I am so sad that I couldn’t watch the impeachment trial for Blagojevich today due to work. My friend said that the straight faced re-readings of those f-bomb loaded tapped calls were hilarious and I can’t help but picture it to be like that scene in Waiting for Guffman when the old soft spoken man auditions with that Travis Bickle “Are you f—ing talking to me?” scene.

Can’t wait to see this asshat on Rachel Maddow tonight.

I could not resist making my own

There is this group on facebook for fans of Aretha Franklin inauguration hat and a few of the submitted fan photos are hilarious

Attacking George Bush’s helicopter

file under guilty laffs

Oh and bravo to the President for the decision to shut down Gitmo. Badass.

Went to Britex Fabrics on my lunch hour and picked up these appliques:

on a darker note, this was on my muni car on the way back

saw this on a walk around my neighborhood

San Francisco is rightfully pissed.

I would have voted for Bacon too.
from www.seriouseats.com

Yeah I teared up last night with strangers and friends in a packed bar during Obama’s acceptance speech. As you may know, I was so excited that I crashed my bike because I was distracted by the communal bliss in my neighborhood. I never thought I would live to see a black POTUS and not only is that a huge achievement in itself, but a black democratic candidate who could carry Florida and Virginia. WTF? I took a long hiatus from ranting about politics because I get so riled up and because I became so cynical and disgusted with the Rove-era of corruption/scandal and how the perpetrators, for the most part, had a slimy talent for wiggling out scott-free. I never imagined that I could feel so proud of my country. Even though I am still wary of campaign promises, I am very impressed with his stature and personal ascension and see in him someone who inspires hope not just for the US, but for our global community. Even Condoleeza Rice could not hide being pleased and I had forgotten that one of her childhood friends was killed in that bombing of a baptist church in Birmingham, AL in 1963.

But I have to confess, despite his hostile supporters booing his calls for uniting behind Obama, I was touched by McCain’s concession speech and felt really bad for him.

Back during his rally when he was calming and correcting that woman with the crazy hair who said “I’m afraid of Obama he’s an arab”, the look on his face was so obviously conflicted and even he appeared to be shaken by the hatred and ignorance that his negative campaign had spread. When not in election mode, he seemed a decent person to me and has proved in the past to be a rare breed of politicians that would extend an olive branch to break free from political gridlock to get things done. Last night, I saw signs that he would continue that again.

But yeah, he and his clueless campaign strategists made some epic bad decisions though—on a Faustian level by a) hiring the same folks who smeared him ruthlessly in the 2000 primaries and b) selecting Bible Spice as his veep. I don’t think he will ever forget that. I can’t help but think of that line from JFK’s inauguration speech:

“Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.”

Rings so freaking true.

The Streets

The Streets right before I crashed my bike

i caught the all star homerun derby on TV last night and now officially admire the hell out of rangers outfielder josh hamilton. how this guy can come back from a hardcore addiction to alcohol, heroin and crack to completely dominate the home run derby by mashing 28 home runs in the first round (3 of them past 500 feet) is beyond me. this guy is for real. not to mention he is leading the major-league in RBIs with a ridiculous 95 before the all star break. WTF? his comeback story is like a real life awesome baseball movie. or as hamilton puts it, proof that hope is never lost.

video of hamilton’s hr derby performance

yesterday, the first 20,000 attendees at yankee stadium got fake mustaches. This is because that gross one on jason giambi’s face is so popular at the moment and helped improve his batting average. i wish the giants or a’s had hilarious fan giveaway days like this.

i’m fascinated by this news story

Amazon Indians from one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes have been photographed from the air, with striking images released on Thursday showing them painted bright red and brandishing bows and arrows.

The photographs of the tribe near the border between Brazil and Peru are rare evidence that such groups exist. A Brazilian official involved in the expedition said many of them are in increasing danger from illegal logging.

guess i’m really disconnected from my catholic heritage because it’s been at least a decade & 1/2 since my moms last badgered me about mass attendance and/or important catholic-related holidays that i must celebrate to avoid eternal damnation. so, i forgot how fun easter can be! i didn’t know until today, but the washington post has a peeps diorama contest. pretty fun me thinks. the birds one is killer – i loved that they used the boat scene. hitchcock & bodega bay forever. seriously, this scene looks like a scene i would enjoy eating.

the bacon dog cart = another victim of gentrification

Serg sent me this LA story here

finally got around to making that Slap Shot fan-art T i said i would a month or 2 back. it’s a little messed up since i used iron-on transfer but i’m gonna make a better one in the near future and hopefully find a tomboy nerd who can appreciate a hilarious & subversive dudestravagent violent hockey flick from the 70s, give it to her and make her day. excuse the mediocre pic, young took it.

This made me laugh

Loudspeaker Karaoke Scares Conn. Teacher
1 day ago

ROXBURY, Conn. (AP) — Karaoke can be scary, but threatening? A school custodian’s impromptu after-hours karaoke performance prompted a police response when a teacher thought she was being threatened over the loudspeaker.

State police say the teacher at Booth Free School barricaded herself inside a classroom Wednesday when she mistook someone singing a Guns N’ Roses song over the public address system for a threat.

She was working after hours and thought no one else was in the building. Then she heard someone say over the loudspeaker that she was going to die.

Six troopers and three police dogs showed up and found three teenagers, one of them a custodian at the school, who had been playing with the public address system.

Police say one of them sang “Welcome to the Jungle” into the microphone. The song contains the lyrics “You’re in the jungle baby; you’re gonna die.”

The teenagers were cuffed for about 15 minutes while police investigated. They didn’t realize anyone else was in the school at the time. No charges will be filed, said state police Sgt. Brian Ness.

the sky yesterday and this morning was completely surreal….and the sun was red!

here’s why.

from cancer, age 57

reading the story and the tributes on that bbc article bummed me out

this one is worth mentioning because i think his films are incredibly special and badass. i don’t know where to even start. scenes from a marriage, wild strawberries, & persona are ones i’m really in love with. i highly recommend you get to know him if you aren’t familiar with him outside of the Seventh Seal. hour of the wolf is awesome too but i’m scared to rewatch because it gave me nightmares for days. i used the cover for persona for my cosmic dust mix because i think Liv Ullman is kinda gorgeous

here is a decent obit from the guardian

so in weirder news, jon lovitz grabbed andy dick by his hair and smashed his head into a bar 4 or 5 times. did i read that right? JON LOVITZ?? apparently andy dick made some joke to lovitz about Phil Hartman and lovitz lost it.

i don’t really feel bad for andy dick. is that mean? making fun of a guy who was murdered to his friend is lame. i like jon lovitz. i like artie ziff

i almost don’t believe this is real cause i just can’t see jon lovitz capable of a joe pesci move like that. what if this was just an elaborate hoax and the two were secretly friends like andy kaufman vs jerry lawler

today is a national day of silence for internet radio. the idea of not being able to listen to WFMU and KFJC anymore is scary to say the least.

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/06/webcasters-nati.html

Across the U.S. today, thousands of internet radio stations are observing a national Day of Silence to protest new webcasting rates set by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board. These new rates, which will go into effect on July 15 (and are retroactive to January 1, 2006), will drastically increase the royalties webcasters must pay to SoundExchange, an offshoot of the RIAA responsible for distributing this money to artists.

WFMU believes in compensating artists. We currently pay webcasting royalties to SoundExchange and will continue to do so, but we are protesting the new rate scheme for a number of reasons:

1. Under the new rates, non-commercial webcasters only get a break on the commercial royalty rate if they maintain small listenership numbers. In order to afford the astronomical new rates, WFMU may have to cap online listenership on our streams, limiting the exposure we give to independent artists by blocking our accessibility to music fans.

2. SoundExchange has not been dutifully distributing webcasting royalties to musicians, claiming on their website that they are unable to locate thousands of artists including Kraftwerk, The Replacements, Pizzicato Five, The Muffs, and even Warren G!

Instead of webcasting silence today, WFMU has decided to boycott all music that is registered with the RIAA and/or SoundExchange. Today, you will hear songs from live performances on WFMU, material from the public domain, orphaned works, music from bands and record labels that have signed a waiver releasing WFMU from SoundExchange’s unreasonable royalty scheme, and music from artists that SoundExchange has neglected to pay.

We hope that this sends the message that WFMU is fully capable of airing great music that falls outside of the RIAA and SoundExchange’s control.

If you would like to protest the new webcasting royalty rates, please call or write to your Representatives and Senators before July 15, and tell them to support the Internet Radio Equality Act (S. 1353 and HR. 2060). Visit SaveNetRadio.org for more information, including a quick way to look up contact info for your elected officials.