Welcome to the Austin edition of Metblogs! I’m psyched to be able to give my viewpoint on a city that I fell in love with 15 years ago.
Our local public radio station, KUT, has a project called Sonic IDs which it plays between programs. I heard one last week that I think pretty well sums up Austin and those who live here.
We had a great night out this evening. We traded babysitting with some friends so that we could attend a screening of Stand By Me at Alamo Village with Wil Wheaton in attendance. It also turned out that M. and J. were hosting a letter writing party for MMOB just before the screening.
After dropping the kids off, we headed to the letter writing party. It was really good to see M., J., and Baldo again. We don’t hang out enough and need to do it more often. We didn’t stay long, but we got in there and did our part (I hope) to motivate some registered voters in Florida to do their vote thing and show Bush that he’s not wanted anymore.
Since we know how the Alamo can fill up, we arrived about 45 minutes early. It’s a good thing that we did. Not only did the screening sell out, but Bookpeople sold out of all of their copies of Just a Geek. If I’m not mistaken, some people have to wait until tomorrow or later this week to get their copy. Luckily, I already had mine from Amazon (thank you Amazon Visa Reward Points) and I brought my copy of Dancing Barefoot that Wil self-published last year.
In a tribute to the film, there was a pie eating contest beforehand. Three brave Austinites volunteered for the honor of shoving their faces in pies along with Alamo proprietor, Tim League. The contest lasted three minutes with the only female contestant emerging victorious. She had commented offhandedly that she’d like a kiss from Wil as a prize and he enthusiastically complied when she emerged the victor.
Wil gave a brief introduction to the film before it started and then we all sat back and watched the film. The print was pretty low quality. There were a lot of sound artifacts and it completely cut out for part of the scene where the boys confront the junkyard owner and Chopper. At the end of the film, Tim tried to cut the credits short to start Wil’s talk, but Wil proclaimed that he’s “kind of a dick about credits” and made us all watch them (understandably). Once the credits finished, he talked a little about how much the film means to him now and then opened it up for questions. Some of the questions were so common that he’s already answered them in his FAQ. He talked about re-shooting the scene where they finally find The Body and about a water park that was near the hotel where they stayed in Eugene, Oregon. He also touched on how much the film means to him after almost 20 years and how that meaning has changed over time. After the talk, he signed books in the lobby.
Of course, when it was my turn, I couldn’t think of what I wanted to say. You never seem to have enough time at these signings. Anyway, he noticed that I had one of the earlier copies of Dancing Barefoot and gave me a really sincere thanks for buying it. He pointed out that it was the response that he got for that book which allowed him to write Just A Geek and get the deal with O’Reilly. I asked him if he had gotten to see much of Austin and he told me that he felt like a 15-year-old (apropos for the screening) in that he spent all of Linucon at the hotel playing games. Here’s hoping that he can come back again and experience a little more of what Austin has to offer.
Tonight’s screening reminded me once again how cool this town is. The Wife and I stopped at Gingerman on the way home for a pint and we ran into K. J. who was planning a Dogtoberfest benefit this coming Sunday for Blue Dog Rescue. We’ll be there for sure.
If Bush wins, I’m buying all three shirts at the top of this page and wearing nothing else for at least a month.
I just got this via e-mail and thought I’d post it rather than spam everyone.
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This is the WORLD EXCLUSIVE, NEVER BEFORE SEEN, premier of the “Imagine” video. Featuring an exclusive video clip from Maynard on the creative meaning of the video…see it here first!
Help expose the video to those who may not see it on the normal channels…send it to a friend. WATCH THE VIDEO: |
More from Josh on the story here and here.
Earlier Friday, FOXNews.com posted an item purporting to contain quotations from Kerry. The item was based on a reporter’s partial script that had been written in jest and should not have been posted or broadcast. We regret the error, which occurred because of fatigue and bad judgment, not malice.
So, Carl Cameron wrote a petty, marginally funny parody of Kerry and then it somehow finds its way on to their site? Nice edit-approval system, guys.
EDIT: TPM updates one more time with a Fox News internal memo that went out regarding this incident.
For that reason, we are implementing a number of changes: first, and immediately, the scripts queue is OFF LIMITS for editorial use until the item has been broadcast or the script is approved for use. Second, the use of scripts queue for humor, sarcasm, parody or other unprofessional conduct is strictly forbidden.
Apparently, there is no edit-approval system for the script queue. They’re “fair and balanced”, but they’re not very “smart”. Note that Mr. Cameron wasn’t fired, something they’d be calling for if another news organization did the same thing. It reminds me of a particular administration that doesn’t seem to want to fire anyone when they screw up.
Talking Points Memo has some interesting stuff on Fox News right now. You can read the posts here, here and here. I’m sure there’ll be more. It sounds to me like someone was messing around at FoxNews.com and posted something that they shouldn’t have. Even I can’t believe that they’d try such an obviously dishonest tactic, especially in light of the CBS/Texas National Guard memo fiasco.
On the other hand, before the debate last night, I was flipping between Fox News and CNN. O’Reilly had Newt Gingrich on and they were actually making fun of Kerry for getting a manicure yesterday before the debate.
Fox News analyst Newt Gingrich criticized John Kerry’s decision to get a pre-debate manicure. “I can’t imagine a dumber thing,” Gingrich asserted. “It assures that everyone will be looking at his fingers; and it kind of jars people who are looking for an excuse to vote for him.”
Disgusted, I flipped back to CNN. They were talking about the assault on Samarra that began last night as well. Seemingly legitimate news, but they were asking if the offensive was politically motivated, implying that somehow the Bush administration was timing it to coincide with the debate. I think the Bush administration is a bunch of weasels, but I can’t see what they would gain from doing something like that. It seemed a little to partisan of CNN. I don’t really have a description for what Gingrich and O’Reilly were doing.
Ezra nails it. While I’m on the topic of everyone’s favorite privileged frat rat, I’ve been meaning to link an article on what one of his professors at Harvard Business School thought of him (it’s on Salon, so you’ll need a subscription or you’ll have to sit through an ad). It’s worth it.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and The Wife sent this to me earlier today. Good advice. Perhaps they’ll take the momentum from last night and finally get those balls back.
EDIT 2: I totally forgot about this. Just what the hell was he talking about anyway?
As some of you may know, my father-in-law works for Morning Edition. He’s been part of the production staff almost since the show’s inception and sometimes reads the voiceover translations for the stories that air. This morning, he was the voice of an Iraqi kidnapped at gunpoint (it’s the first story listed on the linked page). In the past, I’ve heard him as a Chinese AIDS activist. I’m almost always on the way to work in my car and a little bit groggy when I hear him. It’s just a little surreal to be half-listening to a story on the radio and suddenly realize that it’s your father-in-law talking about having a gun to his head while being kidnapped in Baghdad.
Daily Kos has an interesting dissection of the presidential wink. Watch for it tonight.
Burnt Orange Report points out that after being linked by several blogs earlier this week, Alan Keyes staff has removed campaign pictures that include his daughter, Maya. The word is that she’s a lesbian, which, of course, doesn’t quite fit with her father’s world view. I don’t know their motivations, but I’d question what the hell she was doing stumping for him. I suppose supporting your father is a priority even if he is Alan Keyes, but I wonder what she thinks of being removed. The miracle of the browser disk cache allows me to keep hope alive. Look out, it’s nearly 3MB.
Finally, the house passed a bill on to the Senate yesterday that makes it easier to prosecute file sharing as a federal crime. Thanks to redistricting, the sponsor of the bill was none other than our own Lamar Smith. Those in his district who have an opinion might want to write him about it.
This is the kind of shit that the GOP is sending out in states like West Virginia and Arkansas. It’s not even worth dignifying with a response, but you know that there are plenty of people who will see the inflammatory (and completely false) graphic, read the issues, of which they probably disagree with at least one, and decide right then and there that they’ve got to go out and vote for Shrub. Nevermind all of the other evil shit the GOP is responsible for, those damn liberals want to ban the bible!
