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ulken.com · Eric Ulken’s adventures in online journalism

On stage tonight: Strict Scrutiny and the Chilling Effects

I was sitting in my communication law class the other night, trying to make sense of all the legalese, and I got to thinking: Some of these terms would look great on a theater marquee or the cover of an album. So, I give you five (potentially) great band names ...

‘Bend it Like Beckham’ meets ‘The Matrix’

'Shaolin Soccer' is the Asian sensation that's not exactly sweeping the nation. The film's premise -- combining martial arts with soccer -- is so bizarre that I had to watch the trailer. Hilarious.

Rain, snow, sun: Which would you pick?

Compare these actual recent weather forecasts for my three "homes" and tell me which one looks best. (These are all from Tuesday, Feb. 10, but I am just getting around to posting them.) Mandeville, La. (where mom lives): Fly Creek, N.Y. (where dad lives): Los Angeles, Calif. (where I live): So, you see, ...

Long drive to N.Y.

A day out in Zurich

Lost in Louisiana


January 25th 2011
Category: News No Comments

Back to the newsroom, off to Seattle

When I left the Los Angeles Times in the depths of the 2008 financial crisis -- a time when the newspaper industry's future looked particularly bleak -- I wondered wistfully if I was walking away from my last newspaper job. I'd worked for newspaper companies my entire career, and despite ...
January 23rd 2011
Category: Views One Comment

Libraries: An appreciation

If I couldn't be a journalist, I think I'd be a librarian. I decided this after spending a lot of time in libraries in the last couple of years and interacting with some very smart (and completely unstuffy) librarians. Maybe it's because, as it turns out, journalists and librarians have a ...
August 20th 2010
Category: Idea file 3 Comments

Flash in the pan?

I am an ex-Flash user. I uninstalled the Flash plug-in on my primary browser about a month ago, and I haven't looked back. Here's how it happened: Back when Apple announced that its forthcoming iPad would lack Flash support, it sounded to me like a boneheaded move. If a device built ...
March 21st 2010
Category: Events No Comments

Continue the discussion here

Thanks to all who turned out today at UBC Robson Square for my workshop on online tools and techniques for journalists. I'm creating this post as a way to continue the discussion online. If you have questions or comments on the topics we discussed, please share them in the comments, ...
March 6th 2010
Category: News No Comments

Checking in from Canada

In the four months since my last post — yes, I'm a terrible blogger — I've moved to Vancouver and started teaching at the University of British Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. Among other things, I'm coordinating the school's Integrated Journalism course, required of all first-year students, and advising some ...