OCTOBER - early NOVEMBER

Oct 5 - They Might Be Giants, 3:00PM, free show for kids, Columbia University, NY.

Oct 8 - Season 3 premier of The Sarah Silverman Program, on Comedy Central.

Oct 8 - Columbus Day Parade NYC, NY.

Oct 8-10 - Beck plays United Palace, Washington Bridge, NY.

Oct 8-10 - Premier of the movie Quarantine.

Oct 11 - M. Ward plays the OKOBOS music festival in Green Bay, WI.

Oct 12 - Columbus Day Parade, San Francisco, CA.

Oct 13 - A showing of Michael Moore’s “Slacker Uprising”, The Independent, San Francisco (Slacker Uprising film link).

Oct 14 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is available on DVD.

Oct 14 - The John Cusack film War, Inc. is available on DVD.

Oct 15 - Barack N’ Roll fundraiser, The Independent, San Francisco.

Oct 17 - Premier of the movie “W.”

Oct 25 - The Exotic Erotic Ball, San Francisco, CA.

Oct 25 - They Might Be Giants play le Poisson Rouge, NY.

Oct 26 - The Dia de los Muertos Festival, Oakland, CA.

Oct 31 - Premier of the film The Haunting of Molly Hartley.

Oct 31 - HALLOWEEN

Oct 31 - Nov 2 - DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

Nov 1 - She and Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward) play the Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA.

Nov 4 - ELECTION DAY (U.S.)

Nov 9-10 - Beck plays Club Nokia, Los Angeles, CA.

Nov 11 - Tenacious D plays the House of Blues in Las Vegas, NV.

Nov 17-18 - Tenacious D plays the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles, CA.

Nov 20 - Tenacious D plays the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, CA.

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You’ve undoubtedly heard of “Freaky Friday” and possibly even “Thirsty Thursday,” but I’m here to introduce you to a new kind of weeknight: Hazy Wednesday.

If you’re in or around New York City and like me, are fed up with all the politics of spin, come check out a different kind of spin, and bring your friends! Hazy Wednesday features yours truly, DJ Johnny Haze on the ones and twos, starts at 9pm at New York City’s Arrow Bar, and goes as late as you want!  Click the image to RSVP on Facebook, and hope to see you there!

(in conjunction with TROUBL.org)

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This weekend (Sept 6 & 7), the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California is hosting a Jetpack Show!

I just got back and already made a sweet, sweet video for you all (live jetpack action!):

Jetpack Facts:
• “Jetpack” is without question the coolest compound word in the English language.

• “Jetpack” as an adjective means “better than awesome.”

• “Jetpack Pilot” would be the coolest thing to have on a business card, ever.

• Samuel L. Jackson with a jetpack would be unstoppable.

• Rumor has it that “Jetpack” will be the top celebrity baby name in 2009.

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Just got back from the Lebowskifest opening party in San Francisco.

Two words: It rocked!

For those of you behind in the ways of coolness:
Lebowskifest is a cult festival celebrating the Coen Brothers’ 1998 film “The Big Lebowski.” This semi-annual festival began in 2002 and has taken place in major cities around the United States. Sort of like a respectable Star Trek convention with much better street-cred.
And booze.
And live bands.
And attractive women.

A few photo highlights:

The Dude Abides Bonus Round:
The highlight of this year’s Lebowskifest: I got to meet Jeff “The Dude” Dowd - a friend of the Coen brothers who the film character Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski is based upon. He was a really nice guy.

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(photo credits: The Atlantic/James Fallows)

In the upcoming Olympics in Beijing, it will be illegal to smoke in Olympic venues . . . and it will not be necessary to smoke in Olympic venues.

Smell the culture: GAG, HACK, LOOGIE.

(via Reuters, via The Atlantic)

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The Beijing Summer Olympics are just around the corner, and that means one thing: the humiliating process of testing female athletes to see if they are male.

About 1 in 20,000 women have complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) - where they are genetically male (XY), but their body has problems recognizing testosterone (and other androgens) and thus they have physically developed as women (this has been rumored of actress Jamie Lee Curtis, but never formally verified).

None of these tests, to date, have revealed a man posing as a woman. However, in 1985, Spanish hurdler Maria José Martínez Patino discovered that she was born with a Y chromosome (XY), instead of another X (XX) - that she is genetically male and has AIS.

Though genetically male, these women have female physiology - and their genetic makeup shouldn’t actually provide any greater physical advantage.

So, how should the line be drawn this year?
Should it really matter?

N.Y. Times article

(via Angie)

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Pro Wrestling + Japanese Monsters = Kaiju Big Battel!.

They make me so wish I lived on the east coast.

video link

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“Just look at this obviously innovative design . . . I am so thrilled just thinking about how I get to touch this.”

- Yuki Kurita, 23, Japanese iPhone G3 purchaser

(via Angie)

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This is the 4th of July celebration in Santa Cruz, California.
Imagine Apocalypse Now with more explosions and more severed heads.

The song is “Star Spangled Mojo” by Mojo Nixon - perhaps the best rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” ever.

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This from the Dodgers-Indians game the other day– something doesn’t seem quite right with these attendance statistics…

[image via HH]

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Though China has five Olympic mascots (”The Fuwa”), several others never made it past the drawing board.

A Blogadilla exclusive: rejected Chinese Olympic mascots.

Maomao - Lil’ Mao Zedong.

Melmel - The Melamine Cat.

I take pleasure in knowing that I’d be shot for doing this if I lived in China.

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The pattern of recent disasters in China has had many superstitious people concerned about the Olympic Mascots (the Fuwa) - claiming that each of the five reflects/predicts a particular disaster. According to Reuters, Chinese censors have made efforts to remove posts about the Fuwa superstitions, struggling to keep the air of the upcoming Olympics at a rosy-fresh note.

Recently, the fifth and final Fuwa prophecy has been supposedly fulfilled.

Huanhuan - The Olympic Flame - (“The Bearer of Incendiary Strife”) Starting in March 2008, this Olympic Torch Relay may go down in history as one of the most protested and problematic.

Jingjing - The Giant Panda - (“The Lord of Angry Earth”) The panda patron of Sichuan Province has been associated with the disastrous 7.9 May 12th earthquake that occurred there, which left 69,000 dead and over a million stranded or homeless. The epicenter of the earthquake was near the Wulong Panda Research Center.

Yíngying - The Tibetan Antelope - (“The Creature of Righteous Unrest”) On March 10, 2008 - the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising Day - demonstrations began in China. By March 14th, destructive riots ensued in several regions of China.

Nini - The Swallow/Shayan Kite - (“The Bearer of Unfortunate Wind”) April 28, China Railway Train T195 crashed near the city of Zibo in Shandong Province, killing 72 people and injuring more than 420. The nearby city of Weifang has had a long association with Shayan kites.

Bèibei - The Chinese Sturgeon - (“The Bringer of Torrent and Flood”) Over the last month, flooding in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan Provinces has displaced thousands of people and over 1,000 people are missing or dead.

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Finally! Lebowskifest is coming to San Francisco Sept 5-6th, 2008!

Tickets go on sale June 27th, 10AM PST.

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It’s time for graduation ceremonies once again. Here’s a working list of some of the more interesting graduation commencement speakers:

• Drury University, 2007 - gameshow host Bob Barker [video]

• University of Pennsylvania, 2004 - Bono

• Harvard, 2006 - Seth MacFarlane (the voice of “Stewie” on “Family Guy”) [video]

• Stanford, 2008 - Oprah Winfrey

• Columbia, 2007 - “Lost” actor Matthew Fox

• Harvard, 2008 - author J.K. Rowling

• Ashley Hall Girls Preparatory School, 2007 - Mike Reiss (writer/producer of “The Simpsons”) - I included this because he is one of the funniest commencement speakers I have ever seen: video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5.

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According to a recent study by the Dutch Center for Insurance Statistics, traffic accidents and incidents such as fire and theft actually occur slightly less on Friday the 13th (in the Netherlands).

Reuters Link

Ironically, there are also less incidents of killing sprees involving the undead in hockey masks.

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Pongzho, Sichuan Provence, China.
May 12, 2008.
Wedding photos.
Then the earthquake hit.

Humans are resilient.

(via Gorilla Sushi, per Fuzztime, de la China Review News)

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(photo: AP)

Though technically they aren’t “lost” - they know exactly where they are - this population near the Peruvian/Brazilian border has had no known contact with the “outside world” until last month. Recent aerial photos taken in May 2008 offer the first proof of their existence and provide some clues to their way of life.

Some new facts about this recently discovered tribe:
• They don’t like airplanes.
• They aren’t very good at hitting airplanes with spears or arrows.
• They aren’t interested in maintaining front or back lawns.
• They believe that orange bodypaint is “the new black.”

Mail Online article.

(via Neatorama)

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So far, most of the photos sent by the Phoenix Lander (on Mars) are black and white (or bad false-color images). So . . . here are some good false color images from the Phoenix Lander, colorized and processed by me at Timbotron Heavy Industries Imaging Laboratories:

The barren circumpolar plains - the landing site of the Phoenix Lander.

A vertical cross-section of the horizon and terrain around the lander; a solar panel of the lander fully deployed.

An image of the Phoenix Lander sailing downward through Mars’s atmosphere (you can see the parachute), photo taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter; an image of the Lander’s footpad in Martian soil.

Bonus Round: Cool animation of the Phoenix Lander’s descent.

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Less than an hour ago, the NASA/JPL Phoenix Lander touched down near the northern polar cap of our planetary neighbor, Mars.

Currently, the only information offered on the NASA and University of Arizona sites is that the craft has sent a radio transmission reporting that it safely landed.

Keep your eyes peeled on these sites tonight for the first glimpse of the Martian polar region (perhaps ice or glaciers will be visible):

• NASA’s Phoenix Lander site

• The JPL Phoenix Lander site

• The University of Arizona Phoenix Lander site

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