Mad Cow 'Conservatives'

This Republican administration standing up for the free market? One might think so, but apparently not. Al really got it right with the title of the new book; Assault on Reason indeed.

Old Dog, Old Tricks

Amazingly enough, even though they're in the majority, Democrats are still perfectly capable of rolling over for the War-Criminal-in-Chief. This cartoon pretty much nails it.

Interested in Destroying the Planet?

Not so fast! You should read this first.

Elvis in Philly

Last Saturday, we were up in Philly for the day, and stopped by the Reading Terminal Market (pretty much the same as Lexington Market in Charm City, and smaller versions in town like Cross Street and Broadway markets) and the Mütter Museum before the main reason for our visit, Elvis Costello at the Electric Factory.

Not sure whether it was because it was the last night of the tour, but the band came out with a lot of energy, and didn't take a break until they were seven or eight songs in. They even played through when the drummer broke his bass head after three songs. I caught Costello for the first time three years ago in Vegas, and this show was night-and-day different from that one, in that almost every song was loud and fast. They played one of my favorites, Beyond Belief, and it rocked considerably more than the recorded version. Elvis was as cool as ever, in a black suit, shirt and tie, and dark sunglasses (ah, to be a rock musician!), and his voice has to be one of the more underrated ones in the business - the guy can sing any style, and has a deceptively impressive range. Do I sound like a music critic yet? I hope not.

Surprise guest Allen Toussaint, a fellow HOFer and collaborator on The River in Reverse, sat in for thirty-plus minutes; the guy plays an effortless keyboard, and has a cool voice. For the last song, which capped a two-and-a-half hour show, Elvis segued from Peace, Love and Understanding into the chorus of Bring the Boys Home - a nice touch during an otherwise politically-understated show.

Monday Is Wiretap the Internet Day!

Don't worry, it's not one of those occasions upon which you need to buy something for your boss (unless you work at the FBI or in the White House, then maybe it's appropriate). Just another day in which the current administration wakes up, grabs a coffee and a bran muffin, and a little later after everything has worked its way through, wipes its collective ass with our Constitution. Just the regular AM routine, nothing special. The first Slashdot comment to this article is excellent, by the way.

Meanwhile, Alberto "Midnight Rendezvous" Gonzalez is still the AG, Dick Cheney is still allowed to carry a gun, and the Master Shrub himself still thinks we're going to 'win' in Iraq. Someone explain to me again how Clinton got impeached, while these guys are still in power? And how does even one-third of the public still support these crooks?

KSR Redux, Calling all Kinetinauts

A few weeks late, but here's a quick recap of the Kinetic Sculpture Race. It was a long and tiring day of volunteering, but Jenny and I both had a great time, and would definitely do it again next year [but for other plans, potentially - see below]. From the opening ceremonies - the Star-Spangled Banner sounds pretty good on kazoo! - to lavish and grotesque trophies at the very irreverent award ceremony, it was a blast.

There were really no surprises when it came to my tasks at the mud pit: go to pile of dirt, wet dirt, rake/shovel, repeat. We didn't snare as many sculptures as we would have liked, but we did have a very strong, vocal crowd of a few-hundred spectators, most of them rooting for the sculptures while we secretly rooted for the mud. We really are kind of the bad guys of the race, and I know that we all heartily enjoyed that role. Jenny and I also met some fantastic people amongst our fellow volunteers; in retrospect we wish we would have gotten better (read: any!) contact information for them. I feel obliged to link to one of the web sites of an artist and fellow mud-connoisseur, both because she was so friendly and because her latest project is so cool.

We'll have some photos up before too long on Jenny or my Flickr pages (or on both), but until then here are the official race photos and re-cap.

Looking forward to the 2008 KSR, which will be the tenth running of the Baltimore edition of the race, we're thinking why volunteer if we could be competing instead? Competing might be the wrong word for a "race" with the grand prize going to the team that finishes in the middle, but you know what I mean. So take a look at the race web site, read through the rules, and then let us know if you're interested in being on the team. We're going to have to start building this summer, and all we're starting with are a few solid ideas, plus our soaring dreams of artistic and kinetic adequacy. No really, we are serious about this, please let us know if you want in.

Borat as Art, Geekiest Credit Card Ever?

A Canadian artist is producing a series of Borat portraits. Cool? I think so, but what do I know. Strange? Well, he's producing 999 of them in the series, that's kinda weird.

Meanwhile, in consumerland, World of Warcraft obsessives finally have their own credit card. If I were still playing....sorry, still wouldn't sign up. I'm already enough of a geek, in my own manner, without broadcasting it to cashiers everywhere.

2007 KSR!!!

KSR, as in Kinetic Sculpture Race. One of Baltimore's more bizarre and perhaps not-so-well-known traditions, which Jenny and I have seen parts of in years past. This year we're volunteers, so we're particularly excited. I'll be helping to create the mud pit at the Patterson Park obstacle course portion of the 15 mile race, while Jenny will be at two checkpoints near the Inner Harbor, with a wooden chicken-on-a-stick and a polaroid camera. Don't ask, you just have to come and see.

This is a race where finishing in the middle garners the top prize, the Grand Mediocre Champion, where 'kinetic cops' can be bribed to avoid tickets (time penalties), and where a giant pink poodle and a massive, fuzzy, skateboarding blue wombat race alongside an igloo, a rat made of trash bags, and a metal platypus, just to name a few.

For more info, check out the handy spectator's guide, which includes descriptions of all 31 entries, the race schedule, and a map of the course.