Gavin Newsom may actually be "G.O.B." from Arrested Development

Judge for yourself, folks, but to me Gavin Newsom, at least in the interview below with political blog Talking Points Memo, bears a striking resemblance to Will Arnett who plays the character George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II on the late, lamented Fox network comedy Arrested Development.

The only difference here is that "Gavin" is speaking intelligently about some excellent political ideas (and then about his general ambition to be Governor of California):

And for comparison, here's the mayor of San Francisc--oops, I did it again. I mean G.O.B., the (hilarious) loser magician brother on Arrested D. Try playing the above and below videos simultaneously for comparison!!

Convinced? Not convinced? Either way, let's do another one, shall we?

Oh, crap, what about one more?

For the record I am not rabidly anti-Newsom, although I am not his biggest fan. I mainly, like "G.O.B.", find him funny. :)

Rand Corporation says US should abandon phrase "War on Terror"

From Countdown, amongst coverage of 3 ongoing scandals. Note Rand also endorses taking a law-enforcement rather than military-focused approach to fighting Al Qaeda.

My latest laughingsquid post...

New post up on LSquid about the new Neal Stephenson novel Anathem and Long Now

Support Todd and the Gear Wall

Hey everybody, the arts community of the Bay Area is rallying this weekend to support one of our own. Can you spare something to help Todd Blair of SRL and CCA? More details: http://ping.fm/xgTEu

John McCain lies to vets face-to-face

From tonight's Countdown show...

How fantastic that a Vietnam War vet steps up and sticks to it, getting McCain on the record, denying his recorded voting record. Good interview after the clip giving it more context.

I'm judging again... "What's Your Answer?!" on July 27th

I will be helping judge the relative merit of aspiring comedic answers at What's Your Answer?! a twisted take on pub trivia competitions.This is the third or fourth time we've done this show. It's a little like the Match Game on Goldschlaager.

A bunch of loaded questions are put forth in front of a group of pub-trivia type teams (i.e. quasi-random bar-goers and assorted know-it-all's--hey!! this means YOU!). The teams then come up with not the *right* answer but the *funny* answer. Then they send one brave soul (sucka!) up to read their answers aloud.

A group of judge-mental types who think they are the funniest thing since sliced bread (hey!!this means ME!), then present scores for each answer (ala' the former East Germany, but with lower dollar value bribes and more random acts of sadism). The bottom line is really just more fun than the whole family should be legally allowed to enjoy!!

And actually, fortunately , we live in a world where's it's NOT legal for the whole family. Only those in the house who can legally quaff booze are allowed to display their ignoramuses here for all to see. That includes me. I am too old enough!!!

Like I said, it's called What's Your Answer?! it's coming up late in July (Sunday 7/27), so move outta the damn country before then, if it bothers you so frickin much. Here's where you can find out what we in the business like to call "more": http://ping.fm/uRoWc

testing my ping.fm email interface

I just confirmed to @rickabruzzo that I am going appear in his *very sophisticated* gameshow, later this month: http://ping.fm/uRoWc

Jacques Tati's Playtime at the Castro Tonight

Playtime is one of my favorite films of all-time. It is really its own form of cinema, not a typical movie. It's at the Castro tonight and I'm catching the 6pm show! You really should come out tonight or tomorrow to catch this incredible film.

from an article on Jacques Tati

In most cases - in fact, all but one - the real joy of seeing Tati's films is still unknown to me. This is because, out of the six features and three short films he made between 1932 and 1974, I've only seen one of them in what could even loosely be called its proper format: Parade, which was originally broadcast for Swedish television. It is presently available on video in three forms: the Criterion Collection laserdisc, a number of videotape editions, and a DVD from the French company DVDY, of adequate quality. For the remaining eight - Trafic, Playtime, Mon Oncle (1958), Les Vacances de M. Hulot (known alternately as M. Hulot's Holiday), Jour de fête (1948), L'École des facteurs (1947), Gai Dimanche (1935), and Oscar, champion de tennis (1932) (which is believed to be lost) - I confess with great remorse that my acquaintance has only been through DVD, laserdisc, and videotape. The issue of format matters most in the case of Playtime, the only movie Tati shot in 70-millimeter, because although I advocate seeing all of his (or any artist's) work in the proper format, Playtime on video is the same as 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) or Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962) on video: the television monitor cannot possibly suffice. Details from Tati's mise en scène are muted. The spectrum of colour becomes limited. The reduction of a 70mm. presentation to the scale of a television set is similar to reducing the performance of a symphony orchestra to a badly done audiocassette.

The cool thing is that I saw Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm over the weekend, so after tonight I'm 2/3 of the way to hitting the movie geek triple crown!

Here is a tiny example in what is most assuredly the wrong format...

Happy 4th of July

it's a lovely day to break meat with friends

photo by Robin "Evil Bob" A

Please keep yr fireworks under control!! Cuz we already have too many fires out there!

photo by good10740

Two new posts from me up on Laughing Squid for the holiday. A bit of fun fluff from Colbert: a difference-maker who is a fireworks smuggling enabler. The other is about one of San Francisco's great 4th of July traditions: The San Francisco Mime Troupe's 4th of July show.

Whatever you're up to have fun! be safe!!

mikl.em