As the world’s largest arts festival celebrates its 64th birthday, it’s still the greatest gathering of new, young talent on the planet. …

This year there are 2,453 shows in 259 venues across the city, up from 2,098 shows last year. And, up from 18,901 in 2009, there are an estimated 21,148 performers thronging the streets, many of them hoping for their big break.

Following them around are legions of television producers, talent scouts and journalists, all hoping to snare the next big thing before anyone else.

The Edinburgh Fringe has always been a crucible for new ideas and fertile ground for star-spotting. What happens here sets the tone for what happens next in the arts. It was in the city, in 1960, that Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Jonathan Miller first tried out their subversive brand of humour in Beyond The Fringe. Here, a fresh-faced gang of Cambridge students - Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Tony Slattery - won the first Perrier Award for comedy in 1981. Harry Hill, Steve Coogan, The League of Gentlemen and The Mighty Boosh were all spotted here, sweating under the lights in a room somewhere in the Old Town. In theatre, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead premiered here in 1966, Theatre de Complicit made their name with a Perrier win in 1985 and Jerry Springer: The Opera first caused controversy in 2002.

More recently, Russell Brand and Alan Carr have played tiny rooms on the path to stardom while the international theatre mega-hit Black Watch was first seen in the city’s Drill Hall four years ago. This year’s success stories are still up for the making. At the end of the first week, there are already names being bandied around in the pubs and streets that no-one had ever heard a week ago. That’s the beauty of the Fringe - you can always say you heard it here first.

John-Luke Roberts

The comdeian makes his solo debut with a show that combines killer punchlines with murder. In between routines where he insults his audience, row by row, showcases his character comedy with figures such as Sexy Judge and Shy Zombie and attempts an “irresponsible Kate Bush sketch”, we’re led to believe that he is committing a brutal murder off-stage. Roberts, who reached the finals of the 2005 BBC New Comedy Awards and writes for Radio 4’s News Quiz, is with The Invisible Dot company who last year produced the shows of both Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Tim Key and Best Newcomer Jonny Sweet.

Doc Brown

He’s better known as Zadie Smith’s younger brother, Ben, but with this, his first full-length show at the Fringe, Doc Brown is making a name for himself in comedy. In his own words, “a washed-up rapper with a social studies degree”, his hour combines hilarious take-downs of hip-hop braggadocio (one rap is dedicated to his old-school overhead projector), rap battles with the audience and songs wishing David Attenborough was his grandpa. It also provides a insider’s view of pop - Smith was Mark Ronson’s hype man and toured with him, Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse for years. You get to see Zadie’s child-modelling photographs, too.

Bo Burnham

Without doubt, the stand out discovery of this year’s Fringe. The lanky 19-year-old Justin Bieber lookalike started out making videos in his bedroom to amuse his older brother. Sixty million YouTube hits later, he’s huge in America - a best-selling album artist, the youngest comedian to record a Comedy Central special and Judd Apatow’s prot g (they’re writing a High School Musical spoof together). His show, a mix of un-PC songs, hammered out Ben Folds-style at the piano, raps, haikus and one-liners is accomplished, original and very, very funny. “I’m a young comedian. I hate that term,” he says. “I prefer prodigy.”

Scott Turnbull

The star of Apples, a boisterous play about the lives and loves of a set of school children on a Middlesbrough council estate, or “sex and the city, when you’re 15″. Richard Milward wrote his debut novel when he was just 20 and it’s given a lively production here by Northern Stage and Company of Angels. Turnbull is the touching, stand-out star as the hero, Adam - an inexperienced and geeky teenager with mild OCD and a head full of dreams, who falls in love with the school sweetheart, Eve.

Ella Hickson

Ella Hickson’s third play at the Fringe, Hot Mess, is a hot ticket. Set on the basement dancefloor of Edinburgh’s swankiest nightclub, Hawke and Hunter, it weaves an intoxicating tale of four twenty-somethings on a night out. At 25, Hickson is no stranger to the Fringe. Her debut play Eight opened here in 2008 and transferred to the West End. She’s now working with the BBC, the Royal Court Theatre, the Traverse and Working Title on future projects. Catch her at the Fringe while you still can.

Sara Pascoe

There’s something of a female Russell Brand to Sara Pascoe. A gangly, awkward physical performer with mumbly Estuary English, she also has a vivid imagination and a wicked way with words. Her debut hour delivers odd flights of fancy about being Nietzsche’s lover, and a Lady Gaga spoof, “Just Read”, played on the ukelele. She’s divided the critics in the first week but is clearly one to watch for the future.

Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig

The young Chinese American playwright won the Yale Drama Series award for her first play, Lidless. David Hare described it as “an extraordinary and original attempt to show the enduring strain on the victims of the US’s deployment of torture at Guantanamo”. It’s the story of Alice, an interrogator at Guantanamo Bay, who has managed to block out with pills what she did there, and Bashir, a former detainee. Fifteen years on, they meet again.

Belt Up

Fresh out of York University, this thrusting young company are fast becoming a Fringe must-see. Winners at the National Student Drama Festival, this year they have brought eight productions to the Fringe, staged from morning to midnight in the scruffy, fire-damaged attic of C Soco. Whether Antigone or Kafka’s Metamorphosis, the focus is on site-specific atmospherics and discomfiting the audience. Some canny producer should find them an empty building in the West End - and quickly.

The Boy With Tape on His Face

Stand-up comedy with no talking. There’s a loud buzz gathering around the Fringe debut of New Zealand clown Sam Wills, who performs with black tape across his mouth as the Amelie soundtrack plays. It’s classic silent comedy with a twist, imagine Marcel Marceau teaching you the moves to “Blame it on the Boogie” and you’re halfway to understanding the appeal of this compelling act.

Abandoman

The new Flight of the Conchords? Having already won the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year and Musical Comedy Awards in London, the duo are selling out to whooping audiences at their first Fringe. Abandoman, “Ireland’s seventh-biggest hip-hop crew” (out of nine) are Rob Broderick and James Hancox, who over the course of an hour improvise a mixtape of the best songs never written, based on suggestions from the audience. Lightning quick, it has to be seen to be believed. Good article just one point Cook, Moore, Bennett and Miller actually performed in the official festival which was why the show was called “Beyond the Fringe”. Oh yeah and Bo Burham is not actually that good in the flesh.

Looking for more info about the people mentioned above? Check out http://www.adamandthewolf.com for daily podcasts with interviews, reviews and photos. We have interviews with Doc Brown

1A woman of taste and influence: In the first of an occasional series about insiders who have subtly changed the course of fashion, Irene Silvagni, one of the most idiosyncratic editors to have worked at French Vogue, talks about her long career, her passion for photography and her most recent role - as the European envoy of the Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto

There’s a strong showing from Texas, too. …

And how ’bout the Piedmont, the foothills of the Appalachians, which extend from Virginia all the way to Georgia and Alabama? All these areas have strong showings in blues and roots music.

When people think of Wisconsin, on the other hand, what comes to mind? First thought: cold. Second thought: snow, ass-deep on a ten-foot Indian. Third thought: cheese. Fourth thought: cheeseheads. Fifth: flyover country. Sixth and seventh thoughts: Lawrence Welk and Liberace. But the vast majority of people, even blues aficionados, don’t connect Wisconsin with the blues. So when the Grafton community decided to host a Paramount Blues Festival in 2006, people were confused. Wisconsin? Blues?

What most people don’t realize is that the original Paramount company - not the one that wears the name today, by the way - was formed in a humble chair company in an out-of-the-way small town not far from Lake Michigan, roughly 20 miles north of Milwaukee. The Wisconsin Chair Company was the progenitor of the original Paramount company, the same one that produced records and the same one that recorded roughly a quarter of the most important , and most expensive today, blues records in the world.

They include records by Charley Patton, Son House, Henry Townsend, Ma Rainey, Alberta Hunter, Skip James, the Reverend Thomas Dorsey, considered by most to be the founder of Gospel recording in this country, and many others. Also, there’s Blind Lemon Jefferson, whose name was the model for Blind Melon Chitlin, Cheech and Chong’s infamous comedy skit character.

Two of these people, James and House, were products of the successful quest of the early-1960s “blues hunters” who flourished briefly then, people who went out looking for these “race records” greats. They recorded in the late 1920s and very early 1930s, until the Great Depression blew holes in many businesses. And they hadn’t been heard of since.

Many were long gone, but these blues hunters did manage to scare up a few, and brought them back to the concert circuit, beginning with the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, the same time and place that Bob Dylan and Joan Baez were becoming household names.

Well, it’s time for Grafton and Wisconsin to get its due. And September 18th, during the fifth annual Grafton Blues Festival, is when it will come. A Mississippi Blues Trail marker will be erected during a special ceremony in Grafton.

While the vast majority of any leftovers from the old Paramount company are long gone, most of them destroyed, the town of Grafton finally got its act together, beginning around 2004, thanks mostly to the efforts begun by Angela Mack. Mack was enough of a thorn in the side of the city fathers and business leaders to get them interested, and more importantly, to get them moving. The results are astounding, and the Trail Marker is the one of those results.

You’d have to visit Grafton to realize just how much impact one bored housewife had on the blues industry, and on blues history, Paramount’s in particular. A good time to start would be September 17-18, 2010, during the annual blues festival held there. And if you’re interested in learning a little about this historic festival, Paramount Records, and these intriguing musicians, here are some links to explore:

ParamountsHome Grafton WI website

And if you’re interested in finding out even more, look for several new websites cranking up. At the moment, the sites are on hold. The sites’ founder, however, is working diligently to bring them to fruition. He says they’ll all be up and running by the end of the month. It’s too late for the Grafton Blues Festival, but check the association’s site for those details.

Paramount Blues Websites are www.ParamountBlues.com

This headline got my attention: George Karl is ready to go. I know, he’s the Denver Nuggets’ coach. But let’s face it, they were a prime Western Conference contender before Karl began battling neck and throat cancer and his departure sent them into a downward spiral. Just saying it’s good to see the guy back on the job. And the article includes this interesting quote in regard to his team being counted out this season: “Even without Melo Carmelo Anthony we’re a good team.” Hmm, is George already plotting strategy for an Anthony-less club?

OK, I came clean that I grew up in Oregon and I am a Trail Blazers fan. You’ve been kind to lay off me on that subject. Here’s a link to InsideHoops.com’s Rudy Fernandez trade rumors. Seems the Blazers will only part with the shooting guard for a first-round draft pick. I guess since they picked up Wesley Matthews DimeMag.com’s take on the five worst trades of all time, and the Lakers are mentioned in a couple.

And because you know I like levity, and in this case a strong case of absurdity, I’ll wrap it up with a story about a man who is suingMark Cuban, Jerry Buss, Jerry Reinsdorf and Melo.

–Dan Loumena

Photo: Ron Artest makes life miserable for Celtics forward Paul Pierce in the NBA Finals. Credit: Getty Images

Goooood Morning Lakerland! Man how sweet is it to wake up to all that transpired on the late shift. What a great bunch! We are good for a 24 hour clock of great posting here. Just like our Lakers, this blog is top of the heap. Thanks again Dan (you Blazer you) for doing your part to see us through.

On that article at Bleacher report (breaking down the top defenders), I will say this. The voting took place for defensive accolades after the regular season. Artest and his monster defense didn’t begin to dominate until the playoffs then hit a crescendo in the finals.

I expect that this year the voters will take into account what happened in the playoffs this summer and factor that into their voting. Sometimes you have to get someones attention before they begin to look at what you are doing. Mission accomplished for Artest.

Good Morning Laker fam!

Dan good posting on the top defenders.

Ron probably deserved it more than Kobe this year since he usually guarded the other teams toughest wing. One game early in the season Joe Johnson got off to a hot start, then Ron switched on him, shut him down and the Lakers won in a route.

But Artest best work was in the playoffs. Holding Durant, the best scorer in the game, to 35% shooting was phenomenal.

Dan,

Speaking of Wes Matthews…what was the Blazers thinking there. 5 yrs 34mil…Wow! That just didn’t make sense with all the wings they already had. Firing Pritchard right before the draft and then having him stay on for the draft. Strange days in Blazer country.

Looks like DJ Mbenga is signing on with the Nuggets for next season. Good for DJ.

http://thehoopsmarket.com/news/denver-nuggets,-close-to-signing-dj-mbenga.aspx?utm_source

You get a pass for being a blazers fan Dan. The fact that you broke the news without any Laker fans finding first means we won’t hold it against you.

After all, Portland does have one of the finest versions of the hippy chick in the country and is world-renowned for it’s breakfast cafes.

Wes

And can I say one thing? Speaking of breakfasts, I don’t want to be served thin cut bacon with my egss and home fries with onion and peppers. I’m not going to Denny’s either, so If anyone has plans of seeing me there someday, it’s not going to happen. Bacon so thin Kwai Chaing Kane had to walk over it to leave the temple does not belong on the table of plenty, though i guess in dire circumstances even thinly-cut bacon caould be a pretty special treat.

But in general, I don’t want to have anything to do with the thin bacon breakfast estiblashments.

Wes

Wes - Aunt Bee serves thick center-cut applewood cured bacon. She also serves Carolina inch-thick bone-in ham with blueberry pancakes, back-woods maple surple, over-easy eggs and grits. A big hunk of Clara Edwards cornbread, chicory coffee - and that’s Saturday morning in the jailhouse.

Want some?

Wes,

How is business on this beautiful college football Saturday? I know you got all tailgaters gearing up for the PU/ND interstate battle.

“This is not a exit.”

“Authorized personal only.”

“Sale on all summer top’s.”

Jeff Deck, a 30-year-old editor with no off switch, wasn’t the first person to recognize errors on signs. …

Nor the first to be bothered by them. But the difference with Deck was his decision to take action. He vowed to hunt down public spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes.

And fix them.

Deck and his accomplice, Benjamin Herson, have written a book, “The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time,” released earlier this month. They will visit Kansas City on Sept. 8 to talk about the book.

It began in 2007, after Deck, a magazine editor and creative writing major at Dartmouth College, attended his five-year college reunion. He was amazed at the noble-minded accomplishments achieved by classmates in such a short time.

Later, strolling through his town of Somerville, Mass., Deck came face to face with The Sign. He had noticed it before: “PRIVATE PROPERTY NO TRESSPASSING.” But this time that extra “s” inspired him.

“I started to plot out this national campaign for the greater good,” he said. “It’s been easier for people to point and mock rather than make an honest effort to clean up the textual landscape.”

Yes, he said that: “Clean up the textual landscape.”

And so began a 2 1/2 -month, clockwise journey around the United States. Herson, one of Deck’s friends at Dartmouth, put off a planned hike of the Appalachian Trail to join him for part of the trip.

They were 28-year-old word nerds with passion and a sense of humor. Their chariot was a 1997 Nissan Sentra called Callie. The rest was a work in progress.

So how does one hunt typos efficiently?

“We figured out after a couple false starts that you’re going to want to be in a place that has a pretty fair text density,” Deck said.

Downtowns and business thoroughfares were prime targets. Any place that attracted tourists could be gold mines. And they chose to limit their work to signs by native English speakers.

Deck decided the enterprise deserved a ridiculous name, so he coined the Typo Eradication Advancement League, TEAL for short. Over time, he said, the name became a useful banner when making introductions and explaining the mission.

Deck and Herson never intended to be angry grammarians, a la Lynne Truss, author of “Eats, Shoots & Leaves.” And certainly not “grammar vigilantes,” a term later pinned on them by a public official. Instead, they would be kind and gentle, they thought.

One of their first typo-fixing experiences came at a diner in Maryland, where a sign announced the dessert special as “bread puding.”

Deck asked the restaurant host if he could fix the sign and, getting no immediate negative reaction, pulled out a piece of chalk. This came from his Typo Correction Kit, which included such tools as Wite-Out, markers and crayons.

“Sharpies are one of the most important components of the kit,” Deck said. “Not just black Sharpies but Sharpies in a variety of colors.”

“Pudding” was quickly made whole. As it turned out on the 33-state tour, spelling errors weren’t as prevalent as punctuation mistakes. And among those, apostrophe errors were everywhere - omitted apostrophes in contractions and possessives, unnecessary apostrophes in plural nouns and apostrophes simply in the wrong places.

“Most of these mistakes can be avoided if people just take a second look at their text before releasing it to the world,” Deck said. “We’re trying to spread the gospel of proofreading.”

The variety of reactions from shop owners and employees made the experience as much a sociological expedition as an orthographic one.

When they pointed out that the large marquee sign jutting from a Chicago furniture store said “Milwuakee Furniture” instead of “Milwaukee,” the reaction inside was one of apathy.

In some cases, owners and clerks mused about whom to blame for a mistake. Others claimed misspellings were actually old-fashioned renditions of the words. Some got testy, Herson said, even though he used his retail experience in bookselling as a guide: Interact gently, back off quickly.

Sometimes, Deck and Herson were allowed to fix an error. Often, they were told by the staff that they had no authority to OK sign changes, no matter how obvious the mistake. Employees were genuinely afraid to take any workplace initiative.

In all, about 50 percent of the reactions were dismissive or defensive, about 25 percent apathetic and about 25 percent responsive, even appreciative.

In the last category, Herson said, was one person so interested in removing an unnecessary but difficult-to-obliterate apostrophe that she artfully turned it into a star, then decorated the rest of the sign with stars.

“That was just brilliant,” he said.

They sometimes attempted stealth corrections. But that changed after the great Grand Canyon caper.

A little more than a month into the trip, Deck and Herson ventured to the canyon’s south rim. It was to be a day off from typo hunting to enjoy spectacular scenery.

But, alas, at the canyon’s Desert View Watchtower, a historic stone building by architect Mary Colter, they spied mistakes on a sign describing a room. There was a missing comma in a series, which made a sentence difficult to read. And the possessive “women’s” was written with the apostrophe after the “s,” an all-too-common mistake. “Women” already is plural.

Without asking, they made a couple of strikes with Wite-Out and a marker. All fixed, quick and easy.

Weeks later, not long after the typo hunt had ended, a knock came at Deck’s apartment door. A uniformed fellow was delivering court documents “about the sign you vandalized at the Grand Canyon.”

The sign they thought amateurish actually was historical, created by the beloved Colter some seven decades ago. The National Park Service was not happy. Deck had been blogging about the typo hunt along the way, and a reader had alerted authorities about Colter’s sign.

Herson and Deck hadn’t realized the sign was significant, and they also hadn’t asked. They flew to Arizona, stood before a judge, pleaded guilty to the deed and agreed to pay $3,035 in restitution.

The news media picked up on the story, aided by a prosecutor’s news release, and their outlaw personas grew until they hardly recognized themselves.

While trying to avoid the angry grammarians label, suddenly they were chalk-slinging cowboys.

“We have been loyal, law-abiding citizens ever since - and before,” Deck said. “We now have a 100-percent policy of getting permission.”

They don’t want the Grand Canyon ballyhoo to obscure the mission. Besides spreading the “gospel of proofreading,” they want to bring attention, with their book and on their book tour, to the importance of phonics and grammar instruction in schools. Herson particularly advocates a “scripted teaching” system for young students. He likes the system’s explicit curricula and the “call and response” approach between teachers and students.

And, of course, they want to talk about public typos. (The “typo trip tally”: 437 found, 236 corrected.) And so do all the folks who’ve been coming to events for “The Great Typo Hunt.”

“Everybody has a typo story and a pet peeve,” Herson said.

MEET THE AUTHORS

Who: Benjamin D. Herson (left) of Beaverton, Ore., and Jeff Deck of Portsmouth, N.H., authors of “The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time.” Deck has held a variety of editorial positions, and Herson is a bookseller at Borders. Both have published short stories in literary magazines.

When: 6:30 p.m. Sept. 8

Where: Kansas City Library’s Plaza branch, 4801 Main St.

Details: No charge, but call 816-701-3407 for reservations

FIND A TYPO, TAKE A PICTURE

And send it to us. We’d like to see typos on signs of any kind, handwritten or professional. Tell us the sign’s approximate location (we’re not interested in embarrassing people, and we’re not recommending you “fix” the sign) and give us your name and daytime phone number for verification. We may publish your photo later in FYI. Send high-resolution photos to eeveld@kcstar.com . If you don’t have a photo but have a good story about a typo, we’ll take those, too.

This could be your tune-up for the “50 States, 50 Typos” challenge from the authors of “The Great Typo Hunt.” They want to collect the best typo correction in each state, to be announced after their fall book tour. Send to typo@greattypohunt.com

Signs of errors are all around us. Mostly we put up with them. Or maybe we smirk at mistakes, feel superior and move on.

“This is not a exit.”

“Authorized personal only.”

“Sale on all summer top’s.”

Jeff Deck, a 30-year-old editor with no off switch, wasn’t the first person to recognize errors on signs. Nor the first to be bothered by them. But the difference with Deck was his decision to take action. He vowed to hunt down public spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes.

And fix them.

Deck and his accomplice, Benjamin Herson, have written a book, “The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time,” released earlier this month. They will visit Kansas City on Sept. 8 to talk about the book.

It began in 2007, after Deck, a magazine editor and creative writing major at Dartmouth College, attended his five-year college reunion. He was amazed at the noble-minded accomplishments achieved by classmates in such a short time.

Later, strolling through his town of Somerville, Mass., Deck came face to face with The Sign. He had noticed it before: “PRIVATE PROPERTY NO TRESSPASSING.” But this time that extra “s” inspired him.

“I started to plot out this national campaign for the greater good,” he said. “It’s been easier for people to point and mock rather than make an honest effort to clean up the textual landscape.”

Yes, he said that: “Clean up the textual landscape.”

And so began a 2 1/2 -month, clockwise journey around the United States. Herson, one of Deck’s friends at Dartmouth, put off a planned hike of the Appalachian Trail to join him for part of the trip.

They were 28-year-old word nerds with passion and a sense of humor. Their chariot was a 1997 Nissan Sentra called Callie. The rest was a work in progress.

So how does one hunt typos efficiently?

“We figured out after a couple false starts that you’re going to want to be in a place that has a pretty fair text density,” Deck said.

Downtowns and business thoroughfares were prime targets. Any place that attracted tourists could be gold mines. And they chose to limit their work to signs by native English speakers.

Deck decided the enterprise deserved a ridiculous name, so he coined the Typo Eradication Advancement League, TEAL for short. Over time, he said, the name became a useful banner when making introductions and explaining the mission.

Deck and Herson never intended to be angry grammarians, a la Lynne Truss, author of “Eats, Shoots & Leaves.” And certainly not “grammar vigilantes,” a term later pinned on them by a public official. Instead, they would be kind and gentle, they thought.

One of their first typo-fixing experiences came at a diner in Maryland, where a sign announced the dessert special as “bread puding.”

Deck asked the restaurant host if he could fix the sign and, getting no immediate negative reaction, pulled out a piece of chalk. This came from his Typo Correction Kit, which included such tools as Wite-Out, markers and crayons.

“Sharpies are one of the most important components of the kit,” Deck said. “Not just black Sharpies but Sharpies in a variety of colors.”

“Pudding” was quickly made whole. As it turned out on the 33-state tour, spelling errors weren’t as prevalent as punctuation mistakes. And among those, apostrophe errors were everywhere - omitted apostrophes in contractions and possessives, unnecessary apostrophes in plural nouns and apostrophes simply in the wrong places.

“Most of these mistakes can be avoided if people just take a second look at their text before releasing it to the world,” Deck said. “We’re trying to spread the gospel of proofreading.”

The variety of reactions from shop owners and employees made the experience as much a sociological expedition as an orthographic one.

When they pointed out that the large marquee sign jutting from a Chicago furniture store said “Milwuakee Furniture” instead of “Milwaukee,” the reaction inside was one of apathy.

In some cases, owners and clerks mused about whom to blame for a mistake. Others claimed misspellings were actually old-fashioned renditions of the words. Some got testy, Herson said, even though he used his retail experience in bookselling as a guide: Interact gently, back off quickly.

Sometimes, Deck and Herson were allowed to fix an error. Often, they were told by the staff that they had no authority to OK sign changes, no matter how obvious the mistake. Employees were genuinely afraid to take any workplace initiative.

In all, about 50 percent of the reactions were dismissive or defensive, about 25 percent apathetic and about 25 percent responsive, even appreciative.

In the last category, Herson said, was one person so interested in removing an unnecessary but difficult-to-obliterate apostrophe that she artfully turned it into a star, then decorated the rest of the sign with stars.

“That was just brilliant,” he said.

They sometimes attempted stealth corrections. But that changed after the great Grand Canyon caper.

A little more than a month into the trip, Deck and Herson ventured to the canyon’s south rim. It was to be a day off from typo hunting to enjoy spectacular scenery.

But, alas, at the canyon’s Desert View Watchtower, a historic stone building by architect Mary Colter, they spied mistakes on a sign describing a room. There was a missing comma in a series, which made a sentence difficult to read. And the possessive “women’s” was written with the apostrophe after the “s,” an all-too-common mistake. “Women” already is plural.

Without asking, they made a couple of strikes with Wite-Out and a marker. All fixed, quick and easy.

Weeks later, not long after the typo hunt had ended, a knock came at Deck’s apartment door. A uniformed fellow was delivering court documents “about the sign you vandalized at the Grand Canyon.”

The sign they thought amateurish actually was historical, created by the beloved Colter some seven decades ago. The National Park Service was not happy. Deck had been blogging about the typo hunt along the way, and a reader had alerted authorities about Colter’s sign.

Herson and Deck hadn’t realized the sign was significant, and they also hadn’t asked. They flew to Arizona, stood before a judge, pleaded guilty to the deed and agreed to pay $3,035 in restitution.

The news media picked up on the story, aided by a prosecutor’s news release, and their outlaw personas grew until they hardly recognized themselves.

While trying to avoid the angry grammarians label, suddenly they were chalk-slinging cowboys.

“We have been loyal, law-abiding citizens ever since - and before,” Deck said. “We now have a 100-percent policy of getting permission.”

They don’t want the Grand Canyon ballyhoo to obscure the mission. Besides spreading the “gospel of proofreading,” they want to bring attention, with their book and on their book tour, to the importance of phonics and grammar instruction in schools. Herson particularly advocates a “scripted teaching” system for young students. He likes the system’s explicit curricula and the “call and response” approach between teachers and students.

And, of course, they want to talk about public typos. (The “typo trip tally”: 437 found, 236 corrected.) And so do all the folks who’ve been coming to events for “The Great Typo Hunt.”

“Everybody has a typo story and a pet peeve,” Herson said.

MEET THE AUTHORS

Who: Benjamin D. Herson (left) of Beaverton, Ore., and Jeff Deck of Portsmouth, N.H., authors of “The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time.” Deck has held a variety of editorial positions, and Herson is a bookseller at Borders. Both have published short stories in literary magazines.

When: 6:30 p.m. Sept. 8

Where: Kansas City Library’s Plaza branch, 4801 Main St.

Details: No charge, but call 816-701-3407 for reservations

FIND A TYPO, TAKE A PICTURE

And send it to us. We’d like to see typos on signs of any kind, handwritten or professional. Tell us the sign’s approximate location (we’re not interested in embarrassing people, and we’re not recommending you “fix” the sign) and give us your name and daytime phone number for verification. We may publish your photo later in FYI. Send high-resolution photos to eeveld@kcstar.com . If you don’t have a photo but have a good story about a typo, we’ll take those, too.

This could be your tune-up for the “50 States, 50 Typos” challenge from the authors of “The Great Typo Hunt.” They want to collect the best typo correction in each state, to be announced after their fall book tour. Send to typo@greattypohunt.com

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It was over homegrown tomatoes. A combination of hundred-degree days, lack of rain and tomato blight has seriously limited the crop, so, even though I got there early, the early, early bird tomato junkies had pretty much cleaned out the week’s offering. …

A woman ahead of me got the last of the good ones at Bob Golay’s stand. I seriously considered, in a fit of desperation, pilfering hers but thought better of it. Instead, I decided to take Bob up on his offer to sell me some small green ones along with a couple of boxes of his sweet, ripe grape tomatoes. He threw in some culls for free.

Singing, “Home grown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes. Ain’t nothin’ in the world like homegrown tomatoes,” I headed up the line to buy bread, eggs, cantaloupe, cucumbers, grapes and corn - and then load it in my Pathfinder.

On the way home I crossed Broadway to have a look at Prichett Pavilion where, as part of the Little Balkans Day festivities this coming Saturday, Sept. 4th, I will again be the master of ceremonies.

Music lovers reading this will no doubt be pleased to know that all the acts on Saturday will be in the shade of the pavilion. No sweating in the sun on the sizzling asphalt at 4th and Broadway. Hooray!

The day kicks off at 10 a.m. with Treiber and Robinson, a local two-man “Country and Red Dirt music” act. After performing solo for years, Dustin Treiber and Chase Robinson got together at a songwriters workshop in Pittsburg in 2007 and began writing and performing together. They made it all the way to the final eight in CMT’s Music City Madness competition in 2009.

Local 50 Camp legend Johnnie Zibert takes the stage at 11 a.m. Playing and singing solo, while sitting on a stool (or his accordion case), he’ll take us from the present-day Idle Hour Club in Frontenac all the way back to the days when live polka reigned in fellowship halls and assorted joints in the area; bestowing enough joy on miners and their families to forget about the woe of another week of drudgery. Polka music has aptly been described by Garrison Keillor as “Prozac without the prescription.”

At 11:30, I’ll lead an old-timey Audience Sing-a-long. Tunes like “This Land Is Your Land,” “You Are My Sunshine,” “Don’t Fence Me In,” “Down By The Riverside,” and “Amazing Grace.” Come out and join me. (If you sing in tune, it’s harmony. If you happen to be atonal, it’s jazz.) Remember, God respects us when we pray, but he loves us when we sing!

After the audience sing-a-long, I expect we’ll be in just the right mood for the noon performance of the TriStatesmen Barbershop Chorus, which is comprised of men ranging from their early 20s to late 80s. Members come from all over Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

Lovers of rhythm and blues and classic rock will be pleased to know that the much-acclaimed 33 1/3 (John Gobetz, Max Barnett and Larry Douglas) will be performing at 1 p.m. When I say rock, I don’t mean Gibraltar, and when I say roll, I don’t mean Danish, but that old-time, boogie-woogie rock and roll!

Lovers of the spoken word will want to be in the audience at 2 p.m. for White Buffalo. Adam “Young Jack Kerouac” Jameson will share a selection of his poems (most recently published in The Little Balkans Review). Award-winning poet and teacher, Al “Pug” Ortolani Jr., who last year restarted the The Little Balkans Review with Wayne Bockelman and Michael Hogard, will also read poetry. As the third member of the group, yours truly will weave stories and songs from the days of the White Buffalo Caf , which operated in the Stilwell at the corner of 7th and Broadway in Pittsburg in the early 1980s.

John Kendrick & Sons will take the stage at 3 p.m. Kendrick co-founded the Fort Scott Country Music Jubilee, a country music stage show now in its eighth year. Fans everywhere enjoy his renditions of classic songs by Bob Wills, Jimmy Rodgers, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. His sons will join him to play traditional bluegrass tunes.

Kufara Marimba Ensemble performs at 4 p.m. Kufara means “to be joyous.” Kufara’s music is transcribed for marimba from the mbira, an ancient Zimbabwean instrument. Supported by the heartbeat of the hosho (gourd rattles) and the drums, the powerful vibrations and hypnotic rhythms of the bass and baritone blend with the beautiful melodies of the alto and soprano to create an intense, unforgettable musical experience!

At 5 p.m., Jamison, whose new CD, “JAMISON, All of Me,” was released on June 1, will perform original songs of praise and worship which blend elements of rock, blues and country. With him will be the Far from Perfect Band, comprised of Danny Hartley on percussion, Daryl Needham on bass and Kent Daniel on guitar.

As in years past, I will invite audience members to play the “Who Wants To Win A Loaf Of Hard Crust Bread” trivia game between acts. And, of course, share puns and jokes in the spirit of turn of the century vaudeville shows, at which, I recall reading somewhere, it was not uncommon for audience members to throw tomatoes at a comedian who wasn’t very funny.

Which is why, even though there’s nothin’ in the world that I like better than homegrown tomatoes, I’m taking some consolation that, at the Farmers Market just across Broadway from the pavilion, what few tomatoes there are available will likely be gone by showtime.

J.T. Knoll is a writer, speaker and prevention and wellness coordinator at Pittsburg State University. He also operates Knoll Training, Consulting & Counseling Services in Pittsburg. He can be reached at 231-0499.

Instead of taking us on a romantic journey that shows the building chemistry between the leads, Burstein makes us passive observers. The approach is about as entertaining as watching fruit flies in a jar. …

Burstein never decides what kind of humor she’s going for, fair or foul. The movie stumbles from light romantic comedy to gross-out humor, creating a scattered mess.

The director shouldn’t take all the blame. A movie this bad takes a combined effort.

Geoff LaTulippe’s script looks at what happens when two people — Erin (Drew Barrymore) and Garrett (Justin Long) — fall in love at the wrong time, during a summer in New York. She’s only in the Big Apple for an internship and has to return to San Francisco. The couple tries to survive on opposite coasts.

It’s a pathetic script. LaTulippe actually tries to get laughs out of a scene about spray-on tans. That’s a joke so old it dates back to Ross on “Friends.”

LaTulippe misses every comedy opportunity. Long’s character works for a record label and has to promote a bad band. That opens up lots of joke potential. So does the pain of flying. But for a movie about two people being miles apart, there’s very little airport humor.

With the void of romantic sparks, a script with fewer laughs than a funeral pamphlet and such poor direction, “Going the Distance” is more endurance test than good-time movie.

Fresnobee.com will launch a new story-comment system on Thursday, Sept. 9. The system, called Disqus, will allow readers to:

–Log in using online identities from fresnobee.com, Facebook, Twitter or Disqus. –Share comments on Facebook –Comment on a story or reply to another comment (these are known as “threaded” discussions). –Sort comments by rating or popularity, as well as by time posted. –Subscribe to comments by email or RSS.

We think the new system is a big step up. Unfortunately, there are a couple of minor annoyances:

–Readers who want to use an avatar will have to upload one to Facebook, Twitter or Disqus and comment using those accounts. Sorry about that! –Comments made on the old system will disappear 24 hours after Disqus goes live.

This meeting of the St. Matthews/Lyndon chapter of Toastmasters is a special one. there’s a humorous speaking contest today. It’s at the unfunny time of 6:45am, but it doesn’t take long to forget the early hour, its a collegial group of several dozen including some guests invited for the contest.

St. Matthews Toastmaster Michelle Peterson, a postal service employee, says a friend suggested she join the organization.

“I needed to practice on speaking more, because I am very comfortable with people that I know in small groups, but in unfamiliar situations with new people, I tend to be very quiet,” she said.

Michelle has not only become more comfortable speaking in public and in large social groups, she’s worked up the courage to begin her spot in the contest with a brief song … ..part of her seven minute presentation called “Finding My Voice.”

“At the age of 40-something I decided it was time to conquer the art and skill of speaking to strangers, people my mother told me never to talk to, and larger audiences,” she told the group.

Graham Honaker University of Louisville. He trotted out a Powerpoint presentation to accompany his monologue on how his infant daughter learned some of her bad habits from some prominent figures in the news.

“She’s my only daughter, I love to spoil her, right. Here she is with Elmo, another prominent redhead. I like to give her these gifts when she did something good, when she finished a meal, when she slept through the night, that was rare. But she wanted gifts at any point in time, whenever she did anything good or bad. And I thought, where did she learn that you could get and award or gift for a accomplishing

absolutely nothing?” he said.

And up pops a slide of President Obama accepting his Nobel Peace Prize last year.

Then there’s John Blim (below right), marketing director for the Crusade for Children. He says Toastmasters helps its members overcome that paralyzing fear that can come with addressing a group of people, a needed advantage in the competitive business world.

“I do a lot of presentations for my job, and what’s best about this club is the feedback you get from the other members. It’s not about me it’s about me, helping, and that’s what makes it really good,” Blim said.

His presentation was entitled, “If My Kids Hear This, They’ll Kill Me.” In which he shared anecdotes about living with two daughters ages 10 and 12 and about getting older.

Other contest participants include Brian Rogers (below left) Detroit who’s in the insurance business.

He talked about his experience with “Southern hockey,” specifically, a night out rooting for the IceHawks, Louisville’s now-defunct minor league hockey team. And there was Keith Rouda (below right), a business talent recruiter, who talked about his problem with procrastination.

“I would say today’s more difficult than the normal meeting, because you have to give a good public speech but you also incorporate humor, and making people laugh or trying to make people laugh can often be very challenging, so you have to combine two things with the contest we had today,” he said.

Honaker moved on to the next level of competition this month. The Toastmasters continue their regular get-togethers, talking, speaking and offering support.

And, after also collecting a stunning 4-0 win at Portishead on Tuesday night, Taylor sees no reason why the Eagles cannot challenge for top spot.

“The league is wide open this season,” he said. …

“You would think Merthyr would be favourites for the title and Hengrove will be up there.

“I am sure Oldland Abbotonians will be challenging and Gillingham won’t be far away. But there have already been some strange results and it is a lot more open than people might have thought.

“There is no reason why we can’t challenge. I have always said that we are a team who are going to be top 10 minimum.

“But going on results, if we can get our act together there is no reason why we can’t aim higher.

“We are making progress and if we keep on going the way we are then we will grow as a team and a club.

“The difference is we have got a bigger squad this year and that makes a big difference. It is all shaping up nicely.”

Steve Rowland Sam Kemp were also on the scoresheet in the eight-goal thriller on Saturday.

Taylor singled out Rowland for special praise and also saluted the contribution made by strike partner Kemp.

“Steve Rowland was superb,” said Taylor.

“He said before the game that if he scored he would dedicate the goal to Adam Stansfield

Marketing films now requires a broader knowledge of how kids now communicate, and how information travels from person to person. It isn’t just a matter of releasing trailers and hoping for the best, or planting opinions online. Studios are now requires to know their monster well. Take the recent unfurling of the Social Network movie trailer. First we had the trailer, then we had the trailer parody, and then another parody. Now, the perception of the Social Network has been blended with ubiquitous snark.

There is also the matter of Facebook itself, and how marketing this film can end up being a snake eating its own tail. Will those who consider themselves early adopters, the cool kids in the room, suddenly conclude that Facebook is over because the movie made it uncool? No way, most people say

I am wondering, though, if the parodies online are the beginning of something bigger in terms of the film’s target demo. Are the parodies affectionate or are they potentially harmful?

After seeing Eat, Pray, Love I wasn’t surprised that it didn’t do as well. While it is a sincere, feelgood movie in many aspects, it is also a film that doesn’t tell a good story. Flipped does. It tells a very good story about the two altering points of view. With several good performances and a great script, Flipped feels out of a different time. I thought it might have played better as a TV movie, but it is even too sweet for TV. Kids and tweens expect a healthy heaping of snark now, because they aren’t raised on sweet stories. They have cut their teeth on The Simpsons, South Park, and untolds amounts of shows that make fun of sincerity.

Maybe Rob Riener was thinking he’d introduce this kind of sweet and simple sincerity back into the collective tweener world, but alas, after taking my own 12 year-old to see it, she walked out saying “nothing really happened.”

What kinds of stories are going to be represented this year in the Oscar race, and will they match the mood of right now, or will they slightly miss the mark and find themselves rediscovered on down the road? Does having your film hit at exactly the right time mean it will be forever dated to 2010, with no room to be remembered? Yes, it almost always does.

Avatar Star Wars and Avatar side by side you will see that there isn’t a lot of difference, story-wise - they both give us what we want and what we’re familiar with. They are fairy tales and archetypes. They were both huge hits - and both will be remembered well. The difference, in terms of perception, is that Avatar was released in the YouTube age when a Pocahontas parody spreads wildly, finally making its way to the New York Times. Avatar, in many ways, is conjoined with YouTube culture not just here in America but internationally. I recently spent time with an Italian family and the 14 year-old son had not only seen the Avatar/Pocahontas parody, but he’d made one of his own.

I don’t know if the Avatar/Pocahontas thing had anything to do with whether or not it won Best Picture, I suspect not. But it is worth noting that once a film makes that jump to parody-land, even though it’s respected, part of it becomes a joke. Brokeback Mountain met the same fate, as I recall.

Maybe it is better than the fate of The Hurt Locker with people repeating the refrain that “it only won because she was a woman.” While I think it was a strong deciding factor, to finally break the chokehold of precedent and open doors for women directors, I also think the film wasn’t particularly sentimental. It didn’t have a feelgood ending, and it exposed something we all needed to face: our involvement in Iraq. It was also great filmmaking. But let’s not go there, shall we?

Conversely, Slumdog Millionaire was a film that did have an impossibly happy ending, and was sincere - it had no problem with marketing across all age groups. But the difference was that Slumdog already had built-in tragedy because of the poverty in India. Without that, the film might not have been such a powerful force in the Oscar race; I don’t think it is necessarily a matter of the Academy having a stronger taste for feelgood films.

What will drive the Social Network (already anointed by Scott Foundas and Peter Travers) isn’t that it’s about Facebook, but that it’s written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher. The director drives the Best Picture race, and unless it really flies off the rails and becomes a YouTube meme, it remains one of our highest hopes for greatness. No pressure.

There has also been a bit of a discussion about the historical facts of Facebook. This article draws the comparison between The Social Network and The Hurricane (starring Denzel Washington). They wrongly claim that the historical inaccuracies of The Hurricane cost the film its Oscar, but I don’t really agree. Denzel Washington was brilliant in the role, the film’s only Oscar nomination. He lost to Kevin Spacey.

I don’t think anyone is going to look at The Social Network and think they’re seeing a true story. Sorkin and Fincher are artists. This will be very much their own take on both this story and the ultimate impact of Facebook and social networking on our lives. No one is going to give two shits about the whiny founders of the company. It is the broader context that will ultimately make this film timely and profound.

The way one tends to view the Oscar race is from the top down. Before the films have been seen, one pays attention to the director, the writer, the studio, sometimes the actors involved, and the last thing we look at is the plot. Traditionally, it has been hard to break this model.

Now we must also take into consideration the atmosphere of movie love online. Marketing in the age of cynicism or snark requires sensitivity.

No one is going to say that the Oscars have to be dumbed down, or that Academy members necessarily pay attention to what’s happening online, but there is trickle down, it does impact PERCEPTION. In the Oscar race, perception is everything.

I personally don’t feel like ridding my personality of sincerity. I watched and loved every minute of Flipped, knowing that I didn’t belong to this world, particularly, but not minding. I don’t think we gain anything by giving that up. The message of Flipped was to beyond what’s right in front you and see the art in everything. It was also about being brave enough to embrace the oddities.

Therefore, I hope that the AMPAS can model similar bravery. Don’t wonder whether or not tweens or audiences will be too cool to let the sunshine in. Oscar can still lead the way.

Thomas Houseman says:
Monday, August 30, 2010 at 8:25am

I remember there was lots of talk when A Beautiful Mind came out that it was one of the least accurate biopics ever made. That didn’t seem to slow it down. If there’s love for the film, then all of the controversy is forgotten. Conversely, if everyone is only focused on the controversy, it means the film is in trouble. Gangs of New York proved that.

Sasha Stone says:
Monday, August 30, 2010 at 8:27am

Yes indeed. Although Gangs of New York did not suffer, I don’t think, because of controversy; it just wasn’t the right kind of Oscar movie, and probably not good enough ultimately. I say this as a diehard Scorsese fan.

Shy says:
Monday, August 30, 2010 at 8:47am

Scott Piligrim anyone? Nine? Australia? Killers? When they created such a big buzz months before release and before anyone saw it . But when the movies came out it turned out that public has own opinion. And even if the Internet will be full of ads of that movies it still will not make people see it.

They impose it so much. Every week they tell us that Social Network will be such masterpiece, will be so great, so good that i already hate the movie. And i understand when story of poor kids in India, or war in Iraq, or Avatar, or even the story and tragedy of man who was aging backwards. And that was masterpieces. But when THEY TELL ME that i have to watch how some boring rich dudes are suing each other for money because it is masterpiece i don’t get it. Who cares about those idiots. I watched the trailer 3-4 times, i tried to see something in there . But every time it just boring and i don’t care about those characters at all.

Ibad says:
Monday, August 30, 2010 at 8:52am

I think the viral parodying of movies helps assures it a spot in the public consciousness as a classic - a movie that just struck a chord here when it came out and one that’s worth remembering in the future. I hated Avatar, but I do think that’ll be its fate, along with other satirized movies like Brokeback Mountain, No Country for Old Men (mostly Javier Bardem’s performance is the one mimicked), and There Will Be Blood (ditto for DDL). As for The Social Network, I already see that kind of thing happening, and I see the quotes from the trailer being remembered as catchphrases of sorts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

Sam says:
Monday, August 30, 2010 at 9:01am

I didn’t even know there was controversy surrounding Gangs of New York, prior to its release.

Alon Goldstein

In the hottest week of the year, the hottest in a 100 years, Ramallah is on winter time. …

The second you cross the Qalandiya checkpoint, you have to move your clock back an hour. “It’s 42.5 degrees (about 108 degrees Fahrenheit) outside right now,” the taxi driver Abu Issa proudly declares, “It’s never been this hot here before.” So why the winter time? “Because of Ramadan,” he explains, ‘There are prayers at 4 am, it’s hard to get up when it’s dark.”

Inside the cab is not much better. The air conditioner only seems to be partially working: It’s making noise and letting out air. Hot air. Ramallah is sizzling, but despite Ramadan, people are walking around in the streets. Some businesses are open, even those that sell or serve food. And at night, they say it’s merry at night here.

If in Israel they speak of the real estate bubble, Ramallah is simply real estate. New buildings in every neighborhood, in every corner. Cranes found at every vacant lot. The stones used are Jerusalem stones, and the glass - tinted high-tech glass. A year ago, a three-bedroom apartment in a good area would cost $90,000. Today, such an apartment would go for $130,000. The construction of a new hotel, a Movenpick branch, is currently being concluded in the city. Not far from us is a prestigious caf Nova, which is designed in pure white, Rothschild Boulevard-style. Very few security officers are deployed through the city. Zero patrol cars, zero sirens, peace and quiet that one can envy. The main difference between Ramallah and Jerusalem, for example, is the absence of fast food chains. You won’t find a McDonald’s branch here.

Dome of the Rock remains

To get to Ramallah I left my house and took a taxi. We entered Qalandiya via Route 443, where I met with the Geneva Initiative people, and from there, straight into the Tel Aviv of the Palestinian Authority. For a whole day I ran around between various government buildings. I went in and out of three PA officials’ offices in three different parts of the city. At the end of the day I took a cab and went back to my house in the Sharon, a 55-minute drive away.

All this without being stopped once. Not at the entrance to Ramallah, and not on the way out. I also wasn’t’ stopped at the entrance to buildings in the city, or government offices. No one asked who I was, no one asked me for any ID. No one searched me. Hod Hashron - Ramallah, without any trouble. Just get in a car and hit the road. If I wanted to, I could have taken a weapon with me and kidnapped any one of the officials I met with. If they wanted to, any passerby could have crammed me into the trunk of a car and gotten rid of me forever. Even now, a week after my return, it’s hard for me to conceive the ease of the trip there. Either peace has arrived but somebody simply forgot to tell us, or our whole affair with them is so tangled, that it can only be changed with the random thrust of a sword. If I had to place a bet, I’d choose the second option.

I arrived in Ramallah on invitation by the Geneva Initiative activists. They have come to shoot a new campaign with Palestinian Authority officials. Using short clips and large posters, the Palestinian leaders will try to convince us, the Israeli public, that the ball is in our court. The campaign was launched on Sunday, first on the internet, and in the coming days also in ads in newspapers and on billboards. In the lead roles: Jibril Rajoub, Saeb Erekat, Yasser Abed Rabbo and more. The target audience: The Israelis. The message: “We are partners for peace. What about you?” The funding, by the way, totaling millions of shekels, is mainly American.

Gadi Baltiansky, director-general of the Geneva Initiative’s Israel headquarters, and director Ron Asulin are in charge of filming. The choice of locations is exhausting. The PA officials’ offices are scattered, it seems, randomly around the city. Saeb Erekat’s office, for example is located in a building with a sign that says, “The authority for the advancement of women’s status”, but on the first floor we actually found a furniture store and a printing press.

Jibril Rajoub’s bureau is situated in the Palestinian Football Federation’s building, where he serves as the federation’s chairman in addition to his role in Fatah. The reason for this chaos, my hosts explain, is the Palestinian dissatisfaction with viewing Ramallah as the PA’s capital. “Right now we don’t have a choice,” one of them explains. “When we establish a state, we will build the most beautiful government institutions in Jerusalem.”

In Erekat’s office, the camera crew members hold a long debate over whether he should be filmed near his desk or in the seating area. The seating area is boring, but beyond his desk hangs a large poster of the Dome of the Rock, alongside pictures of Yasser Arafat and President Mahmoud Abbas with a Palestinian flag in front of them. Erekat’s assistants are asked to remove the flag. After brief negotiations, a compromise is reached: The Dome of the Rock and the flag stay, and the printer that was hiding in the corner ruining the shot goes. One of the Israelis on the crew mumbled that this is how the actual peace negotiations must be. “They talk and talk, and in the end come up with miserable achievements like a printer.”

Asulin asks Erekat to open with the word “Shalom” in Hebrew. “It would be effective,” he explains in English. And, action. Erekat speaks in a reconciling tone, and immediately admits that he know the Palestinian leadership has let us, the Israelis, down, over the past 20 years. “But I know it is still possible,” he says. “Let’s save Palestinian and Israeli lives.” The crew members are pleased. “That was perfect,” Asulin declares. “I believed you, bring a treaty and I’ll sign it on the spot.”

With Jibril Rajoub, on the other hand, Asulin had to work hard to get the word “partner” out of him. Rajoub would rather first declare that all settlers are insane and that the Jews should be ashamed to have Baruch Marzel among their people. Two minutes earlier, he was joking with his guests saying, “How many people did you bring? This really is occupation” and, “Why so many pictures, is this going on Facebook?”. But during the shots he was aggressive and defiant, more threatening than required. Later, I ask Gadi if he’s concerned that Rajoub’s clip may bring about the opposite reaction to what they are hoping for. “That’s Rajoub,” he apologizes, “After all he’s a former terrorist who spent 17 years in prison. But I know he is committed to this.”

I ask him what the purpose of the campaign is. “The perception in the Israeli public is that there is no partner for peace on the Palestinian side,” Gadi responds. “We all want peace, but don’t believe there is anyone to talk to. We are trying to change this perception, to explain that there is a partner, and that the problem is actually with us.”

And what about a campaign on the Palestinian street?

“We are carrying out a campaign of leaders, the Palestinian leadership. With the message of two states for two peoples. We are arguing that it’s important to reach a permanent settlement, urgently. We did not take Israeli leaders because the parallel layer of Israeli leaders doesn’t feel this way. Most of the Israeli leaders even object to negotiations. This is not the case with the Palestinians. With the exception of Hamas, they are all speaking in the same voice.”

How do you think the campaign will be received by the public in Israel? Do you really think Rajoub, with his problematic past and aggressive tone, will convince us that there is a partner?

“Look, you don’t have to love them, but their messages are credible. We are not trying to whitewash. Our goal is that the Israeli public address the matter at hand. It doesn’t have to identify with or love the Palestinians. We got used to calling an abnormal life normal. I want to shake the indifference off of us.”

‘Let me make threats too’

Our last stop is the office of Yasser Abed Rabbo, who turns out to be a pleasant man with a great sense of humor. Filming starts and Abed Rabbo waves his finger at the camera. Asulin, the director, stops the cameras and says, “When you wave your finger, you are actually warning me. You are making threats.” Abed Rabbo is not confused. “What do you care? Let me threaten you for once instead of you threatening us.” Meanwhile, his cellular phone rings. His wife is on the line. “I can’t talk now,” he says, “I am surrounded by 12 Israelis. “But some of them are Arabs,” someone says. Abed Rabbo retorts sarcastically, “Those are even worse.”

On the way back, the driver, Abu Issa, decides to take us through an alternate road. “There is a big mess at the checkpoint now, two-kilometer-long traffic. But I know another way, we will go from there in a second.” Abu Issa is an Israeli-Arab, who lives in east Jerusalem. When Abed Rabbo said earlier “those are even worse,” he was talking about Abu Issa and his kind. On the western outskirts of Ramallah, we pass by luxurious neighborhoods of villas. “Look at this,” Abu Issa says. “Look how they live. I don’t understand what they want. They should first take care of the poor, like me, who live in a house that you wouldn’t even let goats into. Then they should deal with you.”

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