We are TIME's Person of 2006

I know this story is a little old now (nearly two weeks! Ancient!), but considering that this is a blog, I thought this would be a great article to post. It is also fascinating. Enjoy!

TIME'S PERSON OF THE YEAR: YOU

In 2006, the World Wide Web became a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter

By LEV GROSSMAN

The "Great Man" theory of history is usually attributed to the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who wrote that "the history of the world is but the biography of great men." He believed that it is the few, the powerful and the famous who shape our collective destiny as a species. That theory took a serious beating this year.

To be sure, there are individuals we could blame for the many painful and disturbing things that happened in 2006. The conflict in Iraq only got bloodier and more entrenched. A vicious skirmish erupted between Israel and Lebanon. A war dragged on in Sudan. A tin-pot dictator in North Korea got the Bomb, and the President of Iran wants to go nuclear too. Meanwhile nobody fixed global warming, and Sony didn't make enough PlayStation3s.

But look at 2006 through a different lens and you'll see another story, one that isn't about conflict or great men. It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

The tool that makes this possible is the World Wide Web. Not the Web that Tim Berners-Lee hacked together (15 years ago, according to Wikipedia) as a way for scientists to share research. It's not even the overhyped dotcom Web of the late 1990s. The new Web is a very different thing. It's a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. Silicon Valley consultants call it Web 2.0, as if it were a new version of some old software. But it's really a revolution.

And we are so ready for it. We're ready to balance our diet of predigested news with raw feeds from Baghdad and Boston and Beijing. You can learn more about how Americans live just by looking at the backgrounds of YouTube videos—those rumpled bedrooms and toy-strewn basement rec rooms—than you could from 1,000 hours of network television.

And we didn't just watch, we also worked. Like crazy. We made Facebook profiles and Second Life avatars and reviewed books at Amazon and recorded podcasts. We blogged about our candidates losing and wrote songs about getting dumped. We camcordered bombing runs and built open-source software.

America loves its solitary geniuses—its Einsteins, its Edisons, its Jobses—but those lonely dreamers may have to learn to play with others. Car companies are running open design contests. Reuters is carrying blog postings alongside its regular news feed. Microsoft is working overtime to fend off user-created Linux. We're looking at an explosion of productivity and innovation, and it's just getting started, as millions of minds that would otherwise have drowned in obscurity get backhauled into the global intellectual economy.

Who are these people? Seriously, who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, I'm not going to watch Lost tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street? Who has that time and that energy and that passion?

The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you.

Sure, it's a mistake to romanticize all this any more than is strictly necessary. Web 2.0 harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom. Some of the comments on YouTube make you weep for the future of humanity just for the spelling alone, never mind the obscenity and the naked hatred.

But that's what makes all this interesting. Web 2.0 is a massive social experiment, and like any experiment worth trying, it could fail. There's no road map for how an organism that's not a bacterium lives and works together on this planet in numbers in excess of 6 billion. But 2006 gave us some ideas. This is an opportunity to build a new kind of international understanding, not politician to politician, great man to great man, but citizen to citizen, person to person. It's a chance for people to look at a computer screen and really, genuinely wonder who's out there looking back at them. Go on. Tell us you're not just a little bit curious.

Traffic

It is a widely known fact that LA has bad traffic. Not just bad, terrible. I believe this is caused by a few different things:

1) LA is a horribly planned city. It is sprawling and has virtually no form of public tranportation. Because of this fact, everyone is relegated to driving their own cars.

2) People in LA cannot drive. For the most part. Over the years I have lived here (or near here), I have found myself becoming an "LA driver." That is, I am agressive, entitled ("of course I can cut in front of this person. I have PLACES to BE!"), and angry. In my defense, when it takes over an hour to go ten miles, it starts to wear on your psyche.

3) People in LA are self-important. This is not so different from the above reason except that everyone in LA seems to think that where they are going or what they are doing is the most important thing, screw everyone else. As a result, they will do whatever they have to do to get what they want. This includes, but is not limited to, tailgating, driving on the shoulder, cutting people off, and swerving in and out of lanes. These things all result in slamming on brakes, accidents, and angry commuters which, in turn, results in MORE TRAFFIC. Think ahead people! If everyone followed the speed limit and was even marginally more courteous, then I think traffic would be better. Maybe.

That being said, it is not as if I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I took a job an hour away from where I live. I just didn't think it would get to me that much. To be fair, some days it is fine. Others, I am about ready to kill myself or someone else. I just try to tell myself, "This is temporary. It won't always be this bad." One of those nice little lies we all tell ourselves to get us through the day.

I do have to shout out to all those people who talk to me on the phone during my long drives home from work every night. Without you, there is a very real possibility that I could turn into a homicidal maniac on my drives home. Many other commuters owe their lives to you. :)

~J

Aussies, bikinis and limos... oh my!

This past weekend was jam-packed with interesting activities. Here is a break down (with photos):

Thursday:
Tom (pictured below) arrived safe and sound on Thursday night and I took him out for an authentic California meal-- Mexican food! He seemed to like it. Other than that, it was a pretty chill night.


Friday:
Chris came down and he, Blake, Nat, Tom, Benna, and I went to a fashion show in Beverly Hills by a client of Avid Exposure, Sterling Williams. It was a nice, uneventful evening-- until Nat and I were introduced to David Silverman, head animator of The Simpsons and director of Monsters Inc. Not only did he kiss us and refer to me as "sexy," he also groped Natalie. It was weird to say the least. I still love The Simpsons, though!


Saturday:
Saturday afternoon, Chris and I introduced Nat, Blake and Tom to Zankow Chicken and the latest Christopher Guest movie, For Your Consideration. I think that Chris and I enjoyed the movie far more than anyone else, but that's not such a shocker. Later that night, Chris and I ventured out into the rain to attend Joy's 30th birthday dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Anaheim. Greg and Joy and a bunch of their friends all hopped in a stretch Hummer limo in Bakersfield and headed down to LA for dinner where Tony, Chris and I met them. Afterward, they all followed Chris and me back to my house where we dropped off our cars and hopped into the limo where we sipped champagne and looked at Christmas lights. Despite the fact that I will probably have to cash in my Democrat card since I rode in a stretch Hummer, it was such a blast. Afterwards, Nat, Blake and Tom were home, so Tony hung out and the six of us played games and drank late into the night. Although it is weird sitting a room that contains not only your boyfriend and ex-boyfriend but also your best friend's boyfriend and ex-boyfriend, we all actually had a great night. At least, in my opinion. Below are some pictures from the big night.




Sunday:
Lazy day, which was more than needed after a pretty raucous weekend.

Check out more pictures from this weekend:
Professional photos Scroll through to see them all
My fashion show pictures
Joy's birthday

This week will go by quickly, I hope. Then it's just a few more days until I am off for Christmas!

~J

Lame Survey Time!

This might be slightly premature and annoying, but I thought I would post it anyway since I am bored.

WITH 2006 COMING TO AN END HAVE YOU...

1. Have you had any relationships this year?
I am going to assume this refers to "romantic" relationships. The answer to that would be yes. Yes I have.

2. Have you had your birthday yet?
September 5, as always.

3. Seen Happy Feet yet?
nope. I'll probably rent it.

4. Been on a diet?
Kinda/sorta. More just watching what I eat. Diets don't work.

5. Pulled an all nighter?
One or two for thesis I believe. No more and never again.

6. Drank Starbucks?
More times than I'd like to admit.

7. Went Camping?
Nope. I'm shooting for 2007.

8. Bought something(s)
What kind of stupid question is this?

9. Met someone special?
Again, I can only assume this refers to someone in the "romantic" sense, so in that case I will say that I already knew this "Special person," but only learned how "special" he truly is in 2006. How's that for a long-winded answer?

10. Been out of state?
Yes, a few times! Mexico and Oregon.

11. Gone Snowboarding?
Nope. A) I ski and B) I'm going in March 2007 (probably).

12. What are you thinking about?
The work I am procrastinating from doing.

Have you...

1.) Hugged someone?
Several people. Some of them complete strangers!

2.) Slept in someone elses bed?
hehehe definitely.

3.) Drank any alchohol?
Um, yes.

4.) Loaned out money?
Probably. Nothing big.

5.) Gotten in a car accident?
No, thank God. Have had some car trouble, though.

6.) Gone over your cell phone bill?
Nope. Thank God for roll-over minutes!

7.) Been called a whore?
Ah, no.

8.) Done something you regret?
I pretty much don't regret things, so no.

Last Person you hugged?
Becca, believe it or not.

Last Person to call you?
My mom.

When was the last time you felt stupid?
Um, I feel stupid pretty much every other minute.

Who was the last person you danced with?
Chris or Natalie, depending on the type of dancing.

Who did you last yell at?
Probably my mom, but it has been a while since I really yelled at anyone.

What did you do today?
Woke up, drove to work, now I am at work. That is pretty much it.

01. Birthday?
Haven't we gone over this?

02. Natural hair color?
Dark blonde

03. Initials?
JLP

04. Hair style?
I'm growing it out, but it is shoulder-length with some layers.

5. eye color?
Blue/green/grey depending on what I am wearing.

06. Height:
5'9"

07. Pets:
None in my immediate vicinity, but Sadie and Emma at home.

08. Mood:
Eh. Bleh.

09. Where would you rather be?
Home vegging out.

10. Last thing you drank?
Water

TEN THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE: (oh dear)

01. Have you ever been in love:
Yes.

02. Do you believe in love?
Of course.

03. Why did your LAST relationship fail?
Grew apart (stock answer)

04. Have you ever been heartbroken:
Of course.

05. Have you ever broken someone's heart:
Maybe... I don't break and tell.

06. Have you ever fallen for your best friend?
I have fallen for a very close, good friend.

07. Have you ever loved someone but never told them?
That's not really my style. I much prefer to put myself out there when I like someone and get shot down and feel like an idiot. It's great. I really reccommend it.

08. Are you afraid of commitment?
Nope.

10. Have you had more than 5 different serious relationships in your life?
I don't think I've even had five. I would say three.

5 EMOTIONS

01. Are you missing someone right now?
I am missing a lot of people in different ways right now.

02. Are you happy?
Sure, why not?

03. Are you eating anything?
Nope. Just finished my delicious Lean Cuisine (please note the sarcasm)

04. Do you love someone right now?
I love a lot of people. My friends, my family, my dog, and my cat (though, not as much. j/k)... I think that pretty much covers it.

Looking ahead

Even I got tired of looking at that last post. Unfortunately, though, I don't really have much to say at the present moment, nor do I have much time to say it. So, I am going to make a list of things I am looking forward to!

1. Dinner with Becca and Rob in Glendale (or possibly Pasadena)tonight.
2. Meeting Tom, Nat's Australian friend, who is coming to stay with us.
3. Taking my friends to a fashion show in Beverly Hills on Friday night.
4. Seeing For Your Consideration this weekend!!!! And, maybe, Volver...
5. Going to Joy's 30th (!!!) birthday dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.
6. Spending a lot of time in my nice, warm bed. I miss sleep...

Okay, so that is just the immediate future. But, this does remind me of all the wonderful things I have to look forward to. I have been feeling a little down as of late, and it helps to remember I have a lot of great things coming up. :)

~J