Got "Milk"

It started last night. I was taking the bus home from work...drowsy, only half-paying attention...anticipating my stop. I took notice of a colorful, retro record shop passing by from my darkened window. "Where did that record shop come from?" I wondered. "I'll have to check it out.....wait a sec....what neighborhood am I in? Am I on the right bus...?" But then I saw the pet food shop and realized my stop was indeed coming. I got off the bus and forgot all about it.



Today, I worked at home. I had to go to the bank....but when I got there, the ATM machines were blocked by some very large plants. A lot of people were standing around. "What's with the plants?" I asked. "They're filming a movie," said one person. I stepped around the plants to use the machine.

On the way home, I ran into a friend. She told me that they were filming a Gus Van Sant movie and only then--after she pointed out the old signage that now appears on a hip new wine-tasting shop -- did I start to notice how the street had been transformed with fake, rather drab 1970s storefronts and big, old cars and people who looked like 21st-century hippies. And there was that record shop again..."Aquarius Records," which was actually an existing shop that normally has something else inside of it (what, I can't remember). Everything looked a little bit different and more dilipidated than it's becoming already in 2008 with the current homeless problem.

Someone asked us to step across the street and they filmed a take while we watched. I think I saw Sean Penn, dressed up to look like Harvey Milk, standing in front of a shop that looked like an old campaign headquarters.

Cool! Was I the last to know about this?

stop the clowns!

Recently, I read an article that revealed that children are terrified of clowns. Apparently, researchers in Britain did a study, and it turned out that 100% of the children in the survey said that they disliked clowns and thought they were scary. Whoops! That means we've been traumatizing generations of children by forcing them to interact with annoying, badly dressed, creepy-faced grownups....because someone assumed they'd like them.

Just think of the many assumptions that determine our available options -- from fashion to entertainment to lifestyle choices. For example, the assumption that women prefer the color pink for their clothes and accessories, while more tasteful color options are reserved only for men. Or that the only kind of music that Americans probably want to listen to fall into these four categories: Rap/hip hop, rock and roll, religious, or country-western, so radio stations and retail stores should follow accordingly. Or that everyone would rather drive a big, gas-guzzling car, making truly alternative vehicles impossible to find. We're defined and managed by other peoples' assumptions. Can't somebody just say "no" to the clowns?