[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sghKFq233-o[/youtube]

“Why is there no women up here? We need California women up here. I need to do a Citizen’s Arrest for Treason.” (from video)

“It happened in San Francisco today. At the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers’ Assn., former White House guru Karl Rove debated the 2008 presidential election — and the current economic meltdown — with former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell. Up on the stage walks a well-dressed woman, name as yet unknown. First she complained that there was no woman on the panel. Then she drew out handcuffs and tried to arrest Rove for treason. She was quickly ushered off the stage” – thread, attribution, etc. on FriendFeed

Not long ago I posted about Improv Everywhere’s Mp3 Experiment in Dolores Park, which happened on Saturday, October 4th. For all those who couldn’t participate (including me … *sniff*), Improv Everywhere’s official video of the event is now live on their page: check it out. That four minutes was condensed from a forty-five minute event! Fuller documentation (a written report and photos) is available here.

The Mp3 Experiment San Francisco was just one city in a 4-city “tour.” Check out the Mp3 Experiment Tour page to see footage and photos from the Chicago, New York, and Toronto events.

This post is a little late, but if you’re still looking for something to do tonight, go check out the animated feature Fear(s) of the Dark, which will premiere tonight at the Embarcadero Center Cinema at 7:30 (general admission $12.50; discounts available). Check out the description of the film by Mike Plante of the Sundance Film Festival:

Spiders’ legs brushing against naked skin. Unexplained noises in the dark. A hypodermic needle getting closer and closer. A dead thing trapped in a bottle of formaldehyde. A growling dog running and on the hunt. A big empty house creaking . . . . Six amazing graphic artists and cartoonists lend their distinctive hands to stylize these dark nightmares with no color, only black, white and gray. With ultrarealistic techniques now possible, it is important to remember that animation is first and foremost art. Whether slick or rough, paint or pencil, or even originating from a computer, an image is carefully hand-designed for every single frame of film. It is the ultimate work of a creator, personally using the drawn frame, chiaroscuro contrast, the angle of the light and the line movement to tell a story. But it is also the duration of a shot, and what is and isn’t heard. It is the style of the art and the art of the storytelling that make Fear(s) of the Dark so wonderful. Since they come from the artists’ own phobias, you can trust a loving exploration into the surreal atmosphere of your creepiest dreams. As your emotions get worked over, you won’t jump up; you will sink in.

The animated shorts are by Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre di Sciullo, Lorenzo Mattotti, and Richard McGuire.

At tonight’s show, Charles Burns himself will be on hand to do a Q&A session after the film.

If you can’t make it out tonight, don’t worry: it will be back on screen at one or more of the Landmark Theatres (they haven’t determined the venue yet) starting October 31st, Halloween. Appropriately enough!

… that Blew that guy last night…

To pass the time I texted my sister in real time the blow by blows (no pun intended) and listened to my iPod.

Worth a read- and the comments go on forever.

Greg on N Judah Chronicles has a “what were you doing when the quake hit” question out there. I was on at the Cupertino Library waiting for my shelving job to start. Peering down to the waiting carts of books, when I felt the first tremor. I was extremely glad to miss my shift- but then it got quickly surreal as the quake continued beyond any one I’d ever experienced. You?

Also, last day to register to vote if you want to participate in this year’s national election. It just needs to be postmarked today, if you do the mail-in option: SF Gov site on registering.

Examiner.com is looking for someone to blog about technology in general and MS Office in particular. It’s said to be a paid gig based on page views, though why a post on examiner.com on MS Office would get even a thousand page views is unclear to me. Another allegedly paid technology blogging job is here.

Meanwhile, foot soldiers are still needed by the Obama campaign.

You might have slummed it- I did- a period where you just had no cash. I was in Paris (hence the photo) and felt keenly the lack of money and opportunity in a large city. Being an urban dweller we can’t stop ourselves from developing “blinders.” I’m the first to admit it. Friend from Kentucky was walking around the Tenderloin with me, and kept stopping to talk to folks sitting on the pavement, giving them lists of shelters and just listening to their stories. I wasn’t upset at him, just made me realize how we do it, we turn a blind eye. Visitors from Minnesota were really shocked, and I was helping to explain the situation to their daughters- 15 and 11- who hadn’t seen a homeless person in real life, ever. My explanation? A kind of rehearsed, jaded, insidery opinionated rant on Reaganomics in California (they were very conservative Bush supporters) and how in SF it’s “easy to be homeless.” I’m not proud of my rant, but it’s what I felt at the time and is justified historically, and factually, at least. I did keep repeating, “It’s self-medication,” as most of the folks Reagan kicked out of halfway houses were addicts or managing pain and mental issues in their own way. Still, just because it can be explained doesn’t mean it isn’t an issue. Hopefully, with a solution.

My favorite local charity: North Beach Citizens. What’s yours?

This post was inspired by Blog Action Day, if you’re a blogger please contribute by writing about poverty.

I missed it this year, sadly, but just re-read Cormac‘s (local writer, online novelist) version and it’s precious. Enjoy.

Note, try to give stuff away and people think that you are handing them the plague. To say it hurts when the junkie panhandlers get more respect and love just feet away from you, is an understatement.

I was sitting on a 45 Union with a writer friend during LitQuake, sharing stories of how we stalked potential agents and other antics, and how sometimes it’s nice to just avoid the scene altogether.

New 2-star to Coi (kwa) in North Beach. *Why* is North Beach Restaurant in there? Kind of mysterious about some other restaurants that were left out. Chez TJ’s went down 1 star, but understandably as a chef moved on. The media event was nice, the tablehopper didn’t table-hop, which was kind of funny. I loved meeting Paolo of Eater SF, who’ve I’ve enjoyed reading for quite a while.

There was a waiter who was a dead ringer for John Edwards. For such a foodie town it was a lot sparser than Tokyo or New York parties of the same purpose. We have less media? We don’t care as much? I have no idea. Note: I’m guest blogging for their contest, which has some neat prizes and I’ll post all the info here. Posted more thoughts on the guide on my blog: banane.com.

Michelin folks were very nice and appeased my concerns about French reviewers- they’re all American in our cities- and ethnic cuisines, etc. They’re going digital with a mobile app called ubiubi.mobi. One question from the audience: “how are you responding or reacting to Yelp, will you add comments in your guide, or guest reactions?” Led to a rambly answer by Jean-Luc about the history of the guide, and how he predicts people will still be using paper to read from in 10 years time. I think a better answer (I know it’s weird to answer for him) would be that there are *so many problems with Yelp* that they don’t compete, but complement each other. For a well-chosen, selective guide with good iconography and a respected reputation, it’s a relief for the 400 reviews for 1 restaurant on Yelp that are actually dialogues of teenieboppers flirting with each other. Disagree? Comment!

“Michelin 2009 Released” on Eater SF

Stars Shine In Third Edition Of Michelin Guide San Francisco, Bay Area & Wine Country (press release)

First noticed it walking back from Union Street and Leavenworth- we were on top of the hill, it was shocking and stopped us in our tracks. Then a crowd gathered, we all phoned around trying to figure out what was happening. It was around 10PM then, and the fire looked tall and light red, in the south and center of the island. It looked like a volcano crater, across the top in a line- which someone in our crowd said looked like a “lava line.”

A small crowd gathered and we all were chatting- with of course the usual drunk person screaming “It’s not OK! It’s not OK!” Later on, another person in our group yelled, “It’s armageddon!” not to sound too weird, a lot of us were just silently watching it, or muttering to ourselves little nuggets of info we’d picked up somewhere.

The weird thing about being up on Russian Hill was that we smelled the smoke really keenly, and ash even fell on my phone. We also didn’t see any emergency vehicles – just one after a half hour- on the access road on the South side. Not to say there weren’t any, we just didn’t see it form oru vantage. Also, only 1 helicopter before I left.

Later, walked out to (as far as I could get on) Aquatic Pier and it seemed pretty under control. Not really true though- as news showed later. Small groups were gathered on the steps at the cove, or out near the fenced off area near the MacDonnell road.

Just checked tv and it looks like the HD camera on the roof of the ABC news building, a 1/2 mile East showed a lot more damage. Lots of drunk sailors & partiers out- but also people with telephotos, on bikes, trying to capture the island on fire.”

More pictures here, at SFist from the souther, Yerba Buena Island angle, on SF Gate