I'm honored and delighted to see my friend Nina Galicheva and me on the banner of the 2011 Midsummer Night Swing website! That's a great shot of Nina and I competing in last year's MSNS dance contest, which was a lot of fun. I'm also in the promo video right at the end dipping the…
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Kurzweil talks about the Singularity, Backing Up Your Brain and Second Life on Colbert
In case you missed it, renowned futurist Ray Kurzweil was recently on the Colbert Report, blowing our collective minds talking about mind-computer integration, virtual worlds that are indistinguishable from the real one, and computers in our bloodstream. All that in five minutes! And it's really funny too. The new documentary about Kurzweil, The Transcendant Man,…
Adrift Aboard an Uncertain Ship
So I am walking around an art exhibit with this lovely, smart woman, taking in all of the conceptual art, making snarky remarks that I hope she finds clever. Then I wander into this dark room and see the video above playing. It hits me like a baseball bat to the gut. I find out…
America’s Best Dance Crew: Season 6, Opening Episode Recap
Tags: America's Best Dance Crew (Season 6), MTV Shows Tonight I got around to watching America's Best Dance Crew season six, episode 1 (lil wayne). A strong start to the season, IMO. Here's my recap of the first five crews presented in this episode: IAmMe Crew (Texas): Pretty sick popping crew, including master popper Phillip…
Hiking with the Familia in the Oakland Hills
Yesterday I had a fantastic time stomping around the Redwood Regional Park in the Oakland Hills with a bunch of my cousins. I had no idea that such a dense, beautiful redwood forest was so close to downtown Oakland! The occasion was the birthday of my cousin Mel. So a bunch of the cousins (and…
“Sorry, apple knocker, no barneymugging, the bank’s closed” : The Flapper Dictionary
Blogger Bookflaps came across this fantastic "Flappers Dictionary" from the July 1922 issue of Flapper Magazine. It's chock-a-block with choice flapper-isms. Some of my faves: Apple Knocker : A hick; a hay-shaker. Barlow: A girl, a flapper, a chicken. Bank’s Closed: No petting allowed; no kisses. Barneymugging: Lovemaking. Brush Ape: Anyone from the sticks; a…
Shredding for Science at the Exploratorium
Yesterday evening, I had the opportunity (thanks Alex!) to go to a really fun event called "Skateboard Science" at the amazing Exploratorium museum in San Francisco. I love museums after hours, and skateboard culture is so interesting, I knew it was going to be a cool evening. The main event for the evening was a…
Looking Fly for My Uncle Oscar
Yesterday, a couple hundred of us gathered at Saint Patrick's Church in Rodeo, California to bid farewell to our beloved Uncle Oscar Santos. It was a beautiful funeral, with a tender eulogy from his pastor Father Larry and sweet remembrances from my cousins Reena and Vicky. Uncle Oscar was a powerful bass singer, and a…
Cherimoya: Weird, Tasty, Pricey Fruit
At a family function the other day, a distant relative gave my mom a couple of cherimoya fruit to take home and try. We cut one up and had it for dessert tonight. I have to say, it's kind of awesome. Delicate, hard to cultivate, and indigenous to the Andes region of South America, cherimoya…
Subterranean: Quaker Meeting as a Subway Train
I realized reading through the #QuakerBuses tweets that I had long ago likened Quaker Meeting for Worship (aka "church") to being on the subway. This is a poem I wrote in 1997 called "Subterranean." subterranean I take the subway to churchSharing this unguarded early Sunday spaceWith others seeking their own destinationsTheir own agendas Who can…