7.31.2009

surprise!

from the washington post:
A look at career contribution patterns also shows that typical Blue Dogs receive significantly more money -- about 25 percent -- from the health-care and insurance sectors than other Democrats, putting them closer to Republicans in attracting industry support.
 what a funny coincidence!


argggggghhhh

long live the culture bus


(photo by plug1)


the culture bus is dead!  for those of you not from this neck of the woods, the 74x "culture bus" was a transit line that would take tourists around to the different museum hubs in the city - yerba buena, civic center, and golden gate park.  that wasn't such a bad idea on its own, although there's multiple bus and train  lines that already take more or less the same trip.  the bad idea was to charge people $7 to ride it.  if you have a family of 4, that's $28, which would easily pay round trip cab fare.  it took you a pretty short distance that is more or less walkable, but not out to the legion of honor, the zoo, or other city attractions that are more remote.  also, muni dumped a whole bunch of money into it but didn't put a lot of effort into marketing.  for all of these reasons, the culture bus was a dismal failure, and it was common to see it driving across town with no one on it, even on the weekend.  on my various driving and biking routes to and from work, i cross its path fairly often, and i've never seen a culture bus with more than 4 people on it. 

this was one of gavin's 'big ideas' that he was hoping to launch his sacramento bid on.

meanwhile, the rest of muni's lines continue to be overcrowded and underserved.

oh delightful!

weight watchers watch bear

from one of my favorite local blogs, vegansaurus:

Weight Watchers has BEAR in their online calorie tracker. BEAR. Oh and it looks like (North American?) black bear is higher in calories than polar bear. Three-and-a-half ounces of polar pear flesh is three points (roughly 150 calories), while 3.5 ounces of black bear flesh is four points (around 200 calories).

yellow dress album coming soon



listen to some songs from it here and here (the first couple).

. . . also, regarding the title.

also, not to be confused with the educational play regarding abusive relationships. although maybe we can steal some of their testimonials for promotional copy:

"It's important that every student experiences this intense, educational program that enhances their understanding about relationships and prepares them for life."

"For 45 minutes after (The Yellow Dress) play, we heard the low hum of conversation: no laughter, no off-task behavior.... "

"I recommend The Yellow Dress to any program interested in this critical aspect of campus safety." "

"the yellow dress: no laughter, no off-task behavior"

7.30.2009

food tv

michael pollan in the ny times magazine:

Today the average American spends a mere 27 minutes a day on food
preparation (another four minutes cleaning up); that’s less than half the time
that we spent cooking and cleaning up when Julia arrived on our television
screens. It’s also less than half the time it takes to watch a single episode of
“Top Chef” or “Chopped” or “The Next Food Network Star.” What this suggests is
that a great many Americans are spending considerably more time watching images
of cooking on television than they are cooking themselves — an increasingly
archaic activity they will tell you they no longer have the time for.

huh?

you will also see this everywhere else

new brothers coen trailer!



looks good!

7.28.2009

spanson?


phil spector recieved a note from fellow corcoran inmate charles manson! prison supergroup? perhaps the corcoranettes?



“A guard brought Philip a note from Manson, who said he wanted him to come over to his [lockup]. He said he considers Philip the greatest producer who ever lived,” Spector’s wife Rachelle — a colorful personality who often bickered with the judge during Phil’s murder trials — told Page Six. “It was creepy. Philip didn’t respond.” Added Spector’s publicist Hal Lifson, “I think Manson wants to glean some musical advice from Phil, who was a ’60s music god with his ‘Wall of Sound.’ But Phil’s like, ‘I used to pick up the phone and it was John Lennon or Celine Dion or Tina Turner, and now Charles Manson is trying to get a hold of me!’ “


which raises the question: would you rather collaborate with celine dion or charles manson?

if it's true

this new yo la tengo song has some sweet motown touches. it's pretty great, but that intro just makes me want to listen to "i can't help myself." this is nice wide open summertime music.

it's like a rolling sea of white people



(thanks everything is terrible!)

7.27.2009

do you see some kind of logic problem here?



. . . or was this a poorly executed joke?

gavgov

eric jaye, gavin newsom's top campaign strategist, quit today! he says because of strategic differences. says the chronicle:
One source says Jaye has been pushing a campaign strategy that would keep Newsom in the public's eye with media events on everything from green energy to food policy. South, on the other hand, has been advocating a more traditional approach that would depend on Newsom working the phones and raising money.

i don't know all that much about campaign strategy, but it seems to me jaye had the right idea, if newsom has any chance of getting elected. all the attention he's been getting on the national stage has been because of his supposed expertise in and innovative ideas about things like energy and healthcare. despite his poor showing in our city, he has become one of cnn's go-to democrats on environmental issues. i know campaigns cost a lot of money and that fundraising is paramount, but can he really expect to raise anywhere near as much money as jerry brown when such a large proportion of the state still has no idea who he is (except for, if anything, that unfortunate soundbite in the pro-8 ad)?

*not that i want newsom to win. i don't.

airports

on slate, witold rybczynski's short, illustrated history of airport design.

7.23.2009

mammoth!!

this post has some amazing pictures of the california academy of sciences when it was located on market street (1891 - 1906).

more don swayze





wow. i mentioned the don swayze german fansite earlier, but i neglected to post this amazing video don swayze's german fans made for him:


point san pablo


here's an interesting short history of the point san pablo / point molate peninsula in richmond. tucked behind the massive chevron refinery, the small peninsula was once the site of the largest american winery (before prohibition), the last active whaling station in the continental united states, a shipping terminal, two rock quarries, a brick factory, a can factory, and, prior to the completion of the richmond-san rafael bridge in 1956, car ferry service to marin (which carried both commuters and inmates bound for san quentin). it's pretty much all gone, now just vacant buildings and rotting industrial structures. the huge winehaven building is on the national register of historic places, and could potentially become a casino (some people are not happy about this).

what if i said my brother did it?



here is don swayze's fantastic clip reel (autoplay), and his german fansite.

7.22.2009

wranws

planetary linguistics:  names for planets (and the sun) in different languages.  i like the welsh ones.  

fashion venus


7.21.2009

more obama birth certificate nonsense

here is southern california congressman john campbell being an idiot on tv . . .




his argument about john mccain doesn't make any sense; everyone agrees that john mccain was born 250 years ago on a military base in the panama canal zone; the (non-)controversy was about whether or not that makes him a natural-born citizen, and this bill wouldn't settle that. barry goldwater is a similar situation. obviously this has everything to do with barack obama and playing to the far right crazies.

with a seal on it

here is deleware congressman mike castle getting yelled at by obama birth certificate conspiracy nuts. it's interesting and alarming to see this widening split between the center-right republican party and its increasingly scary fringe. look at the response this lady gets from the crowd! is this the beginning of a new third party, with sarah palin as its figurehead? a lot of the crazies in the fox nation seem to think so.



also: vanity fair's editors have a go at palin's resignation speech.

woodland country


7.17.2009

nicely done

glenn beck freaked out just a little on his radio show the other day.



mr. fox

uh, is wes anderson making a furry porno?

cyborg fight


real classy

7.15.2009

666



degarmo & key were once described as the christian hall & oates. everything is terrible has put up a great clip of them warning us about the new age movement. this video features three amazing haircuts.


7.14.2009

before you vote, know where they stand on the issues

mothers against:

  • drunk driving
  • video game addiction and violence
  • circumcision
  • illegal aliens
  • manchausen syndrome by proxy
  • methamphetamine
  • dog chaining
  • washington assessment of student learning
  • cancer
  • sexual abuse
  • brokencyde
  • school hazing
  • brain injury
  • medical abuse
  • war
  • teen violence
  • terrorism
  • knives
  • pornography addiction
  • predators
  • murderers
  • blogging
  • head lice
  • peer pressure
  • racing on the street
  • bullying
  • plastic

mothers for:

  • peace
  • clean air
  • all
  • natural law
  • clean and safe vehicles
  • breastfeeding
  • girls' education
  • eco-justice
  • clean air day
  • justice
  • american values
  • liberty

fathers against

  • parential alienation syndrome
  • crime
  • violence and repeat offenders
fathers for:

  • justice
  • life
  • good
  • virginia
  • equal rights
  • children and families

kids against:

  • hunger
  • bullying
  • drugs
  • cancer
  • anthropogenic global warming
  • the death penalty
  • school

kids for:

  • kids
  • the bay
  • our troops
  • obama
  • a clean environment
  • tomorrow
  • greyhounds
  • democracy
  • forests
  • research
  • conductive education
  • conservation
  • the future
  • a better future
  • peace
  • christ

night downtown


7.12.2009

weekend bike rides

with nothing else to do, i went on two bike rides this weekend. here's some pictures i took . . .

saturday


as part of the san francisco laborfest, people were reenacting the 1901 waterfront strike on hyde street pier saturday afternoon. being a fan of both san francisco history and embarrassing, kitschy public spectacle, i had to go. the reenactment consisted of a couple "sailors" standing on one side of the hyde street pier shouting pro-union slogans, while on the other side, a "capitalist" stood on the porch of a building and shouted anti-union slogans. in the middle, a couple costumed ladies said things like "i don't know what to think; both sides have good points." i don't mean to talk shit; in its own way it was pretty great. the reenactors got some tourists involved (the noncostumed people below), which was pretty funny to see. it got better when a homeless(ish?) guy got involved on the side of the business interests. "this is america, man!"










fisherman's wharf was packed and i left as soon as the strike had settled itself. i rode down to mission bay. i biked around the empty streets in ucsf's unfinished complex, out by the houseboats on the water, and east to the ballpark parking lot, which had a carnival going on. aren't you supposed to be able to get into carnivals for free? and then they stick you with the prices for rides and games, right? that's what i'm used to. this one was $5! i wanted to go in because a carnival is a great place to take (kind of cliched) photos, but am too broke to spend money like that.















from mission bay, i biked south along terry francois to illinois street, down into the central and southern waterfront, one of my favorite areas of san francisco.


















sunday

i rode west from our place and took o'shaughnessy up to laguna honda. very slowly. it's quite a climb! o'shaughnessy has some crazy roadside geology:



from laguna honda, i went up 7th street into the inner sunset (which has a surprisingly large, awesome farmer's market) and on into golden gate park. jfk was packed with pedestrians and bicyclists as usual on the weekend. i came across the weekly lindy hop party, which was in full force after almost getting permanently canceled by a fun-hating cop.



after spending some time in the park, i rode north on arguello. i noticed the gate to presidio terrace was open and unguarded (i'm not sure if this is unusual or not), so i rode in. presidio terrace is a tiny gated community of giant houses, infamous for its dirty history of racial exclusion.















from there, i rode north into the presidio and did a loop around the park on washington, harrison, lincoln, and moraga, rode east along crissy field and bay street to the embarcadero, and took market street back to the mission. in fort winfield scott, i came across this:



it's a tiny castle. why? i don't know!

thanks for reading!

san francisco puzzling


7.10.2009

bruno?

spoilers ahead, perhaps? i'm not sure what counts as a spoiler these days. can this movie really have spoilers?

i enjoyed bruno a lot. i thought the scenes with the gay-cure fundamentalist folk and the pageant moms were pretty brilliant, and i very much enjoyed seeing ron paul humiliated, but i agree with a lot of a.o. scott's review:

Still, the arrow of satire flies straighter and lands harder when it is aimed upward, and poking fun at the powerful and the entitled is no longer something Mr. Baron Cohen is inclined to do. Why should he? He’s A-List all the way, showing some leg on the cover of GQ and able to wrangle the likes of Sting, Bono and Snoop Dogg into a music video tacked onto the end of “BrĂ¼no.”
i don't understand why the filmmakers felt the need to superimpose this weak plot over the film; i didn't understand it with borat (which has a really similar "plot") either. i would have enjoyed both movies more if they had cut out every scene where everyone involved was in on the joke. especially in this film, so many of those scenes (the scripted bits), if not homophobic (?), fail to add much satirical punch to the movie. i don't need plot, i just want to watch sacha baron cohen make bigoted and stupid people look hilariously awful. again and again. compared to borat, this film felt like it had a lot fewer interviews of that sort.

all that being said, i laughed myself silly. also i think it's hard to see how this movie would have a net negative impact in the united states, even if some frat boys manage to see it as a 90-minute gay joke. it's a lot weirder and more culturally challenging than anything else that such a large number of people are going to see (except for the truly baffling ice age: dawn of the dinosaurs), and that's a triumph by itself. also i really disagree with a.o. scott about the cage match, that scene was fantastic.

i just happened to see a stupid little bit about the "bruno controversy" on local tv. they interviewed a couple people coming out of the early shows at the metreon. one lady wanted her money back because it was "nasty." the person that liked it said it was "gross, but [she] enjoyed it." kron-tv presented the "controversy" not as being about whether or not the movie promoted homophobia rather than ridiculing it, but about how gross and outrageous the movie is. because he's gay! and even though this is stupid local tv, it's san francisco local tv. that's not good.

"lower nob hill" or something


bachmannia

oh, michelle bachmann. seriously. she is maybe one of the wonders of the world. i'm considering giving her her own tag on my blog. as the house takes up debate on the big health care bill, she's found a stunning inconsistency:


You would think that any health care bill brought forth in Congress would actually be focused on reforming health care. Alas, it seems that both House and Senate proposals are packed with pork as well . . . Essentially, we’re talking about federal funding for bike paths, lighting, jungle gyms, and even farmers markets.


yeah, what could bike infrastructure, jungle gyms and farmers markets possibly have to do with public health?

i'm not sure this really counts as pork, which is, ironically, one of the causes of our public health problems.

also she has a blog? who knew? that makes death wish three kind of obsolete.

7.09.2009

"can he move from racetrack to dad track?"



for your consideration, a gallery of covers for the harlequin series of nascar-themed romance novels.


(see also harlequin medical romance)

7.08.2009

. . . the blood bank

wfmu's beware of the blog posted this excellent collection of one-liners and retorts from 80's and early 90's action movies. enjoy!

bay city vans


7.06.2009

fox nation of idiots: sarah palin quits!

you probably heard that american patriot / conservative martyr sarah palin resigned her governorship on friday. why? who knows? the esteemed commenters at fox nation don't seem to be able to agree on a reason, but they're pretty sure that sarah palin is fucking awesome, and that us liberals are terrified at the prospect of this erudite visionary seeking national office again. there are over 1700 comments on this thread, the majority of them completely insane. for your monday evening viewing pleasure, here is a bonus-sized fox nation of idiots . . .

I've never been one to pull for a woman but she has the most direct and fearless views combined with common sense that our country needs IMMEDIATELY! GET UM SARAH!

-

Liberals do not believe in fairness. They only believe in humiliating and deriding handicapped children.

-

She talked of a "Higher Calling." Her next challenge could be religious in nature or she may just have discovered that people that usually complete achievements and accomplish these tasks outside of their "Comfort Zone."

-

Palin is a rainmaker, She stepped out of the box, and now stands outside looking in at all the little know it all ants scurrying around in the box.

-

She speaks plain English. English that everyone, even you little people can understand and appreciate. She has a friendly voice and speaks about the goodness of our country and our people.

-

1- Before doing battle you identify your enemy. 2- You choose the battlefield and the weapons to be used that are advantageous to you. 3- You get your family off the battlefield and out of the line of fire. 4- You align your forces and prepare to engage your enemy. 5- You annihilate them without mercy. She is well on the way to the engagement once she gathers her forces . . . Anyone that thinks this woman from Alaska is going to come to the lower 48 with anything but her guns loaded, well, I hope you aren't one of those that abused her family.

-

The liberals collectively swallowed their tongues July 3rd, and many of them are furiously erasing hateful, vitriolic spew from their blogsites, hoping Sarah's lawyers don't come after them next.

it's true, i spent all weekend scrubbing my blogsite free of sarah palin spew. that stuff is sticky!

7.02.2009

disgusting food: turkey loaf with pimento sauce



happy 4th of july weekend everybody!

wildwood, new jersey boardwalk 1994

sorry its been a couple days. here you go:





"look at these faces"
"no, look at these faces!"
"look at everybody's faces!"

(thanks wfmu)