All of you YouTube addicts out there are probably familiar with many of the "absoludicrous"* found video clips from Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett's touring Found Footage Festival (*Mr. T makes an appearance in the "Celebrities Who Teach" series). The critically-acclaimed event will be in San Francisco tonight and tomorrow night at the Roxie Red Vic at 7:15 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. and this Sunday at the Parkway in Oakland for a 5 p.m. matinee. Every screening features Nick and Joe's live, in-person commentary. If you can't make it to the live show, you have the option to buy the Found Footage Festival Vol. 2 DVD, which features Nick and Joe's commentary and the live audience laugh track from a screening at The Heights Theater in Minnesota. Note: This event has very adult content. There is a clip at the end that will shock, titillate, and stun -- shall we say, "flopping, full frontal?"

The most famous clips from the festival are probably the "world's angriest RV salesman" Jack Rebney (not suitable for work unless you have headphones) and New York cable access talent show from the '80s "Stairway to Stardom". The most endearing character from the festival has to be Harvey Sid Fisher performing his "Astrology Songs." Harvey Sid Fisher makes a live appearance on the festival's DVD, and we are pleased to know that he is a Sagittarian, just like this blogger.

As far as what clip is the most disturbing -- that one's a toss-up. The E-Z Catch chicken harvester will be sure to have you saying no to industrialized farming for good, if you haven't already. The "climax" of the instructional video, "How to Seduce Women Through Hypnosis" and Alan Thicke's PSA where he pairs up with He-Man's Orko to talk to kids about divorce are pretty disturbing as well. Oh, and there's the instructional "face exercise" video that features a mask that resembles the "Carver" from F/X thriller Nip/Tuck.

But we would have to say the clip we found most unsettling was the one entitled "Queen's Home Video," which was found by Nick and his girlfriend on a tape inside a camcorder at an estate sale in Queens, New York. It starts off with a 40-something woman with '80s bleached-blond, stacked bangs flipping off the camera, then cuts to large person in shadows wearing silver lamé and dancing to "Phantom of the Opera," which transitions to a half-naked elderly man in a similar metallic lamé outfit drunkenly stumbling/dancing to "Phantom," and ends with a house being demolished while the camera person argues with one of the construction people about whether he should be allowed to film.

The wonderfully edited Fest ends with wonderfully weird and corny exercise/self-help videos by characters such as Pat Boone, "The Dancin' Grannies," new-age O.J. Simpson, [stoned] rapper Marky-Mark Walberg, perverted sleazeball bodybuilder Arnold Swarchenegger, and a fleet of tall, dark, and flaccid naked men, a sight that rivals the Hayes Hill on the morning of Bay to Breakers (NSFW).

Found Footage Festival | The Roxie The Red Vic: Fri, 10/5 through Sat, 10/6 7:15 & 9:15 p.m., $8.50 | The Parkway: Sun, 10/7 matinee, 5 p.m., $8 | Buy the DVD | Add them on MySpace!

Seattlest notes the anniversary of the Mount St. Helens eruption, the grounding of a local cruise ship in Alaska and the return of the Blue Angels. Land, sea and air being covered they turn their sites on a nearby resort town and the prickly problem of vague set times at a rock club.

Sampaist had a busy time trying to decide whether to support or not the invasion of the São Paulo University dean's office by the students. Meanwhile, the "1st Whiskey Festival" brought them a very fun Scottish trio playing Brazilian music on the Scottish pipes. Watch
the video! Finally, they were amused to see the first-lady kissing her own hand when meeting the Pope in São Paulo. See the picture.

Like all Brits, Londonist loves two things: cups of tea and their pets. Uber-posh hotel Claridges has the perfect activity – afternoon tea for dogs. Unfortunately, the same place received several tonnes of horse manure from animal rights activists, for serving horse meat. In other dog news, top soccer manager Jose Mourinho almost had his Yorkshire terrier confiscated by police. Back to the rational world, and Londonist interviewed a bunch of urban ironers.

Phillyist discussed how to navigate a breaking circle, how to get happy, how to meet the parents, and how to leave an audience with something to think about.

Houstonist spent the week finding new euphemisms for self-love, considering the merits of slaughtering horses (no, that a euphemism), interviewing DJs and wondering why Houstonians can't handle parallel parking. Fortunately, they always have lovesick haiku to fall back on after a long week ...

Austinist wonders why a local TV network censored a tasteful nude t-shirt and welcomes the arrival of electric scooters to Texas. Two local scout troops broke the Guinness Book world record for most simultaneous rocket launches, and, not to be one-upped, Austin's historic Paramount Theatre seems hell-bent on setting another record for most classic film screenings in a summer. Austinist chats with The Clientele, and previews an exciting new photography retrospective debuting at the Austin Museum of Art.

Ahh, futility was the theme over at SFist. Their local Survivor contestant, Yau-Man, leaves the island. No good for either side of the bike debate comes from the meltdown Critical Mass had in Berkeley. Some folks want to dance on Falwell's grave; their efforts prove impotent as well. Are you a homeowner in San Francisco? The joke may well be on you. SFist got fussy about a San Diegan's claim of burrito superiority, yet their commentors, shamefully, seem to blow in SD's direction. A pro-war rally(?) involving chimps(!!) proves to be flaccid (small favors). Hopefully SFist's guide to a safe, sane Bay To Breakers will empower their readers to enjoy that event this Sunday!

This week Chicagoist announced their 3rd birthday party plans (awesome), dished about The Loop's party (not awesome), and confessed our undying love for meat and this local meat market. They also discussed the big faux paux on the logo designed by for the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid and whether local girl, Jaslene, was too drag queenish to win America's Next Top Model.

DCist felt a lot of forward momentum this week, starting off by rolling into work with city's annual Bike to Work Day. The D.C. Voting Rights Act moved forward with a hearing in the Senate, and the District's changing demographics kept on changing with predictions that the city would no longer be majority African American in the near future. They also noticed an increase in graffiti around town, and said goodbye the D.C. Madam scandal in favor of a new Dominatrix scandal.

Torontoist had a very musical week: they checked out the Arcade Fire, Amy Winehouse, the Silversun Pickups and Mando Diao. Though they might have the mumps, they're breathing easy over an escape monkey (!!!), gave their readers tips for a healthier BBQ, checked out a massive pillow fight downtown.

Gothamist wondered if you're ever too old or too stupid to tempt fate by trying to square off against youths convening under scaffolding. But if it ever gets into a fight, Gothamist would like this 11-year-old girl to be on our side, given she defended herself from a kidnapper and even helped capture him! The Big Apple blog also headed to College Point for some well-done burgers from Five Guys, interviewed John Flansburgh from They Might Be Giants, and visited a jewelbox of Modernist architecture under the Queensboro Bridge. And then there are the fears: Too many skyscrapers on the Far West Side and falling through sidewalk grating. At least there are the cool folks auditioning for the chance to perform in the NYC subway system to inspire them.

Shangahaiist ran hot AND cold. An artist caused a stir by living in a glass box in sexy lingerie and crotchless stockings. Shanghaiist also tried to visit Ice World before it melted, debated the chemical nature of maotais and rode the new bullet trains. But above all, Shanghaiist wants the animal torture to STOP.

And this week the best of Boston were making noises in Washington. Bostonist heard about Barney Frank and his arm injury about which he refused to dish details, Jim McGovern is eating for a week on food stamps, and Mitt Romney is still running for President. It almost seems relevant that zombies marched through Cambridge in the same week as cops were practicing their golf swings in Big Dig buildings. And when the rain forces Bostonist to do something other than watch baseball you're going to hear all about how the names of our players are oddly the names of local towns.

Photographs, from top: Graffiti from Pesky Humans/LAist; Poo at Claridge's from Dave Nicholls on Flickr/Londonist; censored shirt/Austinist (which has the uncensored version); the questionable Chicago Olympic bid logo; Prouve cottage in Queens, NY by Gideon Fink Shapiro/Gothamist

Hey, Folks, welcome to part two of our APE coverage. The Alternative Press Expo was this past weekend, and there was so much fun stuff we had to break our coverage into several tasty morsels. If you missed part one and want to read about some folks making with the funny, please feel free. In this post, we're focusing on some creators that combine a less obvious type of humor with some great art and a generally longer form of storytelling than the one-panel and gag-type creators.

Toshiko Kamiyama had a few mini-comics at her booth. She suggested we try Heru. It's about the cutest thing we've ever seen -- a little autobiographical tale about her unfortunate hairdo as a child growing up in Japan. The 'do', as described by one of her cruel classmates, looked like a "German Nazi Helmet," which eventually turned into her nickname: "Heru"-- short for "helmet" in Japanese. (Though some relief was expressed at the "Nazi" aspect of the jibe being phased out). You can pick up a copy of your own at Super 7 in Japan Town or Doublepunch in North Beach. It's charming and a very satisfying read that you can share with just about anyone.

We reconnected with old friend Shannon O'Leary of Pet Noir fame. In addition to the beautiful, glossy, bound copies of that anthology, she had a dialogue-free mini-comic that's a bit of a precursor to her upcoming project Crimes Against Shannon (hah!). She described it to us as her personal story of a year in which she was on the victim-end of several (thankfully not life-threatening) unfortunate events.

Shannon introduced us to her table-mates, Melanie Lewis (who we talked about in part one) and Damien Jay, a recent transplant to Berkeley from New York City. We asked him if the independent comic climate in the Big Apple was comparable to the one out here -- he plainly told us that there were similar challenges, namely paying rent. However, with all the publishing in NYC, there were more opportunities to land freelance stuff. He gave us a look at some of his projects, in particular a book with a highly unusual genesis--the cover is the one pictured below ("Leslie Overnight", after the jump), but his Web site calls it "Opolis," and describes it as "A comic made out of photographs of a 3-D comics-infused building that was part of a show at Flux Factory in Queens, NY." Very strange, very cool, and way above our head. We appreciate Mr. Jay's patience in chatting with us, though.

Breaking the law, breaking the law We -ist folks love us some crime, and no misdemeanor is too petty for a post on any of our sites. This week, join us for a rogues' gallery of miscreants major, minor, and alleged.

Gothamist gets us started with "Law & Order", muppet style. Oh, you know what isn't a crime? Taking pictures on the MTA. So, why are cops stopping photographers? In other Gotham crime, a group of Asian men was attacked by a group of white guys in Queens. Finally, Boy George reports for his court mandated community service. Sweet.

Londonist brings us the tale of poor Bob Hoskins, shaken at his near-miss with terrorists. Meanwhile, Interpol sweeps in to reclaim a lost Peruvian artifact. Then, there's the slasher who claims he got his weapon from President Bush. Ouch!

Phillyist's bus system, SEPTA, is fighting crime in a whole new way, and it would be a crime in and of itself for you not to read this story about Oreo the cat. Oh, and can we agree that requesting "Piano Man" at a piano bar should be illegal?

Torontoist's thorough coverage of the XVI International AIDS Conference, doesn't fit into the "crime" theme, but it's too great to pass up. But we're back on track with their post on bike rack vulnerability and an interview with a controversial crime fighter.

DCist brings us a murder that gets more mysterious by the day, and we're considering a life of crime ourselves, if it'll allow us to dine out like DCist. And if it's not illegal to sell soiled mattresses, it should be.

SFist muses on the negligent behavior of a public transit employee, covered the questionable confession of a man arrested for the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, and delineated the highway robbery that is the Bay Area real estate market.

Shanghaiist brings us this video of "one of the worst cover bands we have seen in China", which isn't illegal, but should be. We're unclear on the legal status of an "invisible monster cock", and we'd prefer to stay that way. Price gouging on drinks is a criminal act, in our opinion.

Chicagoist gets thrown in the hoosgow by readers who hate the Annual Air & Water Show. Should bottle service be illegal? Chicagoist's commenters debate that, too. And the criminally overdiscussed (and we say this even as we trotted this out as a theme last week) SOAP gets the Chicagoist commenter treatment, as well.

LAist exposes the questionable ethics of Accepted's marketing, tells us how to make the criminally tasty Moscow mule, and creates a criminal amount of garbage.

Houstonist blows us away with the announcement that they wear pantyhose. Someone call the fashion police! Houston's city council takes a bite out of shoddy newspaper rack crime. The only real criminals in Houston seem to be flying roaches. (No, not those kind.)

Those miscreants at Bostonist take their shot at our newest public enemy number one, Mel Gibson. Public enemy number two? Gold bricking spammers. Number three? Bad mergers.

Seattlest gets a photo of missing person Bettie Page, breaks some laws of their own by getting "drunk on clandestine vodka, and yell(ing) at passing cars." When is domestic violence kinda understandable? Now.

Austinist's lovable rogues tell us about issues in their state's gubernatorial race, eagerly anticipate the arrival of the criminally hilarious Onion, and bemoan the firing of a teacher who committed the crime of (gasp!) partial nudity.

Links compiled by SFist Eve "Diversion Program Success Story" Batey