Finally, a video on sex that's safe for work (although I suppose it depends on where you work) and educational, all because of the wonderful use of food to explain the differences between porn sex and real sex.

Legendary artist working in the sticker/notebook/school binder medium, Lisa Frank, is hiring a staff artist here in Tucson, so get the resume together, unemployed dreamers! Don't think they're just handing out magnificent careers over at the magic factory, however. The qualifications are rigorous, but what else would you expect from a company of this caliber:

Candidate must have:
5-10 years professional experience with proven ability in packaging design for children's products
Consumer products background (preferably toy, stationery, or cosmetics)
Fresh eye on current trends
Passion, creativity, and new ideas
Expert-level knowledge of Adobe Illustrator and PhotoShop (CS6)
Strong design and color sense, with understanding of balance and composition
Ability to create original art / graphics
Strong attention to detail and ability to follow precise instructions
Experience working in a high traffic / quick turnaround environment

BFA or equivalent degree preferred.
Fine art background/experience a huge plus!

In your face, everyone who says there aren't great jobs here in Tucson. We'll wait for your apology.

Keep in mind, this particular gig might not be all glamour and unbridled creative output, however, as noted by this Jezebel.com commenter from 2011:

Lisa Frank is pretty legendary in Tucson as being the shittiest, bitchiest, meanest boss to ever grace the planet earth. The general consensus is that she is a terrible person. I used to work across the street from her headquarters building and I worked with a former Lisa Frank employee who confessed that it was as bad in there as everyone had heard. It is like a rainbow colored gulag in there. I'd rather lop my tit off with a rusty butter knife than take a job at Lisa Frank.

If anyone applies, let me know. I'd assume the application process is somewhat similar to applying for the Art Instruction School.

Sen. John McCain sat down yesterday for a lengthy (for TV, anyway) interview with the PBS News Hour. As we noted in The Skinny last week, McCain appears to be moving back from right-wing fringe and back to the moderate middle.

Some highlights:

On immigration: "If we do not act on this issue, I think we are in fundamental agreement on one aspect of it, and that is you leave 11 million people in a limbo status in one respect, and you have de facto amnesty in the other respect, because you're not going to round up 11 million people and send them out of the country." Later in the interview, he says that if the GOP blocks immigration reform, "I see further polarization of the Hispanic voter and the demographics are clear that the Republican Party cannot win a national election."

On the debt-limit fight: "One of the reasons we have such low approval is Americans get tired of this brinksmanship, workers maybe getting laid off or the Grand Canyon being shut down, all of the consequences of this as we near the edge again. I believe we will reach an agreement. I don't know exactly how now."

On the idea of using the debt-limit to get rid of Obamacare: "I think it's a non-starter, clearly."

On the comeback of the "GOP moderate": I think there's a comeback among GOP senators who see the low approval ratings that we have, that see the disapproval and almost contempt that people hold us in because of our failure to act, and I think it's not so much moderate—some of the people who have been in these negotiations are the most conservative. It's not so much moderate as it is people who are results-oriented."

On the future of the GOP: "You can't just go to the electorate and say, 'We blocked everything that President Obama was trying to do.' I think you have to show them some positive results and some positive vision for the future."

McCain's comments about his relationship with President Barack Obama is worth watching.

In an effort to catch up a backlog of concert photos take by the delightful C. Elliott, here are images from several recent shows. If you managed to attend all of these, you are dedicated to music and have weird taste.

The timing of TV these days is a little weird. For some reason, it seems like a year or so since the Parks and Recreation season 5 finale (it was actually May 2) and season 6 isn't scheduled to start until September 26, so I've made adjustments to adapt to a summer without the show. Mad Men was still on until late June, there was Arrested Development and Orange Is the New Black on Netflix, plus the last season of Burn Notice. Busy times on the Gibson television, for sure.

Absence, even in the realm of episodic television, still makes the heart grow fonder eventually, and stumbling across the announcement of the Parks and Recreation trading card set. This is apparently an actual thing happening in the "Low- to Mid-End Entertainment Card" market, with parks of five cards providing pictures of the cast, images from the show and, if you're lucky, actual autographs from Rob Lowe, Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman and others. There is also foil involved, although I can't say I understand how that applies. 

I could just buy the whole box of cards, I guess, but I'd rather bask in the thrill of the luck of the draw, so my quest to collect all of these glossy pieces of printed paper that I've wanted forever even though I just heard about them BEGINS NOW.

Independent reporter John Dougherty of Investigative Media continues to examine what led to the deaths of 19 Prescott firefighters in the Yarnell Hill Fire:

Eric Marsh, the superintendent of the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew, violated wildfire safety protocols when he and 18 of his firefighters were killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30, Jerry Payne, the Arizona State Forestry Division deputy director, said Monday.

Marsh, 43, was given wide latitude to make tactical decisions in the field without first seeking permission from a superior because was operating as a “division supervisor” for several crews fighting the fire while remaining in the field with the Granite Mountain Hotshots, Payne said.

“He (Marsh) was the boss. He was the assigned division supervisor,” Payne said.

Payne said that once Marsh became a division supervisor, he delegated command of the hot shot crew to his captain, Jesse Steed. But Marsh remained with the crew, Payne said.Payne said it appears that Marsh violated several basic wildfire rules including not knowing the location of the fire, not having a spotter observing the fire and leading his crew through thick, unburned vegetation near a wildfire.

“The division supervisor broke those rules and put those people at risk,” Payne said.

Payne released Marsh’s name in response to a public records request filed by InvestigativeMedia seeking the names of all division supervisors, operations chiefs and incident commanders during the Yarnell Hill Fire. Payne said there was “some sensitivity” to releasing Marsh’s name as one of the division supervisors.

Read the entire story, as well as Dougherty's earlier dispatches, here.

As you probably saw in our print edition, Steve Seigel mentioned the forthcoming Night of the Living Fest in Soundbites this week:

As I said above, just as this is the final Bröötal Sun Fest, another festival's inaugural outing is being planned. Dubbed Night of the Living Festival, the one-day event is set to take place on Saturday, Nov. 2, which just happens to be the night before the All Souls Procession.

Why am I telling you about a festival that's happening two months from now? Because the organizers will be holding an Announcement Party at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 26, in the courtyard at Mercado San Agustin, 100 S. Avenida del Convento. The organizers will be showing their Kickstarter video (which is pretty damn funny), taking donations, selling tickets, and unveiling their website. Oh, and perhaps the most important part: 12 of the roughly 24 national and local acts performing will be announced. I've seen the list and it's pretty freakin' killer. Not to mention that there are still a dozen acts that I haven't heard about yet.

Well, the announcement party happened, and in case you weren't there or didn't watch the surreal/humorous ad for the Fest above, here's the lineup so far:

Acorn Bcorn, Bebe McPherson, Bob Log III, Deerhoof, Lenguas Largas, Lonesome Shack, Meat Puppets, Nobunny, Pork Torta, Ranch Ghost, Tweak Bird, Vox Humana.

A solid lineup and there are apparently another dozen bands or so to be announced. Tickets are on sale now, surprisingly starting at $25 at first, then eventually rising to $34. They're also doing some fundraising to help make the whole thing happen, check the website for more details.

Nice to have something new to look forward to. Should be a good night out.

• From the 7/29/13 episode of "The Late Show With David Letterman"

We can't embed the video because CBS hates blogs or something, but if you fast-forward to the 15:54 mark in last night's episode of The Late Show, Anna Mirocha's Police Dispatch from June 20 was featured. I feel like the previous story about someone shoplifting condoms and bacon stole our thunder a bit, but we take what we can get.

There's been a liquor license application in the queue recently for a place called Heist No. 43, located at 7131 E. Broadway (the former home of a Big Fat Greek Restaurant that always seemed busy, but you never know). The license application was under the name of a company that does that sort of thing, the corporation under the name of some guy in Phoenix who has a Google trail of a bunch of business names and not much else. So, while the information about what Heist No. 43 is actually going to be was out there somewhere, it wasn't immediately apparent.

Anyhow, a long story, but now we know a little more about the place. It's apparently a pizza place (the Facebook page, which went up on July 9, promises white truffle oil and Peroni on tap, for what that's worth, although I didn't know people liked Peroni that much) and it's the third Tucson restaurant from Aaron May (chicken-and-waffles joint May's Counter and house-of-massive-portions Lodge Sasquatch, being the first two). I was on Matt Russell's radio food show on Saturday and we interviewed May, who mentioned that he had two things in the works, a Tucson location of breakfast concept Over Easy and something else he wasn't ready to talk about yet. One of those concepts is scheduled to open before the end of the year...odds are that's Heist.

More info when we get it.

Arizona Congressman Trent Franks, who has a lot of say about any revamp of the Voting Rights Act after a Supreme Court decision gutted a key provision earlier this year, doesn't have much interest in revisiting the law, according to Talking Points Memo:

A recent House Judiciary Committee hearing made clear that Republicans have little to no interest in reconstituting the Voting Rights Act. Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-TX) opened by emphasizing that even after the Supreme Court’s decision, “other very important provisions of the Voting Rights Act remain in place.”

At issue is the Voting Rights Act’s now-invalid Section 4, the formula used to determine which state and local governments must receive federal pre-approval before changing their voting laws. It was last reauthorized in 2006 by a 98-0 margin in the Senate and 390-33 in the House. But for Republicans, there’s a huge difference between allowing the renewal of a historic law for racial equality, and going out their way to reconstitute it now that the Supreme Court has thrown out part of it.

“Historically I fully understand why they addressed the situations they did,” Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), chairman of the Judiciary Constitution and Civil Justice subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the issue, told reporters. “I am just of the opinion today that we should do as the court said and that is to not focus on punishing the past but on building a better future.”

MSNBC has more details and notes that Franks managed to work the abortion issue into the debate:

When Franks voted against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act in 2006, he was one of only 33 Republicans willing to do so. Now, most Republican legislators may agree with Franks. Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Franks insisted that didn’t mean he wasn’t committed to justice and equality.

“My goal has always been this notion of equal justice for all, I know sometimes I’m criticized quite often for having a commitment to trying to bring equal justice to the unborn child,” Franks, who once said abortion is worse for black Americans than slavery, said. “People say they say tomato, I say abortion.”