Memorial March video

Moscone/Milk memorial march

Found via Towleroad:

Nice video summary of the event.

Memorial March

(Click photos to enlarge.)

Thanksgiving Day, November 27, was the thirtieth anniversary of the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Traditionally, the Harvey Milk Democratic Club memorializes the event by recreating the candlelight march that took place in the wake of the murders.

They often take some license with the particulars of the event. When the anniversary coincided with the world premiere of the opera, 'Harvey Milk," instead of marching to City Hall, the march ended outside the Orpheum Theater (where the opera was being performed). This year, they reversed the direction of the march, starting at City Hall steps and ending at 575 Castro, the site of Harvey's camera shop.

I think that a combination of two things -- the fact that this is the 30th anniversary (and many believe that all anniversaries in multiples of five are significant milestones that must be marked), and the release of Gus Van Sant's "Milk" -- helped turn this year's memorial into a much larger event than it has been in recent years. The crowd was considerably larger than the last time I went to one of these -- in fact, I'm pretty sure it was considerably larger than the organizers expected. There were more speeches than the last time I attended (Tom Ammiano, Stuart Milk, Willie Brown, George Moscone's son, Carol Ruth Silver, Harry Britt, Holly Near), and the SF Gay Men's Chorus performed several numbers. They also asked the SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band to perform a couple of numbers (one to open the memorial, and then at the end as accompaniment for the chorus "If My Friends Could See Me Now"). And they asked the band to lead the march down Market Street (which they don't do very often, either). (By the way, sorry I don't have pictures from City Hall. We were lectured sternly about moving around a lot during the speeches and the chorus numbers, since we were effectively "on stage" the whole time.)

Now, usually I'm pretty jaded about such events. I have a very "if you've seen fifteen of them, you've seen them all" attitiude. And I think that music choices can be very tricky as well -- "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" is way too maudlin for my tastes, but "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker" would be horribly inappropriate as well. In fact, we had been told to bring "All I Wanna Do (Is Have Some Fun)," but mercifully we did not ever play it. And by and large this event was very predictable, very much like all the others. So I would prefer to mention the moments that stood out for me.

* I was personally very pleased to see and hear Harry Britt -- probably the last time I saw him was at one of these very memorials several years ago.

* Tom Ammiano's one joke involved what Harvey would have thought of Sarah Palin: "Hate your politics, love your shoes."

* Holly Near commented on the three television helicopters hovering overhead, saying that they must think we were holding Brad and Angelina's wedding instead of a memorial. No one could have voiced my own internal feelings more accurately at that moment.

* The shouts of "We can't hear you in back" grew tiresome. I believe it was Carol Ruth Silver who finally snapped back, "Thank you for the constructive criticism." For some reason, it made me flash on the Sermon on the Mount scene from "Life of Brian" ("I think he said 'Blessed are the cheese makers'").

* When they were giving the "Thank you" list at the end, when they mentioned the band's name, the surge in the crowd's reaction was more than I would have guessed, and it was very gratifying.

* As we passed Lucky 13, several people came out of the bar to watch, and they applauded as we passed, and I heard of couple of them yell "Thank you."

* As we passed the Lookout (formerly "The Metro"), several people on the patio applauded, and the band and the marchers started chanting "Out of the bars and into the streets." Which is slightly tainting the Milk and Moscone memorial aspect by dragging Prop 8 to the forefront, but nevertheless appropriate under the circumstances and in keeping with Harvey's spirit.

* When we were marching downhill, I turned around to see the march behind us. I was surprised to find that I could not see the end of the march. As far as I could see up Market Street, it was people with candles.

* I think we made some people's night. There was a HU-U-UGE line down Castro Street of people waiting to see "Milk" (as it turns out, the line went around the corner onto 18th and around the corner again onto Hartford, where it disappeared into the dark). To be standing in line outside the Castro Theater waiting to see a movie about Harvey Milk, and having the candlelight march pass you in real life while waiting.... The only place I can think of that I would rather be is right where I was -- in the front of that candlelight march, playing "If My Friends Could See Me Now."

It's always good to end one of these events on an extremely up note.

So I'm NOT the only one this happens to....

From charleston.net:

A man robbed a bank in Charleston last Friday morning. The witnesses said that the robber was "a man around 60 years old" (my emphasis).

Bank tellers managed to slip a tracking device into the money they gave him. Using this tracking device, the police arrested a suspect, Mark Tirico, aged 47.

This is not unlike the time two years ago when an acting teacher told me I could easily play "anything from 50 to 80," then blanched when I told him I was only 45. Apparently, he thought he was being generous in saying that people would believe that I was only 50....

Thanksgiving

Via Boing Boing.

Educational film from 1951, courtesy of the Internet Archive.

I think we all knew this kid.....

Breaking ... er ... news from TCPalm via Huffington Post:

Earlier this month in Stuart, FL, a thirteen-year-old boy was arrested for disrupting class.

"According to the report, the incident occurred Nov. 4, when the 13-year-old boy “continually disrupted his classroom environment” by purposely breaking wind. He then shut off some computers other students were using."

He confessed to the behavior. He was arrested and charged with "disruption of school function," then released to his mother's custody.

We just like the names.....

From BBC News:

The extreme right-wing political party, "Movimento Sociale-Fiamma Tricolore (MS-FT)," is offering 1,500 Euros to new parents who name their children "Benito" or "Rachele."

They claim that there is no connection between this offer and the fact that "Benito" and "Rachele" were the first names of the former Italian Fascist dictator and his wife.

The offer is good only in several areas in the southern part of Italy. MS-FT also insist that at least one of the two parents must be Italian in order to qualify for this baby rebate.

Democrat or Porn Star?

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

You would think that porn stars might have straighter, whiter teeth...

Black Friday Bingo

From Gizmodo:

Here's a game you can play while shopping this Friday.

Prepare your own Bingo cards based on a list of events that you are virtually guaranteed to see while shopping on Black Friday. Gizmodo starts with 28 suggestions, including (spelling errors below are courtesy of Gizmodo):

* Cash register, POS outage and Servers are down

* 3-5 hours to checkout and sometimes the line never moves.

* No available shopping carts. (This one happened to me yesterday going into Safeway at 16th and Potrero -- and I only found one in the parking lot.)

* Checkout line that wraps around everything inside the store like spaghetti.

* Employees hording ad items.

* Pushing, shoving, running, and running people over with a shopping cart.

* Most sale items gone within 1 hour. Very low in inventory to begin with.

* Customer walkouts.

* Employees lying to you about items being sold out.

* Customers cutting others in line.

* Employees fighting over customers or commissions

* Employees stealing other customers from each other.

* Customers will steal products from other customers.

Cinematic Titanic: "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians"

Cinematic Titanic #5

Just in time for the holidays! Cinematic Titanic takes on "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians."

Available as of today.

Hamelin's rat problem

Via the BBC:

Hamelin is proud of its heritage as part of the famous story about the Pied Piper, even though the town is not portrayed positively in the story. Remember? The town tried to stiff the piper for his services, so he led all the children out of town for revenge?

The story is approaching its 725th anniversary, and Hamelin is planning to celebrate.

But out on the edge of town, there's an abandoned building where rats are taking over. The town says that they cannot step in to control the population because the building is private property (though no one seems to know who it belongs to). So they're setting traps around the periphery of the area in hopes of stopping the rats from spreading to the rest of the town.

Maybe it's just The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents?

New Grace Jones

Corporate Cannibal

At six minutes, it might be a little too long. But it's definitely vintage Grace Jones.

The bad news is that there do not yet seem to be any plans to release the CD, "Hurricane," in the US. But it can be ordered from the UK.

New "Milk" clips on YouTube

New Theatre

This is one of six new "Milk" clips that Focus Features has put on YouTube, ranging from 24 seconds to a minute and seven seconds in length.

I like this one because its tone reminds me of something that once happened to me in the rotunda at City Hall. After one of Willie Brown's many mass civil partner ceremonies, I was talking to a friend at the foot of these stairs when a City Supervisor (who will remain nameless) came over with a big, mischievous grin on his face

"Come over here," he whispered, and he dragged us over to the foot of the stairs. He pointed up at the inside of the dome and said, "Look up there. What's it decorated with? It's naked male torsos."

Then he turned us around and pointed to the top of the stairs.

"And look up there. Naked men, naked men and naked men. And that one's got his hand on his THING!"

Then he smiled and said, "Don't tell me that gay men haven't always been a part of this city."

Mormon Musical

Matt Stone and Trey Parker have written a stage musical, set to open on Broadway next year.

Working with Robert Lopez (of Avenue Q), they have written a show they're calling "Mormon Musical." It's apparently about... er... well... Mormons.

The only casting that has been announced is that Cheyenne Jackson, openly gay star of the recent stage version of "Xanadu."

Rehearsals start in December.

Jenni Olson's "575 Castro St."

575 Castro St. from FilmInFocus on Vimeo.

This is a seven-minute short by Jenni Olson of the shop at 575 Castro Street during the filming of Gus Van Sant's upcoming movie, "Milk." The audio is an abbreviated version of the audio cassette that Harvey recorded to be played in the event of his death by assassination.

Related websites by Jenni Olson:

Harvey Milk Movie News

575 Castro St.

My phone did it....

From The Inquirer (via Gizmodo):

A woman wrote to the Apple Forum to ask, "I took my husband's i-phone and found a raunchy picture of him attached to an e-mail to a woman in his sent e-mail file (a Yahoo account). When I approached him about this (I think that he is cheating on me) he admitted that he took the picture but says that he never sent it to anyone. He claims that he went to the Genius Bar at the local Apple store and they told him that it is an i-phone glitch: that photos sometimes automatically attach themselves to an e-mail address and appear in the sent folder, even though no e-mail was ever sent. Has anyone ever heard of this happening?"

This is, of course, followed by a long string of people saying "This does not happen," "I've never heard of such a thing," "He's lying," "Dump him," things like that.

"Thank you" for caring

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A pedant after my own heart.....

Why doesn't this happen in America?

Darryl Choronzey (or Cronzy) hosts a Canadian fishing show called "Going Fishing."

In September 2007, approaching a national election, his guest was Conservative Party leader John Tory.

According to a Reuters report:

"'Toward the end of the program, Cronzy said, "Listen, I'm not telling you who to vote for" and then contradicted his verbal statement by pointing at John Tory in an obvious and exaggerated manner,' the council said in a formal ruling.

"Cronzy also said Tory would be 'hopefully, in a couple of months, the head honcho of Ontario.' The two men also joked that one particular fish 'went down, just like the Liberals.

'"The overly political overtones of the show prompted a viewer to complain to the council on the grounds 'that fishing programs are supposed to be about fishing'."

Here's the text of the ruling. It further states that "In his concluding remarks, Cronzy also urged viewers, 'When you go to the polls, whether you’re voting federally or provincially, think of your fish and your wildlife, okay? Get some of these clowns out of politics and get the good guys in.'"

The decision?

"The broadcaster ought to have been entirely aware of the content of the episode. There was not a modicum of subtlety in host Cronzy’s approach, which the broadcaster made its own by running the episode of the program in the midst of an electoral contest. The policy exposure opportunities afforded to the leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and the overtly partisan perspective of the program host combined to provide an inequitable advantage to that party. Nor was there any indication in the correspondence that a comparable opportunity was offered to the Conservative Party’s political rivals. Consequently, in the view of the National Conventional Television Panel, the broadcast of the September 29 episode halfway through the Ontario election campaign breached the fairness requirements of both Clauses 6 and 7 of the CAB Code of Ethics."

The Maggie Trick

Beckoning kitten

A kitten doing the Maggie trick.

For those who don't know, our red tabby, Maggie [1], started doing this when she was about four or five months old. One day, I was sitting at the computer, and Maggie was sitting on the desk in front of me being a little upset that I was paying more attention to that box than to her. So she stood up and started beckoning at me like the kitty in this video. For a moment, I thought I was having an acid flashback or something.

Ever since then, it's been her universal "I want" gesture. Sometimes it's "Come to me," sometimes it's "Give it to me," but it's always some version of "I want." "I want" the toy you put on the top shelf because I was making too much noise with it. "I want" the refrigerator door open so I can shop for my dinner. "I want" you to pat my butt. "I want" something, but I don't know what it is, I just have this kind of generalized desire for something other than what I have right now.

A friend, on meeting Maggie for the first time, said something prophetic. "Oh. A red tabby. I've never met a sane one in my life."

Yep. That's our Maggie.

------------------------------------------------------

[1] The name, "Maggie," does not come from "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof." It comes from Maggie Simpson, because Maggie Simpson has two trademarks: She sucks a pacifier, and she falls down. As a kitten, Maggie was spectacularly bad at judging whether she could balance on surfaces, such as the thin ledge at the front of the kitchen sink, so she would fall down a lot. And she nurses (still today, at age 11) the fur collar from an old jacket as if it were her mother.

Marriage protest rally

We're just back from the protest at City Hall. It was a balmy morning -- mid to high 70's (it's 76 in our back yard right now), with nothing to be seen in the sky except a couple of news helicopters.

The band (the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band) gathered to play music before the rally ("California Here I Come," "San Francisco," "Wedding March/Chapel Of Love" medley, that kind of stuff). For some reason, they escorted the band into the secured area, just outside of the area reserved for media, seniors and disabled.

So for about the first hour, I had a prime spot for taking pictures of the people speaking, (up to the point where Mark Leno started speaking). We had to shift around so they could enlarge the area for seniors and disabled, so I couldn't see anymore after that. Then they turned the speaker away from the steps so the sound would carry farther down Polk Street.

That was just that little bit too much. I mean, the sound system was loud enough as it was, but having it pointed directly at us was just deafening and intolerable. And just as they turned the speaker, the sprinklers came on and started drenching everyone's feet (and my trombone, and my jacket, and Phil's trombone, and the bass drum....). So we pushed through the crowd back down the sidewalk to the corner of Polk and Grove, where we played music for another fifteen minutes or so and then came home.

I think Penny Nixon might have been one of the better speakers that I heard. If you don't know of Penny Nixon, she used to be the pastor of the MCC in the Castro until it closed a few years ago. She and her partner have a daughter that she spoke of a great deal, describing how she took her daughter with her to vote, and how she hasn't yet found the right way to explain to the six-year-old what Prop 8 is or why it passed. But her strongest point was her affirmation that she's staying in the church to prove that being gay and being religious don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Not that any form of organized religion is anything that I would choose for myself, but I applaud her for standing firmly for what she believes in and for her hope and optimism.

As always, Tom Ammiano was both funny and rousing, in turn.

I have to say that the day was surprisingly similar to the filming of the post-parade rally for "Milk." The rally was in the same spot (though there was no stage this time), the crowd seemed of a similar size, though today's crowd was probably larger today -- they stretched about as far from the left of the stage to the right of the stage, but the crowd today could stretch farther back. The band was standing (and I was standing) in almost exactly the same spot. It really was quite a deja vu moment -- the only thing missing was Sean Penn.

So, anyway, I had to get up early to make it in time. I've been sick for the last week and a half, and I'm still getting over it. I'm tired, but I can't go back to bed because I've got to go to work now. At least one of the news helicopters made a couple of passes over the Castro, just to check that no one's rioting, I suppose.

I tell you, I really don't want choppers over Castro to become the rule and not the exception. They've been here (1) Halloween, (2) election night, (3) the night of the march into Dolores Park, and (4) today. So that makes four times in two weeks. As I said before, if I wanted to listen to helicopters all the time, I'd move to Los Angeles.

(Note: All photos are 936X1248. Click to enlarge.)

Product name of the day

Via Gizmodo:

Introducing the Ginsu Outdoor Electric Fillet Knife by Radi Design.

Crime of the week

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Pointless

Treadmobile

Why run on a treadmill at the gym or in your basement when you can run on a treadmill in the park or on public highways?

Also, if it has a braking system, it's not visible in the this video.

How the timesculpture was made

Making of the timesculpture

Here's a "making of the commercial" video that is three times as long as the video it's about.

Here's the Toshiba Timesculpture video (which I posted about on Wednesday).

At the end of the day

Via Joe.My.God.:

The Telegraph reports that researchers at Oxford have compiled a list of the Top Ten Irritating Phrases:

"The researchers who compiled the list monitor the use of phrases in a database called the Oxford University Corpus, which comprises books, papers, magazines, broadcast, the internet and other sources. The database alerts them to new words and phrases and can tell them which expressions are disappearing. It also shows how words are being misused.

"As well as the above expressions, the book's author Jeremy Butterfield says that many annoyingly over-used expressions actually began as office lingo, such as 24/7 and 'synergy'. Other phrases to irritate people are 'literally' and 'ironically', when they are used out of context. "

The top ten most irritating phrases:
1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

A few I would add:
* Verbed nouns like "access," "dialogue" and "task" (as in "I've been tasked with stopping you from verbing nouns.")
* Confusing "further" with "farther" (as in "Drive a couple of miles further.")
* "Obligation" is a noun derived from the verb "oblige." "Obligate" is a verb that was somehow derived from the noun "obligation." (Proper usage: "Your doing a favor for me does not mean that I feel obliged to return the favor.")
* Saying "hopefully" instead of "I hope"
* Saying "thankfully" instead "I am thankful that."

200 camcorders

Toshiba Timescupture

Filmed with 200 camcorders.

Sure, it's an ad, but it's oddly interesting. The first time you watch it, anyway.

It helps to go to YouTube and watch it in high quality.

[UPDATE: Go here to see how it was made.]

Ouch.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Hits a little too close to home for comfort....

Slinky cat

Slinky cat

What walks downstairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slink-ity sound?

It's the kitty!

Phoenix Farewell

The Phoenix lander has been blogging on Gizmodo as a lead-up to today's final installment -- the lander is going off-line, possibly never to return (excerpt only, tip of the iceberg -- go read the whole thing):

"If you are reading this, then my mission is probably over.

"This final entry is one that I asked be posted after my mission team announces they’ve lost contact with me. Today is that day and I must say good-bye, but I do it in triumph and not in grief.

"As I’ve said before, there’s no other place I’d rather be than here. My mission lasted five months instead of three, and I’m content knowing that I worked hard and accomplished great things during that time. My work here is done, but I leave behind a legacy of images and data. . . .

"So long Earth. I’ll be here to greet the next explorers to arrive, be they robot or human."

Other movie news

Steven Soderbergh is directing a new musical based on the life of Cleopatra.

The musical is budgeted for $30 million. Soderbergh hopes to cast Catherine Zeta-Jones and Hugh Jackman.

The musical will be shot in 3-D (the first 3-D musical since "Kiss Me Kate"?)

Soderbergh has compared this project with "an Elvis musical."

Great. So we can expect one of the following:

a) "Jailhouse Rock" meets the Liz Taylor/Richard Burton epic;

b) "Girls! Girls! Girls!" meets George Bernard Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra";

c) "Viva Las Vegas" meets Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra"; or

d) some combination of all of the above.

Repo! The Genetic Opera

Repo Trailer

I'm not making this up.

Now playing at the Lumiere: A goth horror rock opera about someone who repossesses organ transplants from people who get behind in their payments.

Starring:
Anthony Head (the Prime Minister on the original "Little Britain");
Sarah Brightman ("Phantom of the Opera")
Paul Sorvino
Ogre (from the band Skinny Puppy)
and
Paris Hilton

As I said, I'm not making this up.

Sexual aid or performance art?

Honda Walking Assist 2
Uploaded by AkihabaraNews

I think they could possibly have been a bit more explicit about the intended market for this item. Is this for elderly people? People with degenerative muscle diseases? People who want to erode their crotch into a Ken-like smoothness?

Speaking of apologies...

Via BBC:

"My Name Is Earl" comes to life? Or just a case of someone actually taking a twelve-step program seriously?

Imran Ahmed, a shopkeeper in Bristol, received a letter recently that took him off guard.

The letter was from a man who said that he had been passing by the store in 2001 and noticed that it had been broken into. Seeing the store open and unguarded, he stole two cartons of cigarettes. Now, seven years later, he was trying to get off drugs and make amends for his past, so he was writing to apologize and make amends for his crime. He enclosed £100.

"Mr Ahmed said the thief's change of heart was 'really good' and he intends to give the money to a drugs' charity."

Apologies

You might have noticed that I haven't said "boo" about Wednesday's candlelight vigil at City Hall or last night's march from Civic Center to Dolores Park.

Unfortunately, I've got some exceedingly severe work deadlines next week -- more than usual -- plus I've had a sinus infection and cough all week.

And those two things just exacerbate each other -- I can't afford to take time off work to self-medicate and get over this faster, and working while being sick just generally seems to take longer than usual. It has only been in the last couple of nights that I have actually slept all the way through the night without waking up every two hours from coughing.

We went out onto Castro Street for about an hour Tuesday night, and that turned out to be too long, and I was fairly miserable at work the next day because of it. So I skipped the other two events in hopes of not extending this illness any longer than I need to.

I left work at 6:30 last night, so as I was walking up 18th Street, I was passing crowds of people leaving Dolores Park. In our apartment, I could hear crowd noises coming from the park, and I could hear them much better when I opened a window.

At this point, I have to say that I want to see some clear, centralized organization, though. I have been completely swamped with groups and causes on Facebook -- "1,000,000 Million Strong Against Newly Passed Prop 8," "Proud American, Disappointed Californian," "Californians Ready to Repeal Prop. 8," "Make Pride a Protest March Again," "Restore Equality to California in 2010" and on and on and on and on and on. So I hope that a clear and organized response starts to emerge soon.

I am aware that three lawsuits have been filed to stop the enactment of Prop 8. I hope that they work. But those things happen out of sight, and people want to see something right this minute that says they shouldn't lose hope. So would someone please, please, please come up with something more unified than the scattershot responses I've seen so far?

On the plus side, I'm very proud that there has been no rioting or destruction of property in response to Prop 8. Not that I'm against such things on principle. Rather, I feel that since the overwhelming majority of San Francisco and the Bay Area voted "No" on 8, to get destructive here would be reaching out to hurt our friends and would achieve nothing constructive.

"New World Order"

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

It seems that everyone is passing this video around, so I guess I need to do my part as well.

It is pretty funny, though.

"Milk" mini-clip

Milk Rally

This is a very small portion of a much longer scene, but not at all inappropriate for the events of this week.

Also notice Cleve Jones (the real one, not Emile Hirsch) standing in the background in the pink triangle T-shirt

Keep your eyes on the MILKtheMovie YouTube channel for more clips like this between now and the release date.

Odd e-mail

A couple of months ago, I purchased the David Byrne/Brian Eno album, "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" from the only place it is for sale -- the album's website.

This past Monday, November 3, I received this e-mail (Subject: I Can't, But You Can) from "music@ everythingthathappens.com" (identified as "David Byrne"):

"Pardon the bulk mailing. I Can't Vote. I am an immigrant with a Green Card and, therefore, I am not eligible to vote in a federal election. FYI - I can get drafted (luckily, Daniel Berrigan burned my draft board's records) and I pay taxes, yet I cannot vote for President. On Election Day, I see my neighbors heading to the nearby elementary school to cast their ballots. The voting booth joint is a great leveler; the whole neighborhood - rich, poor, old, young, decrepit and spunky - they all turn out in one day.

"But most of you can vote. What can I say? The Republicans have made us less safe than before 9/11, bankrupted this economy, started an illegal war they can't - and don't intend to - finish, removed what sympathy (after 9/11) and respect the world had for the US, and have robbed US citizens of many of their basic rights. Global warming? What's that? Science and education? Investment in our future? No, thanks - we'll stick with a good 'ole hockey mom. Ignorant, and fucking proud of it, as is always the case.

"Although it looks like a shoo-in, it ain't over 'til Florida. And there are plenty of racists in this country who will vote against their own best interests. So please, get to your local elementary school, post office, town hall, or whatever, and cast your vote and make this a country we can all be proud of. We can get out of this mess, and life can be better than it is.

"David Byrne, NYC"

What is weird about this message to me is that the content of this message is not weird enough to make me believe that David Byrne actually sent it. So who did send it? And why bother trying to make it look like it came from David Byrne, of all people?

For all I know, it might be as simple as a disgruntled former employee who stole their mailing list. I've checked the website a few times to see if some kind of message appears regarding this e-mail, but no such luck as yet.

Any ideas?

Half mast

The flag is wrapped around the pole and, therefore, not waving in the breeze. But the giant Pride flag at Castro and Market is flying at half mast this morning.

"No on 8" sent out this message this morning:

"Roughly 400,000 votes separate yes from no on Prop 8 – out of 10 million votes tallied.

"Based on turnout estimates reported yesterday, we expect that there are more than 3 million and possibly as many as 4 million absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted.

"Given that fundamental rights are at stake, we must wait to hear from the Secretary of State tomorrow how many votes are yet to be counted as well as where they are from.

"It is clearly a very close election and we monitored the results all evening and this morning.

"As of this point, the election is too close to call.

"Because Prop 8 involves the sensitive matter of individual rights, we believe it is important to wait until we receive further information about the outcome.".

SF Chronicle wimps out

(Click to enlarge)

This is the "Doonesbury" that Garry Trudeau wrote for today.

Knowing that his prediction that Obama would win might be controversial, Trudeau and his distributor made several old strips as alternatives that could be run today.

And the Chronicle ran one of the alternatives.

Wimps.

Dancing in the streets

The question of Prop 8 is still unanswered as I write this, but it doesn't look great -- 52.5% to 47.5% with 24% of precincts reporting. That doesn't really answer anything, but a lot of people seem to have the attitude of "I don't dare have that much hope."

But that hasn't stopped people from dancing in the streets on Castro Street.

We hung around the house until McCain gave his concession speech, then we headed out to where all the noise was. The block of Castro from 17th to 18th was closed to traffic, but not many people were wandering around as yet. Mostly, people were crowding into Moby Dick and The Midnight Sun and The Bar on Castro and especially Harvey's to watch Obama's acceptance speech.

Meanwhile, people were setting up a makeshift stage and projection TV. It took them quite a while to get it set up, but they finally got Channel 4's news up on the screen, and they started playing music. Just like Halloween, television helicopters have been circling the Castro all evening (total Los Angeles deja vu twice in five days).

So at least for now, there's a party going on. Not having to see Sarah Palin or John McCain or Cindy McCain on a daily basis is something worth celebrating. It is now safe to go back to the gym (where CNN is always on, always unavoidable, and always seems like it has been giving a lot more air time to Palin/McCain than to Obama/Biden).

Oh, yeah. P.S.

I have to confess something.

On my way to the doctor this morning, I found a small stack of "Yes on 8" flyers that someone had left on MUNI. I picked them up just in case I got the opportunity to return them to their rightful owner. But, unfortunately, I lost my grip on them, and they fell into a recycling bin.

It was an accident. I swear.

[UPDATE Midnight: The helicopters seem to gone home for the night. Here's hoping they don't come back for a long, long time.]

Election Day Interlude

American Tune

For election day.

Not to bring you down, or anything, but reportedly, Paul Simon wrote this song (based on a Bach melody) in response to Nixon having been re-elected.

Prop 8 on the Daily Show

I kind of wish some of these things had been said on national TV before now.

But at least they got said before election day.

Election Day Part 2

(No, this is not a picture from today. It's a stock image from photobucket.)

I noticed this morning how sedate the city seems to be today.

Usually on election day, the area at the top of the steps at Harvey Milk Plaza (Castro/17th/Market) is swarming with politics. Usually there are candidates trying to get that last minute "personal touch" in. Usually there are scads and scads of volunteers waving signs and handing out flyers and plastering people with stickers. Usually Carole Migden is there pushing some proposition or candidate whle trying to shake everyone's hand.

Not today.

This morning, both on my way to the doctor (9 a.m.) and on my way to work after voting, (10:45 a.m.), I was struck by the fact that there were only four people at Castro and Market -- two standing on the corners and waving "No on 8" placards, and a third standing at the top of the stairs offering "No on 8" stickers to anyone who would have one. The fourth was a somewhat timid young woman in a "Yes on A" T-shirt (at least I think it was "A").

I took the F-Market to work today, so I saw pretty much everything on Market Street from Castro to the end. Most corners had some number of "No on 8" people (anywhere from 3 to a dozen), but no Obama people, no Mark Leno or Tom Ammiano or Nancy Pelosi people, no one pushing for or against any props other than 8.

I guess that this time everyone figures that everyone has already made up their minds.

[UPDATE 6 p.m.: Well, I guess they were just waiting for the post-work voters. As I was coming home, the number of campaigners at Castro and Market was considerably larger and more varied. No Carole Migden, though.]

Election Day

Not to brag, but it only took me about 10 minutes to vote. But only because I lucked out.

First, I have a sinus infection that descended on me fairly quickly yesterday. (That's not the lucky part.) As a result, I slept fitfully, waking up every two hours like clockwork (unable to breathe and coughing -- that's not the luck part, either). So when I woke up at 6:00, I just stayed up. (That's the lucky part -- accidentally waking up early.)

Second, I had a doctor's appointment this morning at 10:00 -- a five-minute visit with my podiatrist to confirm that the orthotics I got a month ago were free from defects.

So, between being up earlier than usual and not having to be anywhere until later than usual, I thought this might be my opportunity to go vote early.

Unfortunately, being sick(ish), it took me longer to get ready than usual, so it wasn't until nearly 8:30 that I was ready to go. I walked the one block to our polling place, and the line coming out of the door went for about a quarter of a block. Figuring that I had about 45 minutes at most before I had to leave for the doctor's office, I decided I should wait until later.

After I got out of the doctor's office, I went back home and checked the polling place again -- virtually no line now. I walked in the door at 10:35, and I walked out again at 10:42.

For those of you not in the Bay Area, let me describe the process, just as background for what I want to say later:

At our polling place, you are greeted by three people. One finds your name on their first list and has you sign your name. The second confirms your address with their second list and then writes down the hour during which you showed up. The third hands you your ballots (there is only one electronic voting booth at our polling site, as opposed to about ten booths for manually marking paper ballots) and a "Privacy Sleeve" to hold your completed ballots in until you feed the ballot box. Specifically, the polling place for our neighborhood is in the lobby of an old folks' home, so it's not unusual while waiting to vote for you to see caregivers helping little old ladies adjust their underwear (yes, I saw that once today).

Also, there are two kinds of propositions on our ballots. State propositions are numbered, whereas City propositions are assigned letters. So Prop 8 is a State of California proposition, while Prop H is a City of San Francisco proposition. Today, we have Props 1 through 12 plus A through V (the closest I've ever seen the city come to running out of alphabet). We have a total of 34 propositions, plus School Board, Community College Board, State Assembly and several other local elected officials. So we have three very long ballots (one for people, one for numbered props and one for lettered props) printed on both front and back.

The volunteers at the polling place were extra-vigilant today. The woman in line in front of me had brought the Bay Guardian's endorsement mailer with her, and a volunteer told her to put it out of sight. She looked shocked and said, "Are you telling me that I can't have this with me?" He said, "You can have that with you. You just can't carry it out in the open. Hide it."

Behind me in line was a rather scraggly looking man. While Volunteer #2 was checking my address, Volunteer #1 asked him his name. I won't actually swear that he scratched his crotch as he answered, but what he said was "Uh, yeah. I wanna vote for Barack Obama. Whadda I gotta do?"

Entertaining on the one hand, but encouraging from another point of view: This must have been his first time voting, either the first time in a very long time or the first time ever in his life.

Then, more evidence of first-time voting. As I was marking my ballots, it became obvious that the two young men (early to mid-20s) were friends who had come to vote together. What made it obvious was the way in which they started discussing the ballots and the propositions.

"Prop 8 is the gay marriage one, right?"

"Yeah."

"We're supposed to vote 'No' on that one, right?"

"Yeah."

The volunteer (the same one who made the woman put away the Bay Guardian mailer) came over to them.

"Guys. You can't talk out loud about anything being voted on."

"Oh. Sorry."

Again, it has its own entertainment value, but it also seems to indicate voters who don't have a lot of experience in the polling place.

As I was feeding my ballots into the electronic ballot box (kind of like feeding a really big dollar bill into a change machine), a little old man came shuffling into the lobby and shouted, "Everybody needs to vote the same way as I did. I'm not telling you how to vote, and I'm telling you how I voted, but I'm telling you that everybody has to vote the same way as me." Then he chuckled to himself and shuffled out onto the sidewalk for a cigarette.

Yma Sumac 1922-2008

Yma Sumac

Yma Sumac passed away Saturday at age 86. She was diagnosed with colon cancer last February and had been living in an assisted-living facility. Her obituary in the LA Times can be found here.