Grand Master Masaaki Hatsumi, a shockingly fit 76-year-old man who bills himself as the world’s last ninja, espouses ninja wisdom in this fascinating article. Bigups to Larry for sending it to me. |
“Nuestro Himno,” the Spanish-speaking version of “The Star Spangled Banner” which means “Our Anthem,” is causing a stir and sparking a national debate about freedom of speech, national identity, and immigrant rights. There are mixed reactions from the song that vary from elation to utter indignation. The reactions stem from the fact that it is not a straight translation of the English version, because it has to rhyme, and because its release coincides with a planned May 1 national boycott in support of immigration reforms. Surely, we should all be proud that we live in a country where we are free to make any version of the national anthem that we see fit. “The Star Spangled Banner” is in the public domain and the music can be played on an accordion, a bassoon, an electric guitar or anything else anyone wants. Additionally, words for the music can be written or rewritten at will by anyone in any language. It is called freedom and we should all embrace it. However, some see this Spanish-speaking anthem as a threat to our national identity. The truth is that no matter how many versions of “The Star Spangled Banner” are made, there is only one national anthem in the United States. We should all be secure in knowing that there likely will never be a congressional action to change the national anthem. For example, even though Canada has two official languages and there are English and French versions of “O Canada” the English version is the official version of the song. That being said, even if this Spanish-speaking version of “The Star Spangled Banner” is officially recognized by congress two hundred years from now when the official languages of the United States are English, Spanish, and Chinese, or a mixture of the three like in Blade Runner, the English version will likely still be the official version. |
A huge car crash killed a driver and engulfed a Castro block on fire last night burning eight cars. After the crash a homeless man pulled the unconscious victim out of one of the burning cars but he died from his injuries in an alleyway. A police sergeant on the scene was quoted as saying “We’ve had some wild and bizarre things in San Francisco, but I’ve never heard of anything like this.” |
The Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns last night in game two. |
Construction of the 1776 foot tall Freedom Tower finally begins. |
 In this episode, teams made their way from Jabreen, Oman to Perth, Australia. Right from the start the Old Farts were gloating about how their travel experience will get them past the other teams on the race. Right! This is their first time in first place and they are talking smack. Whatever! All the teams except for The Jocks and Ken & Barbie actually left money for The Hippies as a good will gesture. The Jocks left a $100 IOU payable to the Hippies after the race, which was smarter than not leaving anything at all. The Hippies vowed to go after Ken & Barbie for their insolence. We’ll see what happens. It’s a win-win if either one of those teams go. The Hippies actually picked up a hitchhiker on the way to the airport, which was a really cool gesture. The amazing thing is that they still made the flight with apparently just minutes to spare. The other teams were really bummed to see them board the plane. It reminded me of the episode a couple of races ago when Boston Rob boarded the plane much to the dismay of all the other teams. |
“Hello I am Martin I have 21 anuses and alive in Madrid gustaria me toknow women with desire to pass good moments, I have good sense ofhumor, am trigueno green eyes, deportista and equipped verywell.” This poor schlub wrote something semi-seductive in Spanish and used an automatic English translator to post it to an online forum. Sadly the title of his post turned into “Male, ninato 21 anuses equipped.” Wow, 21 anuses equipped!? Say it ain’t so–that’s so sexy! I am sure the women are lining up to contact this guy. Also he’s looking for women with desire to “pass good moments.” Pass good moments? Isn’t that a euphemism for having healthy bowel movements? That’s just sick! Ladies, if you keep giving guys like this the opportunity to show you their 21 anuses or watch you have healthy bowel movements you are just encouraging more ridiculous posts like these. On second thought, these are so funny that it may be worth searching Google for “18 anuses”, “19 anuses”, and “20 anuses” just to see what these young “anuses” are posting online in their futile search for international online love. |
March new homes sales gain is the biggest in 13 years, but prices are still coming down. Don’t believe the hype. The media tries to spin the number new home sales, but fundamentally prices are down 7.1% for new homes. We won’t know the price trend for existing homes prices for two months due to reporting lag. If prices are down nationally they may go down in highly desirable markets, like San Francisco, soon. If prices don’t fall here they may at least go flat. Stay tuned. |
A group of teenagers tried to hold up David Copperfield and two of his assistants at gunpoint in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday night. Copperfield’s assistants handed the robbers money, passports and cell phones, but Copperfield refused to hand them anything at all. Instead he used slight of hand to turn his pockets inside out and reveal nothing in them even though he had his wallet, passport and cell phone. As the teens drove away he read the license plate on the car as his assistant dialed the authorities. The teens were arrested ten minutes later and the stolen items returned. Copperfield was quoted as saying, “I’m pretty good under pressure. That’s my job…call it reverse pickpocketing.” How cool is that! |
We went to see Burnie Burns’s Cock Byte: Masters of Machinima on Monday night. The makers of Red vs. Blue: Blood Gulch Chronicles, Rooster Teeth Productions showed a 60-minute summary of the first season instead of the “greatest hits” collection that they were supposed to show according to the program. This was a bit disappointing, but the first season of Red vs. Blue has a redeeming exploration of philosophy. The characters humorously ask, “why are we here, in this canyon” and ponder the meaning of their lives in the Halo video game. Sophomoric teen humor, yes. But entertaining to fans of Halo everywhere. One kid even flew in from Alaska to catch the screening.  Jason Saldana & Gustavo Sorola, from Rooster Teeth Productions, and Fabian. Burnie was not on hand but he sent two of his minions, Jason ans Gus, to address the crowd. And yes, they used the same sophomoric humor to address the crowd during the Q&A session as the characters in the film, after all they voice a few of them. I wish these guys the best of luck, maybe they can make a feature film comedy from these Halo shorts. Who the hell knows? We missed our Tuesday night screening of Obaba out of sheer exhaustion. Our next film is Thursday. |
Golden Gate Park’s JFK Drive is to be closed on Saturdays for six months in addition to the regular Sunday closures. This is good news for people that want to walk, skate, or bike through the park over the weekends. |
Scott McNealy announced today that he is stepping down as CEO of Sun Microsystems after twenty years. |
On Friday we saw Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, our first screening of the festival. On Saturday, we were at the film festival all day and saw a total of four films. Well, actually we saw three and a half films. Because of the parking situation caused by the Cherry Blossom Festival, we arrived late to the screening of Domestic Dramas, a program of narrative shorts from all over the world. We missed the first two of the shorts in the program titled “The Light,” and “Kitchen.” We were particularly bummed to have missed “The Light,” since it is a local entry from San Francisco. The other shorts were interesting, particularly “Remain Upright!!” and “The Pretty Boy Project.” The “Pretty Boy Project” was about urban kids settling their disputes not with guns and knives, but with a double dutch jump rope competition. It was pretty damn funny. The producers, director, and cast for “The Pretty Boy Project” were on hand for the Q&A after the program.  An actor from “The Pretty Boy Project” shows his lack of double dutch skills to the audience. After Domestic Dramas, we retired to the press hospitality suite to check out another movie, Al Franken: God Spoke. We used the Kaleidescape kiosks to check this one out. It was an interesting film that followed the political pundit for two years, from the late 2003 of his bestselling book “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right” to his recent announcement that he is considering a run for the U.S. Senate representing the state of Minnesota in 2008. We then left the suite and made our way to the screening of Perpetual Motion, a charming Chinese film by a female director that explores feminist themes. A woman invites her best friends to her home during the Spring Festival celebrations to figure out which one of them is sleeping with her husband. Witty dialogue and a mesmerizing meal scene involving chicken feet made for an entertaining look at the lives of Beijing upper-middle-class women. Immediately following the screening of Perpetual Motion, we waited at the same theatre to watch Factotum. Starring Matt Dillon, the film is an adaptation of Charles Bukowski’s 1975 book by the same name. Although we weren’t fans of Bukowski’s work, we decided to see the film because Matt Dillon would be around for the Q&A. The film was very well made and interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and sometimes brutal. The film is a semi-autobiographical account of Bukowski’s own life, which included a lot of drinking, screwing and writing, usually in that order. Again, not our favorite, but well made.  Graham Leggat and Matt Dillon at the Factotum Q&A session. At the factotum screening we met Jason Wiener, a consummate film fan that has been to three festivals and seen over 148 films this year, and it’s only April! It was such an amazing feat that I just had to take a picture with him. We had seen him the night before at the “Metal” screening and finally got a chance to talk to him for a few minutes. Immediately after the Factotum screening, he skipped before the Q&A with Matt Dillon to see another film, The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai. Jason is a true fan of film and not of celebrity and a really interesting guy. I hope to get a chance to interview him at length before the festival is over.  Jason Wiener and Fabian at the Factotum screening. One interesting item of note is that during the Factotum film screening, which was being cycled through two projectors in adjoining theatres, the film jammed and the projector lamp burned through the film print in two places. I had seen this happen in films, but never in a live screening. The burn-through caused a 15 minute delay as the film was re-spliced together about two thirds of the way into the film and quite the discussion amongst those in the theatre. That was cool. Please go to my Flickr 2006 SF Film Festival set for more photos from the festival. |
 “I never questioned my sexuality at any point, and I was up there in lingerie.” – Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister We went into this film expecting it to be about metal fans in Canada. Instead what we were treated to a very well organized film essay about the history of heavy metal. From Black Sabbath to the most extreme current Norwegian black metal bands, the film explores the history of metal, its origins, its fans, its culture, and its themes: sexuality, religion, violence, and death. The film also seeks to find out why metal has been dismissed by many critics over the years. Filmmaker, co-director, and narrator Sam Dunn, an anthropologist, uses academic efficiency in breaking down the history of metal. The film even boasts a metal genealogy chart that just has to be seen to believed. A lifelong metal fan, Dunn interviews metal luminaries like Bruce Dickinson, Tony Iommi, Ronnie James Dio, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, and Vince Neil. He also visits metal meccas like Los Angeles, California; Birmingham, England; Wacken, Germany; and Norway. Dunn was like a mad metal professor teaching class as he answered questions from the crowd after the screening. A smart and articulate scholar, he effectively breaks down the stereotype of the “stoner metal fan.” Perhaps this documentary can bridge the gap between metal heads and the rest of the world. It is only a shame that the film wasn’t longer so that each metal branch could have been explored in greater detail. Dunn said that in order to do the film he wished to make it would have had to be eight hours long! I definitely would like to see an extended version of the film that he said will be released on DVD soon. Until then, please visit www.metalhistory.com for more info and go see this film. Whether you are a metal fan or not you will enjoy it. |
We have been attending the film festival for many years and have seen our share of good and bad at the festival. However, you get the feeling that this year is a special year for the festival and that there is the proper leadership to lead the festival into next year’s big 50th Anniversary celebration. Here are some thoughts from walking around the festival last night. Attendance Will Call and Volunteers Press Hospitality Suite |
Although opening night was last night, the SF Film Festival starts for us tonight with the first of fifteen films. |
In last night’s tenth episode of Survivor: Exile Island, Bruce suffered a digestive system obstruction that had him writhing in pain and put his life at risk. Apparently he had not had a bowel movement for almost a week on the island and finally collapsed in pain. The Survivor medical team had to be called in. I guess you could have said “Bruce is full of shit, he’s faking it” and would have only been half right, he wasn’t faking it. Well, that’s reality for you. Now for the surreal part. Since crazy ass Shane didn’t want to get his pants wet before going to sleep, he helped carry Bruce on a stretcher to an awaiting boat in the nude. This is another case of reality being stranger than fiction. It’s a shame that Bruce has the title of “first to be involuntarily eliminated for medical reasons” on the show. He seemed to be a really healthy and cool guy at the beginning. It just goes to show that you don’t know what the hell will happen to you when you are stuck on a deserted island. Big ups to Bruce for surviving the experience. |
A new Star Trek film is now in pre-production for release in Fall 2008. |
A German retiree flushed 30,000 German marks (worth about $18,900 ) down the toilet because he thought they were worthless after they were replaced by the euro. The only reason this made the news is because the money clogged his toilet and he called the city to clear the clog. That’s crazy! Thanks to Masher for sending me the link to this story. |
 In this episode, teams made their way from Rio, Greece to Muscat, Oman. The Hippies started the race just 9 minutes before the departure of the first bus, so they were the only team on the second bus to the airport and an hour behind all of the other teams. It was funny that all of the other teams were ecstatic to see the Hippies walking while they were on the first bus. But it didn’t matter; all of the teams would eventually bunch up at the first task in Oman. In this episode the Tokens had a little breakdown. They started out teasing each other and ended up giving each other the bird. Then they made up, then they started fighting on the way to the Pit Stop. It’s amazing how fast relationships can break down with the stress of the race. Especially true for these two, since before the race they had never spent more than four straight days together. Ouch! By the way, Oman is a beautiful country. The urban centers look incredibly clean, with opulent temples and palaces. The rural areas have breathtaking scenery and the people seem really nice. I bet that it’s a beautiful place to visit for a couple of weeks, as long as you are not digging Shuwa. |