I just wrote a story for a local business weekly about how more people are starting to move into our downtown area. For Phoenix, that's an accomplishment - the downtown area is really more business than residential. A person in the comment section put it perfectly:

"People have always lived downtown. It's just that now they're living inside a condo instead of a bus shelter."

I'm getting a good laugh out of that.

On a serious note, I am thrilled to see downtown Phoenix evolving. The growing arts district near Roosevelt is just great, and there's a lot quietly happening there. For instance, I always noticed this one building with a simple sign that says "Chadwick & Rueling." I always assumed it was a small law practice. As it turns out, it's actually a team of jewelers. They create more hip, modern and creative pieces.

I found this out while shopping for my wife's birthday. I wanted to get her something that she wouldn't see someone else wearing. I did a little snooping and discovered the law practice was actually a jeweler. I stopped in and met Chadwick; I told him what I was after and some of my wife's preferences, and he dug around for a few samples to get our ideas going. I spotted one cool stone and a setting that was nearly there. He took that info and came up with this:


It's great that we're now able to support businesses not because they're local, but because they're really good at what they do.

Time to Mothball the President's 747s?

I recently ran across the homepage for a National Geographic special on Air Force One, the name given to whichever of the two custom-built Air Force Boeing 747-200s is carrying the President of the United States and entourage.

This is a very interesting quote about it on the home page:

"The personification -the living symbol- of the Constitution, of this freedom-loving land, and all the people who live in it."

Jack Valenti, Aide to U.S. President Lyndon Johnson

Well, Jack, maybe it was back in your day when the president traveled on a rather humble B707 (which I've toured ... it truly is humble.).

Today, however, Air Force One is extravagant airborne bloviation, Pimp My Ride taken aloft at 500 knots.

I'm not talking about the electronic countermeasures and security. I'm talking about the luxury, right down to gold-plated seatbelt buckles and the presidential seal stamped on everything a visitor might touch. I'm talking about cramming the fuselage with cronies, and handing certificates to the people that get to visit or fly on it. "Coongratulations, mere mortal! You've been to Mount Olympus."

JFK could weather the Cuban Missile Crisis on his homely three by three. Can a modern president not function without being draped in expensive luxury? And guess what? The B747 doesn't seem to be good enough: The Air Force has actually considered replacing it with the even more gargantuan Airbus A380.

I really hope that doesn't happen. But I do think the current B747-200s should go out to pasture, and I think President-Elect Obama could make a real statement with his choice. If I were whispering in his ear, here's what I'd tell him:

Wait for Boeing to finish the 787. Order one with all the capabilities it needs, minus the useless luxury. Don't make it bare-bones, but make it sensible. Make a visitor aboard feel that this is the aircraft of a person who's here to serve, not here to be served. I think that a president with such a multinational background can also make another vital statement with the 787 - he's supporting an American company, but on a project that unites nations across the globe in one effort (not to mention that it will be the most fuel-efficient plane of its size ever).

Granted, the current Air Force One clones make a statement of wealth and power everywhere they go. There are few aircraft more striking, that arrest such attention just in the common act of rumbling down a taxiway. But imagine a 787 as Air Force One: Progressive, innovative, efficient and maybe -just maybe- a touch more humble than we used to be. Let's just hope that our government could live up to that plane's statement.

'Cause you're probably sicking of reading about elections...

It you've ever spent time among Australians in their natural habitat, you'll notice that there is a stereotypical Australian bloke. And most of his characteristics are good.

He's not politically correct, but he doesn't care how other people lives their lives. He might not read "important" literature, but he has a practical sensibility. He tries not to let people get under him. He also won't think twice about trying to turn a stranger into a new friend.

The Australian film Kenny perfectly captures this creature. The title character works for a company called Splashdown that provides portable toilets for events of all sizes. Kenny knows his job's not glamorous - but until people stop dropping edgars a few hours after they eat, he also knows it's important. The movie takes him from event to event, handling everything that drops his way in the manner of the aforementioned stereotypical bloke - whether that's someone starting his porta-loos on fire, a father that's disappointed in him, a shrew of an ex-wife or seasonal workers who let him down when things turn to crap. It also has a cute romantic turn when he impresses a woman during his first airplane flight by ... wait for it ... fixing the lavatory.

Now, I've only met one person locally who's seen Kenny ... and he's of Australian decent, married to an Ozzie, and spends a fair amount of time Down Under. He was amazed that I'd found it since he saw it in Sydney.

He thought for sure that I'd gotten it on Netflix, when my wife has actually flushed it out of the local Blockbuster.

Netflix: Hmmm. I've never warmed to it. I hate going to the post office, and I kind like the experience of wandering around and examining the covers, plus asking the clerks what they think. And I really hate the post office, just in case I didn't make that explicitly clear.

And really, the rise of Netflix has prompted Blockbuster to do away with late fees. Huzzah! So no burning gas and time to go to the post office. I'll just walk to Blockbuster, grab some groceries at Sprouts, and bounce my way back to watch my flicks. Granted, the selection's not as big. But I really don't watch that much TV, anyway. For stuff that's harder to find, I have an artsy-fartsy local video store that can handle those tasks.

So gimme Blockbuster until otherwise notified.

And go see Kenny. It's not all turdly humor - it has some heart, and Kenny himself is Rocky Balboa with a pipe wrench. Only cooler.

Underground Splendor

Every so often, I run into something like this that completely stuns me in such a good way.

Let me give you the short version rather than making you read the article. In 2000, workers in a Mexican lead mine discovered something amazing - a rocky, 130-foot womb in which incredibly large selenium crystals have gestated for millions of years. The longest of the crystals is about 30 feet long. Think of the original Superman movie, when Superman's castle grew out of the arctic. That gives you an idea.

These photos fill me with wonder and optimism. Wonder, that natural forces we can't mimic produced something so otherworldly and magnificent. Optimism, that in every hot, lifeless, suffocating chunk of rock, something extraordinary may just be awaiting discovery.

It makes me ask what else might be out there, buried beneath our sewer lines and power conduits and open-pit mines. There must be so much out there that would, if we knew about it, transport our imaginations and make us marvel and the earth's powers of creations.

Wait a second - Earth? What about when our species establishes its presence on the moon and Mars? And even beyond that. It's impossible to think that there are not forces at work creating natural works of art on a scope that dwarves this Cave of Crystals.

If you can, pick up this copy of National Geographic. The graphics and layout are stunning, and the photos ... well, the first one made me shout "Oh, my god" and then completely fall silent wondering if it wasn't an early April Fools Day prank (though there were far too few photos, but I know there's only so much space). The text? Meh. Not up to the usual standards - amazing, considering what a powerful and moving experience it must be to walk among these giants.

Braaaains! And lawyers, too.

Here's a groovy news item from my dear wife (honey, you know I'm just kidding about that headline, right? Sweetheart? Ummm, am I in trouble?). Apparently, this game allows players to mow zombies down with a riding mower, which sounds too awesome for words. Maybe not as cool as Ash in Army of Darkness plowing through the undead with an anti-zombie propeller jury-rigged to his 1970s sedan, but still pretty slick. Anyway, without further ado ...

In a Battle of Zombie Killers, Fenwick & West Slays Kenyon & Kenyon
How appropriate that with Halloween approaching we have a litigation tale about zombies. On one side is Fenwick & West's client, the video game maker Capcom. In 2006 Capcom released "Dead Rising," a video game that revolves around a freelance photojournalist on assignment in the fictional town of Willamette, Colorado. The photographer's mission is to unlock the mystery of why the U.S. quarantined the town--which turns out to be populated with zombies. Players help him battle the zombies, survive for three days, and return with the evidence needed to solve the puzzle.

If you think that plot sounds a little like the 1979 indie hit "Dawn of the Dead"--in which a group of people try to survive an epic zombie attack at a suburban shopping mall--you're not alone. According to Capcom's lawyers, MKR Group, which owns the trademarks and copyrights to the movie, threatened to block the release of "Dead Rising" back in 2006. Capcom marketed the game anyway, though with a disclaimer stating that it was not connected with the "Dawn of the Dead."

Apparently still spooked by MKR's threats, Capcom filed a complaint in the Northern District of California against MKR in February 2008, seeking a declaratory judgment that it did not infringe MKR's intellectual property rights. (That's right--even zombies are intellectual property.) MKR, represented by Kenyon & Kenyon, turned around and filed a complaint against Capcom, alleging trademark and copyright infringement, unfair competition, misappropriation, and dilution.

In a decision made public this week, San Francisco federal magistrate judge Richard Seeborg granted Capcom's motion to dismiss all of MKR's claims with prejudice. Judge Seeborg, who has become quite the zombie expert, concluded that there were "profound differences" between the movie and the game, and that "the few similarities MKR has alleged are driven by the wholly unprotectable concept of humans battling zombies in a mall during a zombie breakout." We're guessing that wasn't a sentence Seeborg envisioned writing when he first took the oath of office.

Fenwick & West partner Rodger Cole, who represented Capcom, was not immediately available for comment. He was joined by associates Jennifer Kelly and MaryBeth Milionis. Kenyon & Kenyon's Jonathan Reichman, who represented MKR, declined to comment.

I'm still smarting over the demise of the East Valley Tribune. No matter how hard its management tries to spin it as good news, it's not. It's a blow to the metro Phoenix, which is now left with just The Arizona Republic and The New Times. Both the Republic and New Times have some quality, but they also have a lot of flaws.

But that means there's an opportunity for something new to rise. The time is ripe for a brand-new sort of news source. Not a newspaper, not television. Let's go online.

Okay, so what's new about that? The way it generates revenue. As it is, newspapers are sweating over the fact that overall, their Web site contact is not generating cash. People can view most content for free. But every news Web site that I know of is ignoring a huge source of revenue:

The reader comment section.

Now, I readily admit that I've called the reader comment sections a petri dish for stupidity and intolerance. But that tiger is out of its cage, so let's throw a big leash on it. Here's how to make it work for future media: Charge people to comment. Set up a fee structure that charges either by the comment, for a set number of comments per month, or a competitive rate for unlimited monthly or yearly comments.

Of course, this will not work by itself. The comment subscription fees need to be coupled with an ass-kicking blend of provocative, risky and in-your-face writing, plus a take-no-prisoners style of reporting. That means editors and publishers who don't care if granny stains her panties because a writer used a naughty word, and reporters groomed to turn a PR flak's glib response into a minefield.

A Web site that puts both of these concepts into practice has a chance at creating a news source for a new time. We can't go back to the days when chubby men in cheap, rumpled, brown suits and press cards sticking out of their fedoras clod-hopped to the nearest phone booth to dictate a story. But if the media wants to survive and be significant beyond entertainment, it collectively needs to think about how it can be more interesting and generate some revenue.

The idea's a bit rough and needs some shaping, but I see potential.

Latest Evidence of the Demise of Daily News

I'm really sad to see that the East Valley Tribune is scaling back from a busy daily to a free, four-day-a-week paper.

Full disclosure: I spent several years as a Tribune reporter. I learned a lot there, and think extremely highly of most of my former co-workers. I hope those that are still there will make it through this.

For the Valley, this is the begin of an even-worse era for news coverage. The Tribune has many flaws, but at least it used to be a thorn in the side for The Arizona Republic. A city the size of Phoenix should have more than one decent-sized daily newspaper. The Republic doesn't have the inclination to dig in everywhere - and being a Gannett paper, it's not exactly a beacon of high-quality journalism.

That leaves us with the Republic and our local TV stations. The less said about their news coverage, the better. But descriptions such as "lightweight" and "fluffy" are quite fair.

What to blame? The Trib's overly chicken dinner, folksy and local focus? The rise of the Internet? The cost of newsprint? The fact that they don't pay newsroom staff members very well? Yes. It's not just the Trib. More and more, interns are writing the Republic while consultants and focus groups drive its content. There are some really good people at both papers, yet they never have the time or space to show their talents. That's unfortunate, and it makes readers less likely to plunk 50 cents into the machine or pay for a subscription.

The fact is, good newspaper reporters, good editors, good photographers and good graphic artist deserve to be paid well. They deserve the freedom to take risks in performing their crafts. If they can't do that, audiences are likely to tune them out and just get their news online, for free.

I can't say I have the solution. But I really hope to see people with true vision take a shot at how to improve the news business. It's a critical industry, and a key element in preserving freedom through scrutinizing business and government. And it's good for an interesting feature here and there, too.