web 2 Open next week in SF. Wednesday at 2pm I'm up. Check it out. I'll be presenting all professional and shit. Not PPT Karaoke style.

The Immaterial Mousketeers

Here's a photo of the Immaterial Mousketeers from last week. Was that really just 1 week ago?

Get your shit together

My friend Carmen is doing another one of her GTD (getting things done) workshops. She uses David Allen's method for keeping your life together and kicking ass. I use it and it's the only thing that keeps me mostly sane as I juggle about 8 million projects while flinging a pillow and boarding an airplane.

Location is in Hollywood
March 11th, from 2pm - 6pm

Details are:
The March Productivity Workshop is here!

Materials will be provided, and all you have to do is bring any physical or mental clutter, any disorganized papers, receipts, tasks and goals, and we will put them all into a organizational system that you can trust to keep you on track and stress-free.

Smashing Success

At 10pm last night I was sitting at my kitchen table calmly reading a magazine. In two hours I would be on stage with 4 hot men in tuxes and a gorgeous pink draped Madonna. I was calm. Almost too calm. I had my costume complete, all the guys had showed up for rehearsal and it went great. Susanna was looking gorgeous in pink - as usual. Why did I need to fret? I didn't.

At the club we took over the backstage area and it was covered with tux jackets, rhinestones, glitter and jelly bracelets. Then it was time to hit the stage. Three minutes goes fast when the lights are blasting on you. All I could see was a crowd of people. Faces in the front row. But I heard the reaction. This is why I do this. It's not to be on stage. It's not to get the applause. It's to hear the synapses .

It's shifting what they know. That's what a mashup is all about. You've got two or more known songs. They mean something, because of their timing, your personal reasons, the lyrics. When songs are mashed up, they make a new meaning. The story is retold. The story becomes something else. The known is opened to the unknown. And I try to do this in my mashup shows.

The crowd loved each of the mouseketeers. Who wouldn't Handsome guys, dressed in black tuxes and bow ties, the adorable mickey mouse ears hat on their head? The crowd went wild from the beginning. Then Susanna came onstage, in her gorgeous pink dress. A couture material girl. She moved from one to another, each begging, giving her gifts, rings, jewels. Then I came bouncing on stage, spazzing out Toni Basil style. I had the totally 80's style right down to the lacy socks and jelly bracelets. I could see the crowd having fun, and this is why I do it. But then, right on cue, Elliot came in, at the Quiot Riot break. This was the turning point. This is when I heard the synapses move to a new place. That move, is why I did the show.

Thank you to everyone who came out last night and caught the show. Thanks to Tawny for being in charge of hair and video. Thanks to all the great guys - Nathanial, Steven, T-Bone, Sam, Elliot. Thanks to Susanna for kicking ass on the costumes and looking fabulous. Undying thanks to A+D, not only do you throw a kick ass club, in addition to making Don't Stop Believing into mashup and giving us a warm return to the stage.

And Heather, I thank you most of all. For continuing to have novel, creative ideas, for finding amazing collaborators, for never stop believing, and for aiming as far and high as you can possibly imagine. Oh yeah, and executing on those ideas. This show was another knot, another data point on the line that is your life. And a fun one at that.

Returning to Theory Radio

Well, the hiatus is officially over - tomorrow night I am resuming my radio show on Theory Radio. So if you need your fix of electropop, mash-up, ethereal-trance-electronica with a little guns n roses or twisted sister or journey thrown in for good measure, then tune in. Show starts at 7 (I think) and goes until 10 pm - pacific time. Click this link to tune into the stream. Having trouble connecting? Check out the troubleshooting page.

And Performing Live this Saturday...

Susanna and I am returning to the Echo to perform live on stage for the Midnight show at BootieLA. I'm looking for a lot of support this time, so please come on out. We're mashing up Madonna and Tony Basil with a sprinkle of Mickey Mouse. If you have a tux jacket, please wear it.

The Deets:
THE ECHO
1822 Sunset Blvd.
Echo Park, Los Angeles
9 pm–2am . 21+
$5 cover before 10:30 PM
$10 cover

xxx,

-Heather

Registration for Barcamp #3 is open

Yup, we're at it again. Barcamp is happening in Los Angeles again and back at Little Radio. Want all the details? Then head over to the wiki.

Pillowfight in LA

It's coming! Yay! Finally. I am so there!!!

Sassy Enlightenment

Yo, go check out my blog Daily Mantra for some sassy enlightenment. We've got a review of a psychic penis reader, reasons to pack a gun and Justin Timberlake's Fiery Karma Video. There's a list of the most recent posts over there on the right side. Share the love, check out some posts and leave a comment.