Have you seen this Santa Claus?

If you see him, call the FBI - or don't, like most everyone else who is keeping their mouth shut about the whereabouts of John Robert Boone aka "King of Pot" aka "Godfather of Grass" and notorious member of the "Cornbread Mafia." Locals consider his offenses closer to that of a modern day moonshiner, rather than a criminal.

Don't forget to buy a Run, Johnny, Run t-shirt or other Boone related items for your special lady this holiday season!

BlackFriday & CyberMonday

Hey e-readerless friends. Amazon is selling their remaining Kindle 2s for super cheap. Do you scoop them up Friday or wait to see what other readers, tabs and pads go on sale on Cyber Monday? Or are you poor like me and just living vicariously through other classmates?

(Wo)man Up

It wasn't long ago that Sarah Palin was plucked from Alaska as part of McCain's desperate attempt to win the presidential election of 2008. Before the campaign was over, Palin was already biting the hand the feeds her. It is well documented that she is uninformed and has little executive experience. She's not good with policy, law, the constitution and all that bookish stuff. But she can work a room. She has a nice smile and a nice wardrobe.

Since 2008 she's quit her position as Alaskan governor to strut it, full time. She's published a book, starred on a TV show and made a bundle traveling the country as a guest speaker in an effort to raise momentum for a 2012 presidential campaign. Her gaffes and divisive politics are entertaining at their lightest and scary as hell at the heaviest, considering a sizable demographic buys what she's selling. What I've noticed is that nobody within the Republican party has the cojones to stand up to her. Not McCain, Bush I or II, or other Republican leaders. Republican 1-man think tank, Karl Rove, has dared question her but each time he's forced to shrink his opinion by Fox News and their viewers. So who is man enough to stand up to Palin? Who has the gravitas? During the 2010 election campaigns female republican candidates were spreading the mantra, "Man Up!" Finally, that someone is...Barbara Bush?

Infected Fantasy

I play fantasy sports. Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey...I've even played golf and NASCAR. No matter the sport, injuries occur. In basketball, players often have ankle or knees problems; it's bound to happen when you're seven foot tall and throwing your body around.  This season I drafted David Lee, starting forward for the Golden State Warriors. This month he had two surgeries. Why? Because an opponent's tooth broke off in his elbow during a game, causing multiple infections. I don't really have anything profound to say about this but Really? Why me? Why my team? I know, I didn't lose a tooth or get one stuck in my elbow but David Lee needs to be more considerate to fantasy ball players when he's swinging his elbows in the face of his opponents while fighting for rebounds. Thanks, thanks a lot.

Kid Stuff

Beautiful Losers is part celebration of imagination and part history of east and west coast graffiti, skateboarding, artist subculture of the past thirty years. The artists reflect upon growing pains as they transitioned from juvenile artists to struggling and starving adult artists naively establishing their presence in the art world. This is an inspiring film for any adult who is still compelled to create. For anyone who believes that creativity and imagination are limited to childhood. Not perfect but definitely worth checking out.

Drool

If you have a design fetish you may want to watch with cotton balls in your mouth to stop the drooling.

Adobe has teamed up with WIRED magazine to showcase the future of online publishing. Notice that the idea here is to make online content so great that people will pay for it.

Make a Wish

So once upon a time I was pre-med and on my way to helping folks. But you can't help certain things. I fell back in love with fiction. And the challenge of short fiction. The mountain. And the snow covered top of that mountain was Amy Hempel. No, that's not a white hair joke. The same way a future magician sees David Copperfield and wants to be a part of that world, I read Hempel and wanted inside that mystery. Simple sentences, simple stories, and simple language and at the end of any story I found myself baffled. Confused as to why nothing much hit me so hard. It wasn't fair. And I like a challenge. So yeah, Hempel is one of the reasons I'm here, writing. Her stories are part of that mountain in front of me. So what do I do? I forget my hard cover at home and have to buy a paperback copy for $15.50. I only had $6.90 in my checking account as of this morning. And I babbled like an idiot when it was my turn for an autograph like I knew I would. Still, satisfied.

Treasure Down Under

I'm not sure but apparently an entire film genre from Australia never made my radar until I recently saw the documentary, "Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation."

The film features interviews from filmmakers, actors, and critics from the actual ozploitation films, talking over what might be an hour's worth of sex, drugs, profanity, explosions, carnage, stunts and outrageous effects; non-stop action. How the doc only got an R rating I don't know. It practically serves as a 90 minute trailer for the films represented. And it worked. After watching it I was super excited to track down the videos on Netflix. I quickly learned that most of these are either not available on DVD, not on Netflix or out of print. Check out the trailers of films featured in the documentary. Fun.

The doc also features Quentin Tarantino, the creators of the SAW movie franchise and others that share their love for ozzie films, going as far as "borrowing" from the originals. The most recognizable film to come out of this genre has to be Mad Max, 1979, featuring a young, unknown, racist actor by the name of Mel Gibson. A young Nicole Kidman also starred in BMX Bandits, 1983.

These films are strictly entertainment so if that's what you're in the mood for, these drive-in quality action flicks are the answer.

Don't do as Daddy does

This past week, Keith Olbermann was suspended without pay for making 3 campaign contributions of $2,400 each. Olbermann generally makes his living as a counterpoint to Fox "News." I'm fine with persons reporting news waving their rights in their contract to not contribute to political campaigns. If they sign, I assume they agree with the contract. My main problem with this development is not that pundits aren't allowed to express themselves politically or that Olbermann was punished for violating his contract. I'm peeved by the hypocrisy of it.

Don't practice what you preach.

During this political season, GE, part owners of MSNBC, have contributed over 2 million dollars in campaign contributions with over 1.3 million going to Democrats. Rupert Murdock, owner of Fox News, contributed over 1 million to Republicans. This isn't new, in 2008 over 1 million dollars were donated by employees at ABC, CBS and NBC.

There needs to be continuity between employer and employee policy. If an employer makes a contribution then every employee represents that contribution. However, if an employee makes the contribution it doesn't necessarily reflect the views of the employer. So if anything I could see employees being allowed to making contributions but not their employer. Either way, news organizations and their employees making contributions seems at odds with moral objectivity.