On last night's AZ Illustrated Politics: Host Jim Nintzel, Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Lea Marquez-Peterson, former state lawmaker Frank Antenori and former Pima County Democratic Party chairman Jeff Rogers talked about Steve King's assertion that many of the DREAM Act kids are actually drug mules; the arrest of nine DREAMers at the border this week; John McCain's latest moves to the middle; the rejection of a petition drive to ban photo-radar traffic enforcement; the new court challenge to a proposed initiative to scrap the city's pension system; and more.

The travel budget here at Weekly World Central isn't what it is at other media outlets. We can't afford to send a reporter, let alone two, to Culver City to spend the day following around Arizona's and other schools' coaches, player reps and media relations flaks for mostly canned responses to the usual questions.

So that means, in order to provide our readers with the kind of comprehensive UA coverage they so desire, that meant spending the day monitoring the Twitter feeds, live streams and various Web pages of those from Tucson who were able to make the trip to the Sony Pictures studios for a day of pomp and circumstance. Which, apparently, included a luncheon of spaghetti and potato salad.

Not much of any substance came out of the day, from what I've seen/heard/read. Arizona has been picked by conference media members to finish fourth in the Pac-12 South Division, behind (in order) UCLA, ASU and USC and head of Utah and Colorado. Which means, if things go as predicted, the Wildcats could get either the sixth or seventh bowl slot from the league, meaning a late December road trip to either ... Las Vegas or Tempe, home of the (!!!) Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.

Other bon-mots culled from the interwebs:

* RichRod does good banter. Whether it's from the podium, in one-on-one interviews or swarmed by beat writers and TV guys watching him eat, Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez is engaging. He didn't hesitate one bit when, after being asked a Twitter-fed question from an ASU fan how much the loss to the Sun Devils still weighed on the minds of his players, simply stating "none." Followed a few moments later by "next question."

* Ka'Deem isn't ready for prime time. Beat writers noted that RichRod probably wouldn't have brought Ka'Deem Carey along for Media Day (instead, seniors Jake Fischer and Terrence Miller were the Wildcat reps) even if he hadn't gotten in a mess of trouble during the offseason. Apparently, RichRod doesn't think Carey wouldn't been the best fit for a massive nationwide marketing campaign, such as would be the case with the nation's leading rusher and a viable Heisman Trophy candidate.

* Brace yourselves for more mini-movies. Expect 'Hard Edge III,' the third installment of UA football's Western-themed cinematic shorts, to hit YouTube soon. It could include ... outtakes. If that means a Harlem Shake, I may have to ask for a refund on my season tickets.

As hard as it is to believe, current Late Night host and future Tonight Show host, Jimmy Fallon isn't the only person to constantly laugh at his fellow cast members on camera on a show that features some of the funniest comic actors of the day.

No, a number of Saturday Night Live's actors, great (Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman) and mediocre (Fallon, Adam Sandler) alike broke character on camera — and occasionally, it actually kind of adds to the humor, as Slacktory shows in the video they put together below.

Vine, the Twitter-built social media platform that's taken the world by storm (at least until Instagram video became a thing), is a great source for all sorts of weird, goofy, interesting short video clips.

And then, there's the fun bit of horror known as the #SmackCam trend, which seems to involve hitting people upside the damn head and laughing about it.

Jezebel has more:

According to his Vine profile, Aaron VanDeventer is an 18-year-old senior from Grand Ledge, Michigan who enjoys track and thinks it's hilarious to slap little girls in the face until they cry. A video he posted of two assholes harassing a tearful girl has been been retweeted 625 times and counting on @VineLoop, "The Official account for the YouTube channel FunnyVines!"

Vines of boys hitting girls are instant #SmackCam hits; here's a video of a guy violently slamming a girl on the head with heavy jug. She appears to be so stunned that she falls over.

You don't need to wonder what your 8th grade sleepover parties would've been like if the grade's Queen Bee had Vine; just check out these two videos. This school bus #SmackCam is like something out of a warped John Hughes movie.

Don't mind me while I lose objectivity here, because what the fuck is this?

I get that people have played terrible pranks on each other in the past, and that being a dickhead isn't a new thing and isn't simply a millennial thing, but this simply defies comprehension, honestly.

Interestingly, and unsurprisingly, it appears to be mostly done by a bunch of dickish bros that are hitting each other (With shaving cream! With powder! With ice!) because smacking your friends in the face is hilarious. Basically, it's actually something more terrible than the "bros icing bros" trend, because you only have to drink Smirnoff Ice if you get "iced."

So, remember the Cheerios ad that got racists all frothy over the idea that a large corporation was trying to force interracial couplings down the throat of this country that has fought so long to segregate the population? (It's here, if you don't remember. We'll wait for those who are unfamiliar while they watch it.)

(Everyone good? OK.)

Well, here's a response to that wonderful bit of hyper-insanity, featuring a twist that is absolutely high-five worthy.

Seriously. Eat it, haters.

Apparently the leaders of those cheese-eating surrender monkeys over on the other side of the Atlantic have had trouble taking criticism in the past, and at some point in their history made it an offense to insult them.

Well, no more! From the Daily Mail:

In the interests of free speech, MPs revoked legislation dating back to 1881 when anything judged to have ‘offended the head of state’ risked an automatic fine.

The change followed the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling in March that France violated a demonstrator’s right to freedom of expression when he referred to Nicolas Sarkozy as a ‘jerk’.

Mr Sarkozy, the notoriously aggressive 5ft 5ins conservative, became the butt of numerous jokes during his five years in office, which ended last year.

But when a demonstrator held up a placard reading ‘Get Lost Jerk’ at a Sarkozy meeting in western France in 2008, he received a criminal conviction and a fine of around 25 pounds.

This was despite exactly the same expression being used by Sarkozy himself months earlier while he was attending an agricultural show in Paris.

Last year ECHR deemed the punishment handed down to Sarkozy’s tormentor as being disproportionate and a violation of freedom of expression, as the act was a ‘satirical remark.’

The ECHR acknowledged that the insult constituted ‘criticism of a political nature’ for which ‘freedom of expression was of the highest importance.’

Way to grow a sense of humor and a backbone, French politicians.

I mean, I still hold firm that the best thing about France is that it was the setting for that cute Pixar film with the rat cooking, but this is a marked improvement.

The work of Rembert Browne is one of the highlights of the ESPN-funded home of overly-long writing Grantland, and somehow he's managed to convince whoever's paying for things over there to fund a summer long roadtrip in search of America, which included a trip to Bisbee. The entire article is strange and amazing (just like Bisbee, I guess), but most of it centers around golf-course-manager/local-celebrity Pete Campbell:

Pete Campbell was not from Bisbee, but you wouldn't know it being in his presence. The way he described it, when he moved here over 15 years ago from Santa Fe (originally from New York), he had to earn his way into the fabric of the community, not because it was elitist in any way, but because everyone knew everyone. But now, after paying his dues, with a wife and three children, and serving as the general manager of the Turquoise Valley Golf Course in the neighboring town, he straddles this line of town historian, unofficial mayor, consummate free spirit, and life of the party.

But then again, maybe everyone straddles that line in Bisbee.

After finishing our pizza, he suggested we go back to the hotel, but then suddenly had an epiphany and asked if we wanted a quick tour of Bisbee.

We'd gotten this far on the suggestions of Pete Campbell — why not take it a little further? So we hopped into his pickup truck, and before I could close the back, he put the car in drive.

"Hey, can I put the back up?" I ask, suddenly fearing for my safety.

"You don't have to, man," Pete fired back.

"Yeah, but — can I?" I whimper. "Sure," he responds, and then as soon as we're "safely" situated in the bed, he shoots up a hill.

The steepest hill.

The look my friend and I gave one another, as Pete whipped around corners in the dark, bopping his head to zero music as if he were in a jam band, said, more or less, "Our moms told us not to trust crazy white people, what have we done, how do we get out, we're gonna die."

As we shot up a narrow street that his truck could barely fit through, Pete looked back and said, "OK, so this is a two-way street. I swear to God it's a two-way street."

We responded with nervous laughter from the trunk's bed. "Seems unsafe," I add.

"Yes, very unsafe," he replied back, as we came around a ridge above what looked like a 100-foot drop.

"My son takes piano lessons up this street," Pete added.

"Is he any good?" I asked, assuming he'd say something ridiculous in response.

"He's a fucking genius. He's my son."

Pete Campbell might want to start offering his own tours of Bisbee as a side gig. Could be lucrative.

In what appears to be a recurring series of reposting weird want-ads from Craigslist, we've got the latest interesting idea from a few gentlemen (we assume) who want to pay a young lady to be a nude mermaid.


Now, nothing against their atrocious spelling (although they misspelled "valley" for God's sake), but it seems like it takes a hell of an interesting personality set to think "y'know, there's got to be some woman out there willing to be paid to jump into a pool naked in front of a group of guys."

My thinking, of course:

1.) Is this a front for a calendar shoot? A porn shoot? Something potentially worse?
2.) How many times must one jump into this pool? Once? Twice? I'd say it probably wouldn't be worth it to drive to Oro Valley from UA just for a nude cannonball, even if it is for pay.
3.) Is pay commensurate with how naked one must get? And on that note, what if a lady is more physically gifted up top, and doesn't wish to get bottomless? Is there a cup size kicker?

Really, I could go on all day. But if you or anyone you know takes (or took, considering this was posted yesterday), would you mind dropping us a line to hear about your experience? There's something fascinatingly weird (or weirdly fascinating) about this whole situation.

This Saturday, July 27, No Kill Pima County will be hosting "Fosters to the Rescue," which will bring together 22 local animal rescues to meet with the public and provide information about their foster care programs.

NKPC, a grassroots organization formed to seek more non-lethal outcomes at the Pima Animal Care Center, notes that only 51% of the dogs and cats that came to the Pima Animal Care Center left alive, while more than 11,000 died. They want to change that, giving Tucsonans the opportunity to learn about what’s involved regarding foster care and find out if volunteering to take care of a dog or cat until adopted is something for them.

Fosters to the Rescue will be held at Windmill Inn Suites at St. Philip’s Plaza, 4250 N. Campbell Avenue from 6 to 8 p.m. They also plan to offer refreshments, raffle prizes and silent auction items, and show pets available for adoption or fostering.

For more information, visit the No Killl Pima County website.

In what's one of the coolest bits of news coming out of Tucson's beer scene, the quickly-growing and widely renowned Dragoon Brewing Company is set to partner with New Belgium Brewing Company in a collaborative effort set to launch in late September.

According to Tristan White of Dragoon, the collaboration was something that was completely out of the blue — and by his telling, something that they were skeptical of actually happening.

"I was just getting off of my shift [at Dragoon's tap room], so I was tired and about to head home when this guy walks up to me and says he's from a brewery. Now, we get this all the time, someone coming and saying that they're from a place, usually something small I haven't heard of...but he starts asking all these really interesting questions and complimenting us on the beer, so I ask 'Wait, what brewery did you say you were with again?'"

Ben Rutlidge is who White spoke to that day, a brewer with New Belgium who happened to be in Tucson visiting breweries with his brother-in-law.

"When I walked in [to Dragoon] I was just blown away — not just by the number of styles they had, but also at the quality of the beer," Rutlidge said.

"So he said to us 'Maybe when I get back to Colorado [where New Belgium is based, out of Fort Collins] I'll see if we can collaborate,'" White said. "I thought 'pfft, right' — then he calls us two weeks later, and we were like 'oh my gosh!'"

This is the second time that New Belgium has gone on the road to another brewery to collaborate on a beer, and it holds a special, local significance to both Rutlidge and Rhonda Kendrick, New Belgium's brewery representative for Southern Arizona.

"For us, I think it's showing our appreciation of local beer and grassroots companies and how they start," Kendrick said. "I think the perception is that large breweries are going to come in and take over, and that local breweries are going away, and I want us to squash that perception. We're people, we have families and we live in the places that we sell beer," she said.

Rutlidge agrees. "For me, I'm proud to be doing this because Tucson's become my second home — it's an amazing region. I think not enough people know what an awesome city it is here."

White didn't hold back: "It's a freaking honor," he said, later noting how incredible it is that a brewery that's considered one of the Big Three of the craft beer world is "trusting [Dragoon] with their name."

While a press release announcing the beer has the style under wraps, Rutlidge and White informed me that the aim is to create a hoppy, German-style lager that's "darker than a pale ale, but not as dark as an amber ale," according to White. The philosophy, according to White and Rutlidge, was to create something that reflects the new-meets-old aspect of their collaboration.

As such, the plan is for the beer to take the old, trusted lager style and change it up by using ingredients that are growing in popularity, such as midnight wheat, and citra and french aramis hops, an aspect of the collaboration with New Belgium that Dragoon appreciates, as the older brewery has contacts and a reputation within the industry that allows for them to get new and interesting ingredients as soon as they're available. "They have access to all this awesome stuff, which is one of the biggest benefits to working with them. We had to buy it, of course, but still," White laughs.

"We wanted to make something that would fit in well at the end of September in Tucson," Rutlidge said. "When it's hot, or when you're out golfing, you don't want to be drinking something heavy, like an IPA."

"We asked ourselves, do we want to do something really big? Something simple? Something esoteric? ... we decided to make something sessionable [around or below 5% alcohol by volume] that's highly drinkable," White said. "I don't want to have to think constantly about how to put more and more weird stuff in our beer — I just want to think about how we can make beers people will want to drink."

The beer, which has yet to be named (something that White joked is "totally [Dragoon's] style — we never name beers until they're about to go into the keg"), will begin brewing at Dragoon on Aug. 2, when Rutlidge will come down to get working with White and Dragoon's brewer, Eric Greene. After the brewing and lagering processes finish, the plan is to launch the beer at the Great Tucson Beer Festival, on Sept. 28. From there, the beer will be sold at a number of locations in Tucson, as well as a few in Phoenix and at the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins.

Keep watch on the Facebook pages for both Dragoon Brewing and New Belgium Southern Arizona for more.