Recently in Parade Day Category

Waiting for confirmation on a Doo Dah related tip .... <.<

Updated: OK, since I haven't gotten a response to inquiries by e-mail or telephone: The rumor was that Wayne Lusvardi had changed his mind and was going to take his seat as Thorny Rose on Sunday.

That, and the much-beloved character "Marijuana Man" is in fact none other than acting city manager / police chief Barney Melekian! dun-dun-DUHN!

Andrew Koenig responds to Thursday's post:

Hi Todd,

I wanted to take this opportunity to explain what I
protested and why I chose the Rose Parade.

I have been actively involved with helping bring
awareness to the plight of the Burmese people since
July. I went to Thailand to document refugees of the
brutal military dictatorship in Burma (Myanmar). Many
of these people were imprisoned and tortured for
wanting the same freedom we enjoy here.

China sits on the UN Security council and has refused
to condemn the acts of the Burmese military. That's
probably because they buy gas from Burma and sell them
weapons. China is currently trying to show the world a
good face in anticipation of the Beijing Olympics. My
intention was to bring attention to China's
hypocritical situation.

I chose the Rose Parade because of the Beijing Olympic
float's presence and the presence of the TV cameras.
Unfortunately, to keep important issues like this in
the news, sometimes people have to pull stunts to get
attention.

New weak is informally on tap. They used that extra day to put the one arrested protester, Andrew Koenig, through the super journalism machine.

Koenig was "Boner Stabone" on Growing Pains, and is the son of Pavel Chekov. Yeah, that Chekov.

I remember Boner's penultimate appearance, when he decided to join the military. He takes off on a six-mile run at Mike's recommendation, then calls him two hours later, exhausted:

Boner: I need a ride.
Mike: Where are you?
*beat*
Boner: I ran six miles like you told me to, and I'm too tired to walk six miles home.

Wah-wah!

UPDATED: Apparently the original title of this post was deemed too provocative for our odd set of 1950s era values.

Will be forthcoming. A lot of excitement and tremendous security along the route, from inter-agency law enforcement to Secret Service. Attempt to disrupt the Beijing Olympic float either failed or didn't happen.

But first I have to write my story.

I lied. Here are the pictures from earlier tonight. Those who frequented my old travel blog (offline at the moment D:<) will recognize my photo-essay style: I take a decent picture once in awhile, but was very pleased with how most of these came out.

First off we ran into this off-boulevard, young teen party only a block and a half from the Molino House. They were dancing at El Molino and Green to the boombox beats of that one homeless guy who always has that boombox going.

As soon as we hit Colorado Boulevard, presence of law enforcement was evident.

Read more for more ... to read.

Sometimes even urban legends spawn associated legends of their own. Whenever someone references the "1 million attendance" on parade day factoid, someone in-the-know counters that some Caltech scientist some year back did the math of bodies per square meter and disproved its possibility.

But no one can remember his name, when it happened or how they heard about it.

UPDATED: Your humble narrator is schooled in the comments.

My parade route live blogging with Ms. Vanity will commence shortly, once I've uploaded the pictures to the Interwebs and downloaded some more grappa and cocktails.

UPDATED: No really, that can wait til morning.

In the meantime, here's something. Not quite sure what to make of it yet, will read it again in the morning:

PRESS RELEASE

January 1, 2008

Victims and Activist Groups to Sue the City of Pasadena, Various Public Officials and Individuals for Violation of Their Civil Rights

Contacts: John Li 626-568-8889 (I will be at the corner of Del Mar Blvd. and Orange Groove for most of time with other Falun Gong practitioners)

Shizhong Chen 858-366-5818

When: 7:00 AM, January 1, 2008

Where: Los Feliz Room, The Westin Pasadena,

191 North Los Robles, Pasadena, California 91101

Pasadena- Victims of China’s human rights violations and human rights groups who had protested the inclusion of a float representing the Peoples Republic of China in the 2008 Rose Parade announce today their intention to sue the City of Pasadena, various public officials and private individuals for violation of their civil rights. We intend to show that these agencies and individuals acted in concert to unlawfully prevent the issuance of a city permit to us for a demonstration against China’s continuing abuse of basic human rights.