Madame for Halloween

If you don't have weekend plans yet, Madame is in town for two nights only and will be performing her show "Madame with E" at the Razz Room tonight and tomorrow. Tickets are $35.



"Rock Hudson is a perfect gentleman who would never, ever take advantage of a woman."
"Never?"
"Never."

Truer words were never spoken.

Afternoon update: from lunch—



What happened to Joe Kovacs?

keep coffin like that and you'll blow a casket.

A Halloween Q&A from Grammar Girl:

In honor of Halloween, I thought I'd answer this question from Stephen P: "I would love for you to do a show or newsletter on 'casket' and 'coffin.' Are they interchangeable? What are their origins? I just read a book (Two For the Dough by J. Evanovich) in which these two words were used often. It made me wonder."

Coffins and caskets are both boxes in which people are buried. What differs is the shape. A coffin is wider in the middle and narrower at the ends. It's the shape you often see of the boxes standing on end where vampires sleep in old movies or of the lawn decorations you can buy for Halloween. Caskets are rectangular and are usually larger and more expensive than coffins.

Some sources say that coffins are more common in Europe and caskets are more common in the United States; other sources say that "casket" is a euphemism for "coffin" and that the term is only used in the United States.

The word "casket" originally referred to a box for jewels and may come from the Old French word "casse," which meant "box," and which took an "-tte" ending ("cassette") to mean "little box."

The word "coffin" is thought to originate from the Greek word "kóphinos," which was a kind of basket.

what of SF Halloween?

I'm hoping for a return to the smallish and community-centric Castro Halloween. Hopefully (and this idea gets flaming rants online) the bridge will still be closed. Friends new to SF can check out the Halloween tag for links to past stories on what's changed in the past five years or so.

Has enough time passed for Halloween to be renewed as a signature SF event? With Castro for the Castro, and Crazy City Halloween somewhere else for other Good Crazies in the City? Or is it true that parties aren't really all that cool unless the gays bring it. Actually, once they hit hard on the "Home for Halloween" and cracked down on the Castro, other social neighborhoods got in on their own local action, stepped up, and provided an amazing time where once there was none (I'm talking to you Polk Street).

The SFBG blog has an interesting take on this year. All the Chronicle says is "don't bring a gun." Nice. The New York Times even ran a story about the shootings in the Castro in 2006: Three Years After Shooting, Victims Still Struggle. Not good fun.

I have always preferred good house parties (emphasis on good) to the throng in the street. Even back to my first SF Halloween house party, my first fall in SF, with who he became my first boyfriend (Doug) who made me really happy for the first time. Halloween was a little scary for different reason.

After that I don't think I ever had a boyfriend again over Halloween. Most years me and mine would hang out in front of Moby's on the periphery of the Castro Hoard after starting at someone's home nearby. That was as throngy as I liked to get. And that was much fun.

There are several invitations I want to take up this year, but transportation being the problem that it is (and adding to the chaos, even Muni service will not be enhanced), I think I'll just take the one mega house party in the Castro and regret the scattered others. Each year I try to make "the rounds," but it always becomes a logistical nightmare (which sounds like a good costume). Best stick to just one haunted house, and hope a good spirit follows me home. I could use a good thing to go bump in the night.

And of course, there will be awesome wholesomeness and amazing tiny tot costumes around my corner on Belvedere. And the SFist has a nice roundup of other neighborhood cool stuff.

head over heels

A: [Secret]
B: "Ah HA! So the truth comes out."
A: "Well, I told you that because I didn't think you'd be above it."
B: "Oh, I am so beneath that."
A: "Yeah. You're beneath that with your legs in the air."

bitch and wine, part II

I've ranted before on the whole corrupt "can't buy wine in a grocery store in Tennessee" thing.

And it continues. And Cousin Barry seems to be out in front.

From the local (Nashville) ABC affiliate:



The legislator says, "This is a complicated issue."

NO, actually. It's NOT.

There are only two arguments for keeping wine out of grocery stores:

(1) Financial-the lobby of those with a monopoly on wine sales and distribution would lose money if re-opened to retail competition.

(2) Religious: Small-town and small-minded Christianists think that alcohol is evil and will destroy families, therefore should be able for sale but not conveniently or where people sell food. Wait, sorry, beer is just fine. But wine? Eeeeeviiiiiil. (Only book-learnin' liberal commies drink wine anyway.)

Neither point should hold any legal merit. And on top of it all, the prohibition is anti-American.

It's against freedom of choice, freedom of (and from) religion, free markets, free market-capitalism, and just the freedom to pick up a bottle of freakin' wine when I buy the steaks instead of driving across town and making another stop. (It's even anti-environment!) And the freedom of all retailers to offer the same products should they choose to.

Selling wine in a grocery store is not a complex issue at all, and it's embarrassing that the Tennessee legislature thinks it is. Of course, the money from these lobbies and special interest groups is legendary, as is the corruption of the typical Tennessee legislator.

UPDATE: This e-mail just in from Cousin Barry—

I would like to bend your ear for a quick second to tell you about an important issue that you may have seen in the news recently. The sale of wine in food stores has tremendous consumer support. I have been a supporter of Red White and Food since the first days of the campaign last year. Yesterday - I went to Capital Hill and spoke to a Wine Study Committee about this hot topic. There are thousands and thousands more Tennesseans like me who believe this change is possible in our state. This won't be my last time I go to the Capital to speak. The Wine Study Committee will likely meet again in November and at the first of the year. I will need you to attend with me. It is important to just be there in the audience and let them know we are watching. I will let you know a date and time - let's be ready to make ourselves known personally.

I am president of the newly formed Red White and Food Voters Political Action Committee. Here is where I need your help today.

PACs normally accept money from a small group of people, e.g. executives in a particular type of business. The Red White and Food Voter PAC is different. All the money we raise will come from everyday consumers who want more choice.

If you would like to be able to buy a bottle of wine in food stores - please go to www.redwhiteandfood.com and donate and join TODAY! We can accept contributions from anyone who wants wine sales in retail food stores. You decide - even if it's just $5. Legislators will be paying as much attention to how many people give as how much they give.

Tell your friends.
Thank you.

New cable channel: TTC

The Trainwreck Channel. The destination for surreality television just so much fore effed up that it is, literally, horrific.

Jon Gosselin And Octomom Set to Date on Reality Show

Is it any surprise that one of the co-producers is formerly of The Jerry Springer Show?

Boom De Ya Da!

I love the Discovery Channel's "I Love the World" promo. But I love nerd-comic xkcd genius Noah Raby's homage ("I Love xkcd") even better.

I Love xkcd from NoamR on Vimeo.

Via Laughing Squid.

Love me or Sleeve me or let me be lonely

Saturday afternoon Mali got us (Shilpa, PeeDee, Skot Land, Amy Day et alia) all together again for a great afternoon of Sleevefacing in Dolores Park. We all brought bags of random costumes, clothes and props. Mali had his professional photography gear, as well as white and black backdrops with frame. We have pretty much outdone the originators.

The day was hilarious, and the expressions/comments from passers-by were pretty awesome too. (Except for that guy who would not accept that our piles of vinyl and props were not for sale.) The set is on Flickr, but these are my jazz-hands down favorites:

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This one with Jeff and Brian was pretty genius, especially with the sweat rolling down Johnny's face:


I took a couple of "making of" shots with my iPhone. Barb shared some of hers too, which I think really illustrate the fun of all of this.


It's the Thighmaster that really makes that shot, don't you think?

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By the way, I continue to meet people who don't get this, and can't grasp why we "wasted" our time doing this. Clearly, I think it's hilarious.


And much fun.

The Jackson 5art

Team Wilson scored abysmally low in last week's Brain Farts, but I was perfectly content that the knowledge of how deeply dysfunctional the Jackson family is was not taking up any of my brain space. That family is some EFFED up. I am proud to be absent that trivia. Scoring only two points in the first round, we had to hang our heads in shame. We brought it back in round two however and redeemed some pride.

Special appearances at the Jackson Farts night: Jackson homocker (homage/mockery) Kevin Koberle, the return of Prentiss Nelson, and newcomer Elizabeth Feldman. Elizabeth's dad has been dating a friend of mine in Nashville for man years (mother of friend E'beth here in the Bay Area). I saw Patsy and Bob recently at Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary in Nashville, and Bob shared our e-mails and got us in touch.

I made sure to get photos of Prentiss and Elizabeth with Pollo so their wholesome families back home could appreciate my influence on their lives.


Elizabeth may be a baby compared to us, but she is total PLU and we are excited to have her join this merry band. Expect to see more of Elizabeth here or at Brain Farts.

in response to the screaming next door

sent via e-mail:

Dear Shilpa,

I Love you. I just don’t know how to show it without hurting you.

Love,

Microsoft Word

And shout out to NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me's rant that Clippy Must Die.

this will be a couples' skate

For you Rainbow Skaters out there, and you know who you are, I had to snap a pic of this marketing sticker on the Peaches & Herb album:



Roller Skatin' Mate?! I'm buying it!

That does remind me that there were some persistent passers-by at our Sleeveface II party in Dolores Park who kept trying to buy our albums and costumes and props. They were certain it was a yard sale and one guy almost did not take no for an answer. Who has their yard sale in the park? Okay, some people do sell stuff in the park, generally thieves. I finally convinced him that he could not take Mali's clothes, keyboard, vinyl etc. because this was a photo shoot.

Which it was of sorts. Those shots to come.

Great Pumpkins!

If you didn't see the Simpsons' spoof on It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, do. Go find it online. It's a great homage (and I love that Millhouse/Linus turns off the music in the schoolroom by clicking an iPod).

From Judd's mobile uploads on Facebook, there was this bit of only-in-San-Francisco Dolores Park goodness: the Pumpkin Innards Slip-N-Slide.

And from LifeHacker: to keep your Jack-O-Lantern fresh after carving, slather it in petroleum jelly.

imitation is the sincerest form of infringement

Microsoft opened their first store to compete with Apple stores.

And it looks exactly like an Apple store. From the front windows (no pun intended) displays, through the entire interior design, to the brightly t-shirted staff with lanyards.

Creepy, creepy, creepy. And unfreakingbelievable. Oh wait, Windows copied the Mac GUI in the first place. I suppose this is just part of its core business plan.

Memo to 555 California: photography is not a crime

Seriously? This has been covered many times before. Are security douche-nozzles harassing, and by that I mean physically and verbally threatening, law-abiding people with cameras again?

Have commercial properties learned nothing of the past six years of incident/punishment when it comes to this.

IT IS PERFECTLY LEGAL TO TAKE PHOTOS OF BUILDINGS IN PUBLIC. And private "security" has no authority to prohibit it. Much less use intimidation to physical threats, much less actual physical violence, to stop it.

• See Troy's photos on Flickr:
  "You are not allowed to take photos here!"
• Troy Holden's post on his experience here.
• And local photographer, and photographer's rights activist, Thomas Hawks comments here.
• Comments on Reddit here.
• Digg here.

And download "The Photographer's Rights" PDF here.

the clothes make the man

I think that it is a testament to SF casualness that when I saw a bar friend in a business suit today, it had the vibe of fetish wear.

Stompede 2009

Last weekend was four full days of dance workshops and parties for the Sundance Stompede. I've never had so much fun and so much pain. By the end of the weekend it was too much of a good thing. I spent two late nights soaking my feet in epsom salts.

And the final Sunday dance party, there were many of us saying, "This is so much fun! Please make it stop."

I've finally put together a good vid with photos and clips from the weekend's events. See it in its awesomeness here.

YouTube has changed their filtering system so that it defaults to block any content or portion thereof that matches soemthing in some database regardless of fair use. (Faulting on the side of guilty until proven innocent rather than the other way around). I could go through a dispute claim process but that's more annoying than it's worth. So while I did upload this to YouTube, the system immediately removed the audio track—for the intro 90 second clip of a Buble song. Out of a nine-minute home movie. Lame.

if this really worked then I'd be ripped

New? Hardly. But I love this idea. It's what Mark Simpson calls "The Men's Health Fleshlight."

The Shake Weight for Men.



Apparently, this is not a joke.

My favorite part of the infomercial: the Muscle Queen Circle Shake.



So that's what the gym towels are for...

ShilpaStar

The Shilpa has reported that she is frequently recognized at parties, restaurants, bars, the theater, and police lineups as a "celebrity" from this blog. As a fairly private person (one has to be with the Indians all over and up in everyone else's bidness) I thought this was bothering her. Turns out she kind of likes it.

I'm worried she is going to get addicted to the fame. Pretty soon she's going to be calling news outlets claiming she's got a baby in a balloon.

You're a ShilpaStar, that is what you are...

5reemont

Shilpa tuned into watch The Today Show's coverage of Children's Health Magazine's "100 Best (and Worst) Places to Raise Kids" because her hometown ranked number five. Each city was profiled with a series of scenic and historic shots and a profile of the city and its people.

Except Fremont. After the exposition of number six (Lexington, KY), they said, "All right, number five: Fremont, California. Number four: Lincoln, Nebraska. Now Lincoln..."

Fremont was totally dissed. And it's probably a little wrong that this cracks me up so much.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

face off!

Shilpa and Amy, as the Judds, made it to the front of the Sleeveface site today. Hilarious.

Paging Dr. Rudy Wells

The future of biotech is now: actual bionic eyes and bionic hands with sense of touch. Let's get this stuff perfected, miniaturized, and on the market ASAP.

And not only should the price be well below six million, the health insurance reform bill should ensure this sort of thing is covered.

Update: Yes, I changed the image from Jamie Sommers to Steve Austin. For a moment there I forgot HE had the eye and she had the ear, which would be more appropriate for this post.

Flickr is down

Weird. I would expect Flickr (now part of Yahoo) to have multiple mirrors and redundancies in place to prevent an outage, but it's been down all day. Flickr-hosted photos on the blog, however, continue to appear—so I don't know what's happening to their hosting capabilities.

While checking the status, I found a nifty site that you can use to double-check if a site is down or not. And it is called, reasonably enough, "Down or Not?" According to those folks, Flickr is in fact down.


Update: Flickr is back up.

this is how ridiculous the rain has been today

There's a waterfall down the stairs at the Van Ness Station.



Listen for the announcer to call for an evacuation because the Van Ness Station is flooding.
Says the guy with the cam, "No shit it's flooding."

desperately geeking Wheaton

Photos and video clips from the amazing Sundance Stompede weekend will go up soon. In the meantime my nerd factor has spiked in anticipation of tonight's new ep of The Big Bang Theory. Wil Wheaton guest stars, bringing the geek.



Those outside his own cult of fandom may not know that Wheaton has been writing an enormously successful blog and several books over the past several years. I admit I rarely check out his blog, but when I do I think "Why am I not reading this every day?" And then I get distracted by something shiny and my life goes on.

In other Weaton news, Volume One his series of popular personal anecdotes/snide reviews/podcasts has just been published. Check out the brief description of what his Memories of the Future are all about. As part of this whole future of publishing world, Volume One is also for sale as a PDF which you can read on the device of your choice. I may have to plop down the $10. (The first several chapters that started out as AOL's TV Squad reviews are still online.) This looks really interesting for geeks and non geeks alike. But mostly geeks.

Hi. That's me.

Shine your light on me

In all of the Stompeding this weekend (posts to follow) I missed out on a beautiful Diwali weekend.

Diwali wishes from the Shilpa: dispel darkness, ignorance, and evil from the world.


Right on.

Go. Shine.

don't knock on my door before midday on Saturday

"I'm talking to you, Mormons."

From Alert reader and recovering Morman JB:

What happens when a frustrated Australian goes door to door trying to convert Mormons to atheism.


EMBED-Door To Door Atheists Bother Mormons - Watch more free videos

This is what happens when you don't factor in the Yaz.

STOMP

I'm Just Sayin' will be out for a long weekend of dancing, cowboys and cowpokes (ouch) at the Sundance Stompede.

Post y'all later.

Scenes from 2007:

SF Weakly, canned by chicken of the sea

I stopped reading SF Weekly years ago, finally giving it up for the wretched attempt at journalism that it is. I mean, with the daily Chronicle being so bad, you would think the independent weeklies would shine. The SF Bay Guardian is still cool, but it has dropped off my weekly reading too.

But while I may be negligent in my reading of the SFBG, the Weekly Weakly I abandoned purposefully for repeatedly bad reporting and some acts of downright bad City citizenship.

I was pointed to one of their news blogs last week—their blogs have commenting either disabled or under constant "review" mind you—that was just full of errors and pretty insulting to the fringe they so desperately claim to represent.

Local LGBTers have probably been following the whole reggae artist Banton concert brouhaha. Banton you may recall has called in song for gays to be shot and burned with acid. Yeah, nice guy. Some Bay Area residents don't think local venues should support such hate speech/song calling for violence against its citizenry. Pollo Del Mar (and his male persona) with many others in the community lit up Facebook and Twitter and such on the issue. All of that news can be read on Pollo's Ducal board pages (on topic here) and the Bay Times has some pretty accurate reporting on it.

The lame ass over at the Weekly (Eric Arnold) got it all wrong, going so far as to refer to Pollo as a Transgendered Activist and accused her of leading a violent gang who pepper-sprayed the band and onlookers. So many things wrong with that. Not the least of which is the "Transgendered Activist" line. My comment to the post, never approved by the way, pointed out that the term is "transgender" no "-ed" which is in itself offensive to those who are. And Pollo is neither transgender, nor an activist. How long does one have to live in SF before he can recognize a seven-foot, wigged man in clown make-up as a drag queen? Arnold managed to offend transgenders, drag queens, and activists in his reporting. Not to mention that Pollo and the very few post-cruise protesters left before the show started and could have led no such assault. And as huge as Pollo is, there is no way she could have stealthily sprayed anyone with pepper spray and slink out. (Update: The Weekly has revised the reporting, and finally included earlier comments. Mine was hacked in the middle, but it looks like an electronic error rather than redaction.)

All of this nonsense continued to play out all over Facebook and Twitter and various Bay Area and LGBT-bent blogs. (And last night at Brain Farts trivia.) But not, of course, over at the Weakly. The SF Appeal, an online-only SF newspaper which is now my local news outlet of choice (Actual local reporting! Actual news! With fact checking and everything!), got into the story. The local CBS affiliate had some fact-inclusive reporting as well, even going so far as to ask Pollo for comment. Ultimately, the Weakly posted a somewhat half-assed update.

Pollo, in her inimitable style, humorously covers it all in her weekly column (The Glamazon Diaries) in the Bay Times this week. It's worth the quick read.

OMFG. In all this talk of marriage equality, a LA justice won't even marry straight couples if they are of mixed race

Because he is "thinking of the children." See, in his experience, interracial marriages don't last, and the children suffer because white society won't accept the half-breed white kids, and black society won't accept the half-breed black kids. Even if he thinks that an interracial couple might beat the odds and stay together, he won't marry them, because if he marries one interracial couple, he'll have to marry all that apply, and he tries "to treat everyone equally."

I'm wondering if two dudes could get married as long as they were of the same "race." If he's serious, it shouldn't matter if the gay couple were interracial or not as children wouldn't be biologically both of theirs.

Unfreakingbelievable.

From the AP: Interracial couple denied marriage license in La.(Louisiana)

there are scarier things than nightmares when you sleep

I am itching to see the sure-to-be-spooky Paranormal Activity this Halloween season. Some guys over at iO9 think that it was likely inspired by the short story "Whisper," which is available online as a free read from the good folks at Small Beer Press.

I hate slasher, I hate gore, but I love a good ghost story.

Halloween is coming. Time for the spooky.

I'd walk the Bay Line

The High Line in New York City is a success. Some in the Bay Area want to do something similar with the soon-to-be redundant eastern span of the Bay Bridge.

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Looks like a great idea to me, and so very Bay Area.

Check out this on the Bay Line.

new lease on life

Saw the SF production of Rent last night, with returning originators Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal at the Curran last night. And as expected, it was awesome. Shilpa was excited to see her "first musical," however Rent is a rock opera and not really a musical. This is not Show Boat.

Thanks to Sean Ray of SHN for putting together a night/block for his VIPs to purchase so we could have out our little party night.

I got to see the original cast so long ago, and last night's performance brought back the magic. Go, and pay the premium for orchestra seats.

sounds perfect

From Alert Reader Barney, who asserts he's been telling us this for years. He has been, and has been sounding hot doing it too.

The kiwi accent has been rated the most attractive and prestigious form of English

Scenes from the Rodeo Drag-A-Thon

Friday night, the Bay Area Chapter of the Golden State Gay Rodeo Association hosted its second annual Drag-A-Thon fundraiser. With everything going on last month, and the late notice, I could not get my act together in time to launch a campaign and get an act together. I am also grateful I bowed out as the Stompede weekend begins this Thursday and I'd just as soon have my full beard and no "drag lines" in my chest hair. I'm just saying.

A pleasant surprise was the return of Winnie Baygo and Miss Patty Wagon (I should have known there would be a big out-of-town crowd as SF was hosting the state-wide Rodeo meeting the next day. The Shilpa and I met Skot Land at Marlena's, where we were joined by PeeDee and Mali.

This year's Drag-A-Thon featured something new: audience participation. The Rodeo Queens called upon audience members to auction up their friends to be taken backstage, remade, and perform on stage. I politely declined (if I am going to do a number, I am going to bring it.) Skot Land, however, did not escape. There was a straight man thrown up by his girlfriend(s), a Filipino rodeo friend who was thrown up by his aged mother (that was hilarious) and a honest-to-God rancher up from the valley with his friends for the weekend. He brought in several hundred dollars and got remade by Gallilea herself, including access to The Closet.

Somehow in all the melee, I became stage manager. It's manic with all those heels and hair back there, and it's always fun to be part of the action. Skot Land rocked it out as the newly golden Krimea River. I had to name some of the other new drag stars, including seen here: the Star Spangled Boyfriend.


I love that instead of covering his stubble, they enhanced it.

Krimea rocked it and was hilarious.

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And I give so many points to the mature and manly rancher who got to fulfill his drag dream Friday night. And I feel honored to have named her.

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I give you: Miss Jolli Rancher.

Flickr set.

Grand ReOpening of the Harvey Milk Memorial Branch of the SFPL

The newly renovated Eureka Valley Branch of the San Francisco Public Library, also known as the Harvey Milk Memorial Branch, will reopen on Saturday, October 24 at 1:00 p.m. with City Librarian Luis Herrera, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Bevan Dufty. Entertainment will include "lion dancers [don't ask me], special treats and a ribbon cutting ceremony." Library services will begin at 2:00 p.m., and this branch has a lot to offer.

As a donor and Friend of the Library, I was invited to a special "sneak peak" last Thursday. This even was lovely and the librarian in me was eager to get a look at the new digs. I can't tell if the shelf space for collection is larger or smaller, but the facilities are greatly improved and modernized and the media section significantly expanded. And the restrooms may get an award for most dramatic improvement.

On hand at the thank-you reception were State Senator Mark Leno (who was at the SFPL Main earlier in the day, and was just fresh from his smackdown comments on the Governor at another meeting), City Librarian Luis Herrera and President of the Library Commission and Friend of the Blog Jewelle Gomez (and thanks to tireless organizer of the Neighborhood Library Campaign Mary Alber!) Other literary and neighborhoody friends included this handsome bunch.

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On the way out, it was fun to join the others in the game of "find your brick."


The library opens this weekend, and as they say in the biz: check it out.

phasers on stunning

Brain Farts Wednesday. And Terrance's birthday. Theme: SciFi. Resistance was, other than volts over amperes, totally and completely futile.

You should know you're going down when another team has a battery-operated star field shirt and a Seven-of-Nine eyepiece. I was able to put us into first place, and amply increase our point lead, by smacking it out in the tie-breaking lightening round. The second round we all just pulled an amazing amount of esoteric SciFi bits from our black holes, as it were.

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While we all could name (well, not all) Godzilla's insect enemy who could be killed basically by an enormous porch light and a bug zapper (that would be Mothra), Terrance was able to pull out the lesser known Godzilla-grappler Rodan. ("Hey, wasn't there that sappy Godzilla romantic film? Nights in Rodan-the?")


Sadly, Ciroc was not sponsoring the Farts that night, but we went away with non-vodka prizes, including the new DVD Newcastle and the new CD from Imogen Heap.

Update: Yes, Shilpa is sporting a shiner. For some reason, I can only attribute it to frequency of companionship, everyone assumes that I hit her. She's been merely replying, "well, I don't listen..."

Ouch.

No seriously. She walked into a door.

no homo

more madness on Muni

The SFist has posted a Muni rider's footage of a fight between two women on a Chinatown bus (looks like the 30 Stockton, judging by the tunnel.

I often wonder, what is up with these people who act out like this on public transportation? And it's creepy that I have to wonder about this often because this sort of crazy happens all the time. And at what point should one get involved? You have to weigh the "do the right thing and defuse/stop the violence" against the "doing so will likely get me knifed and that is a stupid way to die."

What is great about the video is that the guy annotated it. And that he saw the ultimate smackdown coming and got out his camera—such a sign of the times. He knew then it was going on YouTube when he got home.

Threat Level: Hell no!



There are days I am so happy that I walk to work.

no promises, no demands

JoeMyGod periodically posts 80s YouTube video flashbacks to his blog. I thought this one bore reposting for two reasons, beyond my love for the "literal versions" of 80s videos.

First bit of awesome: Line at the end of the video, "I'll miss you most of all Skank Ho."*

Second bit of awesome: Joe reports, "My buddy Ken loves to tell the story about meeting one of the clip's dancers, who told him she was credited as "Disgruntled Whore #3.""

Love it. I want to see the sheet calling for auditions for Disgruntled Whores.

And you, personally, what would you wear from your closet to that audition?

*I fear some of you may not get that joke. It's a riff on the clichéd "I'll miss you most of all Scarecrow" line from the Wizard of Oz.

Brain Farts theme tonight: Sci-Fi

Text messages have been flying, all crying the same thing:

Bring the nerd.

They mean me. I'd be insulted if I also didn't feel so powerful.

But oh, the pressure is on.

I want a team of nine so I can be player number seven.