Flying A Zeppelin Over Long Beach: An Audio Slideshow

In this audio slideshow produced for one of my last classes at USC’s graduate journalism school, I talk to…

Visual Effects Modeling and the BBC’s 5-Shot Video Method

How can reporters without multimedia experience create high-quality videos for their stories?  The BBC has the answer: a 5-shot method that produces consistently good footage every time.

Reporters simply have to get 10 seconds of the following shots in order: close-up of hands, close-up of subject’s face, wide shot, over-the-shoulder shot, interesting shot of your choice. USC’s graduate journalism program demonstrated this technique and taught students how easy it is to use Final Cut Pro.

For this project I wrote about the fascinating subject of…

Metro Bus Rapid Transit Project Could Drastically Affect Wilshire Traffic

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed Bus Rapid Transit project could drastically affect traffic on Wilshire Boulevard and increase bus efficiency along the route, but full project funding has not been secured.

The Stairways at Adelaide Drive in Santa Monica: Why Are They Such An Issue?

On Adelaide Drive in Santa Monica, locals exercising on two public stairways are stretching the patience of homeowners.  The two stairways in question provide stairsteppers 350 easily accessible stairs and plenty of free parking.  Especially within the last 15 years, the stairs have grown in popularity but some local residents complain that people who use them and the grassy median on nearby 4th Avenue are not considerate of their neighbors.

Wow. Dreyer’s Thin Mint Ice Cream is Almost as Good as the Cookies

Dreyer's Girl Scouts ice cream

Go now and buy Dreyer’s Girl Scouts Thin Mints ice cream.  It’s amazing.  Treat yourself for doing something good, or, if you must, pay yourself forward — you’re bound to do something that’s worthy of a food reward at some point.

Time Capsule: A Proposition 8 Protest and the Bad Eggs

Protesting in the streets

Another story in the Time Capsule series, immerse yourself in Proposition 8 protests from November 2008 with this story, a photo slideshow and an audio file recorded from a march in West Los Angeles.  UPDATE: The California Supreme Court has until early June 2009 to rule on whether to uphold the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.  Some news reports hold that the court is leaning toward upholding the ban.

Hundreds of people demonstrated around the Los Angeles California Mormon Temple on Nov. 6 to protest the state’s passage of Proposition 8. The protest and march around Los Angeles (in the slide show you will hear the moments leading up to the march) wreaked havoc on Southern California’s rush hour traffic and continued for hours. Activists like Jane Gould and Nick Small (pictured below) made phone calls in the weeks leading up to Election Day.

Leimert Park Faces Long Wait for City Historic Zone Approval

Note the HPOZ sign

The short-staffed Los Angeles Department of City Planning faces such a backlog of proposed historic residential zones that some communities will wait years for a chance to qualify for the program, which helps preserve historic neighborhoods and offers considerable property tax reductions.

The city’s planning department oversees 24 Historic Preservation Overlay Zones, or HPOZs, whose residents have agreed to preserve their home’s historic charm. Since 1998, the program has tripled; the latest HPOZ, Wilshire Park, was adopted in November 2008. Homeowners in historic zones can benefit from property tax cuts of up to 80 percent, according to Ken Bernstein, manager of the Office of Historic Resources within the planning department.

With California’s $42 billion budget crisis, however, the department’s staff has shrunk by 80 people, leaving fewer people to manage existing historic zones and conduct preliminary surveys of a proposed HPOZ.