My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style. | | | | | Now watching The New Edition Story on BET. #childhood... (Ebet Roberts/Redferns/Getty) | | | | |  | “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
|
| |
| | rantnrave:// Took the day off yesterday as I was at the UPFRONT SUMMIT. Hosted by my friend MARK SUSTER, it's a big celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship in LOS ANGELES. UPFRONT VENTURES was one of the first investors in REDEF and their passion for the city is amazing. Varied and informative panels, great in-between networking and diet crushing food truck assembly at lunch. Suster is a thought leader but also a cheerleader and you can feel LA emerging as a major hub. I opened the day with my friend MARK CUBAN. We discussed investing, going public, entrepreneurship, TRUMP, social media trolls, the media business, sports, kids, and more. What is he most excited about? Automation. So much talk about bringing jobs back and learning to code. Mark's onto the next thing. "Marc Andreessen used to say that software is eating the world. Now, automation is going to eat the world." Even technologists are going to have to retrain themselves to fight off becoming "dinosaurs." Seemed like every founder in LA was there. Media and technology executives. And big names like NAS, ROBERT DOWNEY, JR., DEMI MOORE, ERIC GARCETTI, GLENN BECK, CHRIS BOSH, TYRA BANKS, and many others. My favorite discussion of the day was JEFF BERMAN interviewing CROOKED MEDIA's JON LOVETT and JON FAVREAU. They're funny and smart. They understand what's going on in the world of politics. And unlike me, they still smile while talking about it. If you're in LA, please join next year, it's a great day... Innovation from scratch is hard. Innovating inside an established company needing change is harder. RALPH LAUREN's much-respected innovator and CEO, STEFAN LARSSON quits. We see these clashes between founders and new CEOs all the time in tech... How do you respond when a potential competitor wants your advice?... The big growth area in entertainment? Comedy! I love a dystopian drama more than just about anyone. But waking up each day to the horrors that CNN is reporting can take its toll. And I curate stuff for a living and it's pretty hard to find a handful of stories not about PRESIDENT BANNON and his lap puppet. I need me some comedies. Stat. Fast. When is WEDDING CRASHERS 2 coming out?... HOWARD STERN is spot on... It's very common for investors to not understand talent or founders. I come from the STEVEN J. ROSS school. Make sure they're happy so their mind is on one thing... Curatorial help wanted: Looking for seriously talented fill-in curators familiar with media, technology, pop culture and more for MediaREDEF. CVs to jobs@redefgroup.com... Happy Birthday to EVAN HARRISON, KEVIN SWINT, WILLIAM BAO BEAN, and MICHAEL TERPIN. Belated to JEFFREY STEIN, JON NORDMARK, NICHOLAS ASCHEIM, JON ZERDEN, JUDY TEPPERBERG, and FRED VOGELSTEIN. | | | - Jason Hirschhorn, curator |
|
|
 | Haaretz |
| It's an inconceivably scary thought that the Trump administration is simply winging it, breakneck, disrupting and detonating and taking America apart - and all of it without a plan. But here's the even scarier possibility - that there is, in fact, a plan. | | |
|
 | Longreads |
| Alec Nevala-Lee, author of Astounding, a forthcoming book on the history of science fiction, digs into the writing career of L. Ron Hubbard, gaining new insights into the life of the controversial founder of dianetics and the origins and nature of Scientology itself. | | |
|
 | Bloomberg |
| How did Jackson’s star lawyer make a mint for his heirs? | | |
|
 | National Post |
| Three current or former Vice journalists told the Post that a former Vice music editor offered each of them $10K to carry illicit cargo hidden in the lining of suitcases from Las Vegas to Australia. His one-time roommate, a promising Toronto electronic music artist, sits in an Australian prison, awaiting sentencing after being caught at Sydney airport with a large stash of cocaine. | | |
|
 | Men's Journal |
| Muscle-building powders. Libido-boosting pills. Brain-enhancing smoothies. How two Florida gym rats made tens of millions of dollars in the shadowy world of dietary supplements. | | |
|
 | The New York Times |
| To help their children get into American universities, Chinese parents have started sending them to U.S. high schools - and paying top dollar to do it. | | |
|
 | GamesIndustry |
| The Chernin Group's Ed Chang sees huge potential in eSports publishers fully embracing the third-party ecosystem. | | |
|
 | Aeon Magazine |
| Elon Musk and the rise of Silicon Valley's strange trickle-down science | | |
|
 | Charlie Rose |
| Journalist John Avlon introduces his new book, “Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations.” | | |
|
 | The New Yorker |
| The former C.I.A. operative and failed Presidential candidate has become an unlikely civic superego for the age of Trump. | | |
|
 | Fast Company |
| With viewing habits changing drastically in the digital age, Symphony Media's VideoPulse app wants to edge out Nielsen as the go-to ratings tool. | | |
|
 | Business of Fashion |
| Troy Young, president of Hearst Magazines Digital Media, identifies seven principles for building a successful media business for the internet age. | | |
|
| The New York Times |
| We disagree on many things, but he has the right temperament and independence for the Supreme Court. | | |
|
 | Backchannel |
| Obama’s FCC head Tom Wheeler talks candidly about the open internet -- and why, in Trumpworld, four companies could lock it up. | | |
|
 | The Unofficial Google Data Science Blog |
| Given recent advances and interest in machine learning, those of us with traditional statistical training have had occasion to ponder the similarities and differences between the fields. Many of the distinctions are due to culture and tools, but there are also differences in thinking which run deeper. | | |
|
 | Racked |
| Nike loses millions of dollars on their deal with the NFL. So what do they gain? | | |
|
 | Farnam Street |
| Is the history of humanity really a march towards the heavens? Towards greater civilization? John Gray isn't so sure. | | |
|
 | FX Guide |
| We cover the digital human pipeline, including the Sci-Tech winning tools that ILM needed to develop. | | |
|
 | Vox |
| The author of "Hillbilly Elegy" on why Trump won, how elites helped, and what we miss about social mobility. | | |
|
| Fast Company |
| Santa Cruz-based Inboard sees a future beyond rich skaters, where it's the Tesla of rideables and skateboards solve the last mile problem. | | |
|
 | Tonic |
| "Scared" is an understatement. | | |
|
 | Mother Jones |
| A new study suggests burgers and doughnuts are even grosser than we thought. | | |
|
 | YouTube |
| | | | | | Austin City Limits performance... |
| | |
|
|
| © Copyright 2017, The REDEF Group |
|
|
