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April 20, 2005
Wes Anderson Movie Dress-Up Time
boingboing links to Chas Bowie's photos of people dressed as characters from Wes Anderson films. Kottke.org also had a link.
Posted by kmikeym at 9:52 AM | Comments (2)
April 19, 2005
Former LC student connects urbanites through internet
Back in April 2002 Steve Schroeder was covered in the LC newspaper about the then recently launched Urban Honking website. (scroll down, it's on the sidebar)
Former LC student connects urbanites through internet
by Jeff Auxier
Four years ago, Lewis & Clark College legend Steve Schroeder made a lasting impact on Palatine Hill. If he has his way, the world's metropoli will be next.
In December of last year, Schroeder launched the website, www.urbanhonking.com, an online magazine devoted to exploring the subtleties of city life.
Along with co-founder Mike Merrill, Schroeder hopes the website will highlight the intricacies inherent with high-density communal living.
Schroeder, who left LC after three years in 1999, has since worked a variety of jobs in a variety of cities.
His Lewis & Clark career was famous for a number of intriguing enterprises. He hosted huge parties featuring bands such as Wolf Colonel, and edited Pio Hoops Weekly, an independent newspaper devoted to the untold story behind LC men's basketball.
The idea for his most recent project, Urban Honking, came to him on a drive through Portland.
"I was driving down the street when a guy honked at me. I looked to see who it was, but my friend told me not to worry, it was just a friendly honk," said Schroeder. "With so many people living and co-habitating with each other, we develop codes to represent different sayings. This developed into a general idea of things that go unsaid in city life: loud music, dirty industrial areas, it could be anything."
In addition to film, music, and television reviews, along with some fiction, recent installments on Urban Honking include features highlighting amateur boxing, FM radio, veganism, and the history of the brass monkey.
Next week's installment, in a series on urban scams, describes how to make free calls from public telephones. A series on horrible jobs will feature diaries of work in a call center, as a cab driver, and as a convenience store clerk.
"There's a lot more to it than advising customers on what sort of wine prostitutes like," said Merrill.
Aside from their devotion to urban-based journalism, other values are near and dear to Urban Honking's heart. Positivity, for one, is a central element for the UH staff. Each article is a celebration of urban life, not a criticism.
"Sincere appreciation is a lot more fun to read than well-written cynicism," said Schroeder.
Anonymity is another ideal. Bylines on the website are pseudonyms, and the site doesn't claim to hail from any city, either. Instead, it strives to be representative of all of great urban centers.
"We want the website to stand on its own creativity," said Schroeder.
"We represent all cities," added Kyle Kiang, an infrequent UH contributor. "We like the rust belt, the coasts, and have writers from all over the country."
The site also serves as a launch pad for some of Urban Honking's favorite musical artists. Dave Longstreth's classically-influenced pop rock and the space rock band Yume Bitsu are favorites. Urban Honking even recently recorded a live CD of their music.
In the near future, Urban Honking hopes to promote other forms of art as well. The release of a book of art is currently in the works.
"We're going to do a lot of it ourselves. Nothing will be factory produced. It will all be homemade," Schroeder said.
For Schroeder, Urban Honking could represent a lifetime of urban chronicles.
"Our main goal is to get more and more people to the site everyday," said Schroeder, "and release more and more things we feel strongly about."
Posted by kmikeym at 3:04 PM