Memes, mementos and missives by Macauley
Last week I interviewed Sergey Tiviakov of the Netherlands, who was the surprise winner of the 2008 European Championship. Ukraine’s Kateryna Lahno won the women’s tournament, and Marie Sebag — the only woman playing in the Men’s group — scored her third GM norm.
This is the sound of the stream near a family member’s house. Soothing after a long time on the road…
Better late than never; here are my four favorites. All thirteen days, plus a few bonus videos are available free from ICC’s Chess.FM.
Lots of variety here, trying new things out. Why did we go back to 4:3 aspect ratio, you ask? It was largely an accident — for In Transit, in the Madrid airport, I didn’t bother to crop the video from my Macbook’s webcam (that’s just iMovieHD feeding itself, by the way) back to widescreen. And I’d switched off my DV cam’s anamorphic mode too. So, I just went with it.
Both In Transit and Macauley Vs. Magnus borrow the video blogging style of The Show with ZeFrank, a true pioneer. (Sorry, I’m just not that original.) Notice the Sports Racer shirt!
In Leko Snares Carlsen, Leko’s line, “I received the domination,” cracks me up every time I watch it!
Enjoy!
When Blunder Strikes
“Vassily Ivanchuk hangs a bishop in severe time pressure against Levon Aronian in Round 4. Macauley has the video of the fateful moment, and talks to Ivanchuk’s second, Manuel León Hoyos.”
A Spoiled Novelty
“Aronian’s facinating novelty on move 9 put Peter Leko into an 83 minute think. Leko survived the resulting time pressure to draw the game. The Chess.FM team has the full story.”
Macauley Vs. Magnus
“Macauley challenges Magnus Carlsen to a set of tennis, and lives to blog the tale.”
Leko Snares Carlsen
“Peter Leko discusses his Round 11 marathon win over Magnus Carlsen”
I’m providing video coverage for the tournament along with Peter Doggers of ChessVibes. My first video is below.
ICC blurb:
“The 17th Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament takes place March 14th-28th, 2008 at the grandiose Hotel Palais de la Mediterranée on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France.”
“With eight players from the world’s top ten (including the top four) and an average rating of 2752 (category 21), the line-up is even stronger than the super-tournaments in Wijk aan Zee and Morelia- Linares. These are the twelve participants: Vladimir Kramnik, Vishy Anand, Veselin Topalov, Alexander Morozevich, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Peter Leko, Vasily Ivanchuk, Levon Aronian, Boris Gelfand, Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin and Loek van Wely.”
Official site: www.amberchess2008.com
In a new special report by The Onion, the big issues won’t be health care, Iraq, and the economy. It’ll be straight up bullshit, like the candidates’ relationships with their current or ex spouses, what their religion is or if they’re patriotic enough to be President.
From Lessig.org (short biography):
Lawrence Lessig is a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the school’s Center for Internet and Society…Professor Lessig is the author of Free Culture (2004), The Future of Ideas (2001) and Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace (1999). He chairs the Creative Commons project, and serves on the board of the Free Software Foundation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Public Library of Science, and Public Knowledge. He is also a columnist for Wired.
“20 minutes or so on why I am 4Barack”
Lessig clearly articulates a strong basis for Democrats to make a choice. Speaking of which, check out a piece in The Nation that’s also worth a read by a high school classmate, Chris Hayes: “The Choice.” (Jan 31)
And from Robin Morgan co-founder of the Women’s Media Center, Goodbye To All That, a pro-Hillary “argument.”
Morgan uses an impressive rhetorical device: She laments the ingrained sexism in American society, while sprinkling in anti-Obama riffs in a way that make it seem like a vote for Obama will propagate or prolong that sexism.
Goodbye to a campaign where he has to pass as white (which whites—especially wealthy ones—adore), while she has to pass as male (which both men and women demanded of her, and then found unforgivable). If she were black or he were female we wouldn’t be having such problems, and I for one would be in heaven. But at present such a candidate wouldn’t stand a chance—even if she shared Condi Rice’s Bush-defending politics.
Now most people of good conscience recognize that viewing a candidate solely in light of race, gender, or any other superficial or incidental characteristic is idiotic, as is the double-standard to which Hillary may be subjected — forced to, then criticized for trying to “pass as male.” But this is a problem with the culture and mass media coverage, not an argument for who should be President.
Similarly, when Morgan decries the fact that “when a sexist idiot screamed ‘Iron my shirt!’ at HRC, it was considered amusing,” while noting that, “if a racist idiot shouted ‘Shine my shoes!’ at BO, it would’ve inspired hours of airtime and pages of newsprint analyzing our national dishonor,” she’s right, but again, it’s not an argument, unless she thinks that electing Obama will cause more sexist idiots, or that not electing Clinton will prevent the reduction of the same.
Maybe electing a female president will reduce sexism — a worthy goal — and maybe it won’t, and if that is your sole or primary voting issue, then perhaps that should guide your vote. But there are a lot of other issues, and here’s where Morgan is a bit disingenuous.
Goodbye to a misrepresented generational divide . . .
…Goodbye to some young women eager to win male approval by showing they’re not feminists (at least not the kind who actually threaten thestatus quo), who can’t identify with a woman candidate because she is unafraid of eeueweeeu yucky power, who fear their boyfriends might look at them funny if they say something good about her.
That sounds pretty patronizing, but moreover the generational divide isn’t (by and large) being misrepresented. It’s quite real.
And goodbye to the ageism . . .
How dare anyone unilaterally decide when to turn the page on history, papering over real inequities and suffering constituencies in the promise of a feel-good campaign? How dare anyone claim to unify while dividing, or think that to rouse U.S. youth from torpor it’s useful to triage the single largest demographic in this country’s history: the boomer generation—the majority of which is female?
It’s not ageism simply to favor a younger candidate. I’m not supporting Obama because he’s 46, and I don’t know anyone who is. Calling his, “a feel-good campaign,” is a cheap shot that ignores the real differences between the candidates. Is Obama dividing people he claims to unify? That’s a particularly bizarre perspective. And of course the “majority” of many demographics is female. Is the fact that women live longer than men relevant to the election?
Encouraging an underrepresented voting class, with large interests in the future of the U.S., to make their voices heard is unquestionably good. It’s hard for me, a Gen Xer, to be sympathetic to a Baby Boomer feeling left out of the political discussion! Boomers, I would argue, have wielded too much political influence, despite being the largest demographic.
They haven’t (so far) gotten their collective acts together to fix Social Security, and theirs will likely be the last generation to have it. In my lifetime there have been more than twice as many years with right-wing, economically regressive, militaristic Republican presidents, as there have been with a Democratic one. (Not that Ms. Morgan was voting for Reagan, but somebody from her generation was — and Reagan won the women’s vote as well.) For the “generation of radicals,” to downplay, or even demonize a youth movement is ironic at best.
Morgan (left) goes on to offer inspirational quotes from Hillary from 1995 and 1969 (not a typo), presumably because we ought to be able to trust what she said before she was directly involved in politics. That’s fine, but it doesn’t make up for her clear shifting with the political winds in subsequent decades.
“I support her because her progressive politics are as strong as her proven ability to withstand what will be a massive right-wing assault in the general election,” writes Morgan. That Hillary would withstand a massive right-wing assault is a supposition, but proven progressive politics? That’s just false. Relative to what? Kucinich was the most progressive of the initial Dems, while Clinton was, is, and would be as president, among the least.
It’s true that, policy-wise, Obama and Clinton are quite close together, which is why I take Lessig’s points about judgment, leadership, and foreign policy so seriously.
-MP
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[As an aside, while I’m not particularly fond of Southpark, Robin Morgan clearly hasn’t watched more than a few minutes of the show.
If it were about Jews, we would recognize it instantly as anti-Semitic propaganda; if about race, as KKK poison. Hell, PETA would go ballistic if such vomitous spew were directed at animals. Where is our sense of outrage—as citizens, voters, Americans?
As anyone who has seen an episode or two knows, Southpark is viciously and mercilessly offensive to any and all groups, including animals. That’s basically been the concept since its inception. So in this case the righteous indignation is amusingly misplaced.]
Corus, the first event of the first year of the new Chess Grand Slam, and my first chess journalism gig as an employee of the Internet Chess Club (ICC). I’ve signed on for a year packed with super-tournaments and matches which I will be covering in various media.
The video coverage for Corus 2008 was meant to make chess exciting, give viewers a chance to see the tournament and the players from a front row seat and behind the scenes.
All thirteen days, plus a few bonus videos are available free from ICC’s Chess.FM. Below are my four favorites:
Day 6 - Fischer Remembered:
More than just an ordinary ICC video, this piece turned into a 13 minute mini-documentary on the day of Bobby Fischer’s death. I was at the right place at the right time with many of the world’s top grandmasters, past and present, learning the news and commenting on Fischer’s legacy.
ICC has made the video available for cross-posting, under a Creative Commons license. For non-commercial distribution only, you can select your web site format and copy & paste the relevant code to embed the video on your site. It’s received over 10,000 views to date. I’d love to see it subtitled in various languages. Contact me if you’re interested.
(One example of what NOT to do is World Chess News, which excerpted the video into their Episode #182. While I appreciate the attribution, by editing the piece without permission they violated the No Derivative Works provision of the CC license. Not cool! The truncated version is obviously inferior, and there’s no indication given that the video is not in its original form. If you want to edit copyrighted content, you need permission!)
Day 11 - Anand Climbing:
This was my first use of a split screen virtual demo board with video, which I also employed in Day 12 - Magnus Smiling and Irina Live From Corus for Chess Life Online. I also composed the music from scratch using loops in Apple Soundtrack. I call it Nordic Funk.
Day 4 - Topalov Upset:
Nice shots, smooth edits, and GM voiceover. ‘Nuff said.
Day 9 - Handshake?
The biggest non-chess story of the tournament was the no-handshake forfeiture of Ivan Cheparinov (Topalov’s second) in the B-group in round 8. (ChessVibes has the most thorough & succinct re-cap.) Many of the professionals guessed that this was a trial balloon for the Topalov-Kramnik game in round 9. So the question became, would there be a handshake or not? If so, who would offer it?
I got the front-row shot, and voiceover from Cheparinov and Anatoly Karpov, a bonus. Also, the best closing line of the tournament:
Topalov: I just follow the rules.
Next up: Morelia/Linares, February 14th - March 8th.
![Vladimir Putin [Photo: TIME Inc.]](http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2007/poy/putin_qa_alt_1231.jpg)
A few items on my reading list this week. I don’t necessarily fault the journalists, but the corporate pressures they are under.
SOME things to watch and discourage in 2008:
Obsequious pandering
Media consolidation
Entertainment-journalism
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Is TIME’s Putin “Person of the Year” Cover Story a Fraudulent Cover Up?
A glaring factual error was apparently edited out of the transcript in an attempt to spare top executives embarrassment over an exchange at the beginning of the recent chat between the Russian leader and Time.Inc editor in chief John Huey, Time managing editor Richard Stengel and deputy managing editor Adi Ignatius. [MORE…]
From Media is Plural / RoryOconnor.org
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Where Did All the Good Journalism Go?
Unfortunately, with all the bad news, phony news, faux news and Fox News out there, it’s all too easy to create a Top Ten Worst Journalism list-maybe even a Top Thousand! But in the spirit of the season, let’s try to be a bit more positive, shall we? In this age of media scams and scandals, of paid opinion and information warfare, of partisan power plays and the corrupt nexus of Big Media and Big Politics, how and where can we find quality news and information we can trust?
Enter NewsTrust.net, a new, not-for-profit social news network dedicated to helping citizens find and share quality news and information online. Guess what? It turns out that there’s lots of good journalism being practiced out there… [MORE…]
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Bill Clinton Is Right [About Campaign Coverage]
“No wonder people think experience is irrelevant. A lot of people covering the race think it is.”– Bill Clinton, December 4, 2007.
He might be the former president of the United States, but when Bill Clinton dared critique the press for the vacuous way it covers campaigns, he got smacked down by the media elites who unleashed their contempt and, fittingly, misstated what Clinton had said.Such is the state of affairs where, as Clinton noted, campaign issues have faded so far in the rearview mirror for the press that they’ve dipped below the horizon. [MORE…]
From MediaMatters.org
Glenn Greenwald, posting on Salon.com wrote on Tuesday:
It is absolutely true that yesterday’s victory in forcing Harry Reid to pull the FISA bill from the Senate floor is temporary. Allies of the administration and lawbreaking telecoms will spend the next several weeks plotting to overcome the obstacles thrown in their path yesterday and, like a weed that has been cut but not uprooted, will return in January to try again…
…The most important value of victories of this sort is that they ought to serve as a potent tonic against defeatism, regardless of the ultimate outcome. And successes like this can and should provide a template for how to continue to strengthen these efforts. Yesterday’s victory, temporary as it is, shouldn’t be over-stated, but it also shouldn’t be minimized. All of it stemmed from the spontaneous passion and anger of hundreds of thousands of individuals demanding that telecoms be subject to the rule of law like everyone else. And this effort could have been — and, with this additional time, still can be — much bigger and stronger still.
FULL TEXT (Very much worth reading.)
Dodd’s reaction and thank you to grass-roots supporters:
[Thumbnail image isn’t working, but just press PLAY.]
