mikl-emphasizes

Left-Handed Darling featuring mikl-em

2011-07-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

The brand new play that I'm in is called Left-Handed Darling. We've been working on it for months, there is an incredible team around this project, and it is a wonderful, dark & twisted story, set in the carnival sideshow world of early 20th Century America. It has a Twilight Zone-esque feel (coincidentally), or maybe more Creepshow-esque. Esque anyway, definitely esque. I'm very proud of the show as a whole and my part in it. I hope you can check it out....

Set in the rural 1930's American "Dust Bowl" era and centers on [a young girl] with a very unusual upbringing and a unique sense of beauty [...] the audience are transported from the macabre environment of her family's home to the surreality of a carnival sideshow, an equally bizarre court room, and more strange sights [....] With creative staging, a versatile cast, theatrical puppetry, original music, and a lot of mason jars, LEFT-HANDED DARLING will thrill you, surprise you, make you laugh and transport you back to a colorful era when Vaudeville ruled and a nickel was really worth something.

Produced by Foul Play, who brought us the Attack of the Killer B-Movies (I & II), a rock opera Wicker Man and the runaway smash hit Stale Magnolias. They have started a Kickstarter campaign to help fund Left-Handed Darling. I hope you will take a look and consider donating.

It's a great show, your support helps make our play possible and future shows under Foul Play's "New Writers Program". Click the links for more info.

Stage Werx 446 Kickstarter: Down to the Wire!

2011-06-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

Please help support this new and improved theater space

My friends Ty & Cory have just over 1 day left in their fundraiser.

Please help out if you can and help spread the word if you know other folks who might want to support this great small San Francisco small theater.

2011-05-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

Please help me support San Francisco's next great theater venue--StageWerx moves to the mission

My pals Ty & Cory McKenzie are moving their theater space StageWerx from their current location near Union Square to the heart of the Mission—16th & Valencia, the former Intersection for the Arts space. The location is fantastic and so is their commitment to helping indie theater. They are unique in having a large space (4000 sq. ft.) with high ceilings and capacity of over 70 seats. There’s also a separate rehearsal space. Those are sensational additions to the SF local theater scene, and to the Mission in particular. Especially in a time when many small theaters are closing.

They need to raise a bunch of money to do this, and they’ve started a Kickstarter campaign to make it happen. There are lots of licensing fees and important upgrades to make to the space. And they really need your help to make it happen.

Ty has asked 100+ friends to each help bring in $200. Danielle and I are hoping that we can between us get at least $500 from folks in our network. Please take a look and give something if you can to help enable great theater in San Francisco.

Last Tuesday's Can Haz DJ: Legends of Punk & New Wave Past

2011-05-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ah, Blogger is back up, that's nice.

Had a fun show on Tuesday night, featuring the then & now of some classic punk rockers. You can grab the mp3 podcast here. You will find the playlist for the show on my Can Haz DJ blog along with other good stuff.

Reminder: you can stream or download all the past Can Haz DJ shows and you should, you really should. Sometime soon, I will post a guide to these past shows, to point you to ones that you might particular like (or that I'm particularly proud of). Here's more on some of the music from the most recent show....

Well, good news first. A great new song by guitarist Ivan Julian, one of the original twin guns of Richard Hell's Voidoid arsenal. The Voidoids were an absolute punk revelation for me, even though it took me quite a while to find out about them. Blank Generation is absolutely one of my Top-5 albums of all time.

Perhaps my favorite punk band of the original era are Australia's The Saints. For a very long time I've said it's essential to have their 1976-77 era material and to avoid their later work with just as much determination. That's when Ed Kuepper left the band and lead singer Chris Bailey marched The Saints in a much poppier direction.

Here they are in their prime:

That said, the more recent Bailey-era stuff which is again in a power-trio format is the best since 1977. In fact I actually picked up (or rather down loaded) 2005's Nothing is Straight in My House before the show, and I'm pretty impressed with it. Another Saints album, the most recent, came out in '06 which I haven't heard yet. But the original lineup, Kuepper included, came back together in 2009 to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival. Here's a lo-fi glimpse of that:

And here's a look at the video for the original version of that song, I'm Stranded which was their break through to the world back in 1977:

The sad news is that the great Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex recently passed away. She was incredible, a true original in her punk days. She dropped out of punk as it became more and more the music business as usual. And, sadly, after years away from music, she was just mounting a comeback when tragically she lost a battle with cancer.

Below are the title track from her brand new album, a feature on her from her X-Ray Spex days and a recent interview with her talking about the new record.

What I'm Putting On The Radio Tonight

2011-05-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

Tonight on Can Haz DJ: Listening to an Electronic World

Tonight at 10pm Pacific on RadioValencia.fm, I'll be playing a bunch of great electronic music that incorporates various world musical traditions (Indian, African, Latin, to name a few). There's lots more on the show besides, but here's a taste of some of that "worldly electronic" that you are likely to hear:

And a whole lot more.... Details on the whole show & more videos on the CanHazDJ blog.

And remember all of my previous shows are in the Radio Valencia podcast archives which you can either stream or download as mp3s.

2011-04-29T21:24:00.000-07:00

Really enjoying this Beats Antique album (funny cuz it's 4 years old) via rdio. I will be playing some on Tuesday's Can Haz DJ show

They are based in Oakland, and I'm realizing that I probably know some of the folks involved, or 1-degree away at most as there's an Extra Action Marching Band connection.

Here they are in action, looks like fun:

Earthquake in Japan: Footage from inside the CNN offices + Live Coverage

2011-03-11T00:08:00.000-08:00

Here's the live stream from Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English: Live Stream - Watch Now - Al Jazeera English

I'm going to SXSW! And Califone Video from Last Year

2011-03-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

I'll be in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest from March 12th to March 22nd!

Last year I got to see Califone one of my favorite bands at the festival. Parts of the video below were shot at a show I attended (they played several times, I was at the one that was under a tent outdoors).

better angels from Califone on Vimeo.

This year I'm sure there will again be both old favorites and new surprises. I'll be posting a bit more here during the fest, I hope. And also blogging about both SXSW Interactive & SXSW Music at Laughingsquid.com and on my Radio Valencia blog.

What Mikl-em is doing lately (circa 2011)

2011-03-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

Until very recently, I hadn't written much here for a while. But I've been doing a lot elsewhere. So I wanted to post a quick summary and a bunch of links...

Blogging regularly at Laughing Squid on topics including but not limited to TV Nostalgia; San Francisco art, people, weather, and theater events; comedy of all sorts (esp. British and internet flavors); and odd soccer-related videos.
Playing music on the virtual air of Radio Valencia, San Francisco's newest and best pirate radio station. My show Can Haz DJ airs every Tuesday night from 10pm-12am. You can go to my blog on the RadioValencia site to listen live, or download mp3s of the show afterward and listen any time.
Being funny myself at places like The Dark Room (goofing MST3K style for Bad Movie Night or on-stage in Caddyshack Live).
Writing for Hi Fructose magazine (in-print only and with several features appearing in their just released second collected edition)
Um, other stuff.

That's a good overview, I will write up a list of recommended Squid posts in another post here. Also keep in mind that you can subscribe to my occasional email list if you'd like to keep up on what I'm doing and other SF-local things that I recommend.

How come Charlie Sheen and Newt Gingrich don't get the same punsihment?

2011-03-05T12:22:00.000-08:00

Bill Maher as usual does incredibly funny and intelligent commentary with no punches pulled. The Sheen-Gingrich comparison is great, but the Gingrich-Edwards one is a really interesting one to ponder. And from there it slaloms through Ensign and Vitter and Spitzer and on and on. It is a strange old world that some people live in.

More on Unions, no really, you better watch out!

2011-02-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

This joke is making it's way around Facebook, and it really nails it (which I think 'the kids' are saying again, right?)

So, a unionized public employee, a member of the Tea Party, and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies. He looks at the tea partier and says, "Watch out for that union guy, he wants a piece of your cookie."

Here is a very informative clip from The Rachel Maddow Show about the underlying motives and dynamics of the Wisconsin fight over public sector workers collective bargaining rights...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The unions in Wisconsin have already said that they are willing to make concessions, but the Governor's goal is not really to solve the "budget crisis" (which, per the clip above, might not have been so much a 'crisis' if he had not proactively passed a bunch of business tax cuts as his first act upon taking office). What he wants to do is to remove unions' voice, to neuter their ability to represent a large group of workers on their salary, benefits and working conditions. And in so doing to tilt the balance of power in the Republicans favor for ever more.

Wisconsin is not the easiest place for this piece of the GOP agenda to get across, it may be the toughest. And that's why they are doing it--they wanted to act quickly, sneak it in on a general positive wave of just-elected-governor vibe, and thus get it straight in as a mainstream national policy issue. But it's not. It's an attempt to radically retrench how employees are treated in this country, especially blue collar employees, and it aims directly (if much less intuitively) for the source of funding for the Democratic party. Which in a post Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission world is very dangerous for all of us.

My Radio Show and Music Blog on RadioValencia.FM

2011-02-27T14:18:00.000-08:00

I have a show on RadioValencia.FM, San Francisco's latest & greatest independent non-commercial radio station (there are those who call us pirates, Arrr!).

My show is called Can Haz DJ, and it is on every Tuesday night from 10pm-1am. Here's a little bit of my thoughts on getting back to radio after 15 years or so (I unofficially majored in radio as an undergrad, meaning that I got no credits for it, even though I dedicated so much my time and energy to it). I started doing the show in August of last year, the same timeframe when Radio Valencia started up. You can download mp3s of my previous shows. It might help to review playlists of some of my shows to see what you are getting into--I also include videos in some of those posts.

Working in college radio was probably the most important experience that I have ever had, in terms of my personal development. It was practical experience for a real life work enviornment, and especially for one where a group of people are passionately dedicated to the task at hand. That's the way that I hope to always work, and it's something common to great startups, great small teams and awesome arts & theater groups, all of which I've been fortunate enough to find my way into ever since.

If you want to listen to Radio Valencia live, you can go to the website and click the play button, or tune in (in some parts) of San Francisco on 87.9FM.

Jazz at Club Deluxe in San Francisco Last Night

2011-02-27T13:49:00.000-08:00

I've put up a couple videos on my Flickr stream of a great jazz performance that I went to last night at The Club Deluxe in Upper Haight (note to self, and anyone who is listening, that their WikiPedia entry needs a lot of work).

The two videos are below--one is :30, the other about 1:15. FUN. Nine-pieces, sometimes ten, including 3 trumpets, trombone, and tenor, alto & baritone (I think, iz big) saxes. Not sure if it is a regular thing or what, but it was a great time, would love to see it again.

It reminded me of the time that Danielle and I stumbled into a performance of the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra at a small Harlem joint where they do sort of a mid-week practice gig, playing to neighborhood locals with a church basement style dinner spread. That was amazing (and more than twice as many players), but there's just nothing like the vibe of

Here's the HRO in a bit more upmarket surroundings, playing at Lincoln Center:

Unions Really Are Important

2011-02-27T13:45:00.000-08:00

This video pleases me.

There's more to say on this. But I don't think I will get into it right now. But if you, like me, are inspired and excited by what has been going on in Wisconsin in terms of protests by the people, then you will be happy to see this video of the police union (they are workers also, after all) expresses their support for the peaceful actions of tens of thousands of their fellow citizens.

via Crooks & Liars

yes, an update is long overdue

2011-02-27T13:41:00.000-08:00

Thanks for visiting. Or reading my feed, or however you are getting these words.

It's not that I haven't been busy. But you can't see the full extent of it here.

I'll do a few updates here, and soon give a summary update of what I am doing and some of the recent stuff that I am proudest of (which hopefully will also be interesting to you).

A quick flurry to follow....

And, yes, eventually, I will switching over to WordPress with a new look and more frequent posts to this space. But not quite yet.

This FTP Blogger is moving (slowly) to WordPress

2010-04-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

A quick heads up that I'm changing the backend of this blog. It will change a couple times, in fact.

This blog is currently built on Blogger, but it uses FTP, rather than being hosted on blogspot.com. Blogger (aka Google) is discontinuing support for FTP. So I will be switching to a Wordpress backend hosted on the wonderful cloud servers of laughingsquid.

But I can't switch directly, I first will briefly have to switch to a blogspot subdomain. You will see a note about that shortly. After that I should be able to import into WordPress.

This should all be seamless. It should okay? There'll be a couple extra posts here, including this one, blabbing about this hosting stuff. And then once it's working, I will delete these and it will be like it never happened. And I can get back to not posting here regularly. ;-p

This blog has moved

2010-04-20T20:31:00.001-07:00

This blog is now located at http://miklem.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
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Come see Mikl-em in Caddyshack live

2010-02-21T19:41:00.000-08:00

Yup, I'm in it. The show runs Fridays & Saturdays in March at the Dark Room. A truly stellar cast!! I'm playing Rodney. Jim Jeske as Ted Knight. Several members of Chicken Scratch Improv, and familiar faces from past Dark Room shows like Wicker Man, Zippy the Pinhead, Life of Brian and others. You should not miss it: ONLY EIGHT SHOWS!

2009-11-26T22:44:00.000-08:00

15+ musical things I'm thankful for, to be expanded on (and more links added) later...

(i just added a few link updates; more to come, as previously threatened...)

The Beatles
The Hair Soundtrack (Original Off-Broadway cast)
The Chad Mitchell Trio a few songs: Lizzie Borden, Rum By Gum, and Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight
Hearing Highway 61 Revisited at the right time
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (that record I can't find anymore)
Rolling Stone Magazine's 1988 "Top 100 albums of the last 20 Years" (and various other mags)
Oingo Boingo
Tom Waits
Mahavishnu John McLaughlin (esp. My Goals Beyond)
The Fall
The Blank Generation
The Richmond, VA music scene (circa 1994)
Dub
Steve Albini
Ninja Tune
Califone
John Peel
Radiohead
Wire
Bad Religion
The Saints
Future Primitive Sound Sesssions
Mille Plateaux record label (R.I.P)
Loscil
The Tied & Tickled Trio
Mark Lanegan
Venetian Snares
All Songs Considered podcast

Okay, that's more than 25, right? I'll get back to this, just wanted to belt these out, while I had my mind on it. You'll see each of these get a link. And eventually at least a mini-essay.

Happy Holidays. And shit.

The Pixies and the 20th Anniversary of Doolittle

2009-11-10T11:41:00.000-08:00

It's the 20th anniversary of The Pixies' classic album Doolittle

I saw them live last night at The Fox Theater in Oakland; they played Doolittle all the way through, plus a bunch of tracks off Surfer Rosa. Really great. Big sound. Cool videos (short films really) for all the songs on the album.

They played 3 shows at The Fox, and they are still on tour through December (then they head down under in 2010).

I also found out that they have some free tunes for download on their site. I thought you might be interested....

Forget the Balloon Boy, now it's the Balloon Goal!

2009-10-18T00:17:00.001-07:00

The inflationary theme continues to be a hot issue. Saturday in England, a Liverpool fan cost his own team a goal by introducing his loosely held breath into the sphere of play...

via Soccer Insider

Also here's a list of other odd goals in history.

The Trader Joe's Song--a delightful fake commercial

2009-10-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

I mention this video in a recent post that I did on LaughingSquid as the same director also directed a few cool commercials with the Mythbusters guys in them.

But it felt off-topic and like too many videos to put in one post, so I excluded this amazingly catchy parody of the TJ-reality. So I decided to share it here instead.

Two posts in one day, this could portend grave happenings.

Daily Show skewers CNN's weak, leaving-it-there coverage

2009-10-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

CNN Leaves It There

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Ron Paul Interview

This must be one of my favorite Daily Show segments ever. They could stop a couple times along the way, but thankfully they see the satire all the way through. And there is a lot of damning evidence: CNN is a weak weak choice for news.

Those who celebrate goat *ucking will be particularly excited.

Political Pranksters: Billionaires for Wealthcare on the Rachel Maddow Show

2009-09-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

On Monday night, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show did a feature on "Billionaires for Wealthcare", a small group of pranksters who crashed Glen Beck's 9/12 protest in Washington DC this past weekend.

Their slogans include Let them eat Advil and Let's save the status quo!, and they wore tuxedos, drank champagne, and smoked cigars. And they put it all together with a song that they set to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Definitely political pranksterism in the spirit of Improv Everywhere and the Cacophony Society.

Here's their full music video

Bolt puts his own World Record in Rearview Mirror

2009-08-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

]What a personality, and what a roadrunner. Makes running in a straight line a lot of fun. That's pretty amazing.

Attaboy solo art show in San Francisco

2009-08-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

My buddy Attaboy, artist, illustrator, toy maker, and publisher of Hi Fructose has a new art show opening Friday in SF

It's been nearly a decade since Attaboy had a solo art show in SF, but the drought is over. Opening tonight at 1:AM Gallery (at 6th & Howard), Fri. August 14th 7-10pm and runs through September 5th.

Here's a clip of Attaboy being interviewed about his work in the movie "Vinyl Frontier":

(originally there was a typo on this post, saying that the show opened tonight [Thursday]. but that's not right. it's wrong. Friday 8/14 is the opening.)

A 5-gallon pickle bucket full of unleaded gas

2009-07-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

Bad Livers - "Turpentine Willie"

The great, recently reformed (sorta) Austin band Bad Livers, with a hilarious intro and eventually song about life in the wilds of low rent Texas....

testing if

2009-06-26T16:02:00.001-07:00

this posting via email still works.

If it does then I should have something meaninful to say. I *should*.

FYI, there might be some brief downtime of this blog. If so, never fear, we'll be back and utterly unimproved.

Miklem.com is overdue for a redesign and it is going to get overduer, I'm afraid But with new awesome hosting (soon) behind the scenes by those charismatic geniuses at http://laughingsquid.net , who knows, anything is possible!

Is that enough can I hit "send" now?

Eminem's new album 3AM, pre-release stuff for fans via Topspin

2009-05-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

New Eminem out on Tuesday (May 19), lots of amazing stuff around the release

I am contemplating a larger post (probably on The Squid) about Eminem's new album and what the way it's being distributed/marketed/whatever reflects the kind of evolution that the music industry needs. But for now I just wanna test how this embed works.

Many props to Topspin for another amazing album release concept. Great packages of stuff fans really really appreciate at eminem.com

R.I.P. Bea Arthur (1922-2009) with occasional punk rock

2009-04-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

Bea Arthur has left this mortal coil. She will live on in reruns of Golden Girls, and Maude via memory more than actual airtime.

here's an earlier rendition of this same tune by another late icon...

Here's an old clip where Bea shows off her comic stylings...

Here's an excerpt from the notorious Star Wars Holiday Special featuring Bea as a cantankerous bartender on Tatooine

I think that we need to all keep even closer watch on Abe Vigoda now. Here's a site that can help.

Eric Lewis at 5pm today at DNA Lounge

2009-04-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

See my post on Laughing Squid for all the details

The incredible performer Eric Lewis (@eleww) is playing live tonight at a free show at DNA Lounge. DNA has been battling the state ABC board, so this is a benefit as well.

I saw Eric play earlier this week and shot video and images that are now on Flickr. He's a really special performer (read my lsquid post for lots more detail).

Here's one more video that I discovered on Nerdblog.com of an impromptu show that he did after his famous set at TED earlier this year....

Eric Lewis at TED 2009 from Michael Herf on Vimeo.

The Colbert Report's Big (Gay) Gathering Storm

2009-04-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't seen this, it is frickin hilarious.

Two Videos That Showcase Change That We Can Believe In

2009-04-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

Two great political clips from today, one on TV and the other in Congressional testimony. Lawrence O'Donnell forcefully rebuts judge-a-book-by-its-cover defense policy from an ex-Bush admin'er and Hilary takes apart photo-opp-with-Chavez-gate like only an adult from the winning political party can. Both via Talking Points Memo TV. Enjoy.

watching the bac'n guys at barcamp austin

2009-03-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Watching the Bacn.com guys at BarCampAustin

These guys created a business letting people Buy Bacon online and bacon realted stuff. Some very cool insights. And great tips for prefab'd services that make it much easier to run a web/mail-based business.

Here's a short list:
Crazyegg.com for landing page analysis, Endicia.com for a great way to deal with postage (interface to the USPS' scary API, has an awesome Mac client--seems like Opentaps does a similar thing), Uservoice for onsite feedback.

Business model: Selling t-shirts for a high profit and lots & lots of the world's best bacon for a lesser profit per item. And being smart as hell about every aspect of marketing & operations, totally leveraging new technology like the above.

Brilliant and fun presentation. Built the biz in 3 weeks. Paid tshirt models in PBR & Pizza. Presentation soon in SF.

Beeler's Uncured Garlic Pepper Bacon from Bac'n.com on Vimeo.

That was great, now back to SXSW proper.

Scam School at SXSWi

2009-03-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

Watching the Scam School guy at SXSW

I refuse to look up and remember his name, cuz it's a click away for you to learn it yourself. But it's a show on Revision3 about scams & tricks, esp. around how to get free drinks.

Very entertaining, a domestic Derren Brown who walks amongst us. Gave some background. Lots of it is about Fixed Action Patterns. Interesting stuff.

He recommends the book How to Read a Person Like a Book.

more later

I'm at SXSW (and maybe you are or not?)

2009-03-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

I'm hanging at SXSW for the week. And here I have this monthlong gap on posts at my eponymous blog. So I thought I'd get a quickie up here, in case someone surfs over here trying to figure out what my deal is.

To find out what I am doing RIGHT NOW check me on Twitter. Images are on Flickr. Read recent blogposts on my little slice of LaughingSquid. Including today's post about how NOT to attend SXSW.

More later soon yup. -em

Coraline: check.

2009-02-19T22:25:00.000-08:00

it's brilliant. duh.

Coraline and Watchmen hit theaters in Spring 2009 (like almost now)

2009-01-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

Wow, gee cool, the right movies are being made!

What joy that not both Coraline and Watchmen are coming out in the theaters in the next couple months. Here's the trailer for Neil Gaiman's Coraline:

Gaiman is a master storyteller, famous for his series The Sandman, made a wonderful and little seen feature filmed named Mirror Mask and numerous novels, comics, film and television creativity in his native England and adopted America.

The film has an incredible cast including Dakota Fanning, a Desperate Housewife, Ian McShane (Deadwood), both Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders (creators of Absolutely Fabulous and French & Saunders) and John Hodgman (noted author and A PC). There's a good page on Yahoo! Movies that summarizes details and links to trailers and photos and stuff.

Oh and Hodgman and Gaiman are both on Twitter, btw.

The Watchmen also has a cool compendium page on Yahoo! with some pretty sweet making of videos. It's an Alan Moore graphic novel that I don't have time to talk about in detail. But Time Magazine listed it in the Top 100 novels of all-tim. Here's the sneak peek trailer, which I like better than the one in the theaters now...

Happy New Year! Welcome 2009!!

2009-01-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

let the new year in, be aware and take stock

It's just an arbitrary day of course, January 1, not tied to the sun or moon, named for a Roman god who has long gone out of style. But it's a marker, and that's useful. It's been a year (365 "days") since we last had this conversation, right?

I don't go in for resolutions, I don't think betting with yourself in front of everyone is a good or healthy way to motivate or change behavior. But your mileage may vary. But I do think that we tend to be more aware at this time, for obvious reasons (read: hungover). So it's useful to take a look at things (like this desk covered with all manner of crap? no, not that, okay?) and see where that observance takes you. But no dramatic pledges, per se, just run the old problem-solving and optimization scripts against it, and see where you end up. Again, that's me. I should just talk to myself, I suppose.

I want this to be a great year, with focus on the right things--remembering that healthy and pleasurable are not strictly expensive and that they can often be derived by very simple means: taking a walk accomplishes so much. That will be my one Zen outburst. I promise. I have no idea where it came from. But that wish is for all of you as well: a healthy, happy new year.

Also, my advice: find some optimism, which likewise is its own reward, and use it to fuel pragmatic thinking. We need to be practical and somewhat conservative as we proceed into a year that will be difficult. But make sure you know who your friends are, and remember how much that means, and make sure you have their numbers on you. That means write them down, back them up, and probably also get their zip code.

A programming note, as it were, you will tend to find fresher post-dates from me on Laughing Squid (where I guest-blog) than this blog, typically. I think I'll be writing a bit more here, certainly more than I did last year, but in general more and more interesting stuff will tend to pop up there.

That said, more here soon.....

Mikl-em

And a Merry Walken Christmas to All

2008-12-23T15:54:00.000-08:00

The play is over, long live the play. I had a great time performing in Snowmiser our twisted little Christmas review at The Dark Room.

The shadowy figure known as Puzzling Evidence shot the below footage of the show on closing night, Saturday 12-20-2008, enjoy....

I AM SNOWMISER: Walken in a Winter Wonderland

2008-12-12T18:55:00.000-08:00

Now playing at the Dark Rom (4 performances only)...

Featuring yours truly and a bunch of other talented folks. More details here.

On Obama & Blackberries

2008-11-15T21:19:00.000-08:00

NYTimes article on Obama, his Blackberry, and why POTUS can't email.

RFK Jr. on Rachel Maddow explaing Voter Supression

2008-10-22T00:56:00.000-07:00

Incredible, must see. Robert F Kennedy, Jr lays out in detail how voter surpression has and is being systemically done in Colorado and many other states. Steal Back Your Vote is Kennedy & Greg Palast's site to spread the word and help empower voters to defend their rights.

The Wicker Man rock opera, live at the Dark Room in October

2008-10-07T23:14:00.000-07:00

Mikl-em and an incredible cast bring a cult classic film to the stage

This weekend our production of The Wicker Man opened at The Dark Room in the Mission.

The show runs Thurs-Sat at 8pm through October 25th.
Buy Tickets HERE

photo by Geof Teague poster by Foul Play

Fans of cult cinema know the original Wicker Man film as a great and odd British artifact of the early 70s, starring Christopher Lee (probably the most prolific actor in history appearing in over 260 films beginning in 1948) and that guy who later starred as The Equalizer on tv (aka Edward Woodward). Oh, and hottie Britt Ekland.

It was written by the guy who wrote "Sleuth", who also adapted most of Agatha Christie's plays into films (Evil Under the Sun, etc).

It's about pagans and a christian cop. And a lotta sex. And masks. And did I mention it was 1973?

It's a better than your standard B-movie, with a psychological horror aspect that is a step above Lee's vampire portrayals of that era. It is definitely a 60's free love hangover that could spend quite a while on the analyst's couch gloriously recounting its many much enjoyed transgressions against the Nixon, stadium rock & bell bottoms.

There is an obvious comparability to that desert festival out there in Nevada, though we don't overtly touch on it in our play. From what I hear this flick was a favorite amongst the cacophonists who started Burning Man way back when.

Here's the trailer for the original film:

And an interview with the great Christopher Lee talking about the film's rather star-crossed past (missing footage, a studio that didn't believe in it):

A few years back they slandered this noble savage piece of film history with a redressed, toned-down and Nick-Caged remake. That film is so awful, by numerous accounts including the At The Movies guys, that it deserves no linkage or further mention.

Our 'umble repurposing of the story adds "Rock Opera" with an INCREDIBLE score of new tunes by Jim Fourniadis of the Dark Room in collaboration with the band Live Evil. This show follows in the fine tradition of other Dark Room musicals like Lovesick and Emperor Norton. Great original music and a fine cast (I say, even notwithstanding my own membership in said cast, you know).

In fact I get my own Tom Waitsian solo tune, as the Gravedigger--one of three parts I play in the show.

The cast is incredibly strong including my pal Steffanos, the incredible Flynn De Marco in the starring role of x-tian cop, and a great ensemble who you've seen in various other Dark Room shows like Ten Commandments, Emperor Norton, Clue, Duck Soup & Twilight Zone.

It's great fun, and I hope you can catch it!

Alan Moore self-documentary from 1987

2008-09-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

Alan Moore, author of Watchmen and V for Vendetta and "the face of success in Thatcher's Britain"

Wonderful, dated and wonderful. I'm finishing up Watchmen right now, quite behind the times really, since I've known about it since the 80's. But never got around to reading it until now. Can't wait for the movie, and meanwhile the design of website is fantastic.

For Pop Will Eat Itself fans, if there are any out there, note there's a sample pulled from the short above that is used in one of their songs ("Shortwave Transmission"); the quote is near the end of the video: "television, movies, comics" at 9:21 in. PWEI name-checked Moore and his works frequently on their This is the Day, This is the Hour, This is This album. And pages from The Watchmen appear in the video for "Can U Dig It?".

Here's a version of The Watchmen trailer that's been dubbed with the PWEI song "The Fuses Have Been Lit":

different, but it kinda works.

San Francisco Gin No. 209 featured on MSNBC

2008-09-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

This report appeared yesterday on MSNBC. No. 209 is a great gin, made in SOMA right near the Giants' stadium. Great to hear about an excellent local product getting national attention:

Sept. 3: A small San Francisco distiller is combining the best ingredients from around the world with some tech knowledge to make a eco-friendly gin. KNTV's Lisa Bernard reports.

The Speech that Barak should give at the convention

2008-08-25T01:16:00.001-07:00

The New Vision - Theodore C. Sorensen

The purpose of public office is to do good, not harm; to change
lives, help lives, and save lives, not destroy them. I look upon the
presidency not as an opportunity to rule, but as an opportunity to
serve. I intend to serve all the people, regardless of party, race,
region, or religion.

This is an excerpt from a remarkable speech that the Washington Monthly asked a former speechwriter for JFK to produce several months back, in the heat of the Democratic primary season. There were still many people in the field at the time, so this was written with the thought that any of the candidates might give it.

It's a wonderful idea and an incredible speech. Read it and then let's see how Barak's actual speech measures up.

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

2008-07-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

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"

2008-07-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-07-21T15:27:00.001-07:00

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

Support Todd and the Gear Wall

2008-07-17T22:47:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-09T18:50:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-09T17:01:00.001-07:00

testing my ping.fm email interface

2008-07-09T16:58:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-08T12:26:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

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

(it's political) Yoo & Addington play their games

2008-06-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

John Yoo & David Addington testify (i.e. dissemble) in front of John Conyers' Judiciary Committee

Here you see the Jekyll and Hyde of the Bush Administration's Justice Department.

John Yoo is the ultimate 'yes-man' who could crank out papers supporting whatever policy was put in front of him. Here we see him for the intellectual lightweight toady that he is. Unable to give an unqualified answers, backing the long way around into word games, all the time slowing down the proceedings.

Addington is a bully, who is a kind of (evil) genius. He is Cheney's lawyer, and he build the large legal justifications that he then gets the Yoo's of the world to execute on the brick & mortar level of position papers. His demeanor and MO is to stand toe-to-toe and bluster and debate, showing no shame or pause in rationalizing his pauses work. This is the modern Machiavellian attorney of the powerful and rich (who want to stay as rich as possible at all costs).

This encounter is really pretty comical, but of course none of this is really funny.

The Cheney's Law episode of PBS' Frontline gives the best coverage of this dynamic, and how these two enabled the worst tortures and travesties of this Iraq War. Don't seem to be able to embed the video on this page, but you can watch here.

RIP Carlin

2008-06-22T22:59:00.000-07:00

We'll miss you George

George Carlin a great and long-standing-up comedian has died at 71.

A Ride on the SS Jeremiah O'Brien

2008-06-22T02:29:00.001-07:00

Engine room of Jeremiah O'Brien, originally uploaded by mikl-em.

Danielle and I and a few friends rode for four hours on the bay today on the SS Jeremiah O'Brien. A beautiful day, an incredible ship, we had a lovely time.

This video shows you the engine rooms at work. You can see more images and videos from our trip.

And you can visit the boat and witness the power of her engines for yourself when Long Now's Mechanicrawl happens on July 12th.

Mikl's little tiny media empire

2008-06-19T19:06:00.001-07:00

A primer on where you can read what I write

This is admittedly a little confusing. But such is (my) life. This webpage is my blog, but there are a bunch of other places that I typically update more frequently.

Over the last few years I've most actively written on my Yahoo! Group. This has been and will continue to be where I post about cool events in SF that I am a part of or that I heartily endorse. So it's mostly interesting for folks in SF. Additionally you can expect the occasional political post here. The events are mostly comedy or theater happenings, though some other art events and just plain parties will show up from time to time. The most groups post highlights the closing weekend of Beowulf by Banana Bag & Bodice--great friends who are out from NYC. This is a really special show and it plays in Berkeley only through this Sunday 6/22.

I am now a guest-blogger on laughingsquid.com the site run by my good friend Scott Beale. This is a high honor as Scott has built a large audience and a fantastic voice of blogging the weird, fun and geeky. It's great to jump in and add to the mix. There are seven guest-bloggers in total and I think that both we and Scott are enjoying the collaboration

Another talented friend Attaboy has a magazine and website called Hi Fructose. I've been writing features and a few small pieces for the magazine. You can find my writing in issue #1 and #6 as well as #3 which is sold out. The BIG news is that Last Gasp is publishing a Hi-Fructose Collected Edition featuring highlights from the first 4 issues (2-3 of which are out of print). There's a limited special edition of 3000 available end of summer (order now), and then there's a regular edition coming later. Hi Fructose is an amazing magazine & website full of vital very current art with a razor-edged whimsy that is undeniable. And Attaboy is a great artist in his own right. Make sure you check his stuff out.

Then there's my Flickr stream. There's lots of cool stuff there. I do like to document things, and so it stays pretty fresh. Travels, parties and social mischief, and sometimes backstage stuff from shows I'm in. There's usually fun stuff there.

Rarely updated, but w/ a few interesting things nonetheless, is my blog on Vox. I like the way that Vox enables sharing multimedia, so I've put a few things up there. But it's really rare for me to update it.

Now granted, all of this stuff is listed on the sidebar, plus a few more, but I thought I'd take a moment to explain things in a little more detail. Thanks for stopping by. Sign up for the RSS feed while you're here, if you'd like.

Euro 2008: Germany advances!

2008-06-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

You can call me a Deutsche-file

Between Danielle's German heritage and the blissful vacation we had in Germany two years ago for the 2006 World Cup, I am a big fan of things German and especially German soccer. There are other teams that I like, but the experience of watching Ballack, Klose, Podolski and the rest thrill their home country (in an eventual 3rd place finish) has forever endeared them to me.

I realize that this whole post may be a bit of a non-sequitur, but please forgive and be patient. There are only a few games left. :D

Today Germany's national soccer team beat expectations in a thrilling 5-goal game and sent the Portuguese team home. In the process they made it to the final four of the Euro 2008 tournament. Klose got his first goal of the tournament, and Ballack his second in as many games. Here's a detailed match report for any football geeks who stumble onto this page.

I could only watch a few minutes of the game during lunch, but it brought back the rush of being in Germany during the World Cup.

Here's a link for all the Euro 2008 news from Yahoo! News. And here are all my photos from the World Cup trip.

Killer B's last weekend and post on Laughing Squid

2008-06-17T01:13:00.000-07:00

Go see the Killer B's at The EXIT--while you can!

I wrote a post at Laughing Squid about this incredible show of 3 great movie-like plays. Just fantastic, must-see stuff. Just some of the fantastic theater going on in the area right now. Beowulf being another, which I will have to post about here soon as well.

Anyway, I said it all in my post on the Squid site. So I'll let you check that out for all the particulars (including gorgeous pix). You can get tickets here.

Gay Marriage legal in California

2008-06-17T00:55:00.000-07:00

JUST MARRIED FINALLY ...and... NO STOPPING. I like that.

I had the tremendous pleasure of being at the SF City Hall today with a huge crowd to celebrate the first same-sex marriage since the right for all people to be married was upheld in California. It was a great day! I took some pix & videos, and wrote it up on Flickr. See the description of each pic for more details.

By the way, Danielle and I are also officially thrilled about our right to NOT get married. It's dandy. We couldn't be more pleased than to not have the law involved with our relationship. It's nice to have the choice, even if you ignore it, and I'm glad same-sex couple now have the same option.

My blogging Renaissance

2008-06-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

I know, promises promises, but this time for real. Soon I'll be guest-blogging from time to time on the Laughing Squid site, so I need to put something a bit fresher up here at my own place. The 4 of you who subbed via RSS feed are probably having heart attacks right now, huh?

Stay tuned for more. Unfortunately my first post is an unfortunate one, memorializing my departed friend Felicity Perez. The post on the Squid site will be up, probably later today.

An update at last

2007-09-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

What I'm up to lately...

Lots of house stuff: see Flickr. Danielle and I took a trip to the northwest. I'm working on an article for Hi Fructose, and there's always a bit of mischief with the Dark Room in the near future.

You can find me on Flickr, Twitter, Yahoo! Group, and only occasionally at home. I'm supporting Chicken John for Mayor of San Francisco, in case you were wondering.

We bought a house!!

2007-05-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

This is mine and Danielle's now

SF Theatrical update

2007-04-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

Cool stuff coming at the Dark Room in May:

Great sketch comedy from the Only and One (er, Two) Uphill Both Ways

And the return of Lovesick: the Cat Allergy Musical with a great new cast!

Good things to see. Some more news from me and from the NYC theater world, shortly....

Final Lineup for tonight's benefit at the Dark Room

2006-12-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

We've finalized the performers for tonight's show, and it's looking great. See below for videos from a couple of the participants...

Just added, Lemmy & Figgy! Check it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_g9jS_O6MQ

And the Ukulady, straight outta LA...

12/29 Special Dark Room show: Mikl-em, UkuLady, and more

2006-12-28T10:43:00.000-08:00

Thessaly is up from LA for a visit. We're going to put on a special show on Friday featuring her as UkuLady and her new band Special Occasion Music.

Also on the bill, I'll be reading a great piece of writing that I haven't unearthed in years. It's worth it, I swear! :) Red Door on the left bring the sketch comedy--it's Alexia and John, my co-stars from Young Frankenstein. And Jim F, the man who makes so much of the
Dark Room go-go-go, will have his banjo on his knee.

All goes down Friday, December 29th at the Dark Room in San Francisco's Mission District. Show starts at 8pm.

Applied directly when directly applied

2006-12-22T15:02:00.000-08:00

A friend pointed out the Head On entry in wikipedia. And it's funny.

2006-12-18T00:29:00.000-08:00

Santa like it's 1996 on Tuesday

1996 Portland Santacon 10th Anniversary Party

Tuesday, December 19th

Cafe du Nord

2170 Market Street

San Francisco

doors: 8pm

video starts: 9pm

Santa Open Mike and general merriment after screening til closing.

Free admission. Santa attire encouraged.

It was the Cacophonist of times, the first Santa Rampage planned for outside the City by the Bay. And vision of riots danced in The Man's heads. Cuz Saint Nicholaus x 10 x 10 x 2 soon would be there.

And shit.

Yup, 200 Santas invaded Portland (some were indigineous, actually)
10 years ago. And a bunch of this city's usual suspects were of
course leading the charge. The list reads like a Ho's Ho of SF
Cacophony. Melmouth, Geekboy, Cortez, Holmes, Burke, John, and
of course that damn Beale guy. With his video camera!

It was before my time. Just before my time. I was here but I
hadn't quite drunk the water yet. :) I went the next year to LA.
You can see a very quick cameo of Danielle, early on--she didn't go
to Portland though, it's in pre-launch festivities.

I believe that this video, assembled by Scott Beale, Stu Mangrum,
and Scott's voiceover guy friend, is the best encapsulation of the
mysterious, beautiful, intoxicating and creative mischief that
we breed out here in Norton's city. Practitioners of forgotten
social arts and biters of feeding hands, the post-something, semi-
comatose cultural criticism of the Drunken Masters, all hail
Santa(s) in Perversitus Bacchanalium Uber Alles. And shit.

Whenever friends came to visit and wanted to know what I'd been
doing, I would play them this video. It was much easier to explain
that way. It's like this. Every weekend. *Sigh*.

10 years ago? No way. You're lying. Not every weekend is like
this anymore. It's probably still going on, and I'm just not
sticking my foot in it as often. But on Tuesday, we'll get a nice
fat taste of Vintage 96 Cacophony. Wear something you can get messy.
Like say a holiday outfit from Oriental Trading Company (remember, one size fits none.

That link again, in case you missed it....

2006-11-15T19:30:00.000-08:00

My Other Blog-- there, I said it!

I have another blog that I've been playing with. Don't take it personally. It's from the Sixapart folks who make Movable Type. I guess it's their MySpace play or whatever. Whatever. It's cool cuz it easily enables adding multimedia to blog posts. And I need that to be easy. See the heavy textual thrust of this here page.

Yes, at some point in the future I'll make this bit of .com real estate prettier, better, more contemporarily tech-enabled. But for now I'll utilize the pre-fab goodness of the Vox platform. And link to it from here to keep some flow going. Oh managing my many blog personnas. I deserve a vacatation, huh?

2006-11-14T23:58:00.000-08:00

11 Year Old Squid!

Why is this Squid laughing? My good friend Scott Beale is celebrating the 11th year of his company / passion laughingsquid.com. There's a big party this Saturday at Mighty at the foot of Potrero Hill (where it meets... Outer SOMA??). I get to be Master of Ceremonies (yay!), and there's a great lineup including the one and only Mr Lucky.

There's a list, a calendar, a series of events, a blog, videos, photos... he actually has a great post on the blog about what laughing squid is. It's as impressive as always.

Scott has always been dedicated to fanning the mutant gorgeous flames of underground culture. Like me, he came from a distant planet--his is called Ohio, mine is known as Virginia. From a distance we used to observe this thing called "culture" (which grows incredibly well, thrives in fact, here in San Francisco). We'd also get pieces of culture transported to us through a complicated mechanism called "The Postal System". Anyway, once you get to taste the real thing, once you are in the greenhouse as it were... it's intoxicating, you appreciate being here. You want to cultivate it. You want to document it and to help it propogate.

Anyway, that's my reaction. That was Scott's reaction. He made a documentary. He started a company. He shot video of everything cool & weird he found that was going on. He started an email list and a telephone bulletin board, both of which told people what was UP promoting the promoters, enabling the participants. Oh, and far from least important, he made friends.

I think in the big picture, what it's all about is creating opportunities for interesting events to be populated by interested people. For creativity and hard work to be appreciated. And for dreams to be realized, dammit. There's more to say on this theme. I'll have to save it for another proper and truly Blog-type post. When it's not so late and I don't have a flight to catch in the early AM.

Anyway, to note that Scott didn't do these things all by himself. Danielle, my girlfriend & partner in art and crime for getting close to a decade, was one of Scott's first collaborators in event production and related activities. Others like Pippi & Phil with "The Number", and all the artists and Cacophonists who were the subject of the emails of what was going on. But Scott has always had a knack for organization, design, detail, and --wait for it-- follow-through(!!!) which many have lacked. He can run a fucking business for one thing. That's craziest thing. Look I gotta crash now. More at a later time.

Hope you can make it Saturday night!

2006-10-10T15:46:00.000-07:00

Califone tonight at Bottom of the Hill

Califone is probaly Danielle and my favorite band in the world (which is really saying something, as anyone whose seen my music collection knows). They are playing tonight at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco.

I have two standard descriptions for Califone's music:

Tom Waits' "Gun Street Girl" goes to art school
You find a pair of seemingly ancient cowboy boots in an anonymous thrift store. There's something compelling about them. You start to wear them obsessively. You keep figuring out new functions, bits of magic, they can do. Disappearing your enemies. Giving you control of wasps and locusts (but not honeybees). Now you always have silver coin in your pocket. Eventually, you realize they are the made from the robot snake in Blade Runner. They have a benign curse upon them. And they go with absolutely nothing, but still somehow "work".

You can put these guys on a bill or in a mix w/ the likes of Son Volt and Calexico, very easily. But in concert they also get into noisy, effects-laden jams that no one can wrap a box or a label around. Their renderings of halluciated (sic) blues, roots, and more precisely the roots of blues electrified. Fry the country killer in the chair and turn him into a super hero. Yup. And the lyrics are fine fine.

Want to hear free Califone mp3s from their site?

I suggest "Electric Fence" (early) in particular and "Wingbone" (recent), to represent the range and dynamics of the band.

you can also hunt up several videos on YouTube. Including a few from a week ago, at their first show of this tour

Young Frankenstein the Play:
October at the Dark Room

image by Scott Beale (Laughing Squid)

Young Frankenstein is on at the Dark Room. And I am playing the monster. I am! I can prove it! (Thanks, Scott!!). Check out Scott Beale of Laughing Squid's great photos on Flickr. As long as you don't mind finding out ahead of time what all the costumes (and makeup) look like!

The show opens this Friday, 10/6, and plays all of October on Fri-Sat at 8pm, and on Sundays at 3pm. I really highly recommend catching the earlier weeks when tickets will be easier to get--the last couple weekends always sell out.

It's fantastic and includes a lot of great talents involved with last October's great show at the Dark Room (which Scott also documented).

Come check it out!! Tickets are available at the door or in advance from Ticketweb.

2006-04-14T16:01:00.000-07:00

update your damn blog!!!

okay, okay already....

okay, well, not all ready, I guess. sooner or later.

2006-01-08T14:44:00.000-08:00

Star Wars tops 2005 goof-up list - Cinematical

All-things-movie blog Cinematical pointed to this fun list of the films from 2005 with the most "goofs" (continuity mistakes, "plot holes", etc). SWETRS One-hundred and Thirty Nine mistakes in total, according to the folks at Movie Mistakes. It's a running list including contributions by visitors to the site, so the tally changes, and more recent or less popular films are going to be lower (for now) cuz they've had less scrutiny. King Kong, which I saw last night, has forty-six. But you gotta figure that's gonna grow. [FYI, IMDB has a much shorter list Rev o' Sith, but I guess they aren't as dedicated as the Movie Mistakes folks to that task.] Also, the number sometimes decreases, because the site allows corrections of supposed mistakes. The Corrections page for Sith may be more fun to read than the mistakes page.

Movie Mistakes is a fun site to know about, for now Pirates of the Caribbean has the most mistakes of all time. You've gotta figure that people spending enough time critiquing Gigli. But then that's what Bad Movie Night is for.

2006-01-03T22:53:00.000-08:00

Yo. No. Really. It's me. I do post occasionally.

esp. when Scott name-checks me. ;)

I'm watching Long Riders right now. RIGHT NOW!! A great film, just the cowboy flick you always want to watch. Hero outlaws. Daring robberies. An amazing gun battle. A tough guy knife fight. A tragic ending. It's one of my all-time favorites. I recommend it for a double feature with Outlaw Josey Wales--which is also set in Missouri. And as many folks know, that's very high praise coming from me.

Shot in 1980, it's The story of the Jesse James gang, starring 4 sets of real brothers: Keaches, Carradines, Quaids and Guests. Keith Carradine not long ago played Wild Bill Hickock in the current HBO western series Deadwood. That also recently flew through our NetFlix queue.

It really holds up, after all these years, I'm very pleased to say. Which is good. I can't say that about all the movies I remember fondly and have recently re-watched. That's right, that's right, we really are bad.

2005-11-06T11:43:00.000-08:00

California Election Time (how special)

Just a list of links for the 2005 CA Special Election:

Good site from the California Voter Foundation for state-wide info and more links.
Camp aign Finance Information-- who is funding what Proposition, and with how much $$$
San Francisco voter information and the ballot lineup in SF
Resource on health-related State Propositions

a couple more:

Yahoo!'s directory page on the Special Election
From Wikipedia: Summary info and polling data on statewide measure plus some additional links.

Make sure to research. Make sure to vote.

2005-10-29T12:28:00.000-07:00

Closing weekend of BATMAN!!! the TV Show: the Play

Only two shows left. Check it out if you can at tonight's 7:30 show or Sunday's 3pm finale grande! Tickets here. Info here.

And coming up next at the Dark Room: The Drug Diaries in November and Emperor Norton (an original musical based on an actual emperor from a San Francisco of long ago).

2005-10-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the Batman play

I am playing The Joker. Lots of really great shots, thanks for the photos, Scott!!
Only three shows remain, this upcoming weekend--these will definitely sell out, esp. with the publicity we're getting. Buy tickets now while there's still time. Holy limited supply,
Batman!

2005-10-11T00:54:00.000-07:00

Webzine 2005: podcasts are up

The folks at Webzine 2005 have now published the podcasts from the conference. It took place in San Francisco on September 24-25, focusing on Independent Online Publishing. When the conference began in 1998 it was before the hype, let alone the business model, had risen around blogs (aka weblogs). You can have a voice for free or cheap, and everyone can access it.

The spirit is the same today as it was when Ryan and Eddie started it 6 million internet years ago. My only worry is that some folks are reading a little too much of their own press (which they and their friends are largely writing). Utopian visions are great to have, reach exceed your grasp and all that. But there's no excuse for being naive after what the industry and culture went through in the boom and bust of the late 90's. Cooler heads need to remember there's more to life than being "cool". The technology is great, and yet it requires a fair amount of motivation to come near its potential. And that enthusiasm is hard to maintain even for some of the hyperactive folks who spoke at the conference. It doesn't invalidate the spirit or even some of the particulars. But I get skeptical and then perturbed when people gloss over the challenges and essentialy "round up" to the idealistic outcome.

Anyway, that doesn't dim my pleasure and honor to be involved with the event. There were a lot of great people who helped make it happen and who spoke, taught or demo'ed. I learned a bit and got inspired to start posting more on this site again (as you can see from the flurry of posts this evening).

So here you'll find the podcast of the panel that I moderated: Culture Jamming in the Post-9/11 Mindset. A fun time with a diverse group of culture-jammers, and me trying to ring lead and foster good convo. Check HERE for extended bios and links to the panelists sites and related resources

2005-10-10T23:50:00.000-07:00

My favorite episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. It features an extended ant-buying excursion at a major department store, a bunch of toupee comedy, and a surreal ant-themed poetry reading ("My name is Ozymandias, King of Ants / Look on my feelers, termites, and despair").

2005-10-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

Domino the movie is based on a true story. It's a pretty incredible one. And the also incredible Keira Knightley stars.

2005-10-10T22:52:00.000-07:00

a hairless cat is now my desktop wallpaper.

2005-10-10T22:51:00.000-07:00

Check out Rove Scandal: New Mysteries, New Props, New Legal Theories - Yahoo! News for exactly what it sounds like. A lot of details on the latest in the Plame investigation, including details on Judy Miller's missing notebook and some insight into prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's possible prosecution strategy.

2005-10-10T04:39:00.000-07:00

Here's an example of admiring Mirrormask a little too much. Please enjoy the film, but leave Neil Gaiman's children alone. I rant (eloquently rant) about Mirrormask here.

2005-09-25T23:22:00.000-07:00

Batman at the Dark Room

Here's my most exciting project in a while, we are putting on a stage version of the old Batman TV Show from the 60's. I'm playing The Joker, following in the esteemed and melodramatic footsteps of Cesar Romero.

The rest of the cast is stellar, featuring members of Uphill Both Ways as the dynamic duo, Hal Robins as The Penguin, Sean Owens as The Riddler, and a lot more.

The show is up all through October, Fri-Sunday; check the Dark Room website for details.

2005-09-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

Webzine 2005
in San Francisco

I moderated a panel for Webzine today. The subject was
"Culture Jamming in the Post-9/11 Mindset" and featured members of
Evolution Control Committee, The Billboard Liberation Front, and Archimedia.

It went really well, a lot of fun and some serious discussion about how and why to do weird things. Lots of other great stuff going on at Webzine. Tho it's over by the time you read this, you can catch up by looking at the site and the wiki.

More culture-jammery

For those in SF, you can check out the documentary on Culture-jammer Ron English, which also features the BLF. It's playing through Thursday 9/29/05 at the Red Vic. You can see the trailer for the film on Ron's website.

We caught the film last night and it was great. I was somewhat familiar with Ron's billboard improvement work, but less so with his "serious" art. The whole thing was really interesting and he's got a diverse body of provocative work. The stuff that he does with
Picasso's Guernica are my particular favorites: one, and two examples.

Catch this flick at the Vic while it lasts.

2005-05-04T00:24:00.000-07:00

Check out:
Attaboy @ Kid Robot - a photoset on Flickr

I went to see Attaboy at Kid Robot on Haight Street last week. He has some incredible new pieces on display, you can see some of them in the Flickr photo set that I put up. The pictures are a mix of shots of Attaboy's artwork and xtreme and goofy closeups of friends who were there. View the slideshow.

And Attaboy's new magazine, whcih I've written several things for is coming out later this month. It's called hi fructose.

d_onFunstonSteps_close

2005-04-25T00:55:00.000-07:00

d_onFunstonSteps_close
Originally uploaded by mikl-em.

This is one of a set of photos that I uploaded to flickr.com a while back. It's
from a lovely March day that Danielle and I spent at Fort Funston just south of SF, with the Pacific Ocean crashing nearby.

flickr is a fantastic site for sharing photos online. They have all kinds of cool features. I'll post more about it sometime soon.

Flickr

2005-04-25T00:38:00.000-07:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

2005-04-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

19th Century electronic music

Recently read an entry in Wikipedia about the The Telharmonium which debuted in 1897(!). Interesting stuff, for you paleo-technophiles out there....

2005-04-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

morning automatic poem

some sun the only one we get

the fakest English accent you can manage

and the dove on the football on the poster

of the rally of the world that we are sorry

is not our world anymore.

2005-04-16T02:16:00.000-07:00

How bad is Bolton? Even worse.

In case you haven't read this, a few weeks old now, from a letter written to the subcommittee considering Bolton to be ambassador to the UN, by a woman who had, um, an interaction with the man...

Mr. Bolton proceeded to chase me through the halls of a Russian hotel
-- throwing things at me, shoving threatening letters under my door
and, generally, behaving like a madman.

That's John Bolton who was the Prez's nominee for ambassador to the UN. A total disaster who served as Dick Cheney's mole in Colin Powell's State Dept. Fred Kaplan from Slate has written several articles which eloquently profile the problems with Bolton.

Read the entry in Wikipedia and Sourcewatch for a lot more info.

2005-04-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

yes. I need to do some reformatting on this blog. blug. blugh. i have never successfully been accused of being a web designer. quick man, to the style sheets!!

2005-04-03T00:43:00.000-08:00

That Mac's so Big cuz it's paid for

So if you hear a rapper saying they like Big Macs, don't believe it. They are likely getting paid to say it. Lovely. All that credibility straight out the window.

2005-04-01T06:59:00.000-08:00

Stupid Stupid Stupid
Today Is!!! Happy Day of Stupid!

Bishop Joey and the First Church of the Last Laugh will be leading the Saint Stupid's Day parade through the streets of San Francisco. One of the greatest weird traditions of this weird and greatest city. HST would be proud, this is definitely pro weirdness.

For 500837 years of our lords, Saint Stupid has in the beards of our lords and the streets of San Francisco. Like Karl Malden in a lobotomized yamalke with entourage. Whoooo Booooy!! Am I right?

It's also a ton of fun, and all is sad that I can't be in it today (it's my one religious holiday). I will console myself by gazing at pix from last year's parade. Later check out the after party at 12 galaxies or the Flambe Lounge at Yerba Buena.

2005-03-27T09:59:00.000-08:00

Bad Movie Night
at The Dark Room

TONIGHT: The Dark Room debuts the MST3K-like "Bad Movie Night". Each Sunday evening for a month, a rotating roster of local laughability optimizers comment on films of lower than average quality. Tonight's show features Bucky Sinister, Lynn Breedlove, and Sherilyn Connelly.
This should be a great show!

I won't be able to make it because we bought tickets ages ago for the ROVA Saxaphone Quartet and friends (aka Orkestrova)performance of John Coltrane's Ascension. The show is part of the SF Jazzfest, which is always impressive, especially in their spring season, but this year is one of their best. More on that in some other post. Here's a review of the last time ROVA performed Ascension

The Bad Movie Night series will continue throughout April on Sunday evenings. Next week I'll be one of the guest hecklers, along with one or two or three cohorts I hold in high and humorous regard. More on that next week.