8.08.2007
Do you want to touch my monkey?
What? I leave Madison, and then awesome stuff like this starts to happen?
From the "This is so good, I can't even make stuff up like this" department: Missing Monkey Captured in Madison. Wha?
Police say the monkey bit a 20 year old bystander outside State Street Brats overnight.
Authorities spent the day searching the State Street area for the monkey, who was wearing a diaper.
In other awesome news, I've got a new reason to jump. Rock!
Speaking of rock, it's unfortunate that this shot is cropped how it is on the web. In the print version, the photo spans a bit south-of-the-border to reveal lots of delicious body hair poking out from delicious places. The question arises--how do I know this when I don't even have a subscription to Rolling Stone? Answer: Thanks JP. I'm afraid to close my eyes tonight due to a fear of being haunted by red, fuzzy hairs. Shudder.Labels: axl, crotchal region, diamond dave, Madison, monkey, no turtles
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6.21.2007
Hockey Player Fined for Cow Tipping
But not that kind of cow tipping. The sculpted fiberglass kind.
When officers arrived at the scene and asked the pair why they tipped over the Badger-red clad cow, Klubertanz replied: "We were stupid."
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6.05.2007
Wonderful. Or not.
It's frequently good to be given national attention, but not in this way.
University of Wisconsin-Madison has long been an attractive target for elite schools like Harvard and Stanford looking for top academics. But now other public universities are among the faculty poachers, and school administrators are worried.
Dozens of professors have left in the past two years, and Chancellor John Wiley said a growing number are going to schools that traditionally could not compete with the state's flagship university. More than 115 professors reported receiving outside offers last year, the most in 20 years and more than double the number from five years ago.
The article points the blame at "Doyle and the Legislature" for failing to get enough funding the the UW. I primarily blame the (cough Republican cough) legislature, which has been screwing things up for years (check out the 2005 date on this story).
The 17-16 vote by the Republican-controlled Senate early July 1 drew immediate criticism from UW officials. The state Assembly accepted the Senate's version of the budget on a 52-43 vote on July 5.
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UW System President Kevin Reilly says he was "deeply disappointed" that the Senate did not restore $13 million in student financial aid, $11 million in funds for new faculty or any of the $25 million in cuts taken from campus budgets beyond Doyle's proposal.
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"This comes at a time when the pay plan for highly sought after faculty and staff is significantly behind our peers, and proposal call for a pay plan increase of just 2 percent, after two years of zero and 1 percent, respectively," Reilly says. "The action would effectively mean just a half percent increase in compensation. This is no way to encourage our prized and committed staff to stay and continue to make their contributions in Wisconsin."Labels: badger, Madison, politics
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3.20.2007
Pale Young Gentlemen...and Woman
Holy crap. It figures. Must be Murphy's law, or something.
I've spent the greater part of the past 9 years in Madison, and supposedly it used to have a happening music scene. Prior lists of great acts from this city typically include the Steve Miller Band, Garbage, and to a lesser extent, Rainer Maria. Since the mid-90s, however, I'd argue the scene has been a bit dormant. (Yes, I know there are plenty of great acts around, but none ever got big enough to be known outside of the region. Look at Athens, GA - now there's a small college town producing talent that I'm envious of.)
But I have a feeling that things could change. The music world has shifted, and at the moment, articulate and musically talented acts are actually thriving. See The Arcade Fire. See Sufjan Stevens. See Modest Mouse.
And I think that there is a chance that one of our very own, with a bit of luck, could someday join that list. Ryan at Muzzle of Bees (a fab Madison music blog) recently posted a few times to comment on Pale Young Gentlemen, and after a brief listen, count me as impressed.
Picture this:
2 parts Andrew Bird
+ 1.5 parts Devotchka
+ 1.5 parts Koufax
+ a sprinkle of Mika
= Delicious.
(some others have suggested that they sound like Beirut, the Decemberists, Cursive, or Gogol Bordello...not bad company)
I won't say any more. Just give them a listen, or head down to their CD release party at Cafe Montmartre this Friday.
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2.15.2007
"It is obvious; Catholics do not want Protestants elected to any office."
Two cheers for Madison's man-of-the-hour, Will Sandstrom (picture here). The retried biochemist and candidate for mayor, was kicked out of the audience of a recent mayoral debate.
On his own initiative, Sandstrom, whose name will appear on Tuesday's ballot, showed up at the forum in which the three other mayoral candidates had been invited to participate.
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While the three invited candidates were making their opening remarks, Sandstrom began circulating among the audience handing out printed material.
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However, following [another candidate's] opening statement, without an introduction, Sandstrom stood and began to make a statement. When Mohrbacher told him he was not invited on purpose and was unwelcome, Sandstrom ignored him and kept on speaking.
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Sandstrom left under his own power with the two men at his side, but not before he said the action showed that "criminals" controlled Madison and that "lots of money went under the table to [Mayor] Cieslewicz."
Sandstrom said the only way Madison would get a clean government was to elect him. As he was packing up his materials, Sandstrom also explained that the reason the Berlin Wall came down was not any action in Poland or anywhere else in the former Soviet bloc, but what Sandstrom had told people in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sandstrom is one, um, "interesting" dude. Madison blogger Dennis York has noted this before (this post is a VERY good read, btw, and also has a link to a Sandstrom Youtube video).
Take the mayoral race here in Madison as a prime example. Will Sandstrom is once again running for mayor, and he is completely nuts.
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During mayoral candidate debates, he is prone to long diatribes about his mother contracting gangrene, his father cooking moonshine, kids calling him "China Boy" growing up, his time dodging bullets in a Russian prison, and how he coined the term "Fish and Wildlife."
A 2003 State Journal piece on Sandstrom contained this gem: "In 1970, he tried to run for governor, insisting the Mafia had stolen the nation and was prolonging the Vietnam War to protect its drug trade. But when he tried to deliver nominating petitions, he said, he was arrested at the state Capitol for an outstanding parking ticket. He was disqualified over questions about nominating petitions, news accounts say."
Want more? Of course you do. Go straight to the horse's mouth and visit Will Sandstrom's blog, currently entitled "FINN ORIGINS, RULER CLAN, JESUS by willl." Here's a short example of the gems found therein:
-Will explains that he was kicked out of the mayoral debate, held at a Knights of Columbus club, because "The club has on its sign the KC symbol, Knights of Columbus. It is obvious; Catholics do not want Protestants elected to any office."
-Will explains that while at this meeting, he said, "Thus I would not build a trolley system costing property taxpayers hundreds of millions and which property tax monies would go to the Nino Mafia Mob and connected contractors--and in bundles of one hundred dollar bills inside black attache- and suit-cases to the Mayor."
-"The State of Wisconsin through its many Catholic Politicians and its "screened/controlled" news media is under the control of Catholic Bishops."
-Will explains the immigration debate. "And all three Catholics--current Mayor attended an all boys Catholic school--are against the building of any fence along the Mexican border, as they want ever more Catholics to flood into America's cities (including Madison) in order that Catholics each year gain more political control in America, and eventually make America a Catholic run Nation; as Catholics run Ireland, Malta, and Poland."
-"For Dr. Sandstrom believes he is inspired by JESUS/GOD to help alert and inspire Protestants to save America from an evil Catholic takeover; as Thomas Paine alerted and helped the first Protestant settlers from attempted control by the then evil Controllers of England, and the already growing Rothschild bankster gangster clan."
Fantastic. Maybe Bill O'Reilly was right.
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2.07.2007
No more porn in the morn.
Doug Moe: Say goodbye to Smut & Eggs:
According to Bennett, the cause of his bar's demise is simple: The smoking ban in taverns did him in.
"I was doing fine," Bennett said. "It just killed me."
The decline started slowly, Bennett said, because the ban was enacted in the summer of 2005. His smoking customers had no problem ducking outside in July to grab a smoke. By December, they were less enthusiastic. Today, 19 months into the ban, his business is just about gone.
"There are nights when I will have one customer," Bennett said. "Those same nights, in the past, I needed two bartenders."
...
There are people in Madison who will not be sorry to see a working-class tavern with unusual weekend television offerings go away. Bennett thinks it's symptomatic of a kind of elitism in the city. It can be hard to be a shot and a beer guy in a wine and cheese town. But when the former are gone, Bennett said, they'll leave a hole.
"You're losing the guys with personality and humor," Bennett said. "You go downtown to those fern bars and the bartenders charge you $5 for a drink and walk away."
This begs the question - I wonder if Ian's will take over the place.
January also is when officials at Ian’s Pizza hope to open expanded quarters for their location at 115 State St. Construction is ongoing at the storefront to the east, which was left empty last summer when the adult bookstore State Street Arcade closed its doors.
“We decided to expand because of seating issues,” says Ian’s general manager Clayton Scherer. “We’re also moving our delivery operations up there.” Currently delivery service operates from the other Ian’s location at 319 N. Frances St.
The expansion is newsworthy, of course, but what about the truly burning question: Did Ian’s employees turn up some interesting stuff at the vacated pornography shop? “We did find numerous videos,” allows Scherer. “Other than that, there was the expected, I guess you could say. We’ll just leave it at that.”
Source.
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2.06.2007
The Film Fest Wants You!
Hey gang, it's that time of year that once again the Wisconsin Film Festival is about to get rolling.
This four-day annual festival takes place each spring in about eight campus and downtown Madison theaters. The Festival presents the best new independent film (feature, documentary, experimental), world cinema and new media; cultivates discovery through talks, panels, performances, and coffeehouse discussions with filmmakers; and showcases the work of Wisconsin filmmakers through juried competitions.
If you are annoyed with the crappy films Hollywood has been pumping out as of late, now's the time to support independent (and good) cinema. Check out some of the excellent material that played last year:
The Festival often chooses atypical films for Opening Night: in 2006 The Swenkas (Seventh Art Releasing), a South African documentary by Danish filmmaker Jeppe Rønde was selected to represent the Festival’s spirit. Thursday night also rocked the house with Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! (ThinkFilm) by the Beastie Boys and the Irish “mad cow” horror film Isolation (The Bureau) by Billy O’Brien, the Festival's first-ever late-night movie in the grand Orpheum Theatre.
American cinema was represented by Steve Buscemi's film Lonesome Jim (IFC), starring Casey Affleck, Liv Tyler, and Kevin Corrigan. James Marsh, who directed 1999’s Wisconsin Death Trip, shared his gripping film The King (ThinkFilm), with Gael Garcia Bernal and William Hurt. A huge audience saw The Wendell Baker Story (Mobius International), the directorial debut of brothers Luke Wilson and Andrew Wilson.
Good stuff, no?
And now's the time to get involed and put your body where your mouth is - if you're in Madison or will be in Madison around April 12 to 15, the Film Fest is looking for volunteers to help. It's your chance to get "behind the scenes," rub shoulders with film-makers, and get free tickets to screenings and other swag, like a crew-member only tshirt. Sign up now! Obey my dog!Labels: awesomeness, Madison, movies
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