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On Friday, Craigslist Founder and SFGate.com blogger Craig Newmark was kind enough to open his cool Cole Valley, San Francisco home to me for a vlog interview on the future of media. This is the second "City Brights" video interview I've conducted; the first one was with Doc Jan Gurley, or "Doc Gurley." For those of you who don't know Craig Newmark, he's a San Franciscan who 15-years ago started what was to be a simple website to help friends make connections with services, resources, and each other. It grew to a 500-city website system of which while he's the founder, is no longer the owner. By agreement, we did not talk about Craigslist business. The talk with Craig (which was impacted by network problems that were vexing Craig when I arrived) really turned from a look at the future of media, to focus on a lot of pressing media problems today, then on Obama and the Google Nexus One. But to be sure, many people have been talking abou...

The Internet was inundated with rumors that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were breaking up or had already split and were filing for divorce. One blogger claimed to have been "vindicated" by the news from a UK publication, because he claimed Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie broke up last April. The news originally came late Saturday night, from a British news website called News Of The World which reported a $205 million divorce settlement as in the works. But today , that news was declared false by People Magazine and TMZ.com. TMZ : There's a report out that Brad and Angie are calling it quits. One source -- who should know -- says, "It's B.S." The news by News Of The World was detailed and claimed that a divorce agreement was finalized. The reason for the constant rumors of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's splitting up is that the two have heavy schedules that keep them on the road and apart. People Magazine reports that while Brad Pitt w...

Over at Zennie62.com , Patsy Eagan announced that there's a new website especially for the Glenview Neighborhood in Oakland. The rest of this blog post is her presentation of the website G lenviewNeighbors.com : (Glenview street banners, courtesy of Maja Brugos Design: www.brugosdesign.com) Yesterday's clouds dumped another inch of rain onto Oakland. More t-storms may be in the stars for the Bay today, with more precip. into next week. Some of the banners along Park Boulevard have buckled in the harsh weather, flapping in the high winds and in some places, coming loose from their streetlight mounts. Below them runs the garden median; the city nearly shut off its drip water system last year due to budget cuts. Today it's soaked. Water brims, then runs down the Glenview slope and into the sea. Next spring, the Glenview Neighborhood Association (GNA) plans to host a gardening party on the median. But while winter still reigns in Oakland, they've been busy with a...

In what's supposed to be a restaurant review, but comes off as more of a general commentary, the New York Times reviewed my favorite Oakland Restaurant, Lake Chalet. (As a note, Lake Chalet was where I had the Oakland YouTube Meetup and I've served as spokesperson which started because I just plain love the place.) I had to read the review in an effort to get out of my Oscar funk in the wake of the very weird treatment by their communications staff, but I digress. I don't understand what the reviewer means by "inconsistent menu" because the food's quite the same and I might add the menu's new. They changed it about a month ago. The new Half Chicken is fantastic. What I'm wanting and waiting for is the Zennie62 Burger. It's my dream burger and would consist of: 1 lb. ground italian sausage 1 medium yellow onion, chopped 1 green bell pepper sliced mushrooms, drained sloppy joe and salsa sauce kaiser rolls, toasted 2 cups (8 oz.) s...

Last night's Hope for Haiti Now concert featured 19 performances from artists like Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, U2, Wyclef Jean, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Christina Aguilera, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, and Kid Rock Jennifer Hudson, Emeline Michel, The Edge, Dave Matthews and Neil Young. Here's the AP's video summary : And Hope for Haiti Now attracted stars who worked the phones like Colin Farrell, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Julia Roberts, Jack Nicholson, Charlize Theron, Steven Spielberg, Ellen DeGeneres, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Robert Pattinson, Denzel Washington, Matt Damon, Clint Eastwood, Halle Berry, and Ben Stiller. Bill Clinton, United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti, and head of the Bush / Clinton Haiti Fund, gave this speech: The Hope for Haiti Now concert event was in Los Angeles, New York, and Haiti, where CNN's Anderson Cooper is working to repor...

The news is all over that Chevron's planning to close its Richmond Refinery, but in Richmond, California and the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, it's seen as kind of a joke. While Chevron reports that it would like to remain operating the 100-year-old facility, it also has been beset with a number of economic problems that have made the decision to remain in Richmond more of a business consideration and less of an emotional one. First, the World's new export king, China has planned to slow its country's economic growth by tightening its bank lending practices to curb inflation. While China's inflation problems have resulted in a stronger U.S. Dollar (proof that Congressman Ron Paul is consistently wrong in his criticism of U.S. economic stimulus spending), its causing a drop in crude oil futures. China is the largest consumer of crude oil, so this news will hurt that industry. Add to that the near-recessionary U.S. Economy and you have a problem that...

The Oakland Parking Problem has a number of Oaklanders upset, yet the City of Oakland just doesn't seem to get it. The Oakland Parking Problem has its second political reaction: Green Party Member Don Macleay is running for Mayor. Don Macleay was one of the first to start working on an Oakland Parking Initiative, but like this blogger feels the City of Oakland just doesn't care. For example, an Oakland Councilmember with an affinity for cocktails yelled in the year of this blogger at a downtown Oakland restaurant recently only because of the mention of the Oakland Parking Initiative and the desire to lower parking rates to more reasonable and affordable levels. When this was said, the Oakland Councilmember turned and gestured with the cocktail glass with "IF YOU DON'T EXPLAIN WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO CUT, YOU'RE A LIAR!! A LIAR!!! I'LL CALL YOU THAT TO YOUR FACE!!! LIAR!!! Yes. Yelling really loud in the establishment , and just as it was wrote.  W...