THIS is a CLOSE-UP?

This Halloween, let's say that you're wearing a costume that strikes too close to OWS for some people. Or maybe you're starting your own OWS chapter. Either way, here's a handy flier on how to avoid feeling blown out from tear gas. Informative and timely, it's my treat to you, courtesy of Boing Boing. (Click to enlarge.)

Me, I hope the season gets cancelled; the NBA needs either merciful contraction (too many poorly managed teams diluting existing talent and interest) or targeted expansion (with a better eye on importing talent in bulk from overseas as well as better geographical representation in places like Las Vegas, Mexico City, and Vancouver). I feel like this guy from ESPN feels , and I know I'm not alone. Either get a deal done now or move over for the NHL and NCAA.

Many people wonder what the Occupy Wall Street movements are about. Well, wonder no more, gang, 'cause I haven't seen the essence of the movement boiled down and powerfully projected until this video:

Like it? Go here to get the original, make a t-shirt out of it, and join the battle, if only at the rhetorical level.

On a recent weekend trip into the post office, I found a USPS Priority Mail tag sitting out, unclaimed and unwanted, for Columbia, MO. Naturally, I knew what to do with it in an instant: randomly mail some stuff to someone in the zip code of 65203. I didn't want to think too much about it -- I wanted to stick with the original impulse -- so I chose Marla's Salon (on 901 Yale in Columbia) at random. As for what to send to Marla's Salon, I chose some of the old mix tapes I was going to throw out. Therefore, anyone reading this from Marla's Salon, expect to see a greatest hits from Hall & Oates and a random sample of songs from David Bowie coming your way on Maxell XLII cassettes sometime within the next few days. Hope you enjoy them.

I was just too young for The Late Show with David Letterman . Although I caught some of Letterman's work before he left NBC, I missed out on the stellar early-to-mid-'80s material that made his reputation as a comedy game-changer (or at least someone who learned well from Steve Allen and Ernie Kovacs) and dyspeptic cynic who waded into deep waters of irony and glee. Kids and animals seem to bring the best out of Letterman, and it was never truer than in 1986, when Dave ran afoul of a pissed-off lady monkey.

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