Coming to a big box retailer near you, it’s the Wal-Mart Dance Party, flash mob style. Kind of.

We weren’t terribly organized on our first attempt. One of our friends brought an ipod w/ an iRok transmitter and a forward guard had tuned all the boom boxes to the same transmitter station. In the mean time, there was a gang of at least 25 punks, sceneagers and freaks hanging around the electronics section trying to figure out how to not look suspicious. Once all the boom boxes got tuned and we got “Safety Dance” going. they just came and shut off the power to the entire section.

Lesson 1: Don’t malinger beforehand unless you wear white trash disguises. There’s something not-so-terribly-believable about a large gathering of disheveled sceneagers and anarchists in black with mohawks, nose rings and tats on a group shopping trip in the Wal-Mart music section.

We had better luck at Target on our second stop. Amazingly, they didn’t have a section where you could listen to the boom boxes, so everyone pretty much just scattered around the electronics section, making the employees nervous. Finally, Big Balls just plugged a boom box in and wired the speakers. Unfortunately, the kid with the iPod didn’t make it, so we just put a CD in and turned it up. The party lasted longer at Target — about 2 minutes — before a lackey came and shut it down.

Good times. Be sure you check out the videos.

Screw that Black Friday crap. You really don’t want to be among the sheep. Celebrate Buy Nothing Day instead.

Instructions for hacking a couple of $11 Dakota digital cameras into a stereo digital camera rig. You’ll need a couple of Dakotas, two male USB ports (salvaged from mice) and some Lego. Apparently you can get these “disposable” cameras from Wolf and Ritz Camera stores, though I haven’t tried.

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This site will be handy for figuring out the USB pinouts.

There’s been a lot of talk about whether there is another tech or Internet bubble on the inflate. Yes, there have a been a bunch of launch parties as of late. Yes, more companies are getting funded. It’s giving the blogosphere much to ponder,. But one only has to look at the latest issue of Wired magazine to find the answer. It’s fat again! Yes, it’s a heavy ass slab this month. Compare it to say 2 or 3 years ago, during Wired’s anorexic years. I can’t remember it being this obese in years.

Of course, this is fantastic news for the budding young media empire known as Geek Entertainment Televison. There’s endless material to draw from, and draw from is what we must do. The greater the exhuberance, the more irrational we must be. Bring on the bubble! Give us the fuel we need to snark this thing. We’re up to 7 episodes now, with new ones every couple of days. Take a gander if you haven’t yet, and then subscribe to the GETV feed so you don’t have to remember to keep checking back.

Video archive by Mefeedia

UPDATE: We’ve been BoingBoing’d and LaughingSquid’d. I guess this thing is catching on.

Last night was the anniversary party to end all anniversary parties. Laughing Squid celebrated 10 young years of bringing forth San Francisco’s most freakiest. I bring you this short video that captures a few of the highlights.

Why not, I was bored. Geek Entertainment Television comes alive with these two videos.

Web 2.0 is taking over the nation

The Corporate Inernet Rules!

Everyone’s heard of Netflix, they’ve got over 3 million subscribers. You are probably one of them. Did you know that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings donated 3/4 of a MILLION DOLLARS to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s very “special election” campaign? $730,000 to be exact, mostly going to Proposition 77, the redistricting “reform” measure that gives the power of redistricting to a group of old crusty white men. On the face, Prop 77 has good intentions, but is a crappily crafted piece of legislation that is part of Arnie’s power grab agenda. Reed says, “Win or lose this cycle, I’ll continue to invest both philanthropically and politically, I don’t feel any donor fatigue, because improving California” is “a multi-decade effort, not a one-shot fix.” If by “improve” he means “owned by big business and conservative interests” then brace yourself California! It’s a bit curious as Hastings has traditionally given to Democrats, though a only a drop in the bucket comapred to the amounts he’s doling out to Arnie this year.

There is an alternative. GreenCine, pronounced GREEN-SEEN. It’s just like Netflix but without the evil. GreenCine, based in San Francisco, is owned by a couple of independent cinema nuts. Their focus is more on independent films, documentaries and anime while still harboring the full array of Hollywood blockbusters. They have a thriving online commununity and make daily recommendations. They don’t donate a million dollars to a bad washed up actor turned bad washed up politician. They DO donate a portion of their profits to local non-profit film arts organizations. GreenCine likes to support organizations that make better films.

On this election day, how are your dollars voting?

[thanks to George for the source photo]

Vote against Arnold’s agenda

Originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes.

Don’t forget, the polls close at 8pm.

I just got an automated ’survey’ call from an outfit identifying themselves as FEC Research. It was a computerized voice response call asking leading questions regarding Propositions 73 and 75 here in California. This guy from Santa Barbara got the exact same call. As did this fellow San Franciscan. One more. Push polls are not really polls at all but are the product of someone paying to try and convince me how evil or great a candidate or ballot initiative is. The language they use to describe the ballot question is biased and leading. Under the guise of a poll, I am asked my opinion when really it’s about influencing my understanding of ballot question to sway my vote.

The number on my caller ID is 571-522-1180 which points to an outfit in Northern Virginia called ccAdvertising. According to a little investigative work done by DailyKos, they are hired by mostly right wing campaigns to spread their deception. Surprise! Suprise!

With all the frustrating and regressive things happening at the national level, there are some reasons to be hopeful that the public may once again weild power. IRV or Instant Runoff Voting is looking very likely in Takoma Park, Maryland this election cycle. If this intiative passes, Takoma Park will be the 4th city in the US to adopt this major election reform. We had IRV in effect here in San Francisco as of last year for the local Supervisors race. What this means is no more spoiler charges, no Ralph Nader to kick around anymore. It means that you can vote your conscience for someone that probably won’t win AND vote for the lesser of two evils. Since you rank 3 choices, your vote will automatically apply to all the candidates you pick. This also has the effect of encouraging more people to run for office. It allows a voter to truly express their intent and vote for whom they really want to win.

There is still that nasty issue of whomever raises the most cash, wins problem. That is being address here in San Francisco with campaign spending limits and something called Voter Owned Elections. In a nutshell, Voter Owned Elections is public financing for a given race. Public financing removes the corruptive process of raising private funds to pay for a campaign. Historically, whichever candidate can court enough private special interests, wins. Public financing levels the playing field for all viable candidates. We already have it here for the Board of Supervisors races, now it’s time to bring it the Mayor’s race as well. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi just introduced a resolution to the Board to do just that. If you live in San Francisco, contact your Supervisor and let them know you want this.

On the California tip, we’ve got this lame ass special election happening this Tuesday. Thanks Arnie! It shouldn’t be happening and most likely no one will turn out for it, which is a bad thing. Conservatives usually cash in during low turnout elections. Speak Out California!’s recommendations pretty much sums up my views on the California props. Just remember to ‘nix the first six’.