| Subject: Re: McCain has lost it |
| From: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> |
| Date: 11/30/09, 16:00 |
| To: Charles Johnson <charles@littlegreenfootballs.com> |
On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 3:41 PM, Barrett Brown
<barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
I've got a good friend who's sort of a visionary in terms of information technology, has worked on a couple of major projects for some companies up here including digital paper and a few other things that were technically secret at the time. He says its best to think of Google Wave as the next step in e-mail combined with sharing a Google doc - a sort of next-generation-but-not-really collaborative tool. It will become more useful soon, but even now it's worth examining. We're going to try using it for two long-term projects on which we're working which I'll tell you about later. One is a sort of experimental novel and relatively easy enough to explain, but the other is more complicated, a tool for use by writers and researchers and which itself would be just one element in a larger app, and we're in a position to get it funded by some investors up here (IT start-up veterans, angel investing sort of deal) who have asked him to bring them a project. His name is Andrew Stein, by the way, an old friend of mine from Texas; I actually moved up here with him and was his roommate for a year or so when a group of us left Austin to set up shop in NYC.
I'd love to have you involved in the show in some capacity; I'll get back to you when I have more info. Of course, nothing may come of the pilot, but as I probably mentioned, we'd be inclined to produce at least one episode ourselves if we're unable to impress any execs.
I've got another, more long-term plan involving the Dubai project I'm working on. Basically, the end goal would be to bring attention to the slave situation over there. I may have mentioned that I'll be writing for an Arab audience soon; this firm is having me write columns on issues related to Arab health and medical research, and then these columns will be translated in Arabic and run in regional newspapers. I'll get back to you at greater length on this in a while, as I'd need your help to pull this off; entertaining a charming, very mammalian female at the moment.
On Fri, Nov 27, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Charles Johnson
<charles@littlegreenfootballs.com> wrote:
Thanks! I already have a Google Wave account -- now I'm trying to figure out what the hell it's supposed to do.
The idea for the show sounds really interesting. If it happens, get me on it as an adviser -- I can definitely be helpful with this kind of stuff.
On Nov 27, 2009, at 4:58 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:
Also, let me know if you'd like an invitation to the Google Wave beta.
On Fri, Nov 27, 2009 at 7:06 PM, Barrett Brown
<barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
The show is best described as something akin to Michael Moore's format (though not his ham-fistedness and worldview) insomuch as that it's investigative journalism interlaced with thematic sketches and other segments - interviews, etc. Basically it's the perfect format for some of the stuff I'd like to accomplish over the next year as far as bringing attention to the incompetence and amorality of certain parties, such as bad yet respected columnists like Thomas Friedman.
In the case of the particular episode I'd like to do first or at least eventually, there's this black professor named Jonathan Farley whose career in the U.S. was basically ended by a decentralized campaign on the part of neo-Nazis and neo-Confederates after he wrote a column in 2002 calling Confederates traitors. Vanderbilt's now-provost acted dishonestly in all of this, as I've determined from documents Farley has sent me (dozens so far) and a phone interview I did in which I caught the provost talking a bit of nonsense (and I recorded it, thankfully). McCain was involved as he wrote a Washington Times piece which helped take the story national. The piece was incredibly one-sided and disingenuous, and now, it is clear to me that he was actually coordinating with some of the same parties - who were harassing Farley and sending him death threats - that he was discussing, positively, in his article. This is an incredible breach of journalistic ethics and, coupled with the trouble I can cause Provost Richard McCarty and other involved parties, and presented in a TV format instead of a more limited HuffPost/TrueSlant/etc format with a smaller audience, the episode would end McCain for good.
If the pilot doesn't work out for some reason, I'll simply write an article on it. Either way, I'm going to start doing some more ambushy interviews with, for instance, the editors of American Spectator, asking them exactly what one has to do to be barred from writing for them.
Also, a friend of mine had a copy of Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, and I read half of it today while taking a break from the book I'm supposed to be finishing up this month; you were right about him. Truly amazing work and a lot of brilliant concepts well-executed.
On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 2:38 PM, Charles Johnson
<charles@littlegreenfootballs.com> wrote:
That's very cool. What's the show about -- how does it tie in with McCain?
On Nov 25, 2009, at 8:46 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:
Hopefully Andrew Sullivan will take further notice of the fellow now and find out about the neo-Nazi activity.
Can't remember if I've told you this yet, but I've been asked to serve as head writer on a pilot being spearheaded by a couple of folks who approached me after my first Vanity Fair piece came out last March. They've agreed that the story that I've been holding back regarding Vanderbilt, Professor Jonathan Farley, and McCain's incredibly unethical behavior within that incident would make a good subject for the pilot. We've got a producer attached and all that and will be meeting with some execs soon for approval, so should find out soon what's going to happen with all of this. If it works out, McCain should be thoroughly fucked. Even if for some reason it's not picked up, we have the backing we'd need to produce it ourselves. I'll let you know what happens.
Also, sent you a shared Google Document; got myself another stalker, apparently.
On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 11:37 PM, Charles Johnson
<charles@littlegreenfootballs.com> wrote:
He's completely fucking insane. He put up a freakish post at his blog today, blaming ME for "Kick a Jew Day" in Florida.
He's working the "friend of the Jews" angle like a true antisemite.