Li'l Floaty Omie Head gets his eardrums busted by a very loud promo lady who turns out to be New York City DJ Angie Martinez. He does some investigating on the subject.

Also, to follow up, here the Statesman's story on the "Immigrant hunt rally" that sort of wasn't, including video footage.

My review of NBA Street V3 is up at Austin360.

I'm not going to pretend I've got the inside scoop on what's going on with this "Immigrant Hunt" fiasco. I do know that it's all over all the Austin blogs since yesterday. The TV and radio stations are picking up on it and we're sending reporters ourselves to what may be a "Cookies and lemonade" event. (Pink Dome seems to be staying on top of this story with a healthy dose of skepticism about these haughty denials that the hunt was ever scheduled to take place.

If you look on the YCT-Austin main site (as of 11:20 this morning at least), you'll notice that even thought they're up in arms about the media and the Web's take on what they claim is a non-story, they haven't made any effort to post a disclaimer or acknowledge the media shitstorm with a simple news post. You can, however, read up on recent efforts by Senator Jeff Wentworth. Why not update your site to let people know what's up? Just a suggestion.

If you look in their forums, you'll see some defensiveness in this thread. Here's something that, if proven true, could potentially mean that the "hoax" story is itself just spin:

"...though the immigrant hunt was in the upcoming events a while back on the yct site, this email is now going around:"

Huh.

You'll also find this jewel:

As a former immigrant (i have since been naturalized after a few years of paperwork hell), I fail to see what's racist about outing illegal immigrants   Key word folks, "ILLEGAL". They are breaking the law here, what's wrong with pointing that out?
 
Of course, if the legality of such blatant disregard for law don't matter to the american public as a whole, than what are those of us that went through the long process of moving to us legally? suckers?

We'll know soon what's really up, but even if today's supposed event turns out not to be true, it still doesn't excuse what went on in North Texas.

Some other local links:

Outlaw Liss

Infobong.com

This is Not Over.

Roman Candles

Silly comments denouncing the eeeeevil hoax and those who propagated it.

New Space Monkeys! comic today, continuing the saga of The Moon Weasel. Adventure!

I live in a city where you can't walk five feet without running into a cup of wheatgrass or a packet of organic flatbread.

I live in a place where the headquarters of Whole Foods are located, and where they're about to open their flagship superstore. It's about five minutes away from where I'm working now.

I live in a city where you can go to almost any restaurant in town and order something healthy, light and delicious. Vegetarian, if you need it to be.

I live in a town where every grocery store stocks organic health food from tofu to the very delicious "Amy's" frozen burritos, enchiladas and pizzas.

There's a Jamba Juice within walking distance.

Also, Zen, where you can get an awesome grilled salmon over white rice with spicy vegies for about $7.

You know what I brought for dinner tonight to work? An Amy's enchilada platter with rice and beans. Organic. Tasty. Healthy.

What did I actually eat tonight? Turkey and cheese Lunchables, right out of the machine, and some microwaved hot mango tea from some little brew bags that were just sitting around the office.

What is wrong with me? Why am I eating like a little kid with no babysitter?

I walked in from the hallway, all giddy because my dinner sounded like exactly the right thing to eat. It was exactly what I was craving, right then. Damn, I rock that I found my favorite kind of Lunchables in the machine at work just when I was looking for something to eat besides what was waiting for me in the tiny office freezer.

"Lunchables?" one of my co-workers asked in disbelief. "That's what you're eating?"

"They're soooo good! I'm eight, by the way," I answered.

I did point out that my hot tea was at least good for digestion.

Got this in my inbox today:

The YCT (Young Conservatives of Texas) have organized an "Immigrant Hunt" for this Wednesday, March 2nd on the West Mall on campus -- they have reserved the space from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

They recently organized a similar event at the University of North Texas.

This time around they plan to wear color-coded anti-immigrant shirts and "hunt for immigrants" who will be YCT-ers dressed in brown for Latina/os, yellow for Asians, etc. and offer rewards.

A counter-demonstration is planned by a multi-ethnic coalition of student organizations in response at the same time. Folks are asking for a huge turnout, and that people wear black shirts and white bandanas if possible, and bring signs and chants -- some folks will be linking hands in silent protest, others will be vocal and hold signs and pass out flyers outlining a progressive position on immigration.

Wow, I just drove past the University of North Texas this weekend. Glad I didn't stop.

I'm not sure what I think about "silent protest," flyers and chants as a recourse against rampant dumb-fuckery. I'm thinking it might be better to round up the biggest, toughest immigrant friends you can find, deck them out in those t-shirts, and let the YCT students "find" them on secluded spots on campus. It could turn into a "Dumb-Ass Racist" hunt! Who's in?

UPDATE: It could all be a hoax. Guess we'll find out for sure tomorrow.

UPDATE PART II: More info here. Jury's still out on the "hoax" story.

New Smallville recap is posted:

House Of Flying Bullshit -- The cast goes to Shanghai, China, to...well, they go to find...you know what? It can't even be explained here. Just know that magical Nintendo power stones are involved and Lana is the WB version of Chun Li.

Space Monkeys! returns today from a short vacation to spotlight one of its lesser-known characters (as if the others are like cartoon celebrities), the wily Moon Weasel. He's got a tale that must be told.

The trip to Oklahoma was pretty fantastic, filled with fun (if short) times with friends, lots of friendly and curious OU students asking great questions about journalism that I was completely unqualified to answer and an awesome hotel room that put the "Sweet" in "Suite."

I could write long entries about each individual component of the trip, and I would still be leaving out the debilitating allergies that made my weekend the weekend of "Phlegmy River" or the Indian casino I visited on the way back home, or Oscar night, a ceremony I watched from home for the first time in about four years.

The truth is, today is shot already, before its even started, with busy-work, but I'll try to hit you up throughout the day with some of these items, like baubles upon the shimmering sea that you have to dive for at set intervals.

Do I sound a bit loopy? Oh yeah. The allergy medicine just kicked in.