TSA keeps us safe from batteries

The TSA website crowed, "Explosive-Like Item Intercepted at Checkpoint."

Gizmodo and Boing Boing and others pointed out that it's (a) a metal water bottle and (b) a homemade battery, with a wire strung between them for no good reason.

Quoting from the TSA report:

"The item in question was determined to be an empty metal bottle and a home-made battery pack, consisting of 28 rechargeable batteries connected by multiple resistors and held together in two layers with a silicone-based adhesive.

"The passenger was an engineer and said he built the battery to power his DVD player for the long flight to Hawaii. After recognizing that the item could be seen by other passengers as a threat, the man surrendered it to Supervisory TSO Raiford Patterson and was allowed to board the flight."

[UPDATE: The TSA has copped to the error. Where the article used to be is now a statements from Ellen Howe, who is "responsible for the content of this website. We obviously had a lapse of judgement on this story and you folks in the blogosphere have done a good job of keeping us honest.... A suspicious-looking item is not the burden of proof for surrender of said item. This looks much more like the Wylie Coyote bomb of yesteryear." To see the full statement, click here.]

DVD player with Netflix built in

Via Gizmodo:

LG has announced that it will be releasing a Blu Ray DVD player with the ability to stream movies from Netflix. It will be the third device to enable Netflix streaming, but the first DVD player to do so.

Half Blood Prince Trailer

The trailer for "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" came out this morning.

Also, a larger, clearer version of the trailer can be viewed at Yahoo movies.

480, 720 and 1080 versions avalable at Moviefone (i.e., if you go to "harrypotter.com," this is where Warner Bros. sends you to watch the trailer).

Separate toilet for transsexual students

A school in Thailand has established a separate toilet facility for transsexual students.

According to a BBC News story, "Between the girls' toilet and the boys', there is one signposted with a half-man, half-woman figure in blue and red.

"This is the transsexual toilet, and outside, in front of the mirrors, some decidedly girly-looking teenage boys preen their hair and apply face cream.

"The headteacher, Sitisak Sumontha, estimates that in any year between 10% and 20% of his boys consider themselves to be transgender - boys who would rather be girls.

"'They used to be teased every time they used the boys' toilets,' he said, 'so they started using the girls' toilets instead. But that made the girls feel uncomfortable. It made these boys unhappy, and started to affect their work.' . . .

"I asked the headmaster whether they were not too young to be making decisions about their gender.

"He said that, in his 35 years of working in the Thai education system, he had come across many boys like this, and they never changed. Many go on as adults to have sex-change surgery, while others will live as gay men, he said. . . .

"A ratio of 10% to 20% of boys calling themselves transsexual in a provincial high school does seem very high, but Mr Sitisak assured me that in his experience it was not unusual. . . .

"'At that age it's good for them to have a specific place,' [Suttirat Simsiriwong, a campaigner for transgender rights] said.

"'But when they graduate from school or university, they will know how to have medical treatment. They won't want to go into a transgender toilet because they will want to be accepted as a woman - so they will go to the women's toilet.'"

The AP version of the same story is more dry and factual than the BBC story. The AP story is repeated pretty much without alteration at several news outlets like MSNBC, USA Today and Fox News.

New Byrne and Eno album and Byrne tour

A new David Byrne-Brian Eno album will be released soon.

From the album's website, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today:

"Brian Eno and I recently finished our first collaboration in about 30 years. For the most part, Brian did the music and I wrote some tunes, words and sang. It's familiar but completely new as well. We're pretty excited."

The site is relatively bare-bones right now -- apart from this video, there is just a brief note from David Byrne and a place where you can sign up to get a free song on August 4th.

Cinematic Titanic Episode Three

Cinematic Titanic's third episode will be Roger Corman's 1959 classic, The Wasp Woman.

It will be available for download starting August 7. The DVD will can be ordered directly from Cinematic Titanic beginning August 11.

Nike pulls part of ad campaign

Nike has pulled some of the Hyperdunk ads that caused a bit of a stir on blogs across the country last week (and that I poked fun at). The ads that have been pulled are the ones captioned, "That Ain't Right," "Isn't That Cute," and "Punks Jump Up."

According to The Oregonian, Nike issued a statement that reads in part:

"Nike is strongly opposed to discrimination of any kind and has a long history of supporting athletes regardless of their sexual orientation. The advertisement in question is based purely upon a common insight from within the game of basketball - the athletic feat of dunking on the opposition, and is not intended to be offensive

"However, after listening to concerns expressed around specific executions, we have decided to drop them from the campaign to underline our ongoing commitment to supporting diversity in sport and the workplace."

The Oregonian also has a more detailed story about the whole controversy that includes this:

"'Really, the ad is problematic because of the context in which homophobia in sports continues to be so rampant,' [Jenna] Frazzini [executive director of gay-advocacy group Basic Rights Oregon] said . 'I think it's when you have that ad in front of folks who don't understand the commitment that Nike has that it raises concerns.'

"She added that 'if you don't really understand the sports reference, then it's more about the imagery. . . . You've got this image with basically a stamp of disapproval across it.'"

If you go to the website of the ad agency that created the posters, (the same link that I used in last week's posting, there are now only three posters on display ("Say Hello," "Now You Know" and "Fly") where there used to be six or seven. There are also some contextual shots of posters on display in New York subways.

Addictionary

Addictionary: (noun) A website where you can find (or submit) words that aren't in common usage, but which should be.

Example:

bozone: (noun) The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating.

It works in two directions: (1) You can submit words and their definitions; or (2) you can go to the "There Oughta Be a Word" section, where people have left definitions for which there should be words, and you can submit words that fit that definitions (e.g., for "a person who takes an item off the shelf in a grocery store, then later decides they don't want it and places it on some random shelf elsewhere in the store," there are currently 16 suggestions, including "cereal offender," "vendor bender" and "shopdrifter" (the current favorite)).

Shameless on Sundance

The Sundance Channel is currently showing the third series of Shameless.

This proves the sheer inaccuracy of my prediction that they were showing it solely because of James McAvoy (I had previously predicted that the Sundance Channel would not show the third series because James McAvoy left the show during the second series).

Episode 2 airs tonight (Sunday, July 27). Full schedule here.

Rocky Horror Remake

MTV has announced that they will be remaking "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

No director has been announced yet, nor has any casting or potential casting. Lou Adler, the Executive Producer on the original movie, will produce the remake. They say they'll be using the original film script.

According to Variety, "'I'd like to see it shown a year from this coming Halloween, but that's up to MTV,' Adler said."

Sources: Variety, The Daily News, The Movie Blog, International Movie Database

IMHO, it sounds like it could be a really, really bad idea. Especially the "using the original film script" part -- that almost never works out well.

They Did It Their Way - T, U and V

If you're seeing this for the first time and wondering what this "They did it their way" thing is about, read here for the background and full listing of this personal game of mine.

T

Teenage Fanclub - Personality Crisis
Templeton Twins - Hey Jude
Templeton Twins - MacArthur Park
Third Eye Blind - Train In Vain
Tom Tom Club - You Sexy Thing
Tourists - I Only Wanna Be With You


U

UB40 - Can't Help Falling In Love
UB40 - I Got You Babe (with Chrissie Hynde)


V

Violent Femmes - Children of the Revolution
Violent Femmes - Crazy
Violent Femmes - Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?



Teenage Fanclub's cover of the New York Dolls' song, "Personality Crisis" is from the soundtrack of the movie, "Velvet Goldmine." I still like this movie, and I still like the soundtrack -- a mixture of original tracks, cover tracks and songs written for the movie. Some of the best David Bowie songs that Bowie never wrote or performed.

The Templeton Twins versions of Hey Jude and MacArthur Park are from the Annoying Music Show collect, "Song For People."

Third Eye Blind's cover of the Clash's "Train In Vain" is from the previously mentioned tribute album, "Burning London."

Tom Tom Club covered Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing" on their 1991 album, "Dark Sneak Love Action."

The Tourists (including Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart before Eurythmics) had a hit with I Only Wanna Be With You in the UK, but it didn't get a chance in the US.

UB40 has three albums devoted to covers, based on the fact that a lot of Reggae musicians perform covers frequently. So all three "Labour Of Love" albums could theoretically be inserted here. Of course, I''m not going to do that.

UB40's cover of Can't Help Falling In Love was on their 1993 album, "Promises and Lies." I think the main reason I included it here was to provide contrast to Erasure's cover of the same song.

Their collaboration with Chrissie Hynde on I Got You Babe can be found in several places, but most easily on UB40's "Greatest Hits" collections.

Violent Femmes covered T-Rex's Children of the Revolution on "The Blind Leading the Naked."

Violent Femmes cover of the Culture Club's Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? was on their album, "Why Do Birds Sing?"

Violent Femmes cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" does not yet have a video. They currently have a call out to people to submit their own videos for the song. The song is only available through iTunes and on vinyl.

Talula Does The Hula

From BBC News:

This case actually took place in February, but the courts are only now releasing the information to the public.

A court in New Zealand took custody of a nine year old girl so she could change her name. She hated her given name. She told people to call her "K," and she refused to tell anyone her given name.

Her given name was "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii."

The judge in the case said, "The court is profoundly concerned about the very poor judgment which this child's parents have shown in choosing this name." The court allowed her to change her name, but (of course) the article does not say what her name is now.

The article also says that New Zealand courts had previously blocked the use of the names "Sex Fruit, Keenan Got Lucy and Yeah Detroit, . . . but Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Midnight Chardonnay had been allowed."

Furthermore, there are comments on the BBC story from "Russell Sprout," "Craig Gogay," "Jenna Dana Bananarama Rater" (Jenna Rater, for short -- she admits that she deliberately changed her name to be this), "Egnorwiddle Waldstrom," "Ftango Molasses" and "Mangled Brown Fence-Post." I suspect that a couple of these people are just 'avin' a larf....

Of dubious taste.......

Chip found this one through a Usenet posting.

It's like someone combined The Sharper Image with Spencer Gifts, and it's called BoysStuff.co.uk.

To be fair, there's some really tame stuff here, like the self-described "laugh out loud" Grumpy Old Man BBQ Set (the apron reads "Grumpy Old Man" -- isn't that HIGH-LARIOUS?) and the £5,800 Wurlitzer iPod and Jukebox (a bargain at twice the price!).

But in the "Naughty and Booze" category, they sell items like the Gentleman's Ball Scratcher (pictured here), the Willy Care Kit (fluffing brush, "sprucing" mirror and "bracelet") and Shower Breasts (squeeze them and they squirt shampoo or liquid soap -- a separate compartment for each breast).

Your one-stop shopping for birthdays and holidays!

Emergency Calls

The Avon and Somerset police have posted several videos of actual 999 calls (the British equivalent of a US 911 call).

This woman has called because she can't find her glasses and, therefore, cannot see to cut her potatoes for her lunch.

Another woman called because a grey squirrel near the freeway didn't have any hazelnut trees near it, so she feared it would die.

A man called because the bus was taking too long to come.

Another man called to report that his wife left him with only two leftover salmon sandwiches to eat.

All their videos can be found here.

1953 Exhibition

Rome Police Hold Anniversary

It's like a marching band half-time show with motorcycles.

And with groovy music, to boot.

Hairspray 2?

According to Variety, New Line Cinema has asked for a sequel to "Hairspray."

John Waters has been contracted to write a treatment, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman have agreed to do the songs, and Adam Shankman has agreed to direct and choreograph.

They plan to open the movie in July 2010 (The Year We Make Contact).

None of the actors have signed yet, but they hope to reassemble most (if not all) of the original movie cast.

So if you thought the "movie of the stage musical based on the movie" was odd enough, we'll have the "SEQUEL to the movie of the stage musical based on the movie."

The biggest strength I see here is that John Waters is responsible for writing the story.

Wouldn't it be great if Tracy grows up to be Divine (which would make Edna turn into Edie the Egg Lady).

New Nike shoe

[UPDATE 7/28: Nike has pulled part of this ad campaign. Read more here.]

[This is all over the net, but I saw it first at Joe.My.God.]

This poster is part of the new Nike ad campaign for the "Hyperdunk," a new shoe Nike will be releasing on July 26th.

All of the posters show people using the new "Hyperdunk" to jump, apparently, so high that they can push their crotches in their opponents' faces (or at least to dunk the ball more easily than ever before, and then wag their privates at the opposing team while hanging from the basket). The slogans that have been used on the actual posters include "That Ain't Right," "Say Hello," "Isn't That Cute" and "Now You Know." The campaign as a whole (but especially the poster captioned "THAT AIN'T RIGHT") has come under fire as being overtly homophobic, and the whole thing has sparked some pretty vehement confrontations all over. View the full line of posters here and read the cool, calm, collected comments that have been left for the makers of the ads.

Here are my own, pesonal Top 10 Rejected Slogans for the Nike "Hyperdunk" Posters (same photos, new slogans):

10. "No Talking With Your Mouth Full"

9. "Deeper Than Deep, Your Throat" (apologies to Linda Lovelace)

8. "Wimps Spit. Real Men Swallow."

7. "Say Hello To My Little Friend!"

6. "I Promise I'll Still Respect You Tomorrow."

5. "Take Out Your F-----g Retainer!" (nod to Jello Biafra)

4. "How Many Times Do You Like Your Teabags Dunked?"

3. "Suck, Dammit! 'Blow' Is Just a Figure Of Speech!"

2. "Is IT In You?" (oops, sorry, wrong sports product)

1. "Just Do Me."

Restaurant crash

In Wilkes County, NC, an out-of-control car crashed through the front of a diner. The man sitting at the car's entry point was pushed across the room into the counter. He looked confused for a moment, then picked up his hat, put it on and started looking for his cigarettes.

He had no broken bones, just a few minor cuts and scratches.

This news video has more information, but the audio is horrible.

The BBC version is short and to-the-point, but doesn't really show much new footage.

Fish pedicures

I found a news story about fish that eat the dead skin off your feet. Here's what the treatment looks like:

And here's a video of people reacting to this treatment:



Here's a much longer video (6 minutes) that gives tips on visiting a fish spa.

According to the story, the spa in Alexandria believes itself too be the only spa in the US currently offering the treatment. Quoting from the news story:

"Dennis Arnold, a podiatrist who four years ago established the International Pedicure Association, said he had never heard of the treatment and doubts it will become widespread.

"'I think most people would be afraid of it,' he said.

"Customer Patsy Fisher, 42, of Crofton, Md., admitted she was nervous as she prepared for her first fish pedicure. But her apprehension dissolved into laughter after she put her feet in the tank and the fish swarmed to her toes.

"'It's a little ticklish, actually,' she said."

Here's a quote from a Washington Post story from almost a year ago about the same treatment in a spa in Japan:

"In a culture where food and fashion seem straight out of science fiction, Doctor Fish is hardly extraordinary. Strangely enough, the spa's finned employees, which are imported from Turkey and are known scientifically as Garra rufa, have a taste for dry, flaking human skin. The fish act like living pumice stones, nibbling off the dead epidermis and leaving behind baby-smooth skin. (Thankfully, they don't have a piranha streak.)...

"When I arrived for my pedicure, two Japanese women were sitting on the edge of the pool giggling as they viewed the fish vacuuming their legs. I hesitantly plunged my feet into the warm water, then watched as a dark, wiggling nimbus darted over to my legs. Fresh dead cells, yum. Their little pouts attached to my ankles, toes and feet, but they were intimidated by my runner's callus. I could feel the light flutter of their fins against my skin and the slight pinch of their mouths. It would have been calming had it not been so disturbing.

"When my time was up, I gently shook off the clingier critters and wandered over to the footbath. Amid radiant flowers and streaming water, I admired my smooth legs glinting under the sun. Doctor Fish had cleaned his plate."

Naked guys in the Castro

Okay, this is one I don't understand. Maybe someone can answer some questions for me about this.

A little over a week ago, we met four friends for dinner. After dinner, Chip and I took one of the guys on a kind of quickie walking tour of the Castro, as he had been in the Bay Area for a few months, but still had not spent any significant time in the neighborhood.

As we were walking on 18th Street from the Edge toward Castro Street, we encountered two nude men walking down the street in front of us. They were wearing shoes and party hats, but nothing else.

Now, if this were the weekend of the Folsom Street Fair or the Castro Street Fair or Pride or Halloween, it might conceivably make more sense. But this was just a Friday night, nothing special about the day or the date.

Then, when we were walking in front of the Starbucks on 18th near Castro, we saw a third naked man in shoes and a party hat sitting on one of the benches. Apparently, this was not a coincidence, as the other two naked men came up and joined him.

Our theory was that it was tourists who maybe thought this was just what you do (or can do if you so choose) when in San Francisco -- you know, visit the site where Harvey's camera store used to be, go to Alcatraz, drive down Lombard Street, walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, get naked and hang out in the Castro, visit Coit Tower, go to the Haight and listen to the Grateful Dead, just a typical trip to San Francisco.

That was odd enough as an isolated incident, yes?

Well.....

This afternoon, just a couple of hours ago, Chip and I were driving to the grocery store, and a naked man walked out into 17th Street near the corner of Sanchez Street. He walked up to the yellow line in the middle of the road and stood there, almost as if he were planning to direct traffic. A blue car heading in the opposite direction slammed on his brakes and started honking at the naked guy.

I was looking around for any additional information -- evidence that he had come out of the apartments at the corner, anything that looked like a clue. All I saw was a dirty pair of brown pants and a yellowish box (it might have been a cigarette box) lying in the gutter near the corner of 17th and Sanchez.
As there was not terribly much to be gained from sticking around, we just kept driving down 17th and went to the grocery store.

So here are my questions: Do naked men roam through the Castro all the time, and I've just never noticed during the last eighteen-odd years? Does this actually happen fairly routinely, but my schedule has just been out of sync with the naked men, so I keep missing them? Have we just suddenly gotten some kind of karma that puts us into the paths of naked men wandering around the Castro? Is anyone else seeing naked guys strolling around the neighborhood? Or is there just something in the air lately that's turning men into exhibitionists all of a sudden?

Inquiring minds want to know.


[UPDATE February 2009: While flipping channels recently, I caught a few moments of a Public Access Channel show talking about nudist tours of the Castro District. So this is possibly what we saw. Given that someone commented on seeing almost exactly the same things a few days after us, that might give some support to the nudist tour theory.....]


[UPDATE January 1, 2010:  Okay, now I'm curious.  Suddenly, in the last 24 hours, there has been a sharp increase in views of this posting.  The overwhelming majority of them are coming from Google searches on the term "[the] naked guys of castro street."  So where is this very specific and often-repeated search term coming from?  What has popularized this exact phrase?  Inquiring minds just don't know when to stop asking questions.]

The Customer is Always Right

It's a trend.....

First the food court musical.

Then the Union Square Musical.

Then this British airport musical.

And this furniture store musical (aka "The Customer is Always Right").

And this, too.

Radiolab

This is a podcast recommendation.

A few months ago, "This American Life" decided to promote WNYC's show, "Radiolab." They simply re-broadcast a Radiolab episode in hopes of attracting people to that show. Since then, I've been downloading the Radiolab podcast.

And Radiolab is a very interesting show. They do some unorthodox but interesting things with the audio editing -- things that could easily become gimmicky in other hands. But the creators of the show ensure that any quirks in the sound editing are in support of the material, not just something to make people go "Oooooh!"

This past week's episode is a rerun from a couple of years ago. The topic is "Emergence," the concept that (according to Wikipedia) "the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions." For example, ant colonies building their nests in a way that their entrances stay above water level during floods -- something so intelligent that you couldn't expect from any individual ants, but which somehow occurs when the ants congregate in large numbers.

The episodes tend to come in clumps of five programs released in a row, then several weeks off, then another five episodes, etc. All the episodes I've listened to have been immensely interesting.

They Did It Their Way - R and S

If you're seeing this for the first time and wondering what this "They did it their way" thing is about, read here for the background and full listing of this personal game of mine.

R

Bonnie Raitt - Home
Bonnie Raitt - Runaway
Joey Ramone - What a Wonderful World
Ramones - Do You Wanna Dance?
Ramones - Needles And Pins
Ramones - Surfin' Bird
Roches - Hallelujah Chorus



S

Sherie Rene Scott - Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters
Shaggs - I Love
William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man
William Shatner - Spleen / Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds
Shriekback - Get Down Tonight
Simon & Garfunkel - Bye Bye Love
Simon & Garfunkel - Red Rubber Ball
Siouxsie & the Banshees - Dear Prudence
Mindy Smith - Jolene
Mindy Smith - Word
Patti Smith - Boy In the Bubble
Patti Smith - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Patti Smith - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Patti Smith - Gimme Shelter
Jo-El Sonnier - Jambalaya
Jo-El Sonnier - Louisiana 1927
Squirrel Nut Zippers - I've Found a New Baby
Stranglers - White Room


Bonnie Raitt's versions of Karla Bonoff's "Home" and Del Shannon's "Runaway" are both from her album, "Sweet Forgiveness," which is still one of my favorite albums.

Joey Ramone covered What a Wonderful World on his last album, "Don't Worry About Me." And he covers it like only Joey Ramone could.

The Ramones Do You Wanna Dance? and Surfin' Bird are from their album "Rocket to Russia," while their cover of Sonny Bono's Needles And Pins comes from "Road to Ruin." If you don't know the Ramones's version of Surfin' Bird, here's the album version (just to prove there is a song underlying this, since most of their live versions of this song don't seem to have actual lyrics).

The Roches opened their album, "Keep On Doin'," with Handel's Hallelujah Chorus.

Sherie Rene Scott did an album (under the name "Sherie Rene") called "Men I've Had," a sort of concept album of songs by male artists she has worked with, such as The Who's "Squeezebox," and Eric Clapton's "Let My Love Open the Door." I'm afraid it's largely a forgettable album (IMHO), but I included Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters here.

The Shaggs recorded I Love on their second album, "Shagg's Own Thing." It sounds like they got some music lessons, but not enough.

As previously mentioned, William Shatner's recordings of Mr. Tambourine Man and Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds can be found on the "Golden Throats" collections, if you can find them. "Spleen" is a dark and troubling narration that leads into "Lucy In the Sky" and just about makes the experience unbearable.

Since Barry Andrews left XTC in 1978, one of his projects has been a band called "Shriekback" with Dave Allen from Gang of Four. One of their more popular tracks in the late 1980s was their cover of Get Down Tonight by K.C. and the Sunshine Band.

Simon & Garfunkel somewhat famously recorded the Everly Brothers' Bye Bye Love on the album "Bridge Over Troubled Water." They less famously recorded a live version of Paul Simon's song, Red Rubber Ball, which was a hit for The Cyrkle. This recording I found as a track on the "Old Friends" collection.

Siouxsie & the Banshees covered Dear Prudence on their album, "Hyaena." One of my favorite Siouxsie tracks.

Mindy Smith's two contributions are from previously mentioned and re-mentioned collections. Jolene is from the Dolly Parton tribute album, "Just Because I'm a Woman" (though she also included it on her own album that came out about the same time), and The Word comes from "This Bird Has Flown," the Rubber Soul re-enactment album.

All of Patti Smith's tracks here, Boy In the Bubble, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Everybody Wants to Rule the World and Gimme Shelter, come from her covers album, "twelve" (there are 12 tracks on the album).

Squeezebox prodigy Jo-El Sonnier recorded Jambalaya on his Rounder album, "Cajun Life." He recorded a wonderful version of Randy Newman's Louisiana 1927 on his major label debut. Here's a video I stumbled across of Jo-El doing "Whiter Shade of Pale." His label never succeeded in pigeon-holing him successfully into Country or Blues, so he's now not exceedingly well known.

Squirrel Nut Zippers recorded I've Found a New Baby, but no one seems to care enough to post anything on YouTube. So here's one of their music videos as a substitute.

I got the Stranglers's version of White Room as a 7" single tucked into the album, "Stranglers IV." The four tracks on this promo single were included on the CD version of this album. Again, no YouTube video. So here's Golden Brown instead.

[title of show] NY Times review

Charles Isherwood liked [title of show]. A positive, though not glowing, review:

"For all its throwaway charm, '[title of show]' can lay claim to a certain worthy pedigree. It’s an acutely (and cutely) self-conscious 21st-century update of putting-on-a-show shows like Rodgers and Hart’s 'Babes in Arms' or Cole Porter’s 'Kiss Me, Kate.' But no, you don’t have to be an expert in the lineage of this genre to enjoy it. It would definitely help, however, to share a belief that a life in the theater is a worthy calling, and that a fresh new musical — however insignificant — is something worth cheering."

"The deputy said he feared for his life."

Reported on Tricities.com.

A man was arrested in Tennessee for using his cell phone to take a picture of a policeman.

In his statement the officer says that he saw a red light (he thought it was a laser) pointing at him and another officer. A man (later identified as Scott Conover) said "Smile, I'm going to take your picture." Then he took a picture and drove off.

The officers pulled him over and insisted that he delete the picture from his cell phone. He refused to do so, so they arrested him, telling him that it was against the law to photograph a law enforcement officer.

Officer Kenneth Lane's handwritten statement can be read here. It's pretty entertaining reading on its own.

Here is the statement of a third officer who was called to the scene and witnessed part of the spectacle, including the part where Conover yelled to his daughter to take pictures of the policemen who were harassing and threatening him.

And here is the affidavit of complaint showing the laws under which Conover is being charged:

"39-16-515. Pointing a laser at a law enforcement officer" (a Class A misdemeanor) and "39-17-305. Disorderly conduct" (a Class C misdemeanor) and "39-13-605. Unlawful photographing in violation of privacy" (a Class E felony).

It is that last one that is most interesting: "It is an offense for a person to knowingly photograph, or cause to be photographed an individual, when the individual is in a place where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, without the prior effective consent of the individual, or in the case of a minor, without the effective consent of the minor's parent or guardian if the photograph: (1) Would offend or embarrass an ordinary person if such person appeared in the photograph; and (2) Was taken for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification of the defendant."

It will be interesting to see if they can make that one stick. First, they'll have to prove that the police officers were in a place where they could reasonably expect privacy. Second, they'll have to prove that Conover wanted the pictures for sexual gratification.

Classic A.O. Scott

Anthony Scott's review of Mamma Mia! is classic NY Times.

Excerpts (but please go read the whole thing):

"If you insist on folding your arms, looking at your watch and defending yourself against this mindless, hedonistic assault on coherence, you are unlikely to survive until the end credits (which may, by themselves, kill you all over again). Surrender, on the other hand, is easy and painless. It’s Greece! It’s bellybuttons! It’s Meryl Streep! It’s Abba!

"See that girl! Watch that scene! If you change your mind, I’m the first in line. Mamma Mia, here I go again. Like me, you may have spent the last 30 years struggling to get lines like those out of your head — and wondering what they were doing there in the first place — but you might as well have been trying to compost Styrofoam. Those shimmery, layered arrangements, those lyrics in a language uncannily like English, those symmetrical Nordic voices — they all add up to something alarmingly permanent, a marshmallow monument on the cultural landscape. When our species dies out, leaving the planet to roaches and robots, the insects will beat their little wings to the tune of 'Waterloo' as Wall-E and Eve warble along.

"And the darn thing still won’t make any sense. Nor does 'Mamma Mia!,' but that’s hardly a criticism. The story (by Catherine Johnson) is more or less an early Shakespeare comedy reimagined as an episode of 'Hannah Montana'...

"I know: I promised you a good time, and I’m describing a train wreck. But it’s hard not to share the evident delight of most of the performers. Ms. Streep overdoes it, yes, but you can’t accuse her of condescending to the material any more than you can fault her for taking it too seriously

"The impression left by the old pros who make up most of the cast is that they have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to prove, and that worrying about dignity is for newbies and amateurs....

"Really, this movie is incapable of harming anyone, except moviegoers with the good taste and bad manners to resist its relentless, ridiculous charm."

FAIL Blog

see more pwn and owned pictures

From the good people who brought you "I Can Has Cheezburger," a new blog (well, a relatively recent blog, anyhow) devoted to photos and videos illustrating the ICHC captions/tags, "FAIL," "OWNED" and "PWNED" (and all variations of them).

Examples:

A protester holding a sign reading, "AMERICANS HELP US BOYCOTT MEXICO RESPECT ARE COUNTRY SPEAK ENGLISH"

Another holding a sign that reads, "Get A BRAIN! MORANS."

Packaged hamburgers with the brand name "Barfy."

Graffiti with a pentagram and the slogan, "HAIL SATIN."

A kid at a spelling bee with a distressed look on his face, labeled "F-A-L-E."

"Bandgeek Hero" T-shirts

NOT from the people who brought you Guitar Hero.

A whole series of Bandgeek Hero T-shirt designs.

Including "Tuba Hero," "Flute Hero," "Mandolin Hero," "Harpsichord Hero" and "Sitar Hero."

Collect 'em all!

Or not....

[UPDATE 10/22/08: I've noticed a lot of people hitting this posting lately. So I checked the link to see if it was still valid. Apparently, Torso Pants no longer sells the "Bandgeek Hero" shirts. I tried going straight to the page for the "Bagpipe Hero" shirt and got a "This product is unavailable at this time and we don't know when it will be available again" message. All links I find that used to link to the product pages for the bandgeek shirts now lead to Torso Pants' home page. Perhaps they got a "cease and desist" from "Guitar Hero"? I don't know, I'm only guessing. But the shirts seem to have been pulled from the market, at least for now.]

Flocking birds...

I'm always fascinated by flock formations that I sometimes see forming and oozing around the sky over San Francisco, but this one looks to be exponentially larger than anything I've ever seen in person.

Why is John Barrowman gay?

According to an article in the Guardian, BBC1 is airing a show entitled "The Making of Me," in which three celebrities allow themselves to be studied scientifically to determine where their "defining characteristics" come from.

Vanessa Mae will find out why she plays the violin well.

Colin Jackson will find out why he's fast.

And John Barrowman will find out why he's gay.

Now, personally, I would take issue with the very core idea: The "defining characteristic" of Vanessa Mae, the violinist, is that she plays the violin; the "defining characteristic" of Colin Jackson, a sprint and hurdling athlete, is that he can run fast; the "defining characteristic" of John Barrowman, an actor on "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood," is that he's an outstanding actor.

Oops. Wait. Strike that. John Barrowman is defined by his sexuality, not by his talent.

How silly of me to think that a gay man could ever do anything more important in his life than being gay.

But, apart from having issues with the "defining characteristic" of the television show, I would say that the article is a pleasant enough read.

"Spamalot" Touring to San Francisco

Both "Spamalot" and "Avenue Q" did this.

Both shows established "permanent" companies in Las Vegas and, therefore, determined that the touring versions of the shows would not tour through the western states. A western tour would compete with the Las Vegas show, you see. Anyone in California who wanted to see "Avenue Q" or "Spamalot" would be willing, they assumed, to travel to Las Vegas. (Never mind that I've personally not been to Las Vegas since 1990, and I wouldn't go there just to see a show. Maybe I'm not their target demographic.)

To add insult to injury, both shows were shortened for Las Vegas. In order to boost ticket sales, they made the shows run 90 minutes without intermission, so that audiences would (literally) sit still for them.

Apparently, the experiment didn't work out they way they hoped it would. Both "Avenue Q" and "Spamalot" closed in Las Vegas after several months of only moderate success.

Which means that both shows are now able to tour California (and other less important states). "Avenue Q" came through San Francisco last summer. And, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, "Spamalot" is now scheduled to stop in San Francisco as well. Apparently, it will arrive in April 2009.

[UPDATE: According to the Shorenstein Hays website, it's not actually going to be April, but rather June 2009. Also according to SHNSF, Spring Awakening tickets go on sale on July 20 -- the show runs from September 4 through October 12.]

[UPDATE 12/22: SHN now says that tickets go on sale to the general public on February 27.]

[UPDATE July 2009: Show is closed, moved on down the road, currently in Los Angeles, as of this update.]

They Did It Their Way - N, O and P

If you're seeing this for the first time and wondering what this "They did it their way" thing is about, read here for the background and full listing of this personal game of mine.

N

Leonard Nimoy - Proud Mary
No Doubt - Hateful
No Doubt - It's My Life
Nylons - Happy Together
Nylons - Kiss Him Goodbye
Nylons - Lion Sleeps Tonight


O

Roy Orbison - Crying (with k.d. lang)
Joan Osborne - Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?


P

Dolly Parton - If
Dolly Parton - Imagine
Dolly Parton - Me And Bobby McGee
Dolly Parton - Stairway To Heaven
Dolly Parton - Those Were the Days
Dolly Parton - Where Do the Children Play?
Dolly Parton - Drive Me Crazy
Dolly Parton - Tracks of My Tears
Pearl Jam - Last Kiss
Phranc - I Enjoy Being a Girl
Placebo - Running Up That Hill
Placebo - 20th Century Boy
Pogues / Kirsty MacColl - Miss Otis Regrets / Just One Of Those Things
Polyphonic Spree - Wig In a Box



Leonard Nimoy's version of "Proud Mary" is from the collection, "Golden Throats: The Great Celebrity Sing Off," which also includes such gems as William Shatner's versions of "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" and "Mr. Bojangles," Joel Grey's heart-felt rendition of "White Room" and Andy Griffith's recording of "House Of the Rising Sun."

No Doubt's cover of Hateful is from the previously-mentioned Clash Tribute, "London's Burning." Their version of It's My Life was a single that was moderately popular.

I think if you were gay in the 1980s, you were issued CDs of The Nylons. Feeling obliged to represent them, I stuck to their iconic recordings of The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Happy Together and Kiss Him Goodbye.

Okay, yes, Roy Orbison wrote and recorded "Crying." But he also recorded Crying as a duet with k.d. lang for the soundtrack to the Jon Cryer movie, "Hiding Out." At the Roy Orbison tribute concert shortly after he passed away, k.d. performed this song as a solo and received a well-earned standing ovation.

Joan Osborne's recording of Do I Ever Cross Your Mind is from the previously-mentioned Dolly Parton tribute, "Just Because I'm a Woman."

If and Stairway To Heaven are from Dolly Parton's 2002 album, "Halos and Horns." She uses the Shatner approach to part of "If a picture paints a thousand words/Then why can't I paint you?/The words would never show/The You I've come to know."

Imagine, Me And Bobby McGee, Those Were the Days and Where Do the Children Play? are from "Those Were the Days," Dolly's favorite songs from the 1960s and 70s. In almost all cases where it was possible, the songwriters and/or original artists performed the songs with Dolly (Kris Kristofferson sings on "Me and Bobby McGee," Yusuf Islam played guitar on "Where Do the Children Play?"). Only Bob Dylan turned her down.

Drive Me Crazy (when Fine Young Cannibals did it, it was "SHE Drives Me Crazy") and Tracks of My Tears are from her most recent album, Backwoods Barbie.

Pearl Jam's Last Kiss comes from the previously-mentioned benefit collection, "No Boundaries."

Phranc's rendition of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "I Enjoy Being a Girl" was included on Phranc's 1989 album, "I Enjoy Being a Girl" (would you guess?). In the album artwork, I particularly liked the way she rested the glass of milk on the patch of Astroturf.

Placebo automatically gets points just for have the guts to cover Running Up That Hill. They get more points for actually re-imagining the song. The problem was with the way it was released. After they released "Sleeping With Ghosts," they released a deluxe version with a second CD added, which included "Running Up That Hill." This CD turned out to be kind of difficult to put one's hands on. Finally, after much clamor, Placebo released it as a single on iTunes.

Placebo recorded 20th Century Boy for the soundtrack to the movie, "Velvet Goldmine," and appeared in the movie. Here's a bonus clip of Placebo performing the song with Bowie.

The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl recorded Miss Otis Regrets / Just One Of Those Things for the previously-mentioned AIDS benefit album, "Red Hot + Blue."

And Polyphonic Spree recorded Wig In a Box for the previously-mentioned Hedwig tribute album, "Wig In a Box."

Western Spaghetti by PES

Cute. Clever. Creative.

More information about and films by PES here.

Momofuku

There are two important reactions to a new CD.

First, there's the knee-jerk reaction. This is usually the one you hear in reviews. Few people have enough time to listen to a CD several times before they have to review it so that the review is as new as the CD.

Second, there's the long-term reaction.

Elvis's latest CD, "Momofuku," was released in early May. There was little advance notice that an album was coming. It was an impulse album -- he got the idea, and the album was recorded fairly quickly, and it went to the stores with little fanfare. According to Billboard, Elvis has said of Momofuku, "The absence of much advance notice or information might seem a little strange and perverse but the record was made so quickly that I didn't even tell myself about it for a couple weeks." Even now it's hard to find a lot of press about this album.

But here's my own personal test:

It's been on my iPod for just over two months. When I'm listening to the iPod on "Shuffle" and a song from Momofuku comes up, I don't skip it. Never. Haven't skipped one yet.

That being said, let's see if I can say something a little more thoughtful and incisive.

I like the way it sounds. It sounds more like early Elvis than recent Elvis (I'm not knocking recent Elvis, just saying this sounds like it belongs alongside "This Year's Model" or "Armed Forces" or "Trust").

I like the energy. That's more a melding of early Elvis and recent Elvis.

John Metzger's review at MusicBox-Online put it well: "While all of its songs were smartly conceived, the speed at which Momofuku was recorded left Costello with little time to contemplate the arrangements and make them overly complex. It has been years since he has made an album that sounds this urgent."

So if you're a fan of Elvis, you probably already have this CD, so any recommendation from me is pointless.

But if you like Elvis and don't have it yet, I would say it's well worth your while.

My knee-jerk reaction to this album was not cold, but I didn't think it was the greatest thing since sliced bread either.

My longer-term reaction has been, "Wow, this is really pretty damn cool."

For further information, check Elvis Costello's official website and his label's website.

"Crack"-down on saggy pants

Via Joe.My.God, re-sourced through mlive.com (in order to get some of the press puns in):

"FLINT, Michigan -- The city's new police chief is saying no to crack.

"Acting Flint Police Chief David R. Dicks announced Thursday that officers will begin arresting people wearing pants or shorts that sag too low exposing rear ends.

"'This immoral self expression goes beyond free speech,' said Dicks in a statement released Thursday. 'It rises to the crime of indecent exposure/disorderly persons.'"

And through Detroit Free Press:

"Flint residents now have to watch their butts because Police Chief David Dicks is on the lookout."

=========================

The moment when I knew for certain that I was officially a middle-aged curmudgeon was three or four years ago in the security line at LAX.

There was a young man a few people ahead of me in line whose jeans were hanging dangerously low.

There came an announcement over the loudspeaker system that men should remove their belts before going through the metal detectors. I was traveling a lot those days, and this was the first time I had ever heard this kind of announcement about belts, which is more commonplace now. Now we know that an ordinary, non-humongous belt buckle won't set off the metal detector. But at the time, everyone just followed orders.

Once this young man took his belt off, he had to hold onto his jeans in order to keep them from falling to his ankles -- they had been hanging on only because his belt stopped them from dropping any farther.

I could see from where I stood in line that he was wearing a chunky gold watch, and I figured that the announcement about belts had made him forget about his watch. So after he set off the metal detector, they yanked him over to the side in order to wand him.

They said, "Hold your arms out like this" and demonstrated how he should hold his arms straight out to his sides.

He held his right arm out to the side while using his left to hold up his jeans. Then he held out his left arm while using his right to hold up his jeans.

"Both at the same time!" they barked.

"But I can't do that! My pants will fall down!"

By this time, I was through security, so I never got to see the end of this little drama.

As I walked off toward my gate, I chastised myself, "Now, you saw that coming. You had plenty of opportunity to warn that young man about his watch, and you didn't say anything. You just let him walk right into trouble that you could have saved him from."

Then I answered itself, "I know. And it was pretty funny, too, wasn't it?"

Next time you're bored

Next time you're bored, go to Amazon.com and look for office supplies that people have reviewed.

There's a long-standing tradition of writing creative reviews of mundane objects.


Example 1: Acco Paper Clips:

"Paper clips are an essential part of any office and it is common to find multiple brands and sizes in most businesses and also in some homes. Acco #1 paper clips are the standard small size clip that most people are aware of and commonly use. They are my clip of choice when I want to temporarily bind a small number of sheets together in a bundle.

"One thing I like about these paper clips is that the steel finish is completely smooth. Some other steel clips offer ridges or grooves in the design, presumably to help them grip the paper. With a small number of sheets, gripping really isn't necessary and I think the smooth gliding action offered by Acco is better. It makes the clips easy on the fingers and paper and it helps them slip over a stack of sheets with ease.

"These clips are small so they do have some limits. Paper varies in thickness, but from my experience, using standard office paper, 25 sheets is the limit for these clips. Attempt any more than that, and the clips will do what any paper clip does when it is asked to handle too much: The two halves of the clip will start to bend outward, causing the clip to lose its grip on the paper and eventually pop off.

"Overall, Acco #1 paper clips are an item I will continue to use and continue to count on when I have a small clipping job involving a handful of sheets of paper or other paper- like object. These clips are simple and basic, but they offer a smooth design that makes them easy to slip over the paper and not let go. "


Example 2: Swingline Collectors Edition 747(r) Business Stapler in Rio Red:

a) "You can just go ahead and use this Red Swingline stapler to attach your cover sheet to all of your TPS reports. I'm going to need you to go ahead and come in this Saturday. And I am also going to need to have you come in on Sunday as well; we have lost some people and we sort of need to play catch up. Okay? Thanks!"

b) "After sitting in the same cube for seven years and most people not even knowing I work here. I was presented with this item. It functions quite well and has significants beyond functional and aesthetic. It takes up little 'Office Space' however I have noticed my boss eyeing it."

c) "I like this one much better, they made us switch to the Boston but that one kept binding, so I kept my Swingline and I used to sit over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, but now they moved me here and I don't know why I cannot enjoy my radio at resonable levels between 9 and 11 am when she can listen between 9 and 11 am. And there was salt, great big grains of salt, and I wanted a pina colada but they brought me a margerita and i could take my american express travelers checks somewhere else. The ratio of people to cake is falling. . . ."


Example 3: Universal Rubber Bands:

"What an awful, anti-family product this is. These will allow homosexuals to engage in all kinds of ungodly sexual positions and commit all kinds of deviant acts on each other. They could also be wound really tightly around a man's testes and prevent conception. I'm wearing one right now. The Horror. The Horror."

Improv Everywhere - Human Mirror

This time Improv Everywhere sent 15 pairs of twins into a New York subway car and had them mirror each other -- sit opposite each other in the car, sit at the same time, stand, move, eat at the same time, just generally mirror each other's expressions, gestures, movements, everything.

This is closer to actual improv than Improv Everywhere usually does. More often than not, they perform flash mob pranks (e.g., sending a group of men with no shirts into Abercrombie and Fitch, having a bunch of people freeze simultaneously in Grand Central Station, showing up at the gig of an unknown indie rock band and acting like mega-fans and singing along to every song). But this one involves things that more closely resemble theater games -- impulsively acting and reacting to each other in a mirror game. Go here to read a much more detailed description of how they arranged this and carried it off.

As always, the reaction of the bystanders is the most entertaining part.