I had a great phone conversation with John Bielenburg today about his experiences as a designer and more specifically about his project Virtual Telemetrix, a satirical corporate entity. I was writing feverishly as I talked to him and wasn’t able to get the conversation verbatim but I think I came close in my short transcript of it (PDF).

I just got off the phone with Lindsey Wasserman from Hello Cool World, the Vancouver based organization behind the documentary The Corporation. I was writting ferverishly as I talked to her and wasn’t able to get the conversation verbatim but I think I came close in my short transcript of it (PDF).

I just got back from a very enlightening lunch with Ben Davis from Words Pictures Ideas. We talked about his experience creating the Buy Less Crap campaign as well as other socially minded projects he’s currently working on, and of course about my Corporate Revolt thesis. When discussing the Buy Less campaign he was saying that if you can convince people to be “Red,” to buy “Red” products, you should be able to convince people to connect with something innately human in themselves like doing good and giving to those less fortunate, which was what the project was all about. He also talked about the importance of having a solid public relations plan when embarking on a project like this and offered up some great ideas and advice concerning my project.

Ben struck me as a truly genuine individual with a passion for life and a conviction for the work he’s doing and I’ll be excited to see the final incarnation of some of the things he’s currently working on.

Check out a brief transcript (PDF) of a conversation about the Buy Less Crap campaign.

Yesterday I visited the Brooklyn Superhero Store and talked to a volunteer named Laura about the project. If you haven’t heard about the place before it’s a store in Brooklyn New York that sells really well designed products for superhero’s and those wishing to become a superhero and aside from that run creative writing workshops for kids. They are closely affiliated with the Pirate Store at 826 Valencia in San Francisco and a handful of other stores in major cities across America.

Apparently one guy (in the process of contacting him) does all the design work and as I looked around I noticed that he had 3 companies going that were producing all of the superhero products. One was called Bugayenko Laboratories, which was more chemical oriented (Shape Shifting Elixer, Faster Reflexes, etc.), one was called Mt. Fortress and specialized in superhero gear (Tights, Masks, Capes, etc.) and the other was an older looking brand called Ardvark that had a wide range of products available.

Everything about the store held up the concept. From the directional signs to the way items were displayed to the fitting rooms and you could actually buy the products and take them home with you.

Check out the brief conversation(PDF) I had with Laura about the store.

I just got off the phone with Steve Spanier from Reclaim Democracy who was kind enough to chat with me about the negative effects of corporations and how we can work to revive democracy and revoke corporate power.

When asked what a single person can do he said that keeping yourself educated is key and that alternative media sources are the surest bet for non-biased information. He also stressed the importance of ethical consumption and buying from local vendors noting that, even though Walmart is the largest retailer on the planet, if no one shopped there they’d go out of business.

To learn more visit www.ReclaimDemocracy.org.

View a short transcript of the conversation (PDF).