If your interests include interesting movies and Arizona beer, life has gotten a little bit better now that Casa Video has added a growler-filling station complete with three Arizona beers to choose from. Bring in your glass, stainless steel or ceramic properly-labeled jug and take home some of the state's finest craft beer with your copy of Hot Rod*.

* You can rent something other than Hot Rod, but if you haven't seen it, it's a lot of fun. They've got a lot of movies that don't star Andy Samberg as well.

[Craft Tucson FB page]

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Chiapas, Mexico – Their everyday presence is almost unnoticeable in this picturesque tourist destination they took over in an armed revolution 20 years ago.

But the Zapatista movement endures quietly, nonviolently and defiantly outside of the big city in five zones they call “caracoles” – snails – symbolic of a desire to move slowly in the face of technological change and globalization.

“We’re thinking of our future, of our kids,” said a member of Caracol Morelia’s nine-person Council of Good Governance that collectively makes decisions for the communities they serve. “They say we lack development, but we have our own way – walking forward.”

The concept of walking forward slowly, step by step, is one of the Zapatistas’ main tenets. Things take time. They’re willing to wait.

More than 70 percent of Chiapas’ residents still live in poverty, according to Mexico’s National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy, and nearly 40 percent of the state’s indigenous people cannot read or write, according to the International Service for Peace, a Chiapas-based nonprofit. Those figures haven’t changed much since the revolution started on Jan. 1, 1994.

The Zapatistas may not have achieved many of the lofty separatist goals they had when they rebelled against the Mexican government, although they do operate autonomous governments and schools. But they have prevailed where other revolutionary movements have failed, surviving and thriving as an iconic symbol of left-leaning activists throughout the world.

“They have succeeded in not being killed and not being targeted for elimination, and they have found some kind of a peace with the Mexican state,” said David Shirk, a global fellow for the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a Washington, D.C.-based global policy and research think tank. “They have been able to hold their ground. They wouldn’t be able to do it without the tremendous visibility they achieved early on.”

A large part of that visibility was due to the Zapatista’s iconoclastic leader, a pipe-puffing, black ski-mask-clad intellectual known as Subcomandante Marcos. On May 25, 2014, Marcos emerged from seclusion to announce that he was stepping down as the movement’s spokesman.

But in typical enigmatic style, he also said he was taking a new nom de guerre, Subcomandante Galeano, in honor of a Zapatista activist killed in the latest of sporadic attacks by paramilitary groups.

The activist, Jose Luis Solis Lopez, a teacher at a Zapatista school who had called himself Galeano, was slain May 2 after members of paramilitary groups attacked him and others at Caracol La Realidad, according to La Jornada, the Mexico City newspaper. They reportedly ambushed three vehicles that Zapatistas were traveling in, injuring at least 13 others.

“We think that one of us must die so that Galeano can live. So death does not take a life but a name,” Marcos said in a communique broadcast on Radio Zapatista – leading some to speculate he may continue a leadership role but under a new name.

The Chiapas government said it would investigate the killing, the result of rising tensions over whether to allow government benefits into their communities, according to La Jornada. The Zapatistas generally have shunned accepting government resources.

I hope you're hungry for locally sourced food and booze. Kevin Fink and Edible Baja Arizona are hosting the second annual Seed & Sow dinner this Wednesday, Aug. 13 and Thursday, Aug. 14 at Zona 78, 7301 E. Tanque Verde Road. 

Paul Leathers, Zona 78 Manager of the Tanque Verde location, says he and the staff have been preparing for this event all year. All the ingredients have been locally-sourced from farm-to-table for this two-day dining event. "For the past couple of years, we have been becoming more conscientiousness about ordering locally," Leathers said. 

Leathers said Zona 78's menu contains more locally sourced food thanks to popular demand and the always increasing farmers market boom.

With ingredients from Five Sons Farm, Walking J Farm, Sleeping Frog Farms, Hayden Flour Mills, Fiore di Capra, Ten Fifty-Five Brewing, Whiskey Del Bac by Hamilton Distillers, Iron John's Brewing Company, E & R Pork, and more.

Entreés run from $10 to $28. There's a five course dinner for $60. The dinner starts at 5 and ends at 10 p.m. Click here to see the entire menu, and call 296-7878 to schedule your reservations. Go here to RSVP on Facebook.

KRON 4 has reported that Robin Williams passed away on Monday. The legendary actor, voice actor and comedian was found dead inside his residence in Tiburon, CA. Investigators suspect that Williams committed suicide, but the investigation is ongoing. 

From KRON:

An investigation into the cause, manner, and circumstances of the death is currently underway by the Investigations and Coroner Divisions of the Sheriff’s Office, officials said.

A forensic examination is currently scheduled for August 12, 2014 with subsequent toxicology testing to be conducted.

On July 1, Williams visited the 12-step program at a Minnesota facility to recharge after more than 18 straight months of work, according to his publicist.

Mara Buxbaum said Williams was “taking the opportunity to fine-tune and focus on his continued commitment, of which he remains extremely proud.”

Williams has been open about the challenges of maintaining sobriety. He sought treatment in 2006 when he relapsed and returned to drinking after 20 years.

Theodore Roosevelt once said "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." I think Republican Congressional candidate Gary Kiehne took that quote a bit too seriously. Reddit users got a hold of Kiehne's latest flyer for his campaign, and the horse steals the show. Did Kiehne just not see the giant horse penis in the background, or is he trying to tell us something? 

Regardless, it's obvious that Kiehne isn't dicking around.

It's always tricky to opine on topical matters and hope that nothing changes before your words see print—a lesson the conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg learned the hard way last week, when a column criticizing President Barack Obama for failing to act to stop an impending massacre of Kurds in Iraq went online last Thursday shortly after Obama announced the start of a bombing campaign against the fundamentalist ISIS (or is it ISIL?) forces.

New York magazine's Jonathan Chait had some fun tweaking Goldberg for his column:

The column builds to this indignant conclusion:

You have to give Obama points for consistency. He remains as blasé about mass slaughter today as he was in 2007. Back then he presented our options as a choice between doing nothing and “deploying unilaterally” to put American troops in harm’s way. He plays the same rhetorical games today, insisting that critics who want to provide military aid to, say, the Kurds or the Ukrainians are really proposing war. And since no one wants war, we should accept our new role as bystander to slaughter.

It’s quite a legacy you’re working on there, Mr. President.

Fortunately for the Yazidi, but unfortunately for Goldberg, Obama announced a plan to aid the Yazidi and launch air strikes against ISIL last night at 9:30, two and a half hours before the the column appeared.

Even more amusing, the Arizona Daily Star went ahead and posted Goldberg's column—under the headline "Obama consistent in indifference to slaughter"—a full day after the bombing began, at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

Hmmm. Maybe it would have been a good idea to substitute something else, given the actual situation on the ground? Or is that plan to replace the editors at the Star with robots that have no ability to discern whether something is still relevant already underway?

We don't condone violence, so don't get any funny ideas. I found this obscure fight on Reddit, and I was bit underwhelmed until the one-minute mark. I don't know who won this match, but the video is titled "The coolest fight in the world" for a reason. 

Yo-Yo is one of the very few sports that Americans have stolen, and damn near perfected it. Take 18-year-old Gentry Stein from Chico, CA., for example. He won the 2014 World Yo-Yo Championship over the weekend. No one — not even Japanese world Champ Takeshi Matsuura — could handle the heat Stein was dishing out. 

Check out his Stein's performance, but I suggest you mute the audio, and play music of your choice. Unless you like video game-dubstep:


Thanks for making us proud, son.

Robert E. Cole, 56, was struck by a train near North Seventh Avenue and East Seventh Street early Friday morning, according to a press release from Tucson Police. Officers from Operations Division Downtown arrived at the intersection around 5:26 a.m., and discovered that Cole deceased at the scene. Detectives from the Traffic Investigations unit have determined that Cole was crossing the railroad tracks and was hit by the westbound train. The next of kin have been notified, according to TPD.

This is the second fatality near this train crossing intersection in two months. 25-year-old man was hit on Wednesday, July 10. Hopefully, someone at the City or DOT notices and makes some changes to stop this from happening. 

The Humane Society of Southern Arizona presents Oddie, a 5-year-old, male, Shar Pei Mix 
Reference no.: 787395 

Oddie is so excited about life – and eager to start a new one in a forever home! This fantastic boy was left behind in an apartment when his guardian moved out. Thankfully, the roommate made sure Oddie would have the second chance he deserved and brought him to the HSSA. This adaptable dog has a wonderful attitude and doesn’t let life’s curve balls get him down. With the perfect amount of energy, Oddie is equally happy going for a hike or relaxing on the couch with friends. Oddie is house trained and very well mannered. Plus, he gets along great with everyone he meets. When Oddie first arrived at the HSSA, he had a bit of a limp that was later discovered to be caused by Valley Fever. This means that Oddie will need medication to manage his Valley Fever and appropriate vet care to monitor his progress. It’s a small price to pay for the devotion of such a loyal and loving companion. Could you offer Oddie the care and commitment he needs? You’ll be rewarded every day with a wagging tail of gratitude!