I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it, and it is a little pricey, but this one sounds really cool, and the money goes to a very worthy cause, the Innocence Project Northwest. Darryl Hunt’s a guy who did two decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit–the second decade after DNA tests showed he wasn’t the culprit. I’m just gonna copy the press release from the UW Law School site:

Innocence Project Northwest Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Special Screening of “The Trials of Darryl Hunt”
Innocence Project Northwest (IPNW) will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a special screening of “The Trials of Darryl Hunt”, with Darryl Hunt, and his attorneys Mark Rabil and Ben Dowling-Sendor, in attendance to discuss Darryl’s 19-year struggle for freedom.

THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Screening begins at 7 p.m. (Please allow at least 15 minutes for check in)
Varsity Theatre
4329 University Way NE, Seattle, Washington

Since 1997, the IPNW has represented prisoners in Washington with credible claims of actual innocence. Originally a volunteer organization, the IPNW is now a clinical law program at the University of Washington School of Law. The IPNW students, professors and volunteer lawyers have successfully challenged twelve convictions in just ten years.

Most recently, the IPNW Clinic won the first reversal of a conviction in Washington based on newly discovered DNA evidence. The Washington Court of Appeals granted Ted Bradford a new trial and reversed his 1996 rape and burglary convictions on the basis of post-conviction DNA evidence. The IPNW was previously involved in overturning convictions in the Wenatchee sex-ring investigations. Forty-three people were charged with more than 29,000 counts of sexual abuse involving some 50 children. Many of the accused were poor, uneducated or developmentally disabled.

Tickets: Purchase tickets on-line: General Public $50 // Friends of IPNW $100 // Angels $250. $25 student or limited income tickets are also available. The fair market value of the event is $25.

After-party: Following the screening of “The Trials of Darryl Hunt”, the IPNW Clinic will host a reception at the Burke Museum (located just 3 short blocks from the Varsity Theatre on the northwest corner of the UW campus at the corner of 17th Ave and NE 45th St.). There will be complimentary hors d’oeuvres and beer and wine.

RSVP today!

Lincoln Playa (Chip Baker) and the Shah of Southtown (Nirav Shah) pose with Lincoln’s famous cards. Photograph taken and painted by Andrew Miller

The reviews are in, Readers, and it seems Haymaker & Sally is a hit!

Print Media:

“With enough crass dialogue to make Tarantino blush and more gunfire than the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, the film succeeds due to its adroit pacing, silly-but-smart one-liners, a gloriously realized undercurrent of sleaze, and a bearded Special Forces villain (played by Reid himself) who’d whoop John Rambo in a staring contest.

The Seattle Weekly (emphasis theirs)
(Be sure to read this review—it’s the best summary of the movie I’ve read)

The Blogosphere:

“Isn’t destined for Cannes any time soon…some great one-liners and hysterical performances.”
B.W.o.P.

“Super cool graphics…the writing and performances were terrific”
Medusa’s Castle

So if you’re going to be in Seattle Saturday night, do yourself a favor and buy a ticket. It’s showing at the Admiral Theater in West Seattle at 9:30 PM. Tickets are $5.00, $6.12 with service fee. Get yours now—they’re going fast!

The last month has been a bad one for last year’s star 7-foot freshmen: Greg Oden has had knee surgery, Spencer Hawes has been scheduled for knee surgery, and Brook Lopez has been declared academically ineligible for the first part of the season. Meanwhile, one-time surefire 1st round pick and current 1st round age limit casualty Bill Walker struggles to recover his trademark explosiveness after having his ACL fixed. Had he been born a year earlier, he’d be rehabbing on the dime of an NBA club, with another couple years of guaranteed pay ahead of him. Sort of like prep-to-pro Robert Swift, who’s been paid handsomely to recover from knee surgery, or Swift’s classmate Shaun Livingston, who may never play again but who can now afford decades of tuition payments.

Don’t fret, Shaun. You have a guaranteed contract. That’s even better than AFLAC!

The lesson, college stars? Don’t believe the hype—unless the hype is that you’re a consensus first-round pick. And as soon as that’s the case, get out. You’re always warned about the snackers looking for a slice of your NBA pie–agents, entourages, etc.–but don’t forget about their more established counterparts, the suit-and-tie, stay-in-school faction. Remember: all those folks in the broadcast booths and press rows make money on you staying in college. Your coach makes money on you staying in college. People will tell you to stay when you don’t need to. And a lot of them are just blowhards who get off on telling a kid that he’s gotta pay his dues.

The odds that an extra year in school will make the difference between NBA sink and swim are pretty slim; talent and hard work generally do the trick. (In fact, preps-to-pros have been the most successful of any group of draftees.) So when you get the chance to be financially set for life, you’d be wise to take it. Because while Dickie V. will ejaculate your praises to the tune of a lucrative DiGiornio’s endorsement deal (for him, not you), he ain’t gonna fill your coffers if your knee goes crunch.

I’m eating your lunch, baby!

Shitters in the mist

It’s not every day you see this.

Michael O’Hanlon, whose war cheerleading helped lay the foundation for our current successes in Iraq, and who then allowed himself to be presented as a “war critic” in a 2007 article he co-authored stating that we’re making progress, responding to news that black enlistment in the military has plummeted since 2000:

“African-Americans have been such a key part of the modern military. There’s obviously been a degree where the black community in the United States has seen [military service] as culturally valuable and promoted it. That whole culture and value system is at risk in the black community. That is a big, big change. To me, it portends the possibility of a longer-term loss of interest. It can be tough to get it back.”

Mr. O’Hanlon went on to explain that he’d spent the weekend watching re-runs of the Jeffersons, the Cosby Show, and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in an attempt to discern what had changed. “I feel like Carlton would have considered enlisting,” he said. Asked later whether any of his comments might have evinced anti-troop bias, O’Hanlon became defensive. “That’s ridiculous!” he yelled. “Some of my best friends are dead people!”

Monday, October 1st
-After hearing rumors, David Addington has to remind Dick Cheney that extraordinary rendition is strictly prohibited by the bylaws of their fantasy football league. “I understand,” says Cheney. “Here, have one of these.”
“No, Dick. That’s a roofie.”

Tuesday, October 2nd
-Blackwater Security head Erik “Colonel Jessup” Prince testifies before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. At issue: Blackwater guards—whether they are reckless; the truth—whether you can handle it.
“You’re goddamn right I ordered the code red!” He shouts. “And instead I got a fucking SURGE!”

Wednesday, October 3rd
-The press is not invited to the private ceremony as Bush vetoes the bill to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program. To quell their resulting arousal, and to avoid having their purchases scrutinized by the GAO, Cheney and Addington extraordinarly render some escorts.
-Alberto Gonzales can’t remember whether he fed the cats.

Thursday, October 4th
-The New York Times reports that the Justice Department issued a secret endorsement of the CIA’s harshest interrogation techniques. People pretend to be surprised.
-Dick Cheney issues an executive legislative order that all future legal opinions be written on Etch-a-Sketch.

Friday, October 5th
-”Super” David Petraeus meets with a representative of the mushroom people to plan their liberation.

The time is upon us, readers. The Haymaker & Sally production team departs tonight for New York, where on Saturday we will premiere our opus. Stay tuned for pictures and an account of the grand showing.

The H-Man and Clyde say “if we can make it there, we’ll make it anywhere!”

It seems the ringing is finally done and my ears recovered from last night’s Black Crowes show. While I don’t have the chops to give a full review of the music, or at least to do it well, I can’t let the occasion pass without commenting on Chris Robinson, one of the weirder dudes you’ll ever lay eyes on.

Imagine the face of Jesus (The Euro version…and immediately after his 40 days in the desert–gaunt and long-haired and bearded) atop a Slinky atop a pair of stilts, all clad in the latest fashions from 1969. (The type of stuff the Fresh Prince’s mom tried to buy him at the Gallery Mall.) The pants were plenty snug, but the blouse looked like it was borrowed from a giant Carol Brady. Robinson would grab its hem and sway and shimmy, eyes to the heavens, occasionally breaking out of his flower child trance for a quick double hand-clap and some decent head rolls and gyrations.

As my friend Scott pointed out, given his bizarre looks, Robinson’s marriage to the comely Kate Hudson is an “all-time head-scratcher.” (This led me to wonder whether there are any all-time head-scratchers in which the guy is the pretty one? The best I can do right now is David and Victoria Beckham, but even she was considered good-looking when they got together.)

Another head scratcher is Robinson’s pipes. You don’t expect a dude who looks like a cross-dressing, emaciated, high-out-of-his-mind white Jesus and who plays in a Southern rock band to be able to belt it out like a vintage soul singer. But especially after last night’s show, and at the risk of sounding blasphemous, I’ll say that there’s good reason the Crowes broke through on an Otis Redding cover. Sure, he’s not nearly that good, but time and again, Robinson’s style reminded me of Redding’s. I’ve been listening to both today, trying to pinpoint what it is. I’m still not sure–maybe they share a Georgia accent; maybe it’s the phrasing or cadence (or whatever it’s called), the random bursts, the way they hit hard and short on the first syllable or two of a line, then string out the other syllables, giving each multiple notes. (Or maybe I just listen to too much Otis Redding and hear him where he’s not.) Whatever the commonality, it seems like Robinson spent a lot of time listening to Redding as a kid. A pale imitation? Sure, but a decent one.

• Report Depicts Recklessness at Blackwater - Wanted: Individuals willing to terrorize Iraqi citizens, win hearts and minds for $1,222 a day.
• Santorum for governor? The Carpetbagger Report - No matter how many precautions you take, that Santorum always manages to run.
• Putin Says He Will Run for Parliament - New York Times - It’ll be just like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington!
• Pakistani Legislators Quitting - New York Times - Mr. Musharraf doesn’t go to Islamabad?
• Fixing crack sentencing. By Harlan J. Protass - Slate Magazine - It’s always good to see this issue getting some mainstream press. The sentencing disparities couldn’t get fixed soon enough. And the fix should be retroactive.
• ESPN - Alipour: Livingston still plans to be Clips’ future - NBA - A note to all you talented college ballers: this is why you don’t stay in school.

SEATTLE, Oct 1 - Outside, the sky was blue, but inside the Seattle Sonics’ practice facility, the sky was the limit, as the youthful Seattle Supersonics took to the tables for the team’s annual media day. The afternoon began with GM Sam Presti and Head Coach PJ Carlesimo repeating, repeatedly, that they are excited about the new players and coaches and have no starting lineup set, nor expectations of their players beyond hard work and acceptance of the coaching staff’s philosophy and decisions. Asked how it felt not to be among the Spurs chosen to appear on Tony Parker’s tour-de-force video premiere, “Top of the Game“, the usually circumspect Presti claimed to have originally been cast as a co-star, while the old school Carlesimo asserted that he would have been disappointed if he had been invited to appear. Carlesimo wore a beige blazer.

Moving on, Kevin Durant has no favorite among the nicknames (Plastic Man, Durantula, Crazy Legs, The Fireman) that have been suggested for him, and prefers simply “KD”. No word on whether he’s a fan of Ms. Lang.

Robert Swift has officially reached the final stage of the milk commercial, having added 40 lbs to his 7 foot frame, making him an even 280. Swift also used the offseason to add to last year’s body artistry, and may soon surpass Cherokee Parks for the title of most heavily tattooed white big man in league history. Despite his long hair, he was resolute that he will not attempt Vlad Radmanovic’s playoff braids.

Sorry, Vlad; it’s still just you and K-Fed.

Johan Petro was the only player to comment on the NBA club scene, noting that ballers here party harder than their counterparts across the pond. On the basketball front, he claims to have a new double spin move (not sure what that means) with which to torment defenders. His go-to move, however, remains simply to face the defender and use the quickness and agility he developed as a teenage karate green belt to get to the basket. When asked whether he would use his karate skills on Reggie Evans, should the latter grab his balls, he demured, explaining that it would be difficult for Evans to pull that stunt again.

Mohammed Saer Sene, answering bio questions from the Seattle Times’ Jayda Evans, said that his favorite movies are those of shitkicker extraordinaire Jean Claude Van Damme. When pressed to name a favorite from the Belgian’s ouevre, Sene paraphrased one of Office Space’s Bobs (I celebrate his entire catalog!). According to Sene, Van Damme’s movies are quite popular in Senegal, as is Rambo.

Famous charmer Delonte West passed no judgment on Stephon Marbury’s “are you gonna get in the truck?” pick-up line, citing the time-tested adage, “different strokes for different folks.” Delonte plays the keyboard and bongo drums and likes to draw and paint. When asked to describe his art more specifically, he touted his versatility. “Anything you want,” he said. “You name it, I’ll do it.”

Finally, on the philanthropic front, guard Earl Watson is considering supplementing his work funding an ACT test prep class for Kansas City high school students with a monthly social event for the elderly, in which he would bring back old R&B acts to perform for them.