Literature on Wikipedia

"Chaucer's language is much closer to modern English than the text of Beowulf"

NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!!!

Point Reyes

Sis was here

My 5'11" baby sister was in town last week. -- I am obviously the smart one in the family. As usual when she shows up anywhere, it was raining cats and dogs. IMO, she actually caused the worst flooding in Las Vegas in the 20th century when she and I took a trip there in 1999. 

Great times were had, and she did drink less than the pictures suggest, but as a good German, 5 craft beers on the first night are about par for the course. 

The pics are from SF, Hwy 1, Carmel, Pebble Beach, Sacramento, and Placerville (the more PR name of Hangtown, CA) 

Here Be Hippies

Weird, up to now, I've never taken pictures in Bolinas, the self-proclaimed socially-acknowledged nature loving town. Yep, it's the original home town of the hippie surf bum. It's an amazingly beautiful place, though, and the vegetarian food is great.

Funnily, it's about a 50 foot channel away from a gated community on the spit in Stinson Beach, one of the most expensive places on the Pacific. 

Even the dogs are stoned.

God my life is boring

I am now rating TV shows. Anyway, the best shows currently on TV are:

1. Top Gear (see below). The show yesterday really put it over the top. Buy some $1000 cars from Miami drug dealers, write Man Love Rocks on them in pink and drive them through Alabama. -- 25 minutes into the show, the cameramen have to hide Iraq-style when the cars get stoned at a Alabama gas station. Oh, and they get sued by a woman who they donated the Camaro to.
2. Bizarre Foods. Nice travel show and the only one that made me throw up. Thanks for the live frog and the rank meat breakfast.
3. Bones. Not as good as last year, but still a hoot.
4. LA Ink--home of the most stoned and tatted chicks on tube. As well as quality dialog like: "Uh Dude, I was like "Uh Dude"." 
5. ANTM and Top Chef. I have to rank them together because I can't make it through a full episode of either, but since they are on at the same time, rapid flicking back and forth is highly entertaining. Tyra rulz as bitch from hell.

Two other shows I watch, but only when I happen upon them are Bionic Woman (purely for the involuntary comedic value, although it only misses so-bad-it's-good by a hair) and Weeds (I LOVE LOVE LOVE Marie-Louise Parker, but the writing has really taken a header off a cliff some time last year).

Please FCC, bring a-la-carte cable, I only need 5 channels.

Top Gear

If you have extended cable, watch it.

If you have a DVR, tape it.

If you can get to YouTube, watch the clips.

Seriously, it's the best show on television. If you only count shows where all protagonists are completely, utterly, certifiably bonkers, stone drunk, coked up to the eyeballs--and proud of it. Imagine The Young Ones hosting a car show.

Hi, I'm Lars and I love my iPhone

I don't think I am in need to join the IA yet, but the iPhone was the best tech buy this year (closely followed by the flat screen I bought for my birthday).

• It keeps me from getting bored--web browsing anywhere, any time
• It's the first gadget ever that had 20 people and counting walk up to ask me about it
• It got me a table and excellent service at Slanted Door (you have to live in SF to understand how impossible it is to even get a reservation)
• It makes me not mind going to a restaurant on my own--I can browse the web or do email while I wait
• Raomi is awesome, especially if you take a date home and open the door to a play list
• Munitime is awesomer (for the non-SF people, Muni has perfected the random schedule)
• Being able to check opening hours of a gold mine from a state park is awesomest. 
• Visual Voicemail is worth the price of admission alone: delete voicemails without having to listen ever
• It let me leech WiFi of the Australian Federal Police at Sydney International
• It let me survive the SFO-SYD-SFO flight with 10 episodes of Bones
• It let me Skype my family from any hotspot in Oz
• It takes war driving to a whole new level
• There are these two companies called Linksys and Default that offer free WiFi all over the place
• It shows me real time traffic on the 80s
• I can blog from the bleachers--and check all NCAA scores at Pyramid Ale
• "Hey, do you want to see 2000 vacation pictures?" gets rid of the most obnoxious opposite
• I only found one place in NorCal where I couldn't get to the web
• And last but not least, my company picks up the tab

Three wishes

1. Unlocked SIM (thanks hackers)
2. 3.5G
3. GPS

Cindy has too much time....

Anyway, to give her something to do while she visits a friend she hasn't seen in years. 

1. Do you have a tattoo?
2. How old are you?
3. Are you single or taken?
4. Fish?
5. Do you dream in color?
6. Ever seen a corpse?
7. Hipsters or Hillbillies?
8. How did we meet?
9. What’s your philosophy on life and death?
10. If you could do anything with me, and have no one know, what would it be?
11. Do you trust the police?
12. Do you like musicals?
13. What is your fondest memory of me?
14. If you could change anything about yourself what would it be?
15. Would you cheat?
16. What are you wearing?
17. Have you ever peed in a pool?
18. Would you hide evidence for me if I asked you to?
19. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?
20. Which do you prefer - short or long hair?
21. What’s your favorite day of the week?
22. What’s your favorite color?
23. If you could bring back anyone that has passed, who would it be?
24. Tell me one interesting/odd fact about you?
25. What was your first impression of me?
26. Have you ever done drugs?
27. If we were locked in an elevator together, what would you want to discuss?
28. What is your favorite meal to have when you’re on a date?
29. If there is any habit you have that you could change - what is it?
30. Will you post this so I can fill it out for you?

P.S. My answers are here

Weekend of bat shit insanity, Day 2

As I mentioned yesterday, the Folsom Fair (pics)was on. They have cheaper food, better DJs, and much nicer people.

So I rolled out of bed bright and early.....uh, make that creaked out of bed at 11 with a massive hangover (thank you Love Fest after party), took in a quintuple shot cappuchino, and hauled my fully clad ass downtown again. It was a bit more sedate than last year, they downgraded the charity booth from flogging to spanking and fewer people wore really outrageous costumes.

If you're ever in SF on the last weekend in September, go, the people are super nice. I asked one queen where she got her awesome vintage 50s glasses and she even called the store on her cell when she couldn't remember the address.

This guy is the best DJ. He's here every year.

Weekend of bat shit insanity, Day 1

It's not that SF has a monopoly on whacko behavior, but we do our best to pretend. So to avoid a letdown between Burning Man and Halloween, we slip in the Love Weekend. Saturday is the SF Love Parade aka The Biggest Rave between NYC and Yokohama. Followed tomorrow by the Folsom Street Leather Fair--and they're not talking handbags.

Great music, they serve beer, teriyaki sticks and fries. And tons of cute people in neon.

Unfortunately, SF is also the only town where people hippie dance to House.

Pics are over here

And here's a video for Cindy.

Accidental housekeeping tip

I mixed up the dish detergent and the drain cleaner bottles this morning. Never have my dishwasher and dishes been more sparkling. 

It even takes patina off steel. Of course I had to run them through again to get rig of the chlorine smell. 

Seperated at birth?

After my buddy Michelle pointed out that the lead singer in the Twisted Christmas video looks like Sarah Jessica Parker, I'm starting the think that Jess really styles herself after Dee Snider.

• Same hair
• Same amount of make up
• Same mouth

..and arguably, the same personal shopper.

Gay moment of the month

Watching Fashion Police's Emmys Edition last night, I said that Jamie Presley's dress looked "matronly" 5 seconds before Carson Kressley did. 

Lets count the levels of gay:

1. I watch Fashion Police
2. With friends
3. I know who Carson Kressley is
4. I use words like "matronly"
5. I critique dresses faster than Carson
6. I recognize Dolce AND Gabanna
7. ...

In my defense, Daisy Fuentes was smoking!!!

P.S. Fashion tip for presenters: Don't wear a mini dress when you are sitting squarely in front of the camera unless you are Sharon Stone. 

Acrosanti in NYT

The NYT has an article about Arcosanti.

Definitely one of the weirdest places I've ever been to (I went for a Soleri seminar a few years ago). Kinda like if you crossbreed hippies with the crew from StarTrek. In other words, a place from the future that time has passed by.
It's strangely elating and depressing at the same time.Soleri is getting desperately old, and I am not sure if his idea of the acrology will die with him, but it's probably the last piece of we-can-do-it 50s spirit left in the world.

All these contradictions:

• A new world without ethernet
• The future of architecture, financed by handmade gongs and  tschotchkes
• Architects and hippies--the fundraiser the night I spent there was some Indian (as the continent, not the surrounding native American tribes) flute player
• Visions about a city for 100 millions with the organizational skill of a NPR bake sale
• An old, old person talking to people in their 20s and 30s about the future of human habitation

Actually, it's very potent memory. Go if you can, if not, watch Logan's Run, Arcosanti is like that--without the sky trains and the Sandmen.

On the other hand, it'll never be finished....and I am not sure if it's a noble failure, or just a monument to stubbornness and refusal to adapt to a changing world.

Why BBC beats the crap out of PBS

The British equivalent of Motorweek: 

• Top Gear is testing cars by playing soccer with them.
  
• And converting Mercedes into 60mph cottages with tile floors and a wood stove

I feel so much safer now

KATMANDU, Nepal: Nepal's state run airline sacrificed two goats earlier this week, hoping it would please the gods and resolve technical problems with a troubled jet, officials said Thursday.

One of the airline's two Boeing 757 aircraft has been grounded for maintenance since last month. The other jet has suffered technical problems that forced the airline to cancel several flights, stranding passengers.

Hoping to end those problems, the airline sacrificed the goats earlier this week, according to an airline official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

12 silver crosses

11 black mascaras, ten pairs of platforms, nine tattered T-shirts, eight pentagrams, seven leather jackets, six cans of hair spray, five skullhead rings, four quarts of Jack, three studded belts, two pairs of spandex pants, and a tattoo of Ozzy.

In other words, after seeing this awesome video on YouTube, I started the Christmas season only a few weeks after US retail by dusting off Twisted Christmas in my iTunes library. Still as awesome as last year. 

So, buy it, steal it, torrent it, bring it to your in-laws on the 25th, and live happily ever after. 

Smokeyyyyy

Oh yeah, we have terrific sunrises right now thanks to the idiot who started a wildfire 50 miles south.

Quiet sophistication

This one's for Cindy. Since there's not much going on this week (recovering from two weeks in Australia, jet lag, a hard week at work, the Cal game and the heat wave), here's the play list I just burned on CD for use while driving. It really quietens me down in Bay Area traffic.

Now you can go ridicule me for the rest of the day.

Someone please serve coffee before the game

31-21 at the half, whew. But Cal can't go on having to score 4TD every game just to make up for blowing coverage 4 times each game.