Every Friday, Ben brings you SD&IF’s weekend space filler With Us / Against Us. Prepare to be torn down, then gloriously uplifted!

The weather in Minneapolis is currently at ‘Fucking Shitty,’ so I don’t have the heart to hunt down too many depressing “Against Us” stories. Go listen to The Cure if you want to despair about our stupid world.

Against Us

If you needed a New York Times profile to tell you that Robert Downey Jr. is crazy, well then…you’re crazy too. Start stocking up on white Chucks because one simply caahhhn’t be seen with footwear that clashes with one’s lovely restraint jacket. The lesson here? Don’t eat paint chips off your Iron Man suit or you may begin to inexplicably claim that jail will turn ya conservative.

With Us

G4’s Attack of the Show celebrated Sunday’s underground holiday with a two-hour special dedicated to nothing but ganj lore and info. They even filmed the whole thing in Jamaica, despite the fact that weed is totally illegal there too, man. Highlights included a revealing feature on the guys with the most plausible claim to the legacy of ‘420′ and enough awesome bikini shots of foxy host Olivia Munn to keep me interested through two hours of random bud minutia. It’s not available online yet, but stay tuned—I’ve no doubt that it’ll be re-run and make its way to YouTube.

10 years ago, Fred Armisen was completely unknown, not yet recognized for his love of yazz flute. He was, however, a wacky, seemingly bored drummer (this is actually reduntdant—all drummers are inherently bored, especially with YOUR uninspired guitar work) in a punk band that was playing at South by Southwest. Thankfully, he conquered his boredom by conducting a series of comic interviews with (mostly) unsuspecting SXSW attendees, stumbling upon a new career in the process.

A University of Buffalo art professor has been officially certified “Not A Terrorist” after a four-year federal investigation into his use of bacteria for an offbeat installation. My thoughts on this are as follows: 1) This situation is entirely ridiculous. 2) I’m tempted to compile a bunch of legal phrases like “insufficient on its face” that could sound really dirty out of context. I bet there are a lot. That collection would make a good coffee table book. 3) If this were my strange debacle, I would make sure to request government-issued “Not A Terrorist” card, or something—just in case.

How does Black Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach find his sweeeet vintage gear? Why, he scrounges two-bit shops and haggles with snooty music store clerks, JUST LIKE US. Thrill as Dan tests random pedals and plays the blues on what appears to be a guit-alaika!