Do It. The GOOD 30-Day Challenge.

Now that you've taken off that wonderful holiday celebrating your labor, it's time to get down to some real work. The ever-positively-refreshing GOOD magazine is urging everyone take part in its GOOD 30-Day Challenge over the course of September. The big theme? Connecting with people. Here's what the mag has to say about it:

With the internet age not only upon us, but so intertwined into our lives that living without the web seems impossible, sometimes we forget to talk to each other. Sure, we tweet, text, Facebook, Google+, Gchat, and AIM constantly—it's not that we don't communicate. But how often do we actually talk?

So it's time to connect -- IRL, so the kids say (that's "in real life," in case you needed that defined). Already, day one has challenged people to send someone a postcard. A real, snail mail postcard. Ain't that cute? A great way to reconnect with an old friend, and share some news in a quick and easy way. Day two? Have a conversation with a service employee.

It's a wonder how much a little consideration can bring so much good. Do your part, and check out good.is each day at 5:30PST every September day for your next challenge, and follow-up with #30DaysofGOOD.

-- Chau Tu

Do It. Help GOOD magazine figure out what to fix in L.A.

I'm a big fan of GOOD magazine, a publication aimed at finding the, well, good things in the world and solutions to problems within society. And it just so happens that they're focusing their next issue on us: Los Angeles.

Senior editor Patrick James is reaching out and asking Angelenos (and non-Angelenos) to 1) help pinpoint people or organizations who are helping better the city through their work and/or 2) bring attention to a problem within the city that needs a solution (you don't even have to have a solution in mind).

The GOOD team will take it from there. So speak up and let people know the good and the bad in the city, and hopefully you'll help take this city one step closer to perfection.

Pass along your ideas to GOOD by commenting on their page here.

-- Chau Tu

Photo credit: GOOD/Flickr user radworld

Check It. Longshot magazine.

To put it simply and obviously, the journalism business has been having a tough time. But every once in a while, there comes a spark of hope that maybe everything will be okay, that there are enough people with enough passion to get journalism through this rough patch. That latest spark is Longshot magazine.

Longshot is an experiment to create a magazine, start-to-finish, in a span of 48 hours. That involves everything from announcing a theme, to accepting submissions, and then actually designing a publication with art and graphics.

Sounds like a longshot, indeed, but alas, it happened. From August 27-29, people (they say hundreds) got together in San Francisco, Portland and Los Angeles (based in the GOOD offices here), and fueled with passion, sleeplessness and booze (the last two surely affecting one another) created Issue One of Longshot magazine. The theme was "Comeback," and features a number of great stories from writers all over the country.

And get this: everyone who worked on the issue is supposed to get paid. Not a lot, of course, but having a pay model at all these days is admirable in the least (but really, it's freaking magnanimous). But the money only comes through the profits, so go buy it already! Sixty beautiful, passion-filled pages for $11? It's worth believing in journalism.

Preview Issue One of Longshot magazine here, buy the issue here, and/or buy an accompanying T-shirt here.

-- Chau Tu