Sam the American Eagle and The Muppets present “Stars & Stripes Forever”.

guest post by mikl-em

On Friday, July 4th, the San Francisco Mime Troupe debuts their new show in Dolores Park… RED STATE

What if a small town found itself at the forefront of a political fight? It’s Election Day in small town America, and that’s what happens when, due to an Electoral College tie, the entire Presidential Election comes down to the one tiny town. Suddenly, the ignored, disregarded Bluebird, Kansas is the most important town in America. And they are being pressured to quickly cast the deciding vote, and vote the “right way.”

But what would happen if they decided to wait? Can one little town hold an entire nation’s election hostage? Should it? Is bread on the farm house dinner table tonight more important than deciding who sits at the Oval Office desk tomorrow? Yep, this election could take a while . . .

I am not sure how many years SFMT has done their season-opening show on the Fourth of July at Dolores Park in San Francisco, but it’s a lotta them. As always the show is free, the music starts at 1:30 and the show at 2pm. They will ask for donations after the show, so give generously if you can.

You should get there early and bring a blanket, if you want a good seat. A picnic and a bottle of wine or three is not a bad idea either. If you miss the Friday the Fourth show, they will be doing it again on Saturday & Sunday at the same place and time. And after that they start performing the show several days a week all around SF and the greater Bay Area: see the full schedule.

The Mime Troupe, in case you weren’t aware, is not a group of white-faced silent-types, but a politically-explicit and musically-enabled company, or rather collective, that has existed since the early-60s and won 3 Obie awards. Their early performances were mostly in the Commedia dell’Arte form and included a production of Ubu Roi scored by a young Steve Reich.

Without the Mime Troupe, Bill Graham would probably never have become a music promoter.

Many other well-known names are alumnae of the group. Luis Valdez, a young college grad, spent a few months with SFMT then left to found El Teatro Campesino which was the cultural arm of the United Farm Workers in the mid-60’s. Peter Coyote was an actor, writer and director for SFMT in the 60’s.

And of course Ed Holmes, who is a long-time member of the troupe and a great friend of Laughing Squid. Ed’s alter ego is Bishop Joey, Supreme Pontiff of the First Church of the Last Laugh. Every April 1st, he celebrates “Saint Stupid’s Day” by leading a parade through downtown San Francisco. This helps the world in innumerable ways which cannot be adequately accounted. Ed has an unfortunate resemblance to Dick Cheney, which has cursed him with a set role for the last several years.

photos by San Francisco Mime Troupe and getinet

guest post by mikl-em

Just a quickie holiday moment from Stephen Colbert, cross-border New England fireworks runs. Isn’t that why all those longshoremen dressed as Indians and dumped tea in the harbor way back when? We’ll probably never know.

Happy 4th of July!

See Previously:

- Steven Colbert gives George Carlin The Word

guest post by mikl-em

This is part of an occasional series I’ll be doing of internet-related comedy, highlighting some great perhaps under-appreciated comedy that originated on or deals with the internet tubes.

Before Chris Parnell hit everyone’s computer screens with Lazy Sunday he starred in this short 17 minute film about a man whose life is undone by one prurient spam email. The film was made by a young filmmaker as part of Fox Searchlight’s Searchlab project. As far as I know this was only shown on the internet–but I can’t claim to know that for certain.

The cast has a lot of familiar faces including Bania from Seinfeld and Elizabeth Keener from The L Word.

There are many more Searchlab Shorts, though I have yet to find one this good.

Farm Sluts was written and directed by Canadian Collin Friesen. It’s a brilliant bit of comedy, but so far is the only drop of genius in Friesen’s bucket. Since then he has only one major film to his credit: The Big White which he wrote and which was a flop.

And, finally, on the thin excuse that Prince Caspian is out now, here’s Lazy Sunday again, cuz really there are few better ways to blow 2.5 minutes….

guest post by mikl-em

A crooked ship is sailing north from San Francisco right now, tacking its way across small stages in Oregon and Washington over the next two weeks. The Curse of the Goddamned Ship by Stars & Garters Theater Company is like Gorey and Burton shanghaied by Bukowski (got it? but in a good way). It’s a decrepit lyrical beauty listing decidedly to port.

The cast includes Ben Burke, Jenny Jo, Mr. Phoenix, Jascha Ephraim, Linda Robertson and Damien Chacona. Many of these are usual suspects from the late great Odeon Bar, owned by Chicken John. For those of you who remember the place or may only have heard about it, it was San Francisco’s nexus of inspired chaos for quite some time, but not long enough.

You should catch this ship if you can, it’s a cabaret ghost shanty like none you’ve seen or heard before. And pass the word on to acquaintances, family members, and mortal enemies alike who are in the affected communities of Eugene, Seattle and both Port-land and Port Townsend. Details of dates below.

They also have a My Space page.

See previously: The Curse of the Goddamned Ship

Wed July 2nd
Eugene, OR
@ Sam Bond’s Garage
9pm, $?
w/ Sour Mash Hug Band

Thurs July 3rd
Seattle, WA
@ The Can Can
9:30pm, $?
w/ the Castaways

Fri July 4th
Seattle, WA
@ The Can Can
7:30pm, $?
w/ the Castaways

Thurs July 10th
Port Townsend, WA
@ Siren’s Pub
9pm, $?

Fri July 11th
Port Townsend, WA
@ Siren’s Pub
9pm, $?

Sun July 13th
Portland, OR
@ The Someday Lounge
9pm, $?

photo by Eva Kolenko

guest post by Simone Davalos

We’ve been wearing these little ditties around for a while now, since they mysteriously turned up by the bucketful for RoboexoticUS last spring, courtesy that lovable artistic misanthrope, CTP.

CTP has been making buttons for years for various reasons, and he was broken into starting Snarky McF*ckbuttons because of all the dweebs who kept asking him to make buttons (Be flattered! You may be one of those dweebs!). One-fifty each, (cheap!) guaranteed to keep hippies and people with no sense of humor at bay.

CTP was sweet enough to make us custom ones for RoboGames. Mine says “Dave says no.”, where Dave’s just says “No.” It’s great how so many pointless conversations can be avoided this way.

SnarkyMcF*ckButtons

Lori works at the computer and mobile accessories company Kensington and recently she brought home a really cool new product that they just released, a Mini Battery Pack and Charger for iPhone and iPod. Not only can it be used as an external battery when your power is low, but it also charges your iPhone and iPod as you are using it.

- Power and charge your iPhone or iPod
- Extends play time up to 30 hours of music; 6 hours of video; 3 hours of talk
- Includes retractable USB charging cable to recharge battery pack
- High-capacity, rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery pack for increased energy efficiency
- Small enough to keep connected to your iPhone or iPod
- LED battery meter displays remaining power level

It comes with a small expandable USB cable that you can use to charge the battery alone or even simultaneously charge both the battery and iPhone.

Kensington also has some great packaging.

photos by Scott Beale

The Buzzball is are really cool interactive vehicle currently being developed by Evento.

At the heart of the Buzzball is a dual motor configuration, enabling the pilot to control the motion and direction of travel via left and right control triggers, which provides power to the driving wheels.

The amount of power applied to each wheel will determine the direction the Buzzball moves. Powering one wheel will spin the pod and pilot on it’s axis around the inside of the ball changing the direction of travel. If power is applied equally to both wheels the pod will rear up as the wheels climb up the face of the ball forcing the ball to rotate around the pod and powering the Buzzball forward.

Once the Buzzball is in motion the pod maintains an upright position until the pilot turns, causing the pod to rotate inside the ball against the direction of travel, which applies a braking force and the pod to lock with the ball. This causes the pod to rotate with the ball until the weight of the pilot and pod overcomes the inertia forces and causes the Buzzball to change direction.

This is when the fun starts, as the speed will affect the degree of rotation of the pilot and pod from a partial barrel roll to complete and multiple rotations!

via OhGizmo!

photo via Evento

Leave it to Archie McPhee to corner the market on Vladimir Lenin Head Pops that taste like Cola.

The Cardboard Tube Fighting League Battle and Children’s Tournament takes place at 4pm on Sunday, July 6th at Dolores Park in San Francisco.

We, the brave warriors of the Noble Cardboard Tube Fighting League, hereby announce a battle of epic proportions to be held on Sunday, July the 6th, at the 4th hour of the afternoon. At this time our clan will host a gathering upon the meadows of Dolores Park, in which our strongest warriors shall defend the honor and purity of the Tube Dueling League with a great show of cardboard might and prowess the likes of which have never been seen. Prize goes to best cardboard costume.

What: Cardboard Tube Fighting League Battle and Children’s Tournament

Where: Dolores Park

When: Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 4pm

Entry Fee: Free, tubes provided.

What to bring: Water, cardboard armor, costumes are highly encouraged. Prizes awarded for best cardboard costume. Tubes will be supplied.

What to expect: Welts and possibly bruises.It is recommended that only children above the age of 5 participate. Prize goes to best cardboard costume!

See Previously:

- San Francisco Cardboard Tube Fighting League Tournament

photos by sandwichgirl

The guys from Chop Shop have come out with another great t-shirt, weGo featuring silhouettes of 55 famous vehicles.

55 different vehicles from film, television, children’s books, video games and two with rock credentials. Can you figure out all 55? There is even a few bikes, vans and flying vehicles to round the crowd out.

See Previously:

- Internet Meme T-Shirt by Chop Shop
- weRobot, 51 Robots on a T-Shirt

guest post by RICK!

I know this will take all the fun out of street spotting, but “Steve McQueen“, has geocoded the famous chase scene from Bullitt. I love to see them magically teleport from Mission, to North Beach, to Marina Greens to Daly City for a fiery finish.

via metafilter

The Animation Show is back for it’s 4th year touring the US with a new line-up of independent animation curated by Mike Judge. It opens in the Bay Area on July 4th at The Lumiere Theatre in San Francisco and Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley.

The Animation Show is back with an all new collection of incredible independent animation! This year Mike Judge has gathered together over two dozen of his favorite funny short films from around the world. It’s a ground breaking program of eye-popping adult animation from tomorrow’s next great animators. This isn’t a dirty “adults only” animation show but the program does skew towards a mature audience with some explicit language and adult subject matter.

poster design by Jimmy Pickering

guest post by mikl-em

A delicious helping of much-needed political apathy enablement courtesy of The Onion’s fake morning news show Today Now!. It eerily replicates that “feel your IQ-decreasing” sensation of watching a network morning show.

It’s a great reminder of how the The Onion has really nailed parody of all the various forms of news coverage including Sunday magazine covers like below, Sports, and even CSPAN.

See ONN — The Onion News Network for more video reports of the news that no one else will tell you.

via Crooks and Liars

“Perversion For Profit” is a highly amusing 1965 anti-porn propaganda film financed by Charles Keating and narrated by George Putnam, which associates pornography with Communism and the overall decline of Western civilization.

The film is also available on the Internet Archive as part of the Prelinger Archives.

UPDATE 1: Here’s a great remix of Perversion For Profit by Loading.Ready.Run.

UPDATE 2: George Putnam shares his true feelings on porn in “Perversion for Profit”.

via Cynical-C Blog