The Click Heard Round the World

Learning the foundations of b-boying from Ken Swift

Tonight I took my first class with legendary b-boy from back-in-the-day Ken Swift, who has started teaching a fundamentals class at PMT Studios on Tuesday nights.  In his early 40s now, Ken is still a phenomenal dancer and ambassador of the art of b-boying.  Check out Ken Swift dancing as a teenager in the 80s and then him in 2008.

So to get to learn from him in a small setting with 16 or so other students is amazing.

In my experience in the hip-hop world, a good dancer does not necessarily make a good teacher. Since b-boying is such a raw, street dance, even amazing b-boys are often really bad at teaching their skills to others.

Luckily, Ken Swift was not one of those b-boys.  He carefully broke down up-rock and basic floor moves, explaining the history of them and the styling required to do them with old skool flavor.  Doing the most basic steps but with high emphasis on style and expression was a really great exercise for me.

The class closed with a circle or cypher, every student going in to do just a few of the basic moves that we learned in class.  It's a great way to solidify what you know and can pull out on the fly.

I'll definitely be back for more.

Second Life inaugural ball at virtual Capitol Hill January 20

Kei Moana told me about a fun inaugural ball that his folks at the Second Life Capitol Hill are organizing on January 20. So if you were not able to score a ticket to the real life presidential inauguration in DC, you can still celebrate with other blinged-out avatars in a virtual Capitol building.  It sure beats the $150-1,000 ticket price for the real life inaugural balls!

The festivities start at 6pm PST at Capitol Hill (click here to teleport.)

"Raid Gaza!" game: social issue game with unintentionally appropriate banner ad?

On the website "New Grounds" there's a new Flash game about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict called "Raid Gaza!" Some might question the value of this kind of serious issue game, particularly now when the hospitals and morgues are filling with civilians and combatants from the latest flareup. 

I think "Raid Gaza!!" does succeed in presenting in a vivid way a particular message about the conflict in a way that is qualitatively different than any other form of media.  And it's a well-designed game, involving basic resource allocation, strategy, and animations that all serve the message.

I noticed when I played that there was a text ad at the bottomfor another game that seemed probably unintentionally appropriate.  The game is called "Bitefight" with the tag line:

"The struggle between Vampires and Werewolves has rampaged for centuries. It's your destiny to decide this battle!"

The question isn't who is the vampire and who is the werewolf. The question is: what is your destiny?

New study on Islam and virtual worlds releasing findings on January 29 in NYC

Speaking of Islam and virtual worlds, it looks like Joshua Fouts and Rita King of Dancing Ink Productions will be unveiling the findings of their study on "Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds" on January 29 in New York City, and then again in Second Life on January 30.  Here's the info on the NYC event:

Carnegie Council Senior Fellows Joshua S. Fouts and Rita J. King will present findings from their Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds project. After a year of exploring digital Islamic communities, Fouts and King conclude that engaging with people in virtual worlds who self-identify as Muslim can be part of a broader public diplomacy strategy to foster inclusive perspectives on religion, society, and coexistence. Virtual platforms, while they involve real people, do not involve physical contact, making them a useful medium to explore productive responses to conflict without the threat of violence or intimidation.

The event will take place at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs from 6-7:30pm. More info and RSVP at this link.

In related news, on Monday, January 12, Dancing Ink Productions will host a live Second Life event featuring James Glassman, US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, in conversation with a group of Egyptian political bloggers who covered the 2008 US presidential campaign. At the American University in Cairo’s Virtual Newsroom. Click here for more info.

"Lesson 10: How to Breakdance" tee-shirt from Threadless

My awesome roommate Swifty got me a couple of sweet tee-shirts from Threadless for Christmas: the "Easy Steps(Lesson 10: How to Breakdance)" tee-shirt pictured here, and "We Are Just Pixels After All" tee below.  So rad.

First look at Muxlim Pal virtual world: shop, chat and pray

After registering almost a month ago, I finally was able to log into the new "Muxlim Pal" virtual world.  As you will recall, the owners of Muxlim had restricted access to the new virtual world due to griefer attacks that started after the BBC published a story about Muxlim Pal.  Now apparently they have dealt with whatever issues existed, or beefed up their moderation tools, because I logged in with no problem this morning.

Here are my initial impressions from my first brief visit...

Menorah at Hudson NY Amtrak Station?

I saw this tiny menorah today in front of one of the ticket booths at the Hudson, NY Amtrak Station. 

Strange for many reasons.  First off, Hannukah has been long over.  Second, all the candles are still unlit.

I don't get it.  At least give out some chocolate gelt if you are going to display a menorah!

Rafi on differing social media strategies of the Israeli Government

My buddy Rafi posts on his new blog Empathetics a very insightful commentary on how different branches of the Israeli government are using social media during this latest Gaza conflagration.  In short, the Israeli military is employing the old "throw it against the wall and see what sticks" approach versus the Israeli diplomatic corps more nuanced and sophisticated tactics.  Who knew that wars were going to be fought both on the battlefield as well as on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook?

Check out Rafi's great post here.  I hope he analyzes Hamas's response next.

Learning to love and accept "Quatheists" (Nontheist Friends) at Powell House

For three days I have been at the beautiful Powell House Quaker retreat center, up in Old Chatham, New York.  I have been attending a workshop on “nontheist Quakers” led by Robin Alpern and Zach Alexander with about 16 other Quakers from around the northeast area.

I arrived with a good dose of skepticism about the subject, not sure I even agreed with the notion that one could be a nontheist Quaker.  How could you be a Friend if you didn’t even believe in the exstence of God? 

I had a lot to learn.

Reading List: Star Trek comics, Quaker mystics, b-girls, and small town drama

I've been trying to get caught up on my reading list.  Here's some of the great stuff that's on my bookshelf:

• The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole by Stephanie Doyon
• A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly
• Star Trek New Frontier by Peter David
• We B*girlz by Martha Cooper and Nika Kramer

More about each after the jump...