photo by Dave Young

Every Valentine’s Day, quite literally thousands of people converge on Justin Herman Plaza at 6pm to engage in a mass Pillow Fight wherein faces are pummeled, backs are thwacked, and many a giggles had. However, this fun comes at an awful price. Each year tens of thousands bits of feathers, fluff, and foam get strewn across the plaza and they quickly clog the storm drains leaving is toxic debris no other choice but to run into our delicate bay.

photo by Scott Beale

The other hidden cost behind this spectacle of fluffy carnage is this stress it causes on SF government’s relationship to public art and fun. As you may know, some elements in the San Francisco municipal government are waging a War on Fun. While the primary target of the War on Fun has been the clubs and music venues that enrich our lifes, it also includes public art and the very really cost of the Pillow Fight has and can be used justification to stop other events like the Urban Iditarod or lead to further cracking down on other forms of art like the Obama Street Change.

The event has even lead to the U.N. issuing a resolution on Pillow Conflict And Teen Sexual Tension. As Guest Blogger/Part Time UN Commander EDW Lynch reports:

“The United Nations Unconventional Culture Commission (UNUCC) strongly condemns the 2010 San Francisco Pillow Fight and the deplorable attacks on UN pillow inspectors in 2009. A new UN Resolution blames the surge in pillow conflict on an alarming rise in teen sexual tension and the growing influence of radical Talibro pillow extremists, whose testosterone and Red Bull-fueled brosurgency has turned the San Francisco Pillow Fight into a massive melee.”

All of this from some fluff. Ok, a fuckton of fluff. Thus, if you do go to the pillow fight, be aware of its costs and stay to help clean up the mess. Have fun, but don’t be a jerk.

(This message brought to you by the Association of Joyous Tentacles and Mothers Against Drunk Douchebags)

photo by Qarly Q

Around thirty mischievous merry makers sneaked out in the dead of night on Friday, December 18th, to not-so-covertly install bundles of mistletoe over public spaces where people congregate in San Francisco. In a brief discussion with the mastermind behind this devious plan, he explained his motivations:

The theory is that by installing mistletoe over places like crosswalks, bus stops, the instersection in front of the ferry building, etc., we can cause a few moments where random folks will see the mistletoe, make eye contact, and then be faced with the choice of social norms: ignore the stranger and be a callous soulless creature, or smile and kiss a total stranger. I think this is interesting because most everyone wants to do the later, but not many people will take the risk of trying to kiss a stranger – unless there is encouragement.

photo by Burstein!

The mistletoe can be found hovering above cross walk all along Valencia Street, The Castro, Church and Market area, the Ferry Building, and the Upper and Lower Haight. Go out and encourage people, or better yet, find some and lead by example.

photo by Qarly Q

The hackerspace Noisebridge is one of San Francisco’s cultural and artistic gems. Its members have contributed a wide variety of art, hacks and local culture.

Noisebridge is a space for sharing, creation, collaboration, research, development, mentoring, and of course, learning. Noisebridge is also more than a physical space, it’s a community with roots extending around the world. We help people build neat and awesome things.

On Friday, October 2nd, these über-makers and geeks are having an open house for their one year anniversary that will show off what they have done and can do. This alone is worth the price of admission, which is free. Things to see include:

The Brain Machine (which you can learn to make at noisebridge)

A Compass Vibro-Anklet (which you can learn to make at noisebridge)

A Makerbot Robot (which can be used at noisebridge)

Also at the event will be the Reverse Engineering Bar with only the geekiest of drinks and music by DIY-band Corpus Callosum and Cally McMorrow, circuit bender of legend.

photo by Scott Beale

In this special post, Contributing Coleoidea, Burstein, interviews the legendary Hal Robins (aka Dr. Hal) on his talents, arts, and history of involvement in the San Francisco fringe arts. Dr. Hal is truly a cultural treasure with a mind so engaging that there is a live action game show Ask Dr. Hal where its basic premise is, in effect, to simply ask the man questions. See it live this week at S.P.A.C.E. (Space Preservation Agency for Creative Enterprise) in the J.R. “Bob” Dobbs Memorial Hall at 354 5th St. (5th St. at Folsom).

Burstein! – Dr. Hal, your knowledge of poetry is legendary, as is your capacity to recite verse at whim. What draws you to verse in particular, and do you generally prefer verse to prose?

Hal – Well, I find he best verse has an incantory quality, like chanting a spell. Some poems in fact are spells. But verse has rhythm — a beat– which propels it forward. Of course, to memorize long stretches of prose one must also seek out and find this beat, which is idiosyncratic and more subtle. The structure of verse is amenable to memory. And then there’s the matter of the content. Ezra Pound characterized poetry as, “language charged to the utmost with feeling.” Though not a fan of Mussolini, I endorse Pound’s view. You get a better performance from the freighted words of verse than you would from reading the telephone directory– though that, too, has its place in the annals of public performance.

photo by Scott Beale

Burstein! – Can you tell us if your love of literature has affected your graphic art?

Hal – Literature helps and informs the graphic artist. The thankless task of cartooning and drawing comic books is vastly aided by wide reading and understanding.

Burstein! – Would you say the impact has been different upon work for SubGenius materials, as opposed to the Dinosaur Alphabet?

Hal – Oh, the impact doubles for producing theologically correct images when the task is to illustrate our Church of the SubGenius literary material– you must do the homework before you can create an appropriate picture for a work such as our Revelation X: The “Bob ” Apocryphon. As for my book Dinosaur Alphabet, it is a collection of short poems about various dinosaurs, which I then illustrated and provided with copious notes to defend my assertions. I also designed the Alphabet itself, initial letters, or drop-caps, each of which incorporated an image of the eponymous dinosaur.You might also look for my other self-illustrated book, The Meaning of Lost and Mismatched Socks, from North Atlantic Books.

Burstein! – How did you become involved with the Church of the SubGenius?

Hal – Years ago, working at Rip-Off Press, the underground comic book factory and studio, Paul Mavrides retrieved the ur-pamphlet, the first put out by the Church at the beginning of the Eighties, from the wastebasket of Fred Todd, the publisher at Rip-Off, who was never sent a good idea that he didn’t discard. Paul and I, however, found the pamphlet intriguing and hilarious. Responding to the (then) address of the SubGenius Foundation on the pamphlet, Pamphlet No.1, which begins, “The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!,” we entered into correspondence with Rev. Ivan Stang, the Sacred Scribe, who, it turned out, was already familiar with our work, and quickly became involved at the highest levels with Stang and his people. I have written lyrics for the Church, Hymns, Elegies & Orations. Eventually we were all present at the assassination of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, in 1984– the so-called “Night of Slack.”

Burstein! Could you go further into this?

Hal – I prefer not to… the memories are painful… Students of San Francisco history know the sad details. Archived material is at the SubSite– subgenius.com –for those who feel they have to wallow in the details. The assassination has often been ritually enacted at our “Devivals.” The next one of these will be this October in Portland, Oregon.

Burstein! – You are locally known for, amongst other things, the Ask Dr. Hal Show, which is co-hosted by Chicken John. How did you two fall into cahoots together, and how did that lead to the Ask Dr. Hal! Show?

Hal – Somewhere back in the middle Nineties I was performing at the old Klub Kommotion on 16th St., a venue like many others now long gone. Chicken approached me and told me I could do better– i.e. perform with him. Our association in various shows swiftly taught us each other’s strengths and weaknesses. In the Black Rock desert Chicken constructed the monstrous, Cyclopean buttocks of the flame-spouting Wizard of Ass, a mechanism in which I was concealed with a microphone. I answered the questions of various supplicants until forced to leave the giant structure, as it was on fire at the time. This question-and-answer show was, in fact, the template for the stage shows we do now.

photo by Scott Beale

Burstein! – Dr. Hal, what are your current projects, in general, and do you have any comic projects ongoing at this time? And tell us whether you are self-publishing or not.

Hal – I am working on a 3-page story for a comic book which will probably come out this winter– yes, they still exist. Look for “Belly Dance Comix No. 2″ from Clone Comics. I am also working on a series of trading cards called Rockets, Jets and Spacemen for Monsterwax Cards in Florida. At this time I’m also designing tattoos for various people in the arts here, and hope to complete some art for Loop! Station in the near future.

The only self-publishing I seem to be doing these days is putting out the weekly Dr.Hal Report, a mass-mailed email to my special list about our shows. I know some people, who have complained of its fatiguing length and complexity, would rather this journal just go away. But if you’d like to receive it, write me at hal@askdrhal.com –and make sure the words, “SUBSCRIPTION REQUEST” appear in the header.

Burstein! – Thanks, Dr. Hal! Why don’t you give us a plug for your show?

Hal – Gladly. We are doing the Ask Dr. Hal! Show every Wednesday night. Though Chicken is still away, he’s expected to return at any time, and we expect to take up the show again where it’s been most of this year– at his place on Cesar Chavez. The official web site at askdrhal.com will be the place to check for the news when it happens. Chicken has grandiose plans about extending the show into other dimensions of performance.

Right now we are at 3 blocks below the Powell St. BART Station and 2 blocks south of Mission. But, for now, we’re no longer in the Mission, but “south of the Slot.” Our crowds seem to be finding us at S.P.A.C.E. (Space Preservation Agency for Creative Enterprise) in the J.R. “Bob” Dobbs Memorial Hall at 354 5th St. (5th St. at Folsom).

Len Peralta is the Cleveland artist behind “Monster by Mail” is back with “Summer of the Supervillain”, where Len will draw you a sketch of any monster of your choosing for $25. Just give him the name of a monster, like The Dark Master of Business Intelligence & Analytics for example, and Len will give form sketch a very appropriate monster for the name and mail it to you. An extra ten bucks will get you a video of him bringing your monster to life paper.

“Diagnostico -World Domination Through Microscopy”

Of course, you can order one for a loved one because, “Nothing says ‘I care for you’ like a personalized monster, creature or spook from Monster By Mail!” Here are a couple of my favorites:

“Uncle Fun”

“Dr.Brandon from Skullcrusher Mountain with half monkey/half pony and Scarface”

And, of course, you can get his coloring book, AARGH! The Incredibly Ghoulish, Frighteningly Creepy Coloring Book Of Death, is still available through lulu publishing.

See Previously:

- Monster by Mail and The Coloring Book of Death
- Monster By Mail Presents: Aliens

The Tamale Lady (a.k.a. Virginia Ramos) is celebrating her *ahem* not-35th birthday at Zeitgeist on Monday, June 15th from 6 to 8 p.m. Cecil D. Feeder is hosting the party and will be showing his documentary on the life and times of Our Lady of the Tamale.

Thanks to Sean Savage for the tip!

Journey to the End of the Night is an interactive and free street game that is being produced by SF0. While the rules are a bit more complex, the game is an extended version of tag where the players will try to make it through a series of checkpoints while being chased by the organizers. If you get caught, you then become a chaser.

It starts Saturday, June 20th, 7pm in the amphitheater at Mosswood Park near the MacArthur Bart.

photo by Inhae Lee

My Milk Toof is a photo blog where each post tells a story over 1 to 10 images of two Milk Toofs that happen to reside at Inhae Lee‘s home.

When I was young, I placed my baby teeth under my pillow and when i woke up I’d find a shiny new quarter. But whatever happened to those little teeth? Where did they go? Would I ever see them again?

Many years later, a little tooth was standing at my door. It looked familiar. It’s name was ickle. Welcome home, my milk toof!

The stories are exceedingly cute, simple and elegantly illustrated through the photos. As one commenter noted, “it’s like a ticklish photo haiku.”

Corey McKenna has used stop motion animation to make one of the most charming wedding invitations that I have ever seen. It is light, whimsical, compelling to watch, and really makes me want to attend their wedding (even though I have never met them). Congratulations, and good luck on the big day, Corey and Rachel!

One of the joys that I have always found in a well constructed comic was not merely the joy of the narrative and art, but also where the story brought my imagination. As a geek with a slight familiarity with economics, I have often found myself reading comics and thinking about the challenging of composing actuarial models for things like the risk of having your car smashed by the Hulk. (Seriously, I got into a shouting match with someone once over the advantages of a publicly financed model over private-hero insurance.)

The folks at Ecocomics have actually done that and literally have a post on Supernatural Disaster Insurance, and even a follow up post on the topic!

However, they have so so many other lovely posts at that beautiful intersection between graphic art and the dismal science, such as:

• The economic impacts if super geniuses chose to produce technology rather than take over the world.
• What would happen if Magneto entered the construction industry.
• Where does the Canadian government get the money from to keep making super-soldiers?
• Unionizing New Krypton
• and, of course, Insurance for Superheros

This blog is seriously required reading for all comic-book and econ-geeks.

The great folks over at Boing Boing Video and guest-host Todd Lappin recently went on an epic exploration of one of the world’s largest personal collections of military vehicles. The Military Vehicle Technology Foundation is a museum of tanks, armored cars, and all sorts of things that defy simple classification. The majority of the collection, if not all of it, came from Jacques Littlefield, a self made millionaire that had good taste in rides.

Mr. Littlefield’s interest in tanks was largely technical, not based on their military or historical significance. His collection was not open to the public, but he gave private tours to about 4,000 historians, Boy Scouts, journalists and veterans a year.

“There’s nothing like it,” said Hans Halberstadt of San Jose, an author of several military history books who frequently brought fellow historians to see Mr. Littlefield’s collection. “He gathered these machines and made them available for study. And he was brilliant at understanding how they worked. I really respected him.”

By studying tanks, historians and engineers can learn how various designs worked under differing battle conditions and how each model balanced mobility, armor and fire power, Halberstadt said.

Jacques has recently shuffled off his mortal coil, but his passion and collection lives on. While he left them a hefty endowment, they do accept public support and will arrange tours for the interested.

Finally, this video was made possible through Dorkbot SF organizer Karen Marcelo, who reminds us that June 2009 is the 7th anniversary of Dorkbot SF! Jon Sarriugarte is hosting a big 7th Anniversary Party on June 20th, 2009, featuring more oil punk than you can shake a dipstick at.

“Dust and Illusions” is a documentary by Olivier Bonin on the history of Burning Man that reaches all the way back to the legendary San Francisco Suicide Club. While this film has been making occasional screenings, the last two shows for the summer will be on Thursday, June 4th at the The David Brower Center in Berkeley at 6:30 & 8:30pm.

Dust & Illusions looks at 30 years of history of Burning Man all the way back to the late 1970s deep into the origins of the event. Through 21 interviewees the film presents the philosophies that fueled the creation of the festival, and its evolution from a small gathering of friends to the largest “counter-cultural” event in North America. It offers a new perspective of the meaning of the event, and questions whether its organizers are more concerned about making sure the show is ready when the gate opens or they still truly engage in building a community and fostering art.

photo by Alan Rorie

The Neuron Chamber by Alan Rorie is an electro-kinetic sculpture of a steel and glass frame that contains hand-forged steel and copper model neurons. Even better, the neurons within the chamber create and send beautiful electrical arcs down the interior of the sculpture. These arcs do more than merely look pretty, but they have changed the sculpture itself by oxidizing its innards, giving it a new layer of color and depth.

The Raygun Gothic Rocketship is the new art piece by Sean Orlando, Nathaniel Taylor, David Shulman, which is the same crew that gave life to the Steampunk Treehouse.

The Raygun Gothic Rocketship is an immersive rocket base environment consisting of a tall metal rocket connected via walkway to a taller gantry with a well-defined lighted perimeter. Participants can interactively explore the rocket’s three interior chambers accessible through the bottom of the rocket and the top of the rocket via the gantry. Aesthetically the project will be done in a rococo retro-futurist vernacular between yesterday’s tomorrow and the future that never was, a critical kitsch somewhere between The Moons of Mongo & Manga Nouveau.

Art, however, does not exactly grow on trees. That means it’s time for The Galatic Gala, a Big Ol’ Party/Fundraiser to help bring the rocketship out to Burning Man 2009 to launch at Black Rock City. The event takes place Friday, June 5th at the elegant Bently Reserve, featuring performances by Bad Unkl Sista, Zoe Keating, Fou Fou Ha!, Mark Growden Trio, Tara Quinn, and the Copper Lantern Fire Theater.

Costumes are encouraged, as they should be. Advance tickets are now on sale.

Of course, the only thing better than aiding and abetting art like this is to actually make it. Luckily, the Raygun Gothic Rocketship folks are searching for people to chip in (i’m looking your way NASA). You can sign up on Facebook or Twitter if interested.

photo by Tod Seelie

The Swimming Cities of Serenissima are art boats that are quite literally made out of junk down to their Mercedez 240 D diesel engines. A merry crew of artists are sailing these pieces of art to the Biennale in Venice, which is a fancy contemporary art show that is just perfect for crashing. Here is an update on the trip from Chicken John:

I’m in Italy. We are traveling in little canals, but the bridges are low and we keep getting kicked out of the canals and sent back to the Adriatic. Sea. The Adriatic Sea. It’s the ocean. It’s huge. It’s not like a big lake. This ‘aint Camp Tipsy. We are piloting ocean-going vessels in serious swell on boats made of bullshit. It’s pretty amazing. Everyday I simultainiously fall in love and a few hours later I feel like I’m wasting my time. I’m totally confused. It happens when you spend too much time with vegans. The crew are 30 art-types who are all totally great on their own but as a collective they are impossible and the logistics are maddning. The boats aren’t even done, really. We are building as we go. We were underway and Steve was welding a muffler pipe. It’s stupid. I watched someone cut a piece of wood in half with a leatherman yesterday. We are cutting steel with a hacksaw. We’ve got a welder, but it’s 110. We’ve got a grinder, but it’s 220. Half the tools are 220. Everyones cell phone is deep 6ed. My tools are gone, eaten by the sea. We had a few problems with drive shafts and sheer pins, but we stopped in a little fishing town and a adorable old Italian man fabricated us a sleeve to protect the vibration and we havn’t had a problem since. He worked for 12 hours and charged us $160. People give us fish. The curiosity is very reserved here. Italy is kinda fancy. I’m in the North. It reminds me of Palm Beach.

photo by Neiltron

They are going to arrive at the Beinealle soon where they are going to put on a show. For those folks in the region, it takes place June 4th-6th at Isla Certo sa Vento di Venezia Hotel.

The World Air Sex Championships is like the US Air Guitar Championships, but with less fake guitar and more fake orgasms. The Air Sex 2009 Tour kicks off on June 6th in Austin traveling to 15 cities in 21 days with a competition at a The Independent in San Francisco on June 24th.

Never been to an Air Sex show before? Here’s what you need to know: it’s a lot like Air Guitar, but instead of rocking out with an imaginary guitar, you’re making sweet and/or filthy love with an imaginary sex partner. You choose a clip of music, you show up in whatever sort of wardrobe you like, and you come up on stage and show everyone how you do it. Or how you wish you could do it. Or how you once had it done to you, and oh my god was that a bad idea and while it’s embarrassing to show that act to a room of strangers, you know that you need to do it now in order to make sure that no one else falls down the same rabbit hole you got stuck inside. Or, you know, just do it however you want. The only rules we have are the laws laid down by the state we’re in. Since the Alamo serves alcohol, you can’t get naked. And since we serve food as well, all orgasms have to be simulated (or at least arguably so). Other than that, you’re free to do whatever it takes to impress the judges, the audience in the theater, and the world!

photo by Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

via Violet Blue

Imaginism Studios is a great little group of artists that all seem to have engaging, cartoony and playful styles. The art of Bobby Chiu is especially engaging to me as it has a specific fantasy-world-appeal that I find akin to Hayao Miyazaki at times.

Also on Imaginism Studios is Kei Acedera, an artist with a clear affection for dragons and fairies. I personally agree with her that the bay needs more families of dragons.

Other artists include cartoonist Stephen Silver, the caricatures of Jason Seiler. Be careful, there is so much fun stuff on their site that you can easily waste an hour just looking at the pretty images (like a image described as “creatures with giant blisters on their heads that are filled with cheese”).

photo by Andrew Storms

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is a Hindu nationalist organization in India that is venturing into the soft drink industry. While that may not be notable, the fact that they are undergoing laboratory testing for a soda made from cow urine is. Considering that the RSS often decry the influence of westernization on their culture and that drinking cow urine is considered healthy in some parts of India, it is an interesting bit of cultural reclamation to promote a very Hindu beverage.

The flavor is not yet known, but the RSS said the liquid produced by Hinduism’s revered holy cows is being mixed with products such as aloe vera and gooseberry to fight diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

Many Hindus consider cow urine to have medicinal properties and it is often drunk in religious festivals.

The drink will be called “gau jal,” the Sanskrit word for “cow water”.

In light of the recent success of the urine-to-water test conducted by the astronauts on the International Space Station, maybe Tang might have some competition for being the beverage of choice for astronauts.

via Discover’s Discoblog

photo by Sarah Atwood

In an amazing Yahoo Answer, Kat Atredies (most likely a pseudonym) a student at a private school asks the question “Is it OK to run an illegal library from my locker at school?”

Let me explain.

I go to a private school that is rather strict. Recently, the principal and school teacher council released a (very long) list of books we’re not allowed to read. I was absolutely appalled, because a large number of the books were classics and others that are my favorites. One of my personal favorites, The Catcher in the Rye, was on the list, so I decided to bring it to school to see if I would really get in trouble. Well… I did but not too much. Then (surprise!) a boy in my English class asked if he could borrow the book, because he heard it was very good AND it was banned! This happened a lot and my locker got to overflowing with the banned books, so I decided to put the unoccupied locker next to me to a good use. I now have 62 books in that locker, about half of what was on the list. I took care only to bring the books with literary quality.

The books on her list include, but are not limited to, the following:

• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• The Picture of Dorian Gray
• Slaughterhouse-5
• Lord of the Flies
• Bridge to Terabithia
• Catch-22
• East of Eden
• The Brothers Grimm Unabridged Fairytales.
• Candide
• The Divine Comedy
• Paradise Lost
• The Godfather
• The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
• Animal Farm

Kat is bravely ensuring that her fellow students have access to some very fine literature. She is also taking her librarian duties seriously by keeping a log book with due dates and even curating her collection: “Twilight is banned also, but I don’t want that polluting my library.”

via Neatorama

As part of our continuing coverage of the Swimming Cities of Serenissima, we have obtained some lovely mail art from embedded artists Spy Emerson and Moses Grub. They have been mailing back improved postcards from their travels as part of an ongoing fundraising effort that included the speakeasy raid at Ritual Roasters because “being an art marauder does not pay.”

The piece above is from the coast of Slovenia. This means that the Swimming Cities are getting closer to their ultimate mission – crashing the extra-fancy Venice Biennale on June 7th. There is much more adventure left, so there is plenty of time to get an original piece of mail art for only 10 bucks.

Ghostmatrix is the latest project by Johnathan Foote, is a light printer that it creates ghostly letters that glow in the dark and then fade away. Eerie.

Well, this was supposed to be a weekend hack. Only it took a few months. In any case, it’s kind of working now! What is it? It’s a light printer that uses an array of UV LEDs mechanically scanned across phosphorescent paper, leaving a matrix of glowing dots that slowly fade. Hence “ghostmatrix.” I scavenged the linear motor from SRL discard pile, and used an Adafruit Mini POV3 with custom software as the light engine.

photo by Johnathan Foote

Johnathan provides all the gory techy details on his blog, which also has a number of other interesting pieces.

Wild Style City is a great website by Earthmine that allows you to explore San Francisco and tag virtual graffiti on various city surfaces. The work you create stays on the virtual version of San Francisco so you can see the evolution of the street art.

Thanks to Michael Prados for the tip!

Elliot Burford turns the titles of spam email he receives in to adorable illustrations that are literal translations of the subject lines.

While the idea of converting spam (and other found objects) into art is has been around since the dawn of the internet, only a few do it well. For example, Linzie Hunter made great art from spam one-liners.

illustrations by Elliot Burford

“Last Day Dream” by Chris Milk is a moving video that sums up the most important memories from an individual’s life in 42 seconds. Rather than being overly maudlin, this video hits that sweet spot that illustrates both whimsy, awkwardness, beauty and fear. This balance of beauty and pain is consistent with his other work, like the below video of the Gnarls Barkley song “Who’s Going to Save My Soul”.

via Daring Fireball

The Squidolin is exactly what it sounds like, a violin made in the shape of a squid. Carlos R. Mendez created this beauty as a self-teaching violin whereby you connect the piece to a television and it will work you through a series of lessons. Along with having the most awesome musical instrument on the block, you will have the smartest one as well.

via Amrith Ram & Yanko Design