Wednesday, January 03, 2007
DREAM: No genius required to interpret this one: I’m underwater, wrestling a giant optopus, have just managed to get the tips of all its many tentacles gathered into my left hand, and am frantically pondering my next move when I snap awake... and instantly recognize the morphing of my current life: helicopter, insurance, event permit, photographers, credit card, 300-foot tape measures, 1,200 people, newspapers, radio stations, weather forecasts... Yes, and Onward!
THE CROWD: As we close in on 600 registrants (584 just now), I'm fully confident of a capacity crowd. People ask what we'll do if we get too few or too many people. Here’s the figuring: Our “IMPEACH!” will be 100 feet tall, with lettering ten feet thick. Each prone person will (on average) occupy a spot six feet tall and two and a half feet wide. A “mere” 700 bodies will fill the message “loosely” -- but adequately, I think, for our photographic purposes. 940 will fill it “solidly” (it is “designed” for 940). And we can easily squeeze in 1,200. If we get a true overflow, we've got options: add an underline, add a border, or all or some of us can just sit up or even stand up. More than you wanted to know? Don’t worry – it’ll all work. People at the beach Saturday morning will be directing attendees and handing out fliers with this information and more. Also, I’ll have a bullhorn.
MEDIA: News organizations often decide in the last 24 hours whether or not to cover something. I once spent ten years working on something I thought important (and imagining much media interest), but it wasn’t until the last two weeks that media came calling -- and then it was a landslide. The best I’ve gotten from the SF Chronicle’s assignment editor is, “I’m not sure if we’re going to cover it…” The Chronicle photo desk is undecided. The first media interest is from Canada -- but the distance may work in our favor. I’m scheduled to be interviewed Thursday afternoon or early Friday by a Montreal station which is part of the Pacifica Radio network, and when one outlet cracks the door, the entire media swarm often barges right through. So, we’ll see… tick, tick, tick… But it’s hard to imagine that 1,000-some people will gather in the Speaker of the House’s backyard two days after she takes center stage and no one, not even the local paper, will cover it. In any case, we’ve got our OWN helicopter, and on our beloved internet OUR photographer’s photos will go as far and wide as we feel like sending them.
All for now -- see you Saturday… First, let me check our tally… ah, I love this: 607!
Brad
THE CROWD: As we close in on 600 registrants (584 just now), I'm fully confident of a capacity crowd. People ask what we'll do if we get too few or too many people. Here’s the figuring: Our “IMPEACH!” will be 100 feet tall, with lettering ten feet thick. Each prone person will (on average) occupy a spot six feet tall and two and a half feet wide. A “mere” 700 bodies will fill the message “loosely” -- but adequately, I think, for our photographic purposes. 940 will fill it “solidly” (it is “designed” for 940). And we can easily squeeze in 1,200. If we get a true overflow, we've got options: add an underline, add a border, or all or some of us can just sit up or even stand up. More than you wanted to know? Don’t worry – it’ll all work. People at the beach Saturday morning will be directing attendees and handing out fliers with this information and more. Also, I’ll have a bullhorn.
MEDIA: News organizations often decide in the last 24 hours whether or not to cover something. I once spent ten years working on something I thought important (and imagining much media interest), but it wasn’t until the last two weeks that media came calling -- and then it was a landslide. The best I’ve gotten from the SF Chronicle’s assignment editor is, “I’m not sure if we’re going to cover it…” The Chronicle photo desk is undecided. The first media interest is from Canada -- but the distance may work in our favor. I’m scheduled to be interviewed Thursday afternoon or early Friday by a Montreal station which is part of the Pacifica Radio network, and when one outlet cracks the door, the entire media swarm often barges right through. So, we’ll see… tick, tick, tick… But it’s hard to imagine that 1,000-some people will gather in the Speaker of the House’s backyard two days after she takes center stage and no one, not even the local paper, will cover it. In any case, we’ve got our OWN helicopter, and on our beloved internet OUR photographer’s photos will go as far and wide as we feel like sending them.
All for now -- see you Saturday… First, let me check our tally… ah, I love this: 607!
Brad
