Even bloggers must rest, while the great river of information and irritainment flows onward. Here are some catch-up notes from the latest lost weekend:
Are There Fish Flakes & Colored Gravel in the L.A. River, Too?
Now that the L.A. Times has put the full confidence of a 24/7 Web cam on writer Steve Hymon's tank full of L.A. River water and goldfish, I've pretty much lost faith in the gag. That looks like a nice charcoal-filtration setup, and I doubt "Little Ed" and "Little Antonio" are having to do much foraging amid used condoms and anti-freeze runoff in what traces remain of actual L.A. River funk in the 10-odd gallons of now well-cleaned water in their tank. I say let's put tracking devices on 'em and toss 'em back in near Farmer John's and see how long they can stay looking chipper. (Spotted at Eric Garcetti's blog) ...
The Fuzz Counted Lower, but That's Beside the Point
Polizeros' blogger and ANSWER-L.A. organizer Bob Morris puts the crowd estimate for Saturday's big 3rd-anniversary anti-war protest in Hollywood at 20,000 souls, and indeed his Flickr set makes it look substantially bigger than the 3,000-strong march I covered there about a year ago. (Reality check - police put it at about 1,000 in L.A.). I'm to the point now where I can no longer tell whether Jon Stewart is even kidding about the latest BushCo outrage. The "IEDs came from Iran" meme - refuted by one of the president's own top commanders in Iraq at a White House press conference - just slays me. Three years of this and where's our f*$#ing special prosecutor?
Did Angelenos Even Run?
Evidence that the L.A. Marathon has truly become a world-class race: The five fastest women were three Russians, an Ethiopian and a Romanian, and the five fastest men were four Kenyans and an Ethiopian. UPDATE: Note that two runners died and another collapsed with a heart attack - pretty awful news.
The Camel's Nose in the Tent
Those two massive air-conditioned tents hulking in the parking lot of the Scientology compound at Vermont and Sunset were to celebrate L.Ron's birthday. Also in honor (or not) some wag has posted at YouTube the South Park Scientology episode that was barred from rebroadcast at Comedy Central after it made Isaac "Chef" Hayes quit and got Tom Cruise all hot 'n' bothered. Too late for that, I suppose. Information wants to be free and all that.
Weekend Becomes, Oh, Never Mind
FranklinAvenue notes the passing of KCRW's "Weekend Becomes Eclectic" in favor of Anne Litt's "The A-Track."
Bloggers Wanted at 8763 Wonderland
Writer/blogger Rodger Jacobs is recruiting a posse for bloggery and maybe a little light fiction.
L.A. Times Gives Comfort to the "Enemy"
Earlier this year, a newspaper published details of a new anti-IED technology that was being developed. Within five days of the publication -- using details from that article -- the enemy had posted instructions for defeating this new technology on the Internet. We cannot let the enemy know how we're working to defeat him. But I can assure the American people that my administration is working to put the best technology in the hands of our men and women on the front lines -- and we are mobilizing resources against the IED threat.
-- George Bush, from his speech Monday at George Washington University, referring to the L.A. Times
