Oh no Pee-wee. I hope your defense isn't, "I know you are but what am I?".

SF Robots: Don't miss the opportunity to see the ultra-cool Brezel Göring and Françoise Cactus, collectively known as Stereo Total tomorrow night at Slim's. Guaranteed to be lots of fun.

Thinkblank is sponsoring their Secret Santa gift giving program again this holiday season. All you need to participate is an Amazon wishlist. You tell Santa a little about yourself and then on December the 10th you find out who you're buying a present for. Check it out here.

Sometimes a web site outshines the product it represents. Such is the case with Quicksilver Watches. Beautiful site. Ugly watches (besides model "S TRECK LED", which I sort of appreciate for it's retro appeal).

Speaking of web design, Macromedia's newly announced Contribute software looks pretty revolutionary. A simple, elegant way for designers to enable end users to manage their content. Rack up another hit for Macromedia.

And speaking of revolutionary things, check out Sharp's latest sheet computers. Microprocessor circuitry applied directly to a glass that will enable the production of futuristic ultra-thin 'sheet computers,' and 'sheet televisions. Cool.

If you weren't at Club Fake's Mount Sims performance on Friday, you missed out on big fun. Great tunes complimented by sexy choreography, x-rated corn dog consumption and even a speaker-headed dancer.



Don't fret though, if you did miss the show you can at least check out this multimedia slideshow complete with soundtrack (QuickTime required, 8MB).

If your're in San Francisco, don't miss with Mt. Sims tonight at Club Fake:

Mt. Sims
At the Cat Club
1190 Folsom at 8th
Doors open at 10pm.

Levi's RED has the latest Donald Graham photos online, which are also appearing in this month's PAPER magazine, including Ladytron, Princess Superstar and the girls from W.I.T.

Oooh. This looks fun.

Don't forget to head over to Justice League tonight to check out David and James (better known as UK electropop duo Swayzak).

Plus 4 additional live performances by Signer, Chessie, Nein Volt and Broker / Dealer. More info on the show can be found here.

Yet another stroke of genius for Target. First it was Starck, now Tar-jay and brings us an exclusive Memorex design reminiscent of the beautiful plastic telephones and radios produced by Japan’s National Panasonic in the 1970s.

The Videoball TV is not only a gorgeous compliment to your Kartell Plastic or Verner Panton interior, it's functional with all the necessary inputs and remote control, and affordable at under $120.

Speaking of Peaches, see her raunchy new video for "Set it Off" here.

Mike, whom I briefly met at Sunday night's electroclash concert has a great account of his experience there. Go Mike!

For your Halloween viewing pleasure, bat.

I think I've finally recovered from the weekend's electroclash fun and festivities (I know, I know, for some of you this is all old news, but cut us left coasters some slack - it's new to us).

Anyhow, I had a great time, and met some really nice people including Tommie Sunshine, Melissa from W.I.T. and Peaches. Everyone was super friendly and seemed to be enjoying their time in San Francisco. By Sunday night, the energy that had built up all weekend finally exploded in an charged performance by W.I.T., Chicks on Speed and Peaches at the legendary Fillmore. Not surprisingly, S.F.'s electro-starved masses ate it up and clamored for more. Hopefully the success of this sold-out festival will spur more interest in live electro performances here in the city. Until then, we'll continue to rely on performers like Cybrid, and events by Club Fake to keep the scene in motion.



I snapped lots of pictures, some of which are posted here, be patient while the photos load (1MB).

More F.A. Porsche designed VPR Matrix images.

Unlikely bedfellows, perhaps, but Porsche design has teamed up with retailer Best Buy to offer what looks like one heck of a sweet Windows notebook computer. Look out VAIO, there's a Porsche in your rear view mirror.

Inquiring electro minds want to know what's going on for the next two weeks in San Francisco, and as usual, we've got a full agenda for faithful robots:

Friday, 10.25.02
Club Fake @ Cat Club
1190 Folsom Street
(between 7th and 8th)
DJ Unknown (of Fischerspooner fame)

Saturday 10.26.02
Terry Lee and Tommie Sunshine
111 Minna St. Gallery

Sunday 10.27.02
Electroclash
The Fillmore
Electroclash featuring Peaches, Chicks on Speed, W.I.T. (Whatever it Takes), Tracy & The Plastics and Larry Tee

Sunday 11.02.02
Swayzak
Justice League
(Divisadero @ Hayes Street)

I'm still looking for an electro event to attend on Halloween, so e-mail me with your suggestions.

SF Denizens, don't forget, Electroclash is coming to the Fillmore on Sunday, October 27th. This is one of the rare instances to relish in what has been going on on the right coast over the past two years. Featuring Peaches, Chicks on Speed, W.I.T. (Whatever it Takes), Tracy & The Plastics, Larry Tee, it's sure to be San Francisco's electro event of the year!

2002 Depeche Mode Convention – Sunday, October 13 – 7pm-1:01am at The Palace, 1735 N Vine Street, Hollywood. Cover bands, DJs and ultra rare videos, courtesy of Chad Clark.

Hacker by Anthony Rother is seriously rocking my world right now. I love it!

I've officially started my Japanese lessons at Soko Gakuen, a private Japanese language school here in San Francisco. Incidentally, "Soko" means San Francisco. The spoken text is coming along nicely, but the written text is taking me some time to figure out. Luckily I've found Bryn's handy Hiragana and Katakana online flashcard system to quiz myself. Check it out if you're interested in learning Japanese. Well worth the $.25 PayPal donation.

Add Swayzak's new album, Dirty Dancing to your "must buy" list. Excellent tracks by Adult. and other electro faves.

Some great pictures of the Memory Systems + Bunker World Tour live electronics, September 17, 2002: Luxx, Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY. Courtesy of Michael at Burnlab.

Need to work out some agressions? Maybe this is for you.

This weekend was an incredible new music orgy at the local CD shoppe. Notably, iR readers should run out and buy the following albums:

- Ladytron - Light & Magic
- Mount Sims - Ultra Sex
- Anthony Rother - Hacker
- Komputer - Market Led

I'll post a more comprenensive overview soon, for now check the links.

Wow. According to BBC News, people will soon be given access to knowledge from one of the world's foremost technology institutes, MIT, for free over the internet.

"There will be no online degrees for sale, however. Instead, it will offer thousands of pages of information, available to anyone around the globe at no cost, as well as hours and hours of streaming video lectures, seminars and experiments. Our hope and aspiration is that by setting an example, other universities will also put their valued materials on the internet."

The implications of this are so profound, I'm not sure what to think. One thing is for sure, I'm excited to give it a try.

The revised, expanded, fully up-to-date illustrated manual of contemporary American sign language, sometimes referred to as "finger spelling" here, courtesy of Lester.

Had the pleasure of spending the weekend at Downtown LA's uber-hip hotel, The Standard. It was everything I expected plus some. Besting the already fun Standard Hollywood, the Downtown LA Standard features a fantastic lobby complete with outdoor seating and DJ performing nightly, but the real fun is under and among the stars at their amazingly beautiful rooftop deck. Sporting a full bar, pool, DJ, dance floor, the best in 70's Italian plastic furniture, and the gorgeous nighttime LA skyline, it's the most fun I've had at a club in a long time. The people were friendly and, as you'd expect at LA's trendiest, gorgeous. If you find yourself in LA, don't miss it.

P.S. Only regret: Getting to LA a day too late to check out Club Synthetic

Remember the Sleeper house? Designed by architect Charles Deaton, and featured in Woody Allen's film Sleeper, it's had fallen into a horrible state of disrepair until being rescued by John Huggins for $1.3 million. Now it's finally been completed to the original architect's vision and lovingly restored. Nice to see one of mid-century modern architecture's unique assets saved.

In a garage far, far away...