Atlanta Bar and Grill Max Lager's has Atlanta Beer Week

Max Lager's Atlanta 

You may remember Max Lager's American Bar and Grill on 320 Peachtree Street in Atlanta as a place I visited while in Atlanta for Mom and during the Winter Olympics? Well, I'm back and this time the place that feels like Cheers has something called Atlanta Beer Week on May 16th through May 23rd.

In the video above Jessica took her first attempt at vlogging and scored a "A" in talking about the event. She also told me there's going to be some kind of happening each day during the Atlanta Beer Week period, from Acoustic Sunset and Max Brews at 6:30 PM on May 16th to a tour or the "great beer nations" on the 23rd.

I just wonder how far around the World one can go?

At any rate, check out Max Lager's when you're in Atlanta, and as a note this promo was done even though I paid for the great food and drink! And I'd do it again. I always have fun at Alan LeBlanc's place in downtown Atlanta. And give Jessica the business, if you know what I mean!

www.maxlagers.com

Greyson Michael Chance: "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga

In this really fascinating World we live in, it's fitting that the Twitter tip on Greyson Michael Chance's totally shocking version of Paparazzi would come from Miley Cyrus' Adam Shankman, who just provided the link on Twitter with this:

must be seen to be believed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDlC7YV5is&sns=em
about 3 hours ago via mobile web

At first, this blogger thought it could not be that incredible, but Adam Shankman's right, it was a wowser. Here's Greyson Michael Chance on the piano doing Paparazzi. And be warned that Chance doesn't start right off the bat with the song, he kind of warms up into it.

Here's the video:



Greyson Michael Chance sounds like the next Justin Bieber, who was discovered on YouTube. As of this writing, Greyson's hot on Google, but not on Twitter, even though that's where the news started for me.

Stay tuned.

Chevron and Richmond kiss, make up, and think with new agreement

Last week this blogger wrote that Chevron and Richmond needed to "kiss, make up, and think. Well, it seems all the time both parties were doing just that.

Communications from the Richmond Progressive Alliance and from Chevron report the completion of an amicable agreement that stops the chance that Richmond will lose millions due to a June ballot measure that looked like it was going to pass, and Chevron stopped paying out $15 million more than it had annually given to the City of Richmond.

The Chevron press release neatly bullet-points the resolved issues:

• Chevron will pay an additional $114 million to The City of Richmond over the next 14 years.
• The City of Richmond will stop its ballot measure to change the Utility Tax and Chevron will remove its proposal.
• The City of Richmond will drop its appeal of the Measure T Ballot measure, which was ruled unconstitutional.
• Chevron would wave $1.2 million it sought from the City related to Measure T.
• Chevron will make community contributions totaling $8 million.

This ends the waring between groups and at times people in Richmond. Now, Richmond will have its largest employer remain and is able to focus on the huge problems of crime and education.

Richmond should use this opportunity to mend fences with Chevron over its renewal project. Clean air, more than a 1,000 jobs are at stake and the City should take the leadership position to support Chevron to get the project moving forward. It’s good for the environment, for working men and women of labor and for the City of Richmond.

A great job by both the Mayor of Richmond and Chevron Refinery Manager Mike Coyle. It also helps Mayor Gayle McLaughlin case as shes's up for reeelection this fall.

Stay tuned.

Miley Cyrus and Adam Shankman Lap Dance Video - did they have sex?

The gossip headline that's all over the Internet is "Miley Cyrus lap dance video." It refers to a video that was obtained by TMZ.com and for them by an unnamed source. In it, there's a couple lap dancing that's identified as Miley Cyrus and Adam Shankman.

It's at what reportedly was a Georgia wrap party for the movie The Last Song, where Adam Shankman was a producer of the motion picture. The event look like a Party in the USA featuring a 16-year old who Can't Be Tamed.

The video, which is featured in this space' video-blog commentary above, is racy and appears to be two videos merged into one. The first part has a man clumsily trying to grind dance behind a woman in familiar "Daisy Duke" style short shorts and a white blouse. That's Miley Cyrus. TMZ reports the man to be Adam Shankman. With these new images, it's clear Adam Shankman and Miley Cyrus had a wild time filming The Last Song.

First some house cleaning if that's possible here: Adam Shankman's a big deal in Hollywood circles. Adam's not just the producer of The Last Song, he co-produced the 82nd Annual Academy Awards with Bill Mechanic. The LA-born Adam has a long career as a dancer, actor, and choreographer.

Perez Hilton reports that their dancing at the party was in front of kids and so dirty that the parents took their kids and left.

Adam seemed to have choreographed some interesting moves with Miley Cyrus. In July of 2009, Shankman placed racy photos of himself in close sexy connect with Miley Cyrus. The photo was taken in the makeup room during a filming session for The Last Song.

When Adam got wind of the outrage over a photo pairing a 16-year-old woman with the 44-year old Shankman, he posted this tweet:

On Monday 22nd June 2009, @adammshankman said:
Miley is a sweet angel who works tirelessly and endlessly, and is allowed to have fun in the make up room! Seriously! Lighten up or no more behind the scenes pics! She's like my angel little sister.

But in light of this video, it's clear she was having fun in more than just the makeup room with Adam!

Given all of this, one can't help but wonder what else may have went on between them? Did they have sex? It's fair to ask the question. Yes, Adam's Gay, but that's no guarantee he's not going to be interested in more than a little bump-and-grind given what we've seen today.

Adam Shankman's Tweetless Today

Save for one tweet made 23 hours ago, Shankman has not issued a single new tweet today via his Twitter account. Normally, Adam's good for between four and 10 tweets per day, so clearly he's gone silent.

Meanwhile, what the general reaction on the blogs? Celebrity Smack Blog pretty much sums it up:

Now, Adam, who is 45-years-old and openly gay, might not be a “threat” because he is gay, but c’mon, that doesn’t give him a license to act all pervy on a 17-year old girl. Especially on video – IDIOT! I’m just sayin’. If it was a straight guy who had done that, people would seriously be on the witch hunt.

Then there's Perez Hilton, who calls her Miley Slutty.

To me it points to a nasty contrast in America today - not a double standard, but a contrast. While this issue is hot, last week Lawrence Taylor was arrested for allegedly having sex with a 16-year old girl in suburban New York. Taylor, 51-years-old, cheated on his wife with a girl he was told was a 19-year-old woman. Now, $75,000 later, he's facing a court trial and claiming he did not have sex with her, even though a condom was found.

If LT had real confidence, he would have done what some other wealthy New Yorkers do, and that's have "arrangements" in their marriage that allow them to have the fun they seek with others. That takes a person with a very strong emotional stomach but it's far more common than many realize.

By contrast to LT, Adam's openly Gay and knew Miley was 16, and until today was open about their friendship. But Adam's a movie producer who's power comes from his position and personality. Let's face it, Adam's very well-liked by a lot of the right people and they protect him. Adam's in a less conservative and far more hedonistic culture than what LT lives in.

So Adam placed himself - excuse the pun - in a position where he could have fun with a 16-year old girl and be open about it and figure that he's Gay so it's OK. He can play across the pond if he wants to.

What Adam gets that LT misses is what the power of connections with powerful people can gain. Both have 16-year old girls in common and one now 17, but that's where any situational similarities end.

Stay tuned.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer kills ethnic studies, proves racism

Cruella de Vil srtikes again 

When the University of California at Berkeley first established ethnic studies as a requirement for undergraduates, this blogger, a grad student, was sitting in the Durant Avenue food alley at a Japanese restaurant when a white male student suddenly and loudly yelled "Why do I have to known anything about minorities?" Figuring that the boy was frustrated, perhaps sexually, and looking for a fight, I ignored him as did everyone else.

When he realized no one cared to talk to him because they regarded him as racist, he sulked.

In her attempt to kill ethnic studies, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is proving that she's very much like that young man but the difference is she's not in Berkeley.

Brewer's in Arizona, where there are a lot of people who want to talk to her and have the same psychosis that caused the formation of the illegal immigration bill that ultimately targets Latinos.

The bill is to prevent courses that teach "ethnic solidarity" by, get this, teaching about African-American, Mexican-American and Native-American studies as is currently done in the Tucson Unified School District. Of course, it's just fine to learn about White European American History because it's tucked under the title of American History.

Geez. If Brewer weren't Governor of Arizona, Brewer would be a joke. A very bad joke.

That Jan Brewer is Governor of Arizona should make any Arizonan very angry. Moreover that she's a Republican should send intelligent GOP operatives into orbit. Jan Brewer will almost single handedly kill the GOP's mid-term election chances.

And to that prospect, I say, "Hooray!"

Stay tuned.

Beau Biden, son of VP Joe Biden, recovering after stroke

Those who watched and especially those who attended the 2008 Democratic National Convention will remember Beau Biden, the son of Vice President Joe Biden, and who introduced him with a rousing speech at the DNC Convention, then joined his father on stage. Beau, the Attorney General of Delaware, fell victim to what was called a mild stroke on Tuesday and was rushed to a Delaware hospital.

Biden was transfered to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.   He's reportedly recovering well and in good sprits.

Beau Biden is just 41 years old and comes from a family that has what ABC News calls a "long history" of vascular problems, giving rise to the question "What is a stroke?"

A stroke is a interruption of blood supply to any part of the brain.  The best daily way to prevent a stroke is via diet and exercise, but heredity is hard to overcome. Beau Biden did not have the problem of weight but of heredity.

Still, taking at least one aspirin a day is a great step both on the path of recovery from a stroke and prevention according to The American Heart Association.

Here's to a speedy recovery for Beau Biden.

Stay tuned.

Sucuzhanay murder not hate crime? - Suzannah B. Troy

Welcome to Brooklyn, New York and to two trials where you can gather together the only select group of people on the planet who don't believe Jose Sucuzhanay was beaten to death because of hate and prejudice. Jose and his brother were walking arm and arm when these hate mongers decided they must be gay and therefore beaten to death.

First of all what is wrong with someone that they are out there with so much rage on the streets of New York that they are beating people to death, stabbing them or shooting them?

These two trials are a mark of great shame on the City of New York, as if the murder of an innocent man simply walking home arm and arm with his brother, daring to be happy in a city filled with a lot of angry, lonely dysfunctional people in need of anger management classes, possibly medication, a life have to take someone else's life and do so attempting to beat two brothers to death.

These jurors lacked empathy and they assume it could never happen to them. I am straight but I have been gay bashed. It could happen to anyone of these jurors....welcome to NYC.

These cowardly thugs were so outraged by two men walking arm and arm happily together that they had to attempt to beat them both to death and they started by yelling gay slurs but according to trials in Brooklyn that doesn't count as prejudice and one even resulted in a mistrial. Both these monsters need to go away for a long, long time.

To add insult to injury the jurors for both cases say hey it was not a hate crime. I guess it doesn't count until it happens to them. I remember I was in college and I was with my Mom on Canal Street having shopped at Pearl Paint and was walking arm and arm with my Mom and this group of idiots made a homophobic comment. Around the world the jury is out and there can only be one conclusion about the people posing as jurors on this trial.

I have had gay bashing including be a stalker sicko with a camera who is so deluded and lonely he calls me his stalker when in fact he takes photos of me -- my back -- without my knowledge and sets up a gay bashing gang bang attack with his anonymous internet buddies which I turned in to the NYPD and lawyers.

On this YouTube I show you a crime scene in the West Village and it appears a man was severely beaten in the West Village and it was said to be because he was gay. They had to taken him to St. Vincent's and put him in a coma because of brain swelling. I have no idea how he is doing now and what is the status of this case.

Bottom line is NYC has way too high a threshold for hate, anti-woman and anti-gay.

Emma The Amish Model on Howard Stern Show is sad tale

Howard Stern's getting a lot of Internet traffic and buzz from Emma The Amish Model, the latest guest on The Howard Stern Show. For some reason the combination of "Amish" and "model" draws more attention than "Denver Broncos Tim Tebow blasted by hot chick at bar."

But more important and more serious is her story. Emma The Amish Model was kicked out of her community for being a model. She left when she was 18.

Still, while she may not know a lot of things as Howard claims, I can't help but feel sorry for her. Is Howard going to get her a good modeling contract? What's the future for her?  What's she going to do without a family base?

It's sad to read that a person was shunned by her own family as was the case here. We don't even know her real name. Its just Emma The Amish Model.

While Emma The Amish Model's at the height of Internet buzz, it's sad. She's not a cartoon character, Howard. She's a person. If there's anything to capturing Internet traffic from this, it's to throw that message right back at Mr. Stern.

Geez.  At least Howard could have exhibited some real concern for her well-being.

Denver Broncos Tim Tebow blasted by hot chick at bar

Denver Broncos 1st Round NFL Draft Pick Quarterback Tim Tebow brings out the best and the worst opinions from football fans. During his college career at The University of Florida, Tebow had scores of "haters" and so many there's a website home for them called "Tebow Haters" at TebowHaters.com.

Tebowhaters.com so hates Time Tebow they've got a wealth of material which dates back to 2006 and have joined in with The Bleacher Report for a "bust watch" clock on for Tim now that the Oakland Raiders have released their 2007 1st Round Pick JaMarcus Russell. Bleacher Report states:

Remember that the Broncos traded three draft picks for Tebow; the most for one player in the NFL Draft since Ryan Leaf.

Meaning that, if Tebow turns into a bust, Tebow will be a shoo-in to surpass Leaf. The heat is now on Tebow.

Tim Tebow's so hated he was even blasted by this hot chick at Aventine bar in San Francisco on Cinco De Mayo, and Tebow wasn't even there.

Now, seriously, the woman in the video is not any ordinary person; Kelly works in the sports industry, was at the 2010 NFL Draft, and is a Denver Broncos fan. The rare, random meeting of two people who actually worked at the NFL Draft, Kelly and this blogger, started a frank conversation on a number of NFL-related topics, but the hottest one was about Tim Tebow.

I have no strong feeling against Tim Tebow, and hope he does very well. Thats not true for Kelly, who can't stand him and is a huge Peyton Manning fan. Kelly's blast was like a gattling gun and anyone would be stupid to step in the way of it. Asked point blank-direct why she hates Time Tebow she said:

"Well, I'm from Knoxville, Tennessee...So Vols automatically hate Florida Gators. Tim Tebow is like a robot. Like pull the stick out of your butt. He's just too much. I know that camaraderie, whatever, we need a great leader on the team. He's just too much. I don't think he'll have followers. Nobody can relate with him.

And then he moves to Colorado where Focus on The Family is based out of Colorado Springs. Now we're going to have a bunch of Bible-belting fans being the crazy Christian right. You go to a Broncos game, there's going to be people praying instead of drinking.

I'm not a Tebow fan. I am a Broncos Fan. That's why I'm so sad we have Tebow."

When I informed her that the Broncos also had Brady Quinn and Kyle Orton, her responses were classic: "Oh, that makes a lot of difference...We have three quarterbacks. None of them are great."

I think Kelly wanted the Broncos to trade their entire draft for Peyton Manning.  She didn't say that, but I'd bet she'd support the move.

Tim Tebow stirs the passions of everyone from Kelly to Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, who got off the now famous blast against Tebow just days before the 2010 NFL Draft and, yes, at a bar, as seen in this video:



Jones said he could never get Tebow onto the field.

At the NFL Draft Kelly's fellow Vol, Eric Berry, the Kansas City Chief's 1st Round Pick, said to me that he delivered his hardest hit to Tim Tebow (at the :58 second mark):



Curious to see the famous collision, I looked up the video of Eric Berry versus Tim Tebow or Tennessee versus Florida. This is what I found:



From the video, I'd say Tim Tebow got the best of Eric Berry on that one. Tebow had lower leverage and knocked Berry back. While Berry's sacked Tebow before, this is the hit he was referring to. Berry said he didn't know what he was thinking when he did that, "He brings a load." A load he's going to see twice a year since the Denver Broncos play the Kansas City Chiefs.

For some reason, I think it's his devout Christian faith, people want to root against Tim Tebow. I think Kelly and Jerry Jones are going to be very surprised. Even with that, I'm sure Kelly will not be shy in expressin her opinion.

Stay tuned.

Apple must fix the Safari memory leak problem

Apple Safari Logo

Apple's Safari browser has a horrible problem called a "memory leak" and it seems to be a more pronounced issue in the latest versions of the browser than in older ones.

A memory leak is when, after a period of time, your browser, which is the online field that's designed to function like a page and is used to access web pages and surf the World Wide Web, consumes more and more of your computer's memory until it reaches a point where it literally becomes impossible to use your computer. It's like your computer's stuck in cyber mud. You have to close any open software program or restart the entire computer.

In some case, I turn off Apple's "Airport" Internet access system and keep the browsers closed when I'm making videos.

Frankly, I've never had this problem until I started using the latest version of the Mac OSX Operating System. I have four different browsers: Safari, FireFox, Google Chrome, and Opera. I've had memory leak problems with all of them, with Safari exhibiting the worst level of leak and Opera showing the smallest rate of leak.

I enjoy using Safari because of the way the browser functions and how it feels when the leak problem's not an issue. FireFox has another set of problems related to what seems to be a "ghost" browser application that has not completely removed from my system. Thus, I have two FireFox apps that run as one when I open one icon. Weird.

That leaves Google Chrome and Opera. Google Chrome is great for blogging but the flash plugin times out after a few minutes, rendering it useless for video work. Opera's the only brower remaining that I use and gives me the fewest problems. But I am not a fan of the way it feels, as dumb as that reads, that's my take. I'd prefer to use Safari, but the leak problem's just a pain to deal with.

I checked and this problem's been around at least since 2006 with Apple's Safari, but I was using FireFox so often I never had to deal with it. Moreover the problem just wasn't as bad as it is today.

On my YouTube video someone explained that Sarafi 4.0.5 fixed the problem, but this internet search on Google reveals that's not the case at all.

If anyone has a workaround for this, please share it.

Meanwhile, Apple really should eliminate this problem once and for all.

Stay tuned.

Zoosk Social Network Dating party in San Francisco

If you're a regular follower of this space, you may remember the blog post about 2010 Web 2.0 Expo and how I considered going to it a waste of time. Well, that blog post landed an email and an invite as a "VIP guest" to a party for a new social network called Zoost.com at Roe Nightclub in San Francisco.

What was so funny was the email emphasized that the event was outside of Web 2.0, not inside of it.

Of course, one needed a Web 2.0 badge to get into it, but whatever.

Zoosk is a dating social network started by Shayan Zadeh, who's now CEO of the company. Zadeh explained that Zoosk started out as a Facebook-based project to rate "hot hot your eligible friends are on Facebook" and it grew from there. "And now there's a song about us," he said.

This song featuring T-Pain...



The Zoosk party was a mix of the typical SF Bay Area tech party with a lot of free drinks, an ice sculpture of the name of the firm holding the event, and people socializing in clumps and a wild scene of people who worked for the company were associated with it in some way, who were not afraid to yell and scream and shout.

On the tech side, I met Chindu Parikh of Sach Manya. Sach Manya is a mobile web applications firm who won the Venture Capital Speed Dating event Zoosk hosted. Like many small companies at parties like this, Sach Manya's work and creations are exciting, innovative, and useful. Need an iPhone app? Chances are Sach Manya can produce one for you that meets your needs.

Aside from the talk about tech, well there wasn't much of that. There was a lot of flowing cocktails and (thankfully) Hip Hop music. I say that because I'm tired of events where it seems the hosts think if they pay Rap or Hip Hop they're going to be taken hostage.

Was the party a bellweather of economic improvement? Did it mean Web 2.0 was a success and I missed it? I'm going to say, no and no. No because it was a small party that took up one room and by one company. It was designed to be that way and you can't tell a thing from an event like that. But I will say no to the second question just by the read of the lack of a crowd at The W Hotel.

You can tell how much economic impact an event has by the crowd or lack of one at The W Hotel during a convention. While Wonder Con SF drew record crowds, it didn't translate to spending at the W. In past years, it did. The Game Developers Conference packed the W all night long it seemed and that was more of a crowd for the W. And while that's true for Web 2.0, it didn't translate into a crowded W Hotel this time around.

In a way, that's too bad. Even though I blasted the organizers for a boring event, I'd hoped to see a Web 2.0 hashtag from someone's account as a Twitter Trend, proving me wrong. It never happened. Somewhere along the way Web 2.0 had become far too clubby and now it needs to be far more open. At a time when more people are being forced to learn about the Internet and how to use it for their business, Web 2.0's once keen market ears may need a New Media spring cleaning.

Perhaps Zoosk offers a lesson for Web 2.0's future: just add Rap and a few iconoclastic video-bloggers.

Think about it.

Stay tuned.

United Airlines Flight ORD to SFO Middle Seat 40 D on B-767

This blog post is for anyone who's ever had the middle seat on a wide-bodied plane. In this case, the aircraft was a United Airlines Boeing 767 on the way from Chicago to San Francisco. This is a trip I commonly make as part of my monthly trek to Georgia to help my Mom. I travel by stand-by and on United Airline, the carrier I grew up with, which means I get what's available; sometimes it's first class and sometimes it's economy class. My preference is for either first class or if it's economy, the exit row.

In this case, I was in the back, in the middle.

What I can't stand are people who can't seem to keep to themselves. Either their head rolls to you when they're asleep. Or they cover the entire armrest with their arm. Or they sick their leg into your space. It's almost as if being in the middle gives them some weird license to think they can violate your space.

It wasn't always that way. I can remember a time when people were more respectful of the space of others. Of course, there was more room in what was called "coach" then, too. Now, the "economy" designation makes riding on some airplanes like being on giant buses. Hence the term "airbus."

To this blogger flying will always be that something where you put on your best behavior, making sure to treat everyone with kindness and courtesy.

Of course, if we all did that, there would be no need for airport security checks and 911 would have never happened.

That would be a cool World to live in. We had it once; I just don't know what happened.