Update to the story below as of 1720h PST: The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that with 9800 ballots remaining, Measure B has passed the 66.67 percent mark.

The ballot initiative to fund a BART extension to San Jose may have squeaked by, KNTV was reporting this afternoon. Though initial balloting showed the measure falling short of the required two-thirds majority, mail-in ballots are turning the tide.

With 17,000 of 42,000 mail-in ballots still to be counted, the vote to fund the 22-mile BART extension with a 1/8-cent Santa Clara County sales tax was 66.61 percent yes; the measure, like any tax increase in California since the 1978 passage of Proposition 13, requires at least a 66.67 percent yes vote.

If the Bart-to-San Jose tax passes, it would complete a surprising trifecta of voter support for mass transit projects at a time when local and state budgets are tight. Earlier this month, voters in Marin and Sonoma Counties passed a rail initiative, and statewide Proposition 1A also passed, kicking off the state’s bullet train project.

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As I mentioned last week, this weekend is so stuffed full of book events — oddly enough, most of them on Thursday — that this post covers only the next three days. Highlights are Bizarro, Ben Ratliff, Chip Kidd, Opium’s Literary Death Match, and the final SF in SF event for the year. Get all the details after the jump.
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Just came to my attention that we were mentioned in N Judah Chronicle’s, Greg’s note on “1 to 1 Marketing: How I’m Voting for David Chiu,” the effectiveness of 1-to-1 marketing, vs. newspapers/ads/smears/robocalls:

But because I heard about David’s campaign from people I know and whose judgment I trust, such as my friend Stan (the quizmaster at the Blackthorn’s trivia Mondays), and my friend Anna at Metblogs (who lives in the district), their opinions mattered more to me in the end than what some ad said or what Chris Daly’s shifty junk mail says.

So nice that Greg clicked back to here, and he has helped me numerous times with complicated MUNI props, but more importantly, I like this trend of us showing our work. While in line at City Hall today, getting ready to vote, I talked to two women. One was from the Mission, another from Silver Terrace. They both were well read and interested in the issues in their district. Both had done legwork before voting. One had invited friends whose opinions she respected, over for dinner to go through the propositions. The other created a spreadsheet and listed all of the interesting information she researched online into a large matrix. So decide for yourselves, share your work if you want (my cheatsheet is here), but be knowledgeable! Let’s not let stupid win again.

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Saturday October 25th, Modern Times Bookstore will have its 37th birthday party at 3:00 PM. Food and fun times for all. [via Mission Mission]

Then at 7:30 PM, the Booksmith on Haight will present Christian Lander, who is promoting Stuff White People Like; a category that presumably includes his book.

Monday the 27th, the Commonwealth Club, 6 PM: Frank Rich, Michael Tomasky, Thomas Powers, Martin Kettle & Bob Silvers will talk politics, live on stage. If you just can’t wean yourself from the New York Times Opinion Pages, you won’t want to miss this.

But if you’ve had enough opinion for the moment, go see David Sedaris read at the opera house instead, at 8:00 PM. Tickets here. His last book was more somber than usual, but still pretty damn funny.

Tuesday the 28th at 7:00 PM, Books Inc. in Opera Plaza (601 Van Ness) presents poet Mari L’Esperance, winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry, reading from her collection The Darkened Temple.

On Wednesday the 29th, go to Stacey’s on your lunch break at 12:30 PM, and hear Antonia Juhasz read from her book, The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry, and What We Must Do to Stop It.

Finally, on Thursday the 30th, you might join me in North Beach and hear the world-famous DJ Spooky at City Lights at 7 PM. He’ll read from and discuss the book he edited, Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture. Said book includes a “groundbreaking mix CD,” according to the publisher’s description, which features “Nam Jun Paik, the Dada Movement, John Cage, Sonic Youth, and many other examples of avant-garde music. Most of the CD’s content comes from the archives of Sub Rosa, a legendary record label that has been the benchmark for archival sounds since the beginnings of electronic music.” The book also features an introduction by Steve Reich and a foreword by Cory Doctorow, which might give you an idea of the contents. (Awful pun intended!)

As for Friday October 31st — wait a minute! That’s Halloween! What the hell are you doing with a book in your lap? Go to a party already, you anti-social bookworm!

[Unless otherwise noted above, all events via Kemble Scott.]

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Check out this page of 84 parodies of Shepard Fairey’s iconic poster (original above left), taken from around the web. It’s pretty funny, overall; some are pro-Obama, others are not. Be warned: many are outright offensive — racist, sexist, what you will. This post is NOT an endorsement of the entire collection behind that link! However, several are worth saving. My favorites are the two above; other good ones are POPE, MIME, TYPE (which features Mavis Beacon) and perhaps best of all, CHOPE: Where Change Meets Hope.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to a little chope this fall myself.

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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.

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Litquake concludes tonight with the famous Litcrawl in the Mission District. From the event page:

Litquake 2008 closes in high style with the wild and woolly Lit Crawl Saturday night, beginning at 6 pm! More than 250 authors appear in a three-plus-hour literary crawl through the heart of the Mission District. Three phases (6-7 pm; 7:15-8:15; 8:30-9:30 pm) will carry you through our version of the traditional pub crawl, from bars and cafés to galleries, restaurants, and even a few bookstores. Come get drunk on literature with hundreds of your closest friends. And best of all, Lit Crawl events are FREE.

New this year are the events in Clarion Alley, which is over by Good Vibrations. There will be music, readings, and an open mic event devoted to the theme of six-word memoirs, hosted by the publishers of the collection Not Quite What I Was Planning.

But there is more, so much more I don’t even know what to recommend. In fact, I’m sad that I only have one body, because for each of these hours I would like to be in at least three or four places at once. In the first hour alone: Femina Potens is hosting something at Intersection for the Arts. Travel writing is the theme of the reading at the Gestalt Haus. Adobe Books, as usual, is hosting the Here Comes Everyone Reading Series. Elixir is hosting their Bang Out Reading Series (where writers have been asked to “bang out” a story on a given theme). Food writing is the theme at 18 Reasons. And the Dark Room is hosting readings from the SoMa Literary Review.

See what I mean? It was exhausting just to properly link that paragraph.

These events get crowded, so if you see something on the schedule you really don’t want to miss, it’s a good idea to show up early. (Some people recommend skipping the second hour for that purpose, but is that really fair? I think not.) However, if you’re easily overwhelmed by choice, or just don’t feel like planning, there is such an overabundance this year that you could probably just walk at random and be entertained by any event you happen to stumble into — so long as you don’t mind trying to work your way into a dense crowd. Happy crawling!

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Annoyed with being on the West Coast and having our ballots counted after the election’s been called? You can vote early. From the SF County site

ABSENTEE BALLOTS and VOTING EARLY

* Any voter may vote early by Absentee Ballot (voting by mail), or they may vote early in person.
Mail in your Absentee Ballot to the Department of Elections:
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett
San Francisco, CA. 94102 OR
Drop it off at the Department of Elections
Room 48, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett
(Ground Floor, City Hall) OR
Drop it off at a polling location before 8 p.m. on Election Day
To vote early in person:
Go to the Department of Elections beginning January 7, 2008:
Room 48, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett (City Hall, Ground Floor),
Monday - Friday– 8:00 am. to 5:00 pm.
Saturday & Sunday, Jan 26 & 27–10:00 am. to 4:00 pm. (enter from Grove Street only)
You don’t have to give a reason for voting early.
Any ballot that arrives at the Department of Elections after 8 p.m. on Election Day will not be counted.

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It’s Matcha time! The Asian Art Museum hosts their Matcha event series on the first Thursday of every month, from 5 to 9 in the evening, and tomorrow, October 2nd, is that special day. The theme for tomorrow’s event is Japanese Tattoo:

There’s more to getting inked than you think. Takahiro Kitamura — aka “HORITAKA,” apprentice to the revered master Horiyoshi III — is an author, prolific tattoo artist, and owner of San Jose’s State of Grace. He will deliver a talk on the time-honored art of Japanese tattoos, a rich culture of beauty, commitment, and history.

See LIVE demonstrations of employing both traditional (no electric needles!) and modern techniques. Joining Horitaka’s diverse, talented crew of tattooists are special guests from Japan — Shige, a powerhouse tat artist who’s showcased all over the world; Mutsuo, who’s designed for Bathing Ape and Hysteric Glamour; and Kazunobu Nagashima, a client of Shige who will proudly display his backpiece, which won a 2007 Milano Tattoo Convention award.

In addition, dip into the world of Zen among ancient Samurai warriors through a guided tour of the galleries, learn about Japanese altars, sample teas by Ito En, soak up DJ Saiman’s aural offerings, enjoy a cocktail with friends, and much more.

The museum is on Larkin next door to Main Library. Admission is $5 after 5 PM, and as they imply up there, for that awesome price you get the run of the museum. Their special exhibition at the moment is Arts of the Islamic World from Turkey to Indonesia, featuring artifacts from the museum’s collection. (They’re tooling up for a big show about Afghanistan that won’t open for three weeks. But we’ll talk about that next month.)

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The Bay Area is full of tech innovators, and seldom are the achievements of the entrepreneur who operates outside of Software, Internet or Biotech recognized. Ellen Raynor the owner/operator of SF Carpet Recycling is the kind of person I’m talking about. Full disclosure, Ellen is a close family friend, but I think you will agree her efforts are commendable in taking recycling to the next level.

SF Carpet Recycling is a collection site for post consumer carpet and carpet pad for the San Francisco Bay Area. Conveniently located in the 3rd Street corridor in the southeast part of San Francisco, we accept used carpet for the purpose of recycling.

For every 10 million pounds of post-consumer carpet recycled:

• 50,000 cubic yards of landfill space is saved

• 70 million pounds of GHG emissions are avoided (CO2 equivalents)

According to the 2006 CARE Annual Report

Planet Green video and more info

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