Pretty, precise indie-pop, “country-tronica,” high-energy folk rock, avant-noise experimental trios; the sounds of our beloved Bay Area are pretty diverse. Thursday was exciting as it was the day of SXSW’s first Bay Area showcase (“The Bay Area Takeover”) at Austin’s Beauty Bar, put on by the great guys over at www.thebaybridged.com and some other Bay Area production companies. Click that big blue “read more” button for some highlights and pictures.

Social Studies!

Maybe we should call him Weird Al Yankobush. Here's a video of G.W.B. singing a silly song and doing a wee bit of stand-up comedy during this lighthearted and carefree, happy, happy time in our nation's history.

 

An alternate title for this blog post might be "Why I Haven't Slept in Three Days."  Last night Fucked Up, a Toronto punk act and No Age, one of my favorite new bands from LA (they're part of the noise/protopunk scene revolving around the Smell, a downtown LA venue) played on a bridge to a few hundred people at around 3AM.  J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. was standing a few feet from me ("He's a fan of Fucked Up," explained one of his friends).   The bands were incredible. Some pictures:

Last night I ran into my friends (introduced in a previous post) the Sadges (as in, Sagittarius), playing an acoustic set on the streets of Austin. The whole band is made up of December babies, I guess. There was a pretty incredible response, and they sounded great.  I also got a free bar of soap from somebody, which is way more awesome than it sounds.  Check out the pictures (more after the jump)!

A woman in Kansas stayed on the toilet for two years, according to this article from the Associated Press . Willingly. In fact, if the cops hadn't come and pulled her out, she'd still be there today. This is one of those stories that gets more bizarre the longer you think about it. What kind of boyfriend brings food and water to his girlfriend for two full years before calling the cops? Was he keeping her in there until she snapped and wanted to stay due to Stockholm syndrome? Or was he just so meek that he wouldn't pull her off the pot?

Her legs have atrophied. The toilet seat had to be pried off, because it was embedded in her skin. She's 35 years old. It's funny at first glance, and then, just horrifying. 

A study at MediaCurves.com reports on the different reactions Americans have to the same woman's face, based on whether or not she wears a traditional Muslim head covering. While the study's methodology is curiously absent (did the respondents see both pictures? how many respondents were there? was there a geographic spread or did it take place in one region?) so the results have to be taken with a big grain of salt, it's interesting to see some of the outcomes. The picture with the headscarf reveals a prejudicial picture of more familial wealth, less career prospects, and better parenting skills. The picture without the headscarf reveals a prejudicial picture of a woman who's better educated, single, and less attractive.

Given that the final question shows most people consider the scarfless woman American and the scarfed woman Middle Eastern, could it be that the survey is even more interesting for revealing something of how our society regards its own women? 

People like to joke about how addicting World of Warcraft is -- 'crack that's absorbed through your fingertips' is a phrase that's bandied about -- but it's kind of horrifying to hear the consequences of it in real life. There was a famous video clip about a year ago of a German kid just completely losing his mind when the game didn't go his way, smashing his keyboard and throwing an insane tantrum, but now comes this kind of scary conversation captured in a game chat room between a kid named James and his parents.