Blog Master G

How awesome is San Francisco? Sometimes I really miss living there, especially when I see election results like this:

The people just don’t take any shit and take matters into their own hands. Sick of Bush and Cheney? Throw a proposition on the ballot to have them impeached! And then win with 59.4% of the vote. Of course, how that translates into practice is a different story.

Although now that Democrats will control both the House and the Senate — with SF “liberal with a capital L” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (as a CNN anchor called her just this morning) about to become House Majority Leader — maybe Prop. J is not too crazy a proposition after all.

I wasn’t really a fan of Eminem until I saw 8 Mile in 2002. Since then, I’ve really enjoyed most of his music, as well as his balls-out, no fear approach to social and political commentary. As was posted on the Daily Kos today, ” Eminem’s Mosh is as relevant today as it was in 2004:”

You can say that again! It’s an exciting day for America. Democrats have taken back control of the House after 12 years, are on the verge of controlling the Senate, and Bush has announced that Rumsfeld will resign.

We must have set some kind of record this year for the number of Halloween parties we attended. Last Saturday, October 28 (catching up slowly but surely!), marked our third Halloween party of 2006 (Halloween Party 1 | Halloween Party 2). Halloween Party 3 was in Brooklyn at Karen and Joti’s pad.

The Brooklyn Halloween bash featured Gabe & Jen pirates, Medusa & Werewolf, host & hostess V & Witch, and a whole slew of other characters, including a branch-carrying hippie, Trinity, the guy from Clockwork Orange, an Air France flight attendant, and Galileo. I even swallowed a sword (betcha didn’t know I could do that, eh?).

The Sunday morning breakfast sandwiches from Bergen Bagels were delicious, as always (despite my unfortunate incident on the way).

View all photos on Flickr

Today is national mid-term election day! Exercise your Constitutional right and privilege and VOTE! The race for control of Congress is going to be a close one, so every vote will really count. Now more than ever it’s important to get out the vote.

If you’re not sure where to find your polling place, here’s one resource. You can also contact your local board of elections office. Or get your polling place at 1-866-MY-VOTE-1.

Change is good. It is exciting. And it is here. Welcome to Blog Master G — a new domain, a new Web host, a new (in-progress) design, a new blog tool, more anonymity, less restrained blogging. I like it all. And I hope you will, too. It was a long time coming, but it’s a change for the better that was long overdue.

Ready to rock?

Rock we did on Friday, October 27 (yeah, I’m a little behind in the blogging department, but I’ll catch up soon!) at Hugh and Jami’s Halloween party, the second of three Jen and I would attend this haunting season. The whole gang was there and mostly costumed — though, perhaps as revenge for Alex and Cati’s not-a-costume costume party the week before, the hosts were not initially in costume (but Hugh later transformed into an ape). We partied and carved pumpkins into the night.

We had a Deviled Egg (Jen), an Angel (yours truly), a Mustachioed Nun in a Leisure Suit (Justin), Princess Leia (Sarah, making all Eric‘s fantasies come true), the Illegal Alien (Alex), the Spanish Fly (Cati, of course), Team Hawaii Five-O (Tom & Anne), and a few costume-less party-goers (Jami, Kara, Gina & Ryan, Alexis, and Johnny).

(Hey, this one looks familiar!)

View all photos on Flickr

In case some of you don’t recall, back in the dot-com days of the late 1990s, there was a man from Turkey named Mahir. If you don’t remember, just Google Mahir and you’ll see hundreds of versions of his famous Welcome to my home page ! Kiss you !!!!!!!!!!!! personal Web site that turned him into the world’s first Internet celebrity. And gave many of us lots and lots of laughs as links to the original site and variations of it circulated the early Internet.

Some of us actually had the great fortune of meeting Mahir in person when he toured San Francisco on Wednesday, December 15, 1999 (Wired News: Mahir, Live and in the Flesh). Included here is my photo of Mahir playing his staple sport, ping-pong. Unfortunately, I was too shy at the time to pose in a photo with him. But these really are actual photos of Mahir himself taken by yours truly that memorable night and scanned just this morning for your viewing pleasure (thanks to Jen for digging through our physical photo archives to find these treasures!).

I also have an autographed Mahir t-shirt that I think I will wear tonight when I see Borat in honor of the man who probably inspired it all (thanks, Alex, for the fantastic suggestion!).

Tonight and in the weeks to come as we all head to the theaters to cheer for Borat, think of Mahir. And think of the lawsuit he’s bringing against Sascha Baron Cohen for likeness of character (Wired News: Mahir to Borat: I Sue You!). Don’t for a second think that Mahir has forgotten his glory days. He remembers the San Francisco Etour.com/Evite party as well as I do:

Borat travels the US, examining American culture. Any memories from your visit in 1999?
I can’t forget party about me in San Francisco. Many people kissed me, took my signature, and took picture. America mix culture and big country, but people don’t think about other people. They love their own life only and fun-sex-game-drink.

Boing Boing: Borat = Mahir 2.0, but ees niiiice.

If you’re ever invited to a Halloween party that’s not officially a costume party, what do you do?

A) Wear your street rags and show up like it’s any other party.
B) Ask the host and hostess if it’s OK to wear a costume.
C) Wear a costume, get 8 of your homies to dress up, bring along 2 costumes for the host and hostess to wear, and load up the party van 9 deep to bring the costume party with you.

The answer should be clear: C, of course.

And option C is exactly what happened Saturday night for a rockin’ good time in Albany at Alex and Cati’s pad. The host and hostess were pirates, the wigs were in abundance, and the Saratoga party van was chock-full of the Halloween spirit: Vamptessa (Jen), H.I. and Edwina ‘Ed’ McDunnough (Hugh and Jami), Cati (Sarah), Alex (Eric), Angel Girl (Alexis), Pocahontas (Kara), Disco Guy (Justin), and the Ninja (yours truly). The party van was so full that the rear end scraped on our way out of the driveway.

Little did we know that there would be at least twice as many people at the party that night — not in costume — but the members of the party van didn’t care. We owned our alter egos and partied the night away. Big thanks to Alex and Cati for the great drinks, delicious food, and natural hospitality! And to Jen for navigating the party van safely home. You guys rock.

View all Halloween in Albany photos on Flickr

By the way, there are some additional photos from Saturday night that aren’t fit for public consumption, so if you want the full batch and know me, drop me a line for the link.

San Francisco is my home away from home. And I’m fortunate enough to make it there at least once per year. This year was no exception, as I spent a few action-packed days there earlier this month. It was a work trip, but I managed to have lots of fun. You see, I’m lucky enough to have awesome friends and family on both sides of this country.

I hit all the usual spots — Juan’s, House of Nanking, Zeitgeist, Naan ‘n Curry, 4th Street Grill — as well as a few new spots — Jupiter (I’d been there before, but not a usual hangout) and Beckett’s (both in Berkeley), and Calzone’s (delicious Italian place with the white and black tile sidewalk in North Beach) — and had one hell of a trip. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Jen could’ve joined me.

As always, it was so great to see everyone, and I only wish it were more often. Of course, visiting only once to thrice per year makes each visit that much more special. Spending time with my brother Pete, my uncle Michael, my cousin Lucy & Sam, and so many good friends — James & Melissa, Enoch & Jackie, Ben, Megan & Rob, Jeanine, Tiff & Miguel, Jevaun, Rene & Ryan, Dustin & Jen, Mark (and even his parents), and Jordan — made for an unforgettable trip.

I even saw Train and Colin Powell.

Finally, I’m not one to brag, but the writing was on the wall at Zeitgeist — Gabe Rock.

View all SF Trip 2006 photos on Flickr

Previous SF trips since moving to Saratoga Springs:

• 2004: SF Trip I
• 2004: SF Trip II
• 2005: SF Trip I
• 2005: SF Trip II
• 2005: SF Trip III

I don’t like musicals. And for some reason I usually have a hard time staying awake for any kind of live performance. Bill Maher in Albany earlier this month is an exception to the latter, and Home Made Theater‘s hilarious and well-crafted production of Urinetown is an exception to both.

Last night following dinner at the Principesa Elena Italian Men’s Club, Jen and I headed to Saratoga’s theater in the park to see Urinetown. Earlier this week I was somehow able to score front-row tickets to the sold-out show. It was the first time either of us had sat in the front row for any show, so that was a whole new experience, too. It really felt like we were part of the action. In some scenes, the characters actually jumped down onto the floor right in front of us, so that was surreal.

Anyway, Urinetown is a musical that pokes fun at other musicals. And since I’m not really a musical fan, I only got a couple of the references. But even so, the show is hilarious on its own.

Urinetown is the story of a struggle between rich and poor — in a place and time where the poor pay the rich to pee in public amenity #9. It’s also the story of depleting resources — there’s not enough water to go around, and the show takes place following a major drought. So there are also some important social undercurrents in the show.

With song titles like “Privilege To Pee” and “Don’t Be the Bunny,” the show is non-stop fun and an evening of laughs.

If you live here in Saratoga Springs, go see the show while you still can! You’ll also be supporting great local theater.

Congrats to the entire cast and crew who put on this great production!