Portside

Flash mobs strive to overcome the chasm between the two opposite meanings of 'actor' -- one who acts, or one who performs while others watch. In a flash mob, ordinary people act, momentarily seizing and transforming a public space with their actions. They sing, or dance, or play, or recite so powerfully that they command the attention of the accidental passers-by, who by their attention also become actors in the brief drama. As they catch the spirit of the moment and sing or clap or video or exclaim, the audience/actors color and amplify the flash message. The flash action is brief, but because it is digitally captured and broadcast, it more than lingers in the air -- it propagates through the ether, where yet more watchers became actors by sharing it through their social network, perhaps adding their own take to the next hop. So watch the two flash mobs below; feel the power of Beethoven's Ode to Joy spread from a public square to The Public Square; take heart in a flash mob's David rebuke to Target and the Supreme's Goliath assault on democracy. Watch, and then join the mob. Send the captured moments on, to awaken yet more watchers. -- video moderator

Flash Mob: Ode to Joy in Sabadel, Spain

A flash mob in Sabadel, Spain, captivates young and old with Beethoven's Ode to Joy (Symphony No. 9)

Flash Mob: Target Ain't People

Target Ain't People -- so why should it be allowed to play around with our democracy?

Georgia High School Students Hold First Integrated Prom

A group of Georgia high school students are making history by challenging the segregation of their high school prom. Wilcox County High is holding its first-ever integrated prom nearly 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education desegregated the nation’s school system.

Ry Cooder -- Jesus on the Mainline

From "Ry Cooder & The Moula Banda Rhythm Aces: Let's Have A Ball", a film by Les Blank taped at The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA on March 25, 1987. Awesome solos by George Bohannon and Ry using slide on mandoguitar!

Over the Counter Plan B

America's foremost experts on women's health -- conservative men in their 60s -- slam the FDA's decision to sell Plan B without a prescription. 

Film: The Trials of Muhammed Ali

A new documentary examines the struggle Muhammad Ali faced in his conversion to Islam, his refusal to fight in Vietnam, and the years of exile that followed before his eventual return to the ring. "The Trials of Muhammad Ali" premieres in New York City at the Tribeca Film Festival.