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Inmate Idle Singing Con-Test.

Such a simple idea, "let's hold a singing contest". That was the start of things in Arizona's Maricopa County. It's a great article and YouTubes are included of all the finalists performances. Stick around for some soulful renditions of Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay and My Girl.

movie: Fallout 3 Tech demo and gameplay.
The first two were arguably two of the best RPGs ever released for the PC. An apocalyptic setting with 1950s retro style. Black humour and comical violence. Seeing this movie makes me sad it will never be; seeing it set to "Dream a little dream of me" and I'm ready to cry.

For nostalgia's sake, the first intro movies to the first two games.
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These are the winners in the Feature Photography category. Caution: may cause you to tear up.

2007: Renée C. Byer of The Sacramento Bee for her intimate portrayal of a single mother and her young son as he loses his battle with cancer.

2005: Awarded to Deanne Fitzmaurice of the San Francisco Chronicle for her sensitive photo essay on an Oakland hospital’s effort to mend an Iraqi boy nearly killed by an explosion. longer story from SFGate

.Certain that he would die, Hurtubise decided to go out with a bang. He leaped to his feet and pulled out not one, but two, hunting knives (he carries as many as 10 at a time) and, according to his own account of the incident in Outside magazine, told the bear, “Take what you want, but I’ll take both of these knives and I’ll shove them right up your ass.”

More about Troy Hurtubise

A long long weekend, lots of guitar playing and watching movies. What to watch, and what to watch out for:

Grindhouse (2007). A 3-hour flick made up of two 75 minute movies: Planet Terror and Deathproof. PT delivers the goods I expected, zombies, guns, and girls. Respectable, and going beyond the B-movie it could've been. Deathproof brings that wonderful momentum to a screeching halt. The first 40 minutes of the movie are filled with inane back-and-forth between four girls. Maybe there was some witty dialogue in there, but the slow pacing just killed my interest. 2/4

Man of La Mancha (1972). The story of Don Quixote, told by Cervantes, adapted from the Broadway musical play. The word quixotic has popped up in my life from time to time and it was great to see the man for whom the eponym was claimed. The story is inspirational and the songs back up the message well. Sophia Loren is oh so sexy with her accent. 4/4

Ikiru (1952). A change of pace for Akira Kurasawa, there are no samurai or ninja present through the entire 2-1/2 hour film. Instead we follow the office worker who just discovered he has terminal stomach cancer. 30 years in the office doing nothing, his death sentence is his call to ikiru (to live). A beautifully done story. Kurasawa has a great talent for capturing all the human interaction that goes unsaid or might be cut off in a shorter shot. 4/4

Lone Wolf and Cub (1972). Six movies were made from the original manga. For fans of the whole samurai genre it's a must see. Episodes 2-6 each end with Ogami slaughtering an army single-handedly. Also cute are the torrents of blood that gush from each defeated opponent, almost comical in the quantity and velocity.

You got Walt Whitman in my Sinfest!

Fray Tormenta: The real Nacho Libre


amazing. The real Fray Tormenta (Friar Storm) is about 60 years old, still wears the mask and manages an children's shelter, teaching the boys how to wrestle. 

Together with four other luchadors they are the Super Amigos, fighting social wrongs and subject of a documentary of the same name. I will have to watch.

Why Having More No Longer Makes Us Happy

This article popped up in the AlterNet feed today. Lots of great little figures, like income up to $10000 per capita greatly increases happiness, then falls off after that. How in our society community (friends) are more valuable than another coffeemaker. And a strange detour into the efficiency of local farming and how it could yield more per acre than industrialized farming.