Video from SB Indy PARTY!

This was taken somewhere around 9PM. The party was to celebrate the release of Surfing the Middle East: "It's like Maui with rockets", and my cover story in the Santa Barbara Independent.

More videos to come later today.

Update: Just in case you didn't hear my KCSB radio interview last week.

Santa Barbara Indy Cover Story!

OK, I'm really frickin' late right now for the Surfing the Middle East party - on the cover of the Santa Barbara Independent! More later. I'm bring my camera everywhere I go (like the party tonight) and I'll get some great pictures and YouTube going ASAP!

In the meantime this picture was taken today. This was the dude who distributes the paper to local Santa Barbara shops.

RADIO INTERIVEW! KCSB, Santa Barbara

WELL, they posted my Tuesday radio interview on Surfing the Middle East!

Click Here to hear!

And... from the Santa Barbara Independent's website here is the write up:

This week on Poodle Radio, Colin Marshall talks first to Jesse Aizenstat, journalist, surfer, and author of Surfing the Middle East, a new book released exclusively for Apple’s iPad. Uniting his passions for surfing and Middle East reporting, Aizenstat has created a genuinely multimedia experience that allows the reader to follow him in his real-life surfing journey from surf spot to surf spot in Israel and Lebanon.

Libya by photos

An excellent piece of photo-journalism by The Atlantic on Libya.

Funny how if the US supports them they are "anti-government" but if the US is against them they are insurgents, terrorists, or simply the enemy. Not that I support--or don't support--any of it, I'm just pointing out that in the realm of international journalism and norms, there is a standard. That is all.

Reviewing the App, Surfing the Middle East (the App Store!)

Hey guys, Jesse here. One quick favor I ask:

Today--between your 3rd and 4th coffee--can you go to the iTunes store, search and download Surfing the Middle East, and review the free app for me? It's in the Customer Reviews section of the App Store. You'll see.

We are about to start our major marketing effort and it would be so cool to have all you Casbah fan's have the first go at it! In other words, GREAT to have your comments!

Oh, and here is what I did today... sorry for pulling a Marlon Brando and rambling on.

Update: David Axe has a great piece on the US and it's ability to install a no-fly zone over Libya. He speculates that it would probably be short, but intense.

ON the RADIO

2MAR0 I SHALL BE on the RADIO talking about SURFING THE MIDDLE EAST and why the CAPS LOCK key was invented.

I'll post the interview 2mar0.

IN the mean TIME, here is the quote of the DAY:

"They train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write 'fuck' on their airplanes because... it's obscene!"
Col. Kurtz, at the top of the river, Apocalypse Now

Just for the context, that is my answer to this question: Why is Surfing the Middle East written in such a "voice?"

Well... let's just say that I wanted to tell it like it was... no puritanism here.


UPDATE: I did the show this morning and it went great! I always wondered what KCSB looked like in Santa Barbara. Very cool. For those who don't know it was a major hub for anti-Vietnam protests. Anyway, I did the show live... but they won't post it online until Thursday when the Santa Barbara Independent has their cover story on Surfing the Middle East.

Dirk Vandewalle and who is Qaddafi (Fresh Air)

This was the best thing I've heard on Qaddafi. Dirk Vandewalle has lived in Libya and has returned ever since. He is a professor at Dartmouth University.

Click here to hear Terry Gross interview him on Fresh Air.

The coolest thing I saw today