Get out the wax and comb out those crumbs, the World Beard and Moustache Championships takes place tomorrow in Berlin. Check it out, Beard Team USA has their own blog! Go USA! Too bad local favorite Steven Raspa won’t be able to make it this year.

Unlike the Olympics, with its highly-competitive qualifying tournaments, strict drug regulations, and gender testing, this competition is open to everyone willing to support his country. Well, at least everyone with a beard or moustache. In fact, it is almost unpatriotic not to grow a beard or moustache and enter the competition.

So, if I’m reading this correctly, they are saying that junkies and women are allowed to compete. If that’s the case, my vote is for the cracked-out, bearded lady from Moldova.

Pioneering digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) turns 15th this year and to celebrate, they are having a party this Sunday, October 2nd at their San Francisco headquarters.

From the Internet to the iPod, technologies of freedom are transforming our society and empowering us as speakers, citizens, creators, and consumers. These technologies are increasingly under attack, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the first line of defense, protecting our civil liberties in the networked world. EFF broke new ground when it was founded in 1990—well before the Internet was on most people’s radar—and continues to confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights today. From the beginning, EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights.

Oh yeah, please support EFF by becoming a member. Laughing Squid has been a proud member for years.

UPDATE: photos from the party are now online

If you are going to photograph a giant squid, try not to rip off any of their tentacles. That really pisses them off. So much so, that the squid overlords instructed Mule Design to create this angry squid t-shirt as a warning to others who might be thinking of doing the same. Here’s a close-up of the front and back.

One of the highlights of last weekend’s Webzine 2005 was Renegade Rene’s Meet the Zinesters video blog series. Rene and several dedicated volunteers setup a video interview station upstairs on the right-hand balcony of the Swedish American Hall’s main room (Freya). Webzine attendees were then invited to do a short video interview against a green screen and then the video segments were edited together with the person’s website showing up behind them, chroma keyed in place of the green screen. A few special effects where added in, a bit of rendering and then the videos were uploaded to the most excellent Blip TV, who are hosting the videos for free. The videos are up on the Internet Archive as well.

The resulting video clips are really wonderful and are linked here for your viewing pleasure:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

The eerie and surreal art of Frank Garvey is being featured in a solo show titled “Childrens’ Crusade” at Varnish Fine Art in San Francisco. His work is on display now through October 29th and includes paintings, kinetic sculptures and robots. The opening reception is this Saturday, October 1st from 7-11pm and on Saturday, October 29th, there will be closing party featuring a performance by Frank Garvey and Omni Circus.

Frank Garvey’s solo show of paintings and robots Children’s Crusade is a hallucinatory take on a dark, industrial landscape. Working with projected animation, music, robotics, painting and kinetic sculpture, Garvey conjures up an acrid, musee mechanique-like atmosphere, to create what he calls, “A beautiful journey through the twisted undermind of the urban American landscape.” Garvey filters a defiant political POV that leans toward the stance of the manifesto, through a conglomeration of pop cultural artifacts that appear to be destined for some fort of toxic metal cabaret.

Here are a few photos of Frank’s show that I shot yesterday at Varnish.

Well after all of this time, it finally has happened. Last September Japanese scientists shot the first photos ever taken of a living giant squid (Architeuthis) in its natural environment. Here’s the full report from National Geographic News.

Here at Laughing Squid we eagerly await our squid overlords.

The animal—which measures roughly 25 feet (8 meters) long—was photographed 2,950 feet (900 meters) beneath the North Pacific Ocean. Japanese scientists attracted the squid toward cameras attached to a baited fishing line.

The scientists say they snapped more than 500 images of the massive cephalopod before it broke free after snagging itself on a hook. They also recovered one of the giant squid’s two longest tentacles, which severed during its struggle.

Thanks for the tip Søren!

The annual Tease-O-Rama Burlesque Convention takes place this weekend, Friday, September 30th through Sunday, October 2nd, at Bimbo’s 365 Club in San Francisco. It features a stunning line-up of performers and an extensive schedule of activities.

Tease-O-Rama is the first and ONLY convention dedicated to the thriving neo-burlesque revival. First and foremost, we strive to create an open forum for performers reviving this uniquely American art form to meet, perform, share their skills and get up-to-date on developments in this evolving and exciting art scene. The medium of burlesque viewed through a twenty-first century lens offers endless opportunities for performance - from classic glamour to wry satirical commentary to carnivalesque freak-show skills, Tease-O-Rama has it all!

Webzine 2005 was a huge success. Ryan Junell (on the left), Eddie Codel (on the right) and our amazing co-organziers and volunteers did a great job putting it all together. Thanks to everyone who make it out and of course special thanks to our sponsors for making it possible for this event to exist.

You can read more about this weekend’s activities in the numerous blog posts covering the event.

I shot quite a few photos. Here they are broken down by day:

Friday Night Kickoff Party

Saturday

Saturday Night Party

Sunday

Here are all the Webzine 2005 photos that have been uploaded by everyone to Flickr.

Ok kids, this is it. Webzine 2005 officially begins tomorrow night (Friday, September 23rd) with a big kick off party at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco, organized by our friends at SFist.

At Webzine on Saturday and Sunday, there will be speakers, panels, workshops and an ongoing Master’s Lounge from 12 noon to 6:00pm. Here’s the full schedule. On Saturday night, there will be a party as well. Stay tuned to webzine2005.com for more info.

Pedro Carvajal has finished the final edit of his documentary “Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English”, based on the work of pop artist, billboard liberator Ron English. Pedro has added some new scenes based on the “To Serve Man” billboard improvement that Ron English and the Billboard Liberation Front collaborated on in San Francisco back in May, which commemorated McDonald’s 50th Anniversary. Earlier today, the BLF’s own Jack Napier described, in detail, the logistics of this hit on the BLF’s recently launched blog.

This new version of “Popaganda” will be screening at San Francisco’s Red Vic Movie House from September 23rd through 29th. Here’s the full schedule.

There will be a special Q & A with Jack Napier & Milton Rand Kalman of the BLF after the Friday, September 23rd 9:15pm show and with Jack Napier after the Saturday, September 24th 7:15pm show.

Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English is a film about the culture-jamming and billboard-liberation antics of Ron English. The modern day Robin Hood of Madison Avenue, Ron paints, perverts, infiltrates, reinvents and satirizes modern culture on canvas, in songs, and directly on hundreds of pirated billboards. Shot entirely guerilla-style, the film chronicles the evolution of an artist who offers an alternative universe where nothing is sacred, everything is subverted and there’s always room for a little good-natured fun. Also featuring art by Shepard Fairey and Cicada. With music by The Dandy Warhols, Daniel Johnston, Tripping Daisy and more. (78m)

Here are some photos I shot of the always amazing F-Space as they played at A Mighty Ruckus at Islais Creek (blogged here) last Saturday. The photos are up on Flickr as well.

The Webzine 2005 Wiki is now live, courtesy of the fine folks at JotSpot. Special thanks to Scott McMullan who set it up for us.

If you are coming to Webzine 2005, sign-up on the wiki, add your name and start creating some pages and content. The idea is to begin building the wiki now and continue to grow it throughout the event.

For the last 10 years John Solomon has asked the question “How Berkeley Can You Be?”. Each year the answer comes through loud and clear in the form of a parade in Berkeley featuring freaks, weirdos, punks, radicals, activists, nudists, Klingons, Pink Man, Art Cars from the annual ArtCar Fest and may other masters of unique self expression.

The parade takes place this Sunday, September 25th, starting at 11:00am at the corner of California and University Avenue, and it concludes with a festival at Martin Luther King Park. Just how Berkeley are you? Come out to the parade and find out.

The “How Berkeley Can You Be?” Parade and Festival began in 1996, and was the brainchild of John Solomon, a longtime University Avenue merchant. John’s involvement with the University Avenue Association led him to believe that a major event of University Avenue would send a positive signal about the University Avenue corridor, which at the time was struggling with public safety, empty store fronts, graffiti, and a poor quality of life. John felt that a major event would indeed signal that University Avenue was a place on the rebound, that it was a place to do business, to live, to stroll, and that it was a worthy entrance to the City. He saw it as an opportunity to celebrate community, to leave partisan politics behind, for the citizenry to look in the mirror and laugh.

Robodock 2005 takes place this week (September 21st through 24th) in Amsterdam. San Francisco will be well represented by SEEMEN, The Flaming Lotus Girls and Al Honig who have all made the trip there to participate. They will be joined by New York artists The Madagascar Institute and Chico MacMurtrie, along with Barry Schwartz who is currently based out of Los Angeles.

Robodock is a unique international summer festival, that merges technology and art. During Robodock spectacular theatre acts, multi-media, visual arts, music, industrial installations, robots and experiments sweep the audience off their feet in an overwhelming flood of experiences.

Part 1 of ArtCar Fest 2005 takes place this weekend. On Saturday, September 24th art cars from all over the country will caravan through Berkeley and end up at Amoeba Music on Telegraph Avenue. On Sunday, September 25th, the art cars will be participating in the annual How Berkeley Can You Be? parade. See the Squid List post for more info.

Part 2 of ArtCar Fest takes place on October 14th & 15th at the San Jose Museum of Art (more on that next month).