Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
you drunken shrew!
This small mammal can tank the equivalent of nine beers without even getting a buzz on. To me, that would be very frustrating, not to mention expensive. Thanks to Lilia for forwarding!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
sa vi(ll)e à vélo
This blog is the greatest invention since sliced bread, and the wheel!
For anyone passionate about bande dessinée and bikes! Great depiction of what tourists must think about cycling in SF (obviously she didn't pick up the bicycle city map.)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
more art i want to see
Into the Ether at the RayKo Photo Center.
From their website:
Come see this landmark West Coast exhibition featuring the work of 10 of the greatest contemporary collodion artists to ever coat a plate. Both ambrotypes (one-of-a-kind images made on glass) and ferrotypes, or tintypes (one-of-a-kind images made on thin metal plates) will be exhibited. The photographers come from a wide variety of backgrounds and pursue a wide range of subject matter, but they are united in their choice of process and their passion for this technique that renders some of the most exquisite photographs ever seen.
From their website:
Come see this landmark West Coast exhibition featuring the work of 10 of the greatest contemporary collodion artists to ever coat a plate. Both ambrotypes (one-of-a-kind images made on glass) and ferrotypes, or tintypes (one-of-a-kind images made on thin metal plates) will be exhibited. The photographers come from a wide variety of backgrounds and pursue a wide range of subject matter, but they are united in their choice of process and their passion for this technique that renders some of the most exquisite photographs ever seen.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
shorty take a bow
When I lived in Mississippi, I would often call in sick to work when I needed to take a mental health break, and that mental health break usually meant a five-and-a-half hour drive down the 55 to New Orleans to hear music, dance and drink in the streets. My favorite place to hear music was the Maple Leaf Bar in the Garden District. I remember getting off the street car at the Carrolton stop, and you could already hear the music and feel the vibe. Upon entering, everyone would be dancing, as there is no sitting and nodding your head to jazz allowed in the Big Easy. That city, in my memory, is synonymous with hot, sticky, sweaty late nights filled with electricity and good times.
This past weekend, I was taken straight back the Maple Leaf Bar right here at the Independent in NOPA. Trombone Shorty is a young jazz impresario hailing from New Orleans. On Saturday night, he rocked the house with one song leading straight into another, complete with originals as well as jazzy renditions of Snoop Dogg and AC/DC.
I had seen Trombone Shorty open for Allen Toussaint at Stern Grove two weeks ago, and fell in love then, but when you're as up close and personal as I was this past Saturday, boy oh boy, I wished I was 22 years old again! Here's the band, taking their bow.
Ironically, Trombone Shorty and the New Orleans Avenue were the opening band, but clearly it should have been the other way around on Saturday night. I had the chance to speak with the saxophonist (another youngster) after their set, and when I told him that they really needed to sell cd's at their shows, he asked me, "I don't understand why anyone would want to listen to US." My reply was, "Give yourself some credit!" These guys kick ass, and I highly recommend putting them on your wishlists and giving them as the gift of music to all your friends and family members!
This past weekend, I was taken straight back the Maple Leaf Bar right here at the Independent in NOPA. Trombone Shorty is a young jazz impresario hailing from New Orleans. On Saturday night, he rocked the house with one song leading straight into another, complete with originals as well as jazzy renditions of Snoop Dogg and AC/DC.
I had seen Trombone Shorty open for Allen Toussaint at Stern Grove two weeks ago, and fell in love then, but when you're as up close and personal as I was this past Saturday, boy oh boy, I wished I was 22 years old again! Here's the band, taking their bow.
Ironically, Trombone Shorty and the New Orleans Avenue were the opening band, but clearly it should have been the other way around on Saturday night. I had the chance to speak with the saxophonist (another youngster) after their set, and when I told him that they really needed to sell cd's at their shows, he asked me, "I don't understand why anyone would want to listen to US." My reply was, "Give yourself some credit!" These guys kick ass, and I highly recommend putting them on your wishlists and giving them as the gift of music to all your friends and family members!
Friday, July 18, 2008
epic!
I'll admit to the fact that this posting gives away my age, but check it out - Rush is on the Colbert Report!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
allez sarko!
Cet article me donne impatience d'aller en France en septembre!
"I know there's a view of Sarkozy as a Bonapartist Caligula, consumed with himself, brooking no dissent, petulant to the point of puerility, and governing in such perpetual motion that he will only see the wall he's condemned to hit when it's too late."
Trop classique!
"I know there's a view of Sarkozy as a Bonapartist Caligula, consumed with himself, brooking no dissent, petulant to the point of puerility, and governing in such perpetual motion that he will only see the wall he's condemned to hit when it's too late."
Trop classique!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
we're all mad here
I finally started watching Mad Men, the AMC series about an advertising agency on Madison Avenue during the 60s, an era when people smoked anywhere and everywhere, when women were in the workplace only to find a husband, and when it was standard practice to have a decanter of your favorite liquor on your desktop.
This series depicts the very time and setting in which my parents met. My dad was a creative director at McCann-Marshalk and my mom held a secretarial position in the traffic department. My mom seems to think that the show goes a bit overboard with the sexism, though she admits to having been hit on several times. Then again, she was apparently just waiting for the right guy to hit on her.
My own experience having grown up hanging out at Ogilvy and Mather's San Francisco branch (which then became Hal Riney and Partners), and not just hanging out at the office, but going on weekend ski trips with the whole gang and playing interminable tortuous games of charades (try The Gulag Archipelago, for instance... sounds like...?) tells me that in the 70s and 80s 1) it wasn't just the men that were mad, 2) the amount of alcohol consumed on the job depicted in the show is correct, and 3) the tradition of fooling around on the side with co-workers was maintained (but that's not saying much - this was San Francisco after all). The only obvious difference is that women were not only secretaries anymore, they were also account executives, accountants and a few were also copy writers. They also didn't have to get so dressed up for work. I don't hang out much at advertising agencies nowadays, so I can't comment on what the scene is currently like and if there are many female creative directors, or if a glass ceiling in that department still remains to be broken.
My mom commented that back in the day when she worked on Madison Avenue, she didn't feel like she was even at work, per se. It was just so much fun watching these all these crazy people playing pranks and trying to comically outdo each other that she just laughed all the time. Watching Mad Men reminds me of when I was a kid, and I used to observe this same madness unfolding before me, as all these creative superegos battled it out in charades, or verbal sparring matches, to prove to each other (or the women present) about who was the most clever of the bunch. To be very honest, it was entertaining to a certain point, but after a while I thought they all belonged in a nuthouse. Including my dad.
This series depicts the very time and setting in which my parents met. My dad was a creative director at McCann-Marshalk and my mom held a secretarial position in the traffic department. My mom seems to think that the show goes a bit overboard with the sexism, though she admits to having been hit on several times. Then again, she was apparently just waiting for the right guy to hit on her.
My own experience having grown up hanging out at Ogilvy and Mather's San Francisco branch (which then became Hal Riney and Partners), and not just hanging out at the office, but going on weekend ski trips with the whole gang and playing interminable tortuous games of charades (try The Gulag Archipelago, for instance... sounds like...?) tells me that in the 70s and 80s 1) it wasn't just the men that were mad, 2) the amount of alcohol consumed on the job depicted in the show is correct, and 3) the tradition of fooling around on the side with co-workers was maintained (but that's not saying much - this was San Francisco after all). The only obvious difference is that women were not only secretaries anymore, they were also account executives, accountants and a few were also copy writers. They also didn't have to get so dressed up for work. I don't hang out much at advertising agencies nowadays, so I can't comment on what the scene is currently like and if there are many female creative directors, or if a glass ceiling in that department still remains to be broken.
My mom commented that back in the day when she worked on Madison Avenue, she didn't feel like she was even at work, per se. It was just so much fun watching these all these crazy people playing pranks and trying to comically outdo each other that she just laughed all the time. Watching Mad Men reminds me of when I was a kid, and I used to observe this same madness unfolding before me, as all these creative superegos battled it out in charades, or verbal sparring matches, to prove to each other (or the women present) about who was the most clever of the bunch. To be very honest, it was entertaining to a certain point, but after a while I thought they all belonged in a nuthouse. Including my dad.
Friday, July 11, 2008
I may never be president, but HE never should have been
This just in from my friend Holly. Do your part!
Big news on the impeachment front again today. Rep. Kucinich again stood up for democracy this afternoon and proposed a single article of impeachment for leading this country to war. And finally, shockingly, not too little too late – Rep. Pelosi has said that the House Judiciary may hold hearings on the Kucinich Impeachment Resolution.
Now is the time to send your personal email to Rep. John Conyers Jr. who heads the Judiciary Committee and to your Representative. Ask them to call for impeachment in the name of democracy and world peace. Let the world see that we are not a war-mongering people, but a peace loving group who wants to get along with our neighbors all over the world. They manipulated the media to unify a call to war and they used the horrible tragedy of 9/11 as their battle call. For years the truth has been out that Iraq had nothing to do with this attack. So please, now is the time to set the record straight. This is not a game of politics. It is not about Democrats versus Republicans. It is about restoring and repairing our democracy.
Every day the current administration is in power, we are looking worse in the international eye – to see for yourself read the latest gaffe: George Bush surprised world leaders with a joke about his poor record on the environment as he left the G8 summit in Japan.
They are creating obstacles to a cleaner environment, they failed us during times of natural disaster, they led us to war and threaten another one with Iran, they are not doing enough to create alternative energies and earning outrageous amounts on the oil and war profiteering companies they are in cahoots with, they are doing everything they can to upset fair and just elections, our health care system needs a huge overhaul, we have been illegally wiretapped (and now our senate gave them a get out of jail free card) and we handed over our civil liberties in fear of our safety. Without civil liberties we have no democracy to be proud of and to fight for.
A change in leadership in November is not enough. This is a much bigger, more important issue of standing up for what should make this country a great place to live in by knowing that we have the oversight in place when crimes have been committed against the American people by an administration. We all need to do our part to make this the country we want to live in.
Please take a moment to write your letters if you care about any of this today:
Rep. John Conyers.
Big news on the impeachment front again today. Rep. Kucinich again stood up for democracy this afternoon and proposed a single article of impeachment for leading this country to war. And finally, shockingly, not too little too late – Rep. Pelosi has said that the House Judiciary may hold hearings on the Kucinich Impeachment Resolution.
Now is the time to send your personal email to Rep. John Conyers Jr. who heads the Judiciary Committee and to your Representative. Ask them to call for impeachment in the name of democracy and world peace. Let the world see that we are not a war-mongering people, but a peace loving group who wants to get along with our neighbors all over the world. They manipulated the media to unify a call to war and they used the horrible tragedy of 9/11 as their battle call. For years the truth has been out that Iraq had nothing to do with this attack. So please, now is the time to set the record straight. This is not a game of politics. It is not about Democrats versus Republicans. It is about restoring and repairing our democracy.
Every day the current administration is in power, we are looking worse in the international eye – to see for yourself read the latest gaffe: George Bush surprised world leaders with a joke about his poor record on the environment as he left the G8 summit in Japan.
They are creating obstacles to a cleaner environment, they failed us during times of natural disaster, they led us to war and threaten another one with Iran, they are not doing enough to create alternative energies and earning outrageous amounts on the oil and war profiteering companies they are in cahoots with, they are doing everything they can to upset fair and just elections, our health care system needs a huge overhaul, we have been illegally wiretapped (and now our senate gave them a get out of jail free card) and we handed over our civil liberties in fear of our safety. Without civil liberties we have no democracy to be proud of and to fight for.
A change in leadership in November is not enough. This is a much bigger, more important issue of standing up for what should make this country a great place to live in by knowing that we have the oversight in place when crimes have been committed against the American people by an administration. We all need to do our part to make this the country we want to live in.
Please take a moment to write your letters if you care about any of this today:
Rep. John Conyers.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
it's evolution, baby
Or not?
This morning I was struck by a comment by a man named Ravi Something--a bald smiling Hindi professor from Nova Scotia--who was discussing the topic of spiritual oneness. He said that people don't evolve, but consciousness evolves. I am taking the true meaning of this comment to be that one's consciousness evolves and not necessarily the consciousness of a generation, because if it meant that our current generation is more consciously evolved than the great thinkers who came before us, like Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Rumi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Simone de Beauvoir, to name a few, we'd be in big trouble. And besides, much of the wisdom these fine minds lent us way back when still dumbfounds us, and we cannot put into practice. For example, Jimmy Carter has been telling us forever about the problem in the Middle East and the ecological disaster we are creating, but have we evolved? [That was meant to be a rhetorical question.]
I've spoken to a couple friends recently about the Kogi people, a pre-Columbian civilization living in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range in Colombia. They are a highly intellectual, sophisticated and analytical culture totally removed from the Western world, and yet, they could arguably be far more evolved than that guy who lives down the street from you driving his Hummer. [And they have no problem telling you why they are superior. Check 'em out.]
My point, then, is that I hope what Ravi means is that individually my own consciousness will evolve, as will yours [whoever you are], and that perhaps this time around, we will reach Nirvana, or we'll go to Heaven, or we'll find ishq, or whatever form of union with the higher power that the Universe will grant us.
Or maybe that's just my American optimism speaking.
This morning I was struck by a comment by a man named Ravi Something--a bald smiling Hindi professor from Nova Scotia--who was discussing the topic of spiritual oneness. He said that people don't evolve, but consciousness evolves. I am taking the true meaning of this comment to be that one's consciousness evolves and not necessarily the consciousness of a generation, because if it meant that our current generation is more consciously evolved than the great thinkers who came before us, like Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Rumi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Simone de Beauvoir, to name a few, we'd be in big trouble. And besides, much of the wisdom these fine minds lent us way back when still dumbfounds us, and we cannot put into practice. For example, Jimmy Carter has been telling us forever about the problem in the Middle East and the ecological disaster we are creating, but have we evolved? [That was meant to be a rhetorical question.]
I've spoken to a couple friends recently about the Kogi people, a pre-Columbian civilization living in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range in Colombia. They are a highly intellectual, sophisticated and analytical culture totally removed from the Western world, and yet, they could arguably be far more evolved than that guy who lives down the street from you driving his Hummer. [And they have no problem telling you why they are superior. Check 'em out.]
My point, then, is that I hope what Ravi means is that individually my own consciousness will evolve, as will yours [whoever you are], and that perhaps this time around, we will reach Nirvana, or we'll go to Heaven, or we'll find ishq, or whatever form of union with the higher power that the Universe will grant us.
Or maybe that's just my American optimism speaking.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
super-phun!
Erin, Jess and I dressed as psycho-superheroes at a party this weekend:
Super-skivvies:
Super-MacDaddy-Sultan:
Super-skivvies:
Super-MacDaddy-Sultan:
friends forever!
time tries stretching arms
always lovely each moment
awaiting again
Pic by KT.
Haiku by JenKen.
Great weekend (post Euro - ¡Viva España!) in Sacratomato with my college pals Jen and Laura!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
