Susan notes: Thanks to TED for making TED Talks downloadable and embeddable, and for providing the biographical information that goes along with them.

Copyright law's grip on film, music and software barely touches the fashion industry ... and fashion benefits in both innovation and sales, says Johanna Blakley. At TEDxUSC 2010, she talks about what all creative industries can learn from fashion's free culture.

As the Deputy Director of the Norman Lear Center (a media-focused think tank at the University of Southern California) Johanna Blakley spends much of her time exploring how our entertainment interacts with our political, commercial and social habits.

She is especially interested in the surprising impact of intellectual property rights on innovation, organizing conferences around the lack of creative ownership in fashion as well as technology and the ownership of creative content.

The latest party circuit princess to wow the night clubs and festivals of France with her DJ skills is a British granny who took a shine to the decks after going to a birthday disco for her grandson.

Clad in her leopard-skin shrug and dark sunglasses,

69-year-old Ruth Flowers has conquered French clubland from the Cannes Film Festival to the top Paris nightspots with a mix of old-school hits, electrobeat and bling-bling style.

"It started really when my grandson had a birthday party ... they always have a little disco, don't they, after the party," Flowers told Reuters, lounging on a white sofa in a Paris hotel in a green satin bomber jacket and trademark shades contrasting with her white hair.

"I went along quite late and the gentlemen at the door said: 'I don't think you want to go in there, Madame'. And I said: 'Well I rather think I do,' " she said.

"I went in and it was very noisy and the lights were flashing, but there was an awful lot of energy and joy."

While Flowers, a trained singer, was more used to church songs, German lieder and classic pop, she was so taken by the party that she decided there and then to become a disc jockey.

"I had no idea at the time of electro music," she said.

However, as someone with interests ranging from history to theatre and fashion, she was willing to learn.

A friend put her in touch with French producer Aurelien Simon who taught her how to spin and helped her to develop a style, sprinkling her techno sets with tunes from Abba, Queen and the Rolling Stones.

"In the beginning it was just a little joke but it became serious," Simon told Reuters by phone. "It took four years because she had to learn to use the machines. I explained the basics of electro music, and then she created her own style."

Eye-catching earrings and her sartorial style make Flowers a standout when she works the turntables, nodding to the beat and clapping her hands above her head.

Click here to read the full story:
By Rakhee Radia
Montreal Gazette
Photo Credit:
Reuters

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Thanks to:
Lynn Harris
Author of Unwritten Rules:
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In Today's Organisations

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey, one of the most powerful women in the world today, delivered the commencement address at Stanford University on June 16, 2008.

Here is the full text of her speech (to watch the video, click here):

Thank you, President Hennessy, and to the trustees and the faculty, to all of the parents and grandparents, to you, the Stanford graduates. Thank you for letting me share this amazing day with you.