It’s a beautiful, balmy evening here in the east bay, but the mood in my neighborhood is uncharacteristically quiet, even somber. In a few hours, the California Supreme Court will publicly rule on the legality of this state’s ban on gay marriage. The tension is palpable.

In 2004, in a remarkable act of civil disobedience, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom allowed thousands of gay and lesbian couples to wed before the courts stepped in and disallowed the marriage licenses. Debate has been raging ever since, with civil rights activists and SF city officials challenging the state family code law that restricts marriage to a man and a woman, and a SF trial judge declaring the ban unconstitutional. In 2006, a conflicted appeals court upheld the ban, stating that it should be up to voters or legislators to legalize same-sex marriages, rather than judges.

Conservative interest groups and the state attorney general are defending the ban, and the justices have remained divided. It could go either way. Regardless of what happens at 10am, Pacific Standard Time, it’s going to be a historic day.

Fingers crossed, everyone.

EDIT (12:15pm, 03/15/08): WOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!

“Harajuku girls are the new Geisha” is the name of this Flickr set belonging to photographer Ajpscs . I’m only completely in love with the image above - usually heavy photoshopping is a huge turnoff or me, but here is makes a kind of strange sense.

In the context of Geisha, whose snow-white face paint amplified Japan’s desire for artificial, impossible beauty, the Harajuku denizens’ makeup echoes the same. The over-saturation and airbrushing almost highlight the flaws in application, damaged hair and imperfect skin, making these images all the more human.

Incandescence \In`can*des”cence\, n.
A white heat, or the glowing or luminous whiteness of a body caused by intense heat.

As promised, the Coilhouse crew recently headed downtown to document Lucent Dossier’s ongoing residency at the Edison. The sprawling Edwardian power plant-turned-nightclub was filled to the gills with a strange soup of carnies, stilt-walkers and Entourage types, and Lucent was in top form, performing continuously in various rooms to the delight and wonderment of all.

The Absinthe Fairy! Photo by Zoetica.

Zoetica managed to get some lovely shots of the action, as did Caroline over at the LAist. Incandescence occurs every other Wednesday night (including tomorrow night) for the foreseeable future. More photos and club info after the jump.

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White is the color of innocence, chastity, napkins and polar bears. It also happens to be one of the most difficult colors to photograph because it’s so easy to overexpose. I’ve recently noted that though I’m obsessed with the look of white-on-white in photography, somehow in my own four years of taking pictures I’ve failed to do a single shoot with this color concept. The realization led me to do some research. What follows is a top-10 list of my favorite white-on-white images, compiled as reference for a future photographic project and for you to enjoy. Feel free to post your own white-on-white finds in the comments.

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Waits hasn’t announced any new recordings. Bloggers are speculating that the tour is in support of actress Scarlett Johansson’s album of Tom Waits covers, which comes out later this month, and which I am about as likely to purchase as Chester Cheetah is to burst forth from my chest cavity in a scabby, florescent orange flood of processed cheese while singing “Jockey Full of Burbon”.

Tom Waits’ Glitter & Doom Summer Tour:

6/17 - Phoenix, AZ @ Orpheum
06/18 - Phoenix, AZ @ Orpheum
06/20 - El Paso, TX @ Plaza
06/22 - Houston, TX @ Jones Hall
06/23 - Dallas, TX @ Palladium
06/25 - Tulsa, OK @ Brady Theatre
06/26 - St. Louis, MO @ Fox Theatre
06/28 - Columbus, OH @ Ohio Theatre
06/29 - Knoxville, TN @ Civic Theatre
07/01 - Jacksonville, FL @ Times Union Center Moran Theatre
07/02 - Mobile, AL @ Saenger Theatre
07/03 - Birmingham, AL @ Alabama Theatre
07/05 - Atlanta, GA @ Fox Theatre

(Via Blood Money/Alice alumna, Carla K.)

And the song itself? Incredibly catchy, actually. The lyrics are decidedly girl-power much like in the rest of her repertoire - refreshing against the slew of saccharine pop sluts plaguing Russia’s airwaves. You watch now:

• Glukoza Nostra, where Glukoza wears a hot Matrix-inspired outfit and kicks ass with what is best described as Gunkata
• Sneg Idet [It’s Snowing], Where Glukosa gets melancholic, wears glowing boots and plays with her dog in the snow
• Nevesta [Bride], where Glukosa wears white, carries Katana blades and battles an evil dinosaur
• Nenaviju [I hate], where Glukoza is liberated by a breakup and floats along a Tokyo-inspired metropolis

Thanks to Jhonen McPiggensteen, possessor of all pig-related knowledge, for the link.

Whatever happened to the Avalanches’ follow-up album? Anyone know? According to their Wiki entry, the last word from the band came in early ‘07: “one day when you least expect it you’ll wake up and the sample fairy will have left it under your pillow.”

(Gracias, heRbIVoRe.)

Okay, so we’re a little late to the Green Porno party. But what we lack in punctuality we more than make up for in enthusiasm for these warped short films.

Isabella “Put Your Disease in Me” Rossellini outdoes herself (and actually does herself) in this eight-part series about the sex lives of various insects, arachnids and molluscs. Produced by Sundance expressly for smaller digital screens (computers, cell phones, etc) the whole series is just dirty, filthy, good clean fun. Try to imagine a Children’s Television Workshop-produced interpretation of that transcendently horrible pterodactyl pr0n and you’ll be somewhere in the ballpark. But not really.

(Thanks, Gooby!)

Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It’s for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things.

Think of it as Burning Man, minus the drugs, crabs and sandstorms. Well, obviously, it’s far more than that… but you will see many of the more gorgeous landmarks (and denizens) of Black Rock City there. Anyone else going? If so, keep an eye out for a short, raccoon-eyed chick in a either a WW II flight helmet, or antlers. I’ll be covering the event on CH later this month.

Also, midwest folks should be aware that a second Maker Faire will be held in Austin, TX later this year. Oct. 18th and 19th.

Answer: “Idhi Oka Idi Le!”

Just kidding. “Idhi Oka Idi Le” is merely the title of an exuberant duet between classic Tollywood stars Radha and Chiranjeevi. Actually, I have no idea what “Idhi Oka Idi Le” means. What I do know is that I’d rather eat a live centipede than watch the “Idhi Oka Idi Le” video while tripping.

Embedding’s been disabled on this, so make with the clickies (provided you’re not on any hallucinogenics right now).