Miscellaneous: July 2009 Archives

We here at SFist HQ always want to know your thoughts on the marquee issues facing our fair city. And today, seeing as it is another last Friday and therefore another occasion for everyone's favorite bicycle parade Critical Mass, we thought we'd do a poll. How do you really feel about the whole institution? Is it a fun spectacle that you welcome like every full moon, or is it simply a pain in the ass of everyone who isn't participating? Back in May our commenting community went nuts over the issue of charging Critical Mass organizers for a permit, so let's see how you guys feel given the three options below.

Found over at 23rd and Guerrero in the Mission district, SFist Cedric found the above love letter stuck on his windshield. He explains, "I found a spot that was literally three inches longer than my car. And this is the congratulation I get for managing to fit in."

Check out Rafael Casal's "Bay Area Slang Top 100".

"Urban Garden" by Darwin Bell.

Our favorite society photog, Drew Altizer, has dipped his toes in iIl linguaggio del cinema (which, for those of you not in the know, è universale), and his latest effort is this surf punk-infused montage of 's Best of the Bay Party.

When opens next Friday, wouldn't you like to be wearing this on your chest, making you the envy of Metreon teen goons? Of course you would. It's very clever. And, if anything, t-shirts were made for bon mots and pie charts.

Oh, Marc Jacobs, you've wowed us again.

SFist reader Greg Ellis writes to us for help.

Not that we're pouting... certainly the good folks at Muni Diaries deserve some recognition, and we did take the Weekly's readers poll this year, so we're not sweating it either. But the SFBG Readers Poll actually has a number of respectable winners in the food category (no Pasta P for Best Overall here...) who we'd happily sit beside, like Delfina for Best Italian and Chez Panisse for Best Overall.

       

A relatively new site called STFU, Marrieds -- created by a presumably very bitter homosexual, one we would love to have a long liquid lunch with one day -- slams married couples and the loveydovey bile they spew on the internet. Pretty mean, right? But also amusing. As the anonymous creator simply puts it:

SFist Jonathan sent us this image of some sort of movie shoot happening in the Mission today. He explains, "There's a huge film shoot setting up on Valencia between 20th and 21st -- like 6 trucks, 2 motor homes, huge generators, scads of crews running around." Glamorous!

Dave Eggers wearing a hat indoors (grumble, grumble) while signing copies of his latest effort, , today at Books Inc on Van Ness.

         

Local photog Plug 1 of What I'm Seeing went high in the sky too capture these images of San Francisco and the Bay Area from above. We asked Plug 1 to tell SFist more about his adventure in the sky. Here's what he told us.

The cruel, cruel Governator is expected today to use his line-item veto power to make further cuts to social programs--particularly those serving the poor--as he signs off on the State of California's latest budget. To highlight his cruelty, local news stations have concentrated on possible cuts to in-home care for people with cerebral palsy, and to insurance for poor families with cute little children like Jacob in the video above. As KCBS reports, even these cuts are not expected to improve the state's shitty credit rating (currently a BBB while most states have AAA or AA), because the budget is "filled with accounting tricks" too.

Certainly not rider-friendly arrival times.

Mother Jones compiled this great video coverage from Saturday's United for Iran protest at City Hall, which reportedly drew thousands of participants. It was part of a Global Day of Action taking place in more than 100 cities worldwide, organized to call attention to civil rights violations following last months questionable election results in Iran. Event speakers at the local rally included 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, CA senator Mark Leno, and former captain of Iran's national soccer team Parviz Ghelichkhani. Code Pink was also present, naturally.

Three White Russians (ick!) at AMF Bowling Center, which played host to a Lebowski Fest. "The bartender had to open about 74 tiny non-dairy creamers to make drinks," reported The Inadvertent Gardener, who snapped the above shot.

Do you still stop to check?

A French-speaking customer (named "Joe") tags the chalkboard at Pizzaeria Delfina.

UPDATE: The artist is Hugh Leeman, and he'll be showing his work at White Walls on August 8th.

We adore stuff like this, things that boil down the complicated and tenuous class, race and sociopolitical tapestry of San Francisco into convenient sweeping generalizations. And, which ever rapscallion took a black Sharpie to this Muni map, put below the jump due to NSFW art, deserves some sort of award. (In addition to a fine and a slap on the bottom.) It is, in a word, hilarious.

This is no way to treat Knotts-Berry Farm memorabilia. Would you do this to your Splash Mountain photo from Disneyland? We should hope not.

ComicCon, the other annual gathering of comic stars and fans, is taking place this very second in San Diego, starting today and ending on Sunday. Never one to shy away from all things adorably geeky, Google has honored this week's festivities with the above logo.

So. The MSM has been atwitter this morning about the above video, which shows Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holding a Crocodile Dundee-esque knife (in his unusually youthful hands) before launching into a diatribe about the state budget. (Get it?) His point, aside form the clever cutting signifier, is that he wants to hear more of your ideas on how to save the state of California from financial ruin. (Hint: you can't). Or whatever.

"Start and end of work shifts" by Darwin Bell.

UPDATE: Disney's apparently got their panties in a bunch about the leak of this teaser ONE WHOLE DAY EARLY, and a lot of the embeddables have been yanked down. If this one--our second attempt--dies, please don't blame us.

Mission Mission has word that the above Muni-infused shirts, conceived by Sex Pigeon, will be for sale at tonight’s Casiotone for the Painfully Alone concert at Bottom of the Hill. This is as high-glamor as it's ever going to get in Potrero Hill, so we recommend buying at least two of them.

by Quinn Miller

Whoa.

"Aerosolics Anonymous" by Plug 1 / What I'm Seeing.

Photo of an unidentified tranny Ambrosia Salad singing into a light bulb at "Chili Dog" by Darwin Bell.

Sealed cars by davitydave / Flickr.

        

We're not sure there is such a thing as a *good* wax figure, but we're sure the people at the Fisherman's Wharf Wax Museum would like us to think so. In any event, your afternoon palate cleanser today is this collection (via Buzzfeed) of really bad wax figures that's making its way around the webs. Sources aren't given, so it's very possible that one or two of these are featured in our very own museum, but having never stepped foot inside, we cannot confirm. Perhaps one of our eagle-eyed commenters will recognize something. Here we give you a selection, featuring scary-bad versions of the Cast of Seinfeld, Julia Roberts, Cher, LeAnn Rimes (looking, um, "special"), Michael J. Fox, Barack Obama, and Pulp Fiction-era John Travolta and Uma Thurman. PREVIOUSLY: Wax Obama to Arrive at Wax Museum Today

It's probably not news to anyone who's played an internet-enabled, multi-player video game in the last few years (or anyone who's ever met a teenage boy, for that matter) that LGBT gamers often face name-calling and harassment in the game-o-sphere when they advertise their sexual orientation. The Bay Area Reporter just published this investigative report in which they speak to several people in the industry -- including Flynn DeMarco of gaygamer.net and Caryl Shaw, a senior producer for the Sims and Spore -- who discuss things they've heard and seen. The takeaways: The Sims welcomes all kinds of sexual proclivities, gender identities and whathaveyou, but the multi-player environment of Xbox Live -- which is particularly rife with children and teens -- does not allow players to display their sexual orientation in their profile, gamertag or elsewhere.

Self portrait at Third and King, shot by meligrosa / Bikes & the City. (Hat tip: Allan Hough)

Plug 1 of What I'm Seeing snaps this shot of the future SFist headquarters, One Rincon Hill. What? It could happen.

As Tangobaby put it, "What?! Ewww. And cool."

...tateness.

Flickr photog andertho captured nature in action above the Land's End Trail, this hawk gathering twigs for her nest.

Image of Silver Terrace happening by eb78 / Flickr.

       

Named after the last Aztec Emperor Cuauhtémoc who was captured and killed way back in 1525, the arrived in San Francisco today. Weighing a massive 1,800 tons and measuring 220 ft., the tall ship, which is used as a sail training vessel for the Mexican Navy, will be docked at Pier 27 and open for visitors through July 17. (Hours are 1 p..m - 5 p.m. for today, 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. for the rest of the week.)

Those buildings at the Embarcadero by Darwin Bell.

Early morning troubadours, love 'em or hate 'em?

We know it's, like, not cool around these parts to admit one's love of over-processed, non-organic, industrially farmed fast food. And maybe it's just that we haven't had breakfast yet, but we couldn't help but notice that all of the foods chosen by Chron editor and "Poop" columnist Peter Hartlaub in his roundup of fast foods he finds "vile" look sort of delicious to us right now. McDonald's McGriddle sandwich? Who doesn't like the combination of sausage with a pancake with syrup? Those KFC bowls? Delicious hangover food if you ask us. And while Domino's is hardly the best pizza or the most politically conscious food choice for liberals, that bacon cheeseburger pizza would also hit the spot. We admit we have not tried the Taco Bell Volcano Taco (pictured), but it, too, might entice us after a long day of driving down I-5. We're really sorry if this offends your sensibilities. And all this on a day when Mayor Newsom issued an executive order for sustainable food practices citywide!

This hilarious Oakland! "promo" by SF sketch comedy group/film production company Killing My Lobster has been making the rounds in recent weeks. Topics such as slow jaywalking, ghostriding, Zachary's vs. Little Star, and East Bay hipsters are covered.

More than any other issue of any print publication in town, we most look forward to 's Nude Beaches Guide. Why? Because, well, naked pics.

We don't know how we missed this for an entire week, but we have to give props to College Humor. This is some true, musical theater awesomeness. We especially love the riff on "Maria" at around 2:00, which is, of course, "Pandora."

12:34:56 07/08/09

          

This swell photo series of brokedown baby buggies and vacuum cleaners left for dead in the streets of San Francisco (and the East Bay) comes to us from photographer Daniel Filipkowski, who is also the man behind local drag queen compendium dragslag.org. It is simultaneously hilarious and melancholy, no? Cheers, Daniel.

The latest trend in Valencia Street wear? Toy guitars, possibly this year's version of the lunchbox.

Oh lucky day.

"Little things" by Jen Maiser / Flickr.

In what's just another attempt to get women to spread their legs and bend their bodies in public -- very clever, guys -- something called AcroYoga took place in Dolores Park over the weekend. AcroYoga, according to a hasty search on Google, "combines acrobatic concepts with a yogic consciousness," with sexy results.

Mission Mission posted this video from July 4th around last call at 16th and Albion in the Mission, which shows fireworks being aimed at cars. Rumor has it that cyclists were also targets. Police showed up to the scene but couldn't decipher who the culprits were in the crowd.

SFist posted last week about the lovely Huntington Park on Nob Hill, and commenter hthoms responded with an account of some pushy park rangers "abusing their power" by harassing park-goers with off-leash dogs, citing this SF Weekly article:

Flickr photographer Andertho captured this shot of an alley off Haight Street, which provoked quite a bit of HDR love-"haight" in the comments. Well, we love it.

Inexhaustible photog, Plug 1 of What I'm Seeing, snagged this shot, entitled "Talking in Circles" at Albany Bulb. Certainly a head-scratcher.

SFist reader and commenter uggie sent us the above image. It's a newly installed "walk your bike or scooter to the parking area" sign on a city government building parking lot, which is about 8 feet from the ground in English and in Braille.

"Graffiti about King Tut Exhibit at De Young Museum" by AgentAkit / Flickr (via Curbed)

Wait, you're at work today? On this Independence Day work-week holiday?

It's spreading, in that virus-y way, and we figured you might as well catch it from us. Consider it your afternoon palate cleanser. There must be a few of you who enjoy mineral water, the Sugarhill Gang and CGI-enhanced roller-dancing babies, right?

Is Bravo's new show, School Livid About Bravo Reality Show").

As part of a promotion for a new condom, Trojan had survey firm StrategyOne conduct a survey of 1,000 adults (100 in each of 10 cities) to determine which U.S. city has the most sex, and which is the most sexually satisfied overall. The answer: Houston, on both counts. Now, whether or not the lies are as big as everything else in Texas, we can't say for sure. But all we know is that the 100 people they managed to get on the phone in San Francisco did not represent us well. This is a slut-rich, whore-friendly town if you ask us, and an average of barely one sex act per person per week simply does not seem accurate, people!