Ode to Black Women and Bus Boys & Poets

I was browsing through the Bus Boys and Poets website and came across a music video described as an "ode to black women." This is what music should be used for.



And I am excited to check out Bus Boys and Poets on 14th and V Street after viewing their website because they have a fair number of vegan items on the menu, they're fair trade, they focus on the local, and it just sounds like a place that acknowledges the incredible power of food as a social element:

Busboys and Poets is a restaurant, bookstore, fair trade market and gathering place where people can discuss issues of social justice and peace. Each Busboys and Poets location should enhance the community -- allowing us to bring together a diverse clientele reflective of the surrounding neighborhoods. Busboys and Poets creates an environment where shared conversations over food and drink allow the progressive, artistic and literary communities to dialogue, educate and interact.

Thank you, Tim DeChristopher!

Leave it to a University of Utah student to come up with an incredibly creative way to stymie the Bush Administration's efforts to open up land around national parks to oil and gas drilling. Tim DeChristopher successfully bid on 22,500 acres of land around Arches and Canyonlands parks and now owes $1.7 million on all of his leases.

What this does is invalidate the auction! It will delay what hopefully isn't inevitable, but the court case will be heard January 19, a day before the inauguration. Rachel Maddow (who incorrectly calls this civil disobedience - it's active nonviolent intervention) has a nice video on the subject. Enjoy.

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Joy! In "Where the Hell is Matt?"

It's Time Magazine's #viral video, and when you watch it, you can't help but feel joy. Sponsored by Stride Gum, its genesis has an interesting story . . .

Matt Harding is a 32-year-old videogame designer who quit his job in 2003 to travel around Asia. Along the way, he recorded and posted a short video of himself doing an elbow-intensive jig in Hanoi. That clip got passed from one person to the next and eventually got the attention of Stride Gum, which decided to sponsor two more of his trips. In his latest video, Harding visits
42 countries over 14 months and invites the locals to join in the fun. That includes everyone from some Huli Wigmen in Papua New Guinea to a group of school kids in the Solomon Islands. The sheer silliness and joy of Harding's adventures will keep you smiling long after you've watched them — and give you a serious case of wanderlust.

No offense, but it beats "Hamster on a Piano" in terms of promoting peace and cross-cultural understanding. Thank you, Matt. Thank you, Stride Gum.