Taming of the Shrew

I went up to see the Shady Shakespeare production of The Taming of the Shrew up in beautiful Skyline Sanborn park in Saratoga last night with Carl, Esther, and Noelle. It was a lot of fun. We had wine, cheese, etc before the show, which was temporily relocated to the Old West. Very lighthearted and entertaining. And they have four more shows, if anyone is interested.

Improv Everywhere Strikes Again: Slow-Mo Home Depot

The Project Mayhem-like Improv Everywhere goes to Home Depot, shops in slow motion for five minutes, shops normally for five minutes, freezes for five minutes. [more here]

What's Wrong With INS

Maybe there should be a question mark after that title. So this Dominican born man gets deported in 1994 after a drug conviction. He gets caught in 2000 trying to re-enter the US, goes to jail. During his second deportation hearing he finds out he's actually been a naturalized citizen since his mom got naturalized in 1988 (when he was 15). Nevertheless, prosecutors tried to keep him in jail. Or as the judge put it, they argued to keep an innocent man in jail for a crime he was wrongly convicted. Do I even need to put a WTF here? [article]

Today From the Consider-Your-Plan-Carefully Dept.

If you are going through security and they want to know what your penis pump is on the x-ray, do not tell them "a bomb" because your mother is nearby. [article]

Lucky (?) Skydiver

Ok, this video shows one reason why I am skeptical about this whole throwing yourself out of a plane thing. Holy crap on a crap cracker.

Thought of the Morning

Now, it seems a little disturbing to me when I see a child safety seat in the back of a BWM M5, a car, which at 500 hp, seems like too much for an adult, never mind children.

Bad Escape Plan!

If you're holding hostages and you get an escape vehicle from the cops, don't ask for a motocycle, dumbass.
[moderately horrifying video here]

Worst Europe Cover Evar

I have always hated The Final Countdown since I had to listen to it over and over again on the school bus in high school. Now I hate it even more: terrible cover here

The Illusionist

Saw the Illusionist last night at Camera 7 with Noelle and Carl. Loved this film! The visuals were really cool, especially the ghostly images he "conjures" at one point. I really like the cinematography. Some people might find it a bit predictable, but I really enjoyed this movie. The stage tricks were also really cool. Stars Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Refus Sewell, and Jessica Biel.

Gary Numan

Went out Saturday night to see Gary Numan. Great show. He did all the old hits: Cars, Down In the Park, Are Friends Electric, etc. He also did a lot of his later work, which has turned quite dark and gothic and heavy in recent years. I was especially pleased to hear Dark live. Really good sound (at the Fillmore, natch) and the light show was quite good also.

How to Let Neighbors Know How You Feel About Your Property Dispute...

... you put up "an abstract window covering" that looks like a "cactus." [read more]

Nintendo to Offer Wii Online Gaming Free?

If you were to read this interview with a Nintendo USA's president, you might get the idea that Nintendo plans to offer online games for free. Suck on it Microsoft! Suck on it!

At Last

A good use for breast implants. Body armor. You heard me. An Israeli woman escaped death when shrapnel from a Hezbollah rocket attack got caught in her breast implants. [article]

NFL Team Shop's Banned Words

Here's a list of words the NFL will not let you put on their custom jerseys. Hint: the words are largely not NWS.

Britain Foils Terrorist Attacks

British police have foiled a plot to load american bound planes with explosives in the luggage compartment. Twenty-one people have been detained for questioning in regards to the plan. The plotters were successful in throwing the airports over there into chaos as security screening has become much tighter. Looks like flying home for Christmas will be a lot of fun. [article]

Good Riddance, Joe

Joe Lieberman, long time senator from Connecticut was defeated in the democratic primary 52% to 48% the other day. Thank God for small favors, I say. I've been supremely unimpressed with him since he was pushing his "family values" agenda back in the 90s. Siding with Bush on the war appears to be what caused the voters to turn him out, though. Not satisfied with the result, he says he plans to run as an independent in the fall. Sigh. No silver lining without a dark cloud, I guess. [article]

Clerks II

Well, it didn't make me laugh quite as uproariously as the original, but I got a lot of laughs out of the sequel. Worth a viewing (if you liked the first one).

Welcome To Philly

So, Philadelphia man witnesses up to (but not) actual crime. Doesn't want to testify because he has a pathological fear of reprisals (been a problem before evidently). DA gets a judge to lock him up as a potential witness, not as a criminal. Dude waits in jail. DA does not call dude as witness. Case is dropped. Does DA get dude out of jail? Noooooooo. The poor guy eventually gets a public defender to take a look at his "case" and finally gets out of jail a year later. WTF? I mean, seriously, WTF? [article]

San Jose Semaphore

Adobe Systems has commissioned a new piece of public art called the San Jose Semaphore, which will consist of four ten foot wide discs that will display encoded messages viewable to the area surrounding the company's downtown San Jose offices. An online site will broadcast an audio soundtrack of spoken and sung letters, numbers, and musical tones to help decipher the message. Wow. For once corporate art seems kinda cool. [article]

The Milky Way In Utah

(click to go to APOD)

Hey, this was right down the road from where we were in Utah, only a few short months ago. The Milky Way wasn't quite this prominent, but it was still very impressive.