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Kids today have it rough. Sure they have Facebook and iPhones and the world at their fingertips. But I don’t remember the youth counterculture of the 80s being quite so conformist, or downright obedient to arbitrary rules. What next, piss tests at the gate? (Yeah, yeah. I’m getting old.) I can still remember a time when rules like these wouldn’t fly.

Here is a list of items that you can not bring into the festival.

• Bottled Water or reusable water containers. (Buy our overpriced water. Fuck the environment.)

• Blankets (You think this is a state park or something?)

• Professional Cameras with detachable lens (Just because.)

• Weapons (Duh.)

• Pens or Markers (What do you wanna do, smart guy? Write something?)

• Outside food (Wait in line for a Korean taco or a $5 grilled cheese with the rest of the hipsters.)

• Drugs or Drug Paraphernalia (Because Sleep’s reunion will be so much better without weed.)

• Open Cigarette Packs (must be CLOSED) (To keep their freshness.)

• No studs, safety pins or mohawks. (Because 7 Seconds specifically requested NO MOHAWKS in their rider.)

• Blankets (We really mean it.)

• Backpacks (You might try to hide a blanket in there.)

• Please no purses larger then (sic) 12 inches x 12 inches. (Just the right size for buying overpriced vinyl records, but too small for a blanket.)

THERE ARE NO IN’S (sic) AND OUTS (Naturally.)

BTW: Sunscreen is allowed. We don’t want you to get burnt. (By the sun, that is.)

More at The Economist.

And a list of items prohibited by the economic blockade on Gaza, obtained by Israeli human rights organization Gisha.

Yesterday, I replaced the scratchy, low-grade institutional toilet paper at UC Berkeley with my own special brand.

Check out Yoo Toilet Paper.com for details.

The prank has been covered by Gawker, NBC and Common Dreams, among others. Let’s hope it brings more attention to Professor Yoo’s appalling ideology and inexplicable tenure.

“I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen. I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free-market system.”

Just a quick notice to those who may have missed it. I’m participating in a group show called Endurable Goods at Highways in Santa Monica this weekend.

There are some “half-price” tickets available here. There is a $3.50 service charge, which is the kind of thing that led Jesus to throw out the money lenders. But in any case, you can save a few bucks this way.

Adult Baby Jesus- “Use Me” is a re-staging of the crucifixion as a rock and roll revue with Adult Baby Jesus breaking free from an enormous womb. The performance is about 15 minutes long and will close the show on both nights.

My contribution to the biggest news story of the week.

• HOLT AND RANDY
• FERMENTED
• HOW STUFF’S MADE
• DECONSTRUCTION II
• DISASTER HOUSE
• LOCKUP: RAW
• SPLIT ENDS
• PITBULLS & PAROLEES
• CAR JUNKIES
• DROP DEAD DIVA
• STREET COURT
• IT ONLY HURTS WHEN I LAUGH
• TV’S ALL TIME FUNNIEST CATCH PHRASES
• TWINS BY SURPRISE
• YOUR KID ATE WHAT?
• CAKE BOSS
• BANG FOR YOUR BUCK
• INTERNS ANONYMOUS
• STREET PATROL
• JAIL
• BEAUTY QUEEN HOUSEWIVES
• DISHIN’ IT UP
• THY WILL BE DONE
• SAVE OUR HOME: THE ULTIMATE FINACIAL MAKEOVER
• THAT’S FUNNY
• PLAYERS
• ULTIMATE WOMENS COMBAT
• THE FUNNY THINGS KIDS SAY AND DO
• TV’S FUNNIEST CATCH PHRASES
• SPEEDERS
• SWORDS: OFF THE HOOK
• BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE
• ONE GOOD TURN WITH JOEY T
• PITBULLS AND PAROLEES
• MIRACLE WEDDINGS
• MIRACLE BABIES
• METEORITE MEN
• COULD YOU SURVIVE
• MARATHON LOVE
• MY BIG FAT BODY
• MANSON’S MISSING VICTIMS
• REHAB: PARTY AT THE HARD ROCK HOTEL
• UNEMPLOYED
• TESTEES
• ULTIMATE RECIPE SHOWDOWN III
• GROTESQUE
• BEAR WHISPERER
• LIFE’S FUNNIEST MOMENTS
• GREATEST GAME SHOW MOMENTS
• HOW NOT TO DIE: A DR. G SPECIAL
• SEX ED: THE SERIES
• MY HOUSE IS WORTH WHAT?
• SHARK TAGGERS
• SAVE OUR HOUSE! SAVE OUR FAMILY!
• YOUR PLACE OR MINE?
• USA VS. THE WORLD
• LITTLE MISS PERFECT
• I DIDN’T KNOW I WAS PREGNANT
• IT’S ALWAYS SMOGGY IN L.A.
• GLADIATOR GYRLZ
• STAG: LAST NIGHT OF FREEDOM
• CHEAP HEAT
• LOCK-UP: EXTENDED STAY
• 1000 WAYS TO DIE
• NATIONAL BODY CHALLENGE
• INTERVENTION
• ICE ROAD TRUCKERS
• DESIGNING FOR THE SEXES
• MAIL ORDER MAKEOVER
• I’VE GOT NOTHING TO WEAR!
• LOBSTER WARS
• MY LIFE IS UNREAL

At tonight’s protest against the California Supreme Court decision upholding Proposition 8, the LA Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence handed out chalk. We were invited to write “I Do” and other pro-gay sentiments onto the pavement at the intersection of Hollywood & Highland. My friends and I took our chalk and made a few extra editorials on the walk back to the Metro station.

Oh, and please buy my ambiguously pro-gay marriage t-shirt!

I woke up this morning to a couple of messages informing me that my “Obey” spoof poster was featured on last night’s Daily Show. Well, not exactly. The graphic in the screenshot here is different in one key way, from the poster I designed. They’ve used Obama’s logo to replace the “o” in “obey.” When I designed the original “Obey” spoof, I found that other spoofers– mostly of the right wing variety– had come up with a similar idea. Shepard Fairey’s work has long spoofed propaganda, and so when he decided to make an unironic endorsement of candidate Obama, replacing the word “Hope” with his usual “Obey” signature (itself lifted from John Carpenter’s film They Live) seemed like an obvious rejoinder for many pranksters on the left and the right. Bottom line: while I’ve spent the last few months wondering if I’d be the target of a Fairey copyright infringement lawsuit, I woke up today to friends and family asking if I’d planned on suing Comedy Central. It’s a funny idea, but no.

As many of you may know, Fairey himself is in a complicated legal battle with the Associated Press over his unauthorized use of the photo from which the “Hope” poster is based. Fairey is also countersuing the AP. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration is trying to figure out how to reign in unauthorized merchandising of the President’s image. To me, this is a bit like trying to put the genie back in the bottle. President Obama is so popular, and so iconic that he represents a one-man stimulus to the consumer economy.

It’s not for nothing that he won Advertising Age’s “Marketer of the Year” award in 2008. In fact, the marketing of Obama as a vehicle for “Hope” and Change” was so successful that it helped inspire re-branding campaigns for Pepsi (ironically, one of Fairey’s bigger corporate clients) and Ikea.

Personally, I’ve been on the hunt for bizarre Obama merchandise. So far, my two favorite personal finds are this Obama votive candle (I still wonder if this depiction of the President as savior/messiah is ironic) and First Family dog tags (sorry, but that’s just creepy).

In fact, as much as Fairey might protest that he didn’t make a dime off of the “Hope” poster, his profile as an artist/brander, and thus his market value, have both risen dramatically. The “Hope” poster is now a part of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian and the artist has been a guest on Terry Gross, Steven Colbert and Charlie Rose. He recently landed a gig with Saks Fifth Avenue, applying his cheeky socialist aesthetic to a high end retailer, even while America’s economic climate teeters on the brink of class warfare.

Issues of fair use and Obama merchandise aside, it’s distressing that The Daily Show, and indeed much of Obama’s liberal base has been largely silent on recent developments in his foreign policy. Would liberals really sit still while a President McCain deepened the occupation of Afghanistan or displaced half a million people in Pakistan through bombing raids? And what if McCain had maintained the Justice Department’s stonewalling on the rights of detainees and investigating warrantless wiretaps? In short, when are we going to set aside the hero worship and the “hope” rhetoric and push Obama to roll back the rightward shift in American politics? The campaign is over. Obey, indeed.