Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary Fireworks Celebration

What Could Have Been

This is a map of the proposed lines for BART based in part on the 1956 plan. It looks glorious! That F line headed all the way out to the ocean in San Francisco is so desperately needed it's not even funny. And yet, it was not to be. Imagine this combined with the high-speed train running up and down California. It would be amazing. If only...

Click here for a closer look at the map.

The Layover - San Francisco

Apparently Anthony Bourdain has a new show called The Layover, which premiers tonight. In a few episodes he visits San Francisco, and I was surprised to hear this born and raised New York chef say–to the New York Times, no less–that San Francisco is his favorite city in America for food:

Q. Favorite city for eating in the United States?

A. Anyone who doesn’t have a great time in San Francisco is pretty much dead to me. You go there as a snarky New Yorker thinking it’s politically correct, it’s crunchy granola, it’s vegetarian, and it surprises you every time. It’s a two-fisted drinking town, a carnivorous meat-eating town, it’s dirty and nasty and wonderful…

Take that, Nate Appleman! Go make a burrito.

Tartine Bread Short Film

I could have sworn I already posted this, because I saw it like 8 months ago, but when I went to look for it, it wasn't there. It's great, you should watch it.

Last Minutes With Oden

So far this video is 3 for 3 on making me cry in just under four minutes, so fair warning. It is, however, a very touching look at one man saying goodbye to his best friend, his dog, and the love and the loss he takes with him.

Augustus Thompson

My new blog background is a piece from an artist Junna introduced me to who lives in San Francisco named Augustus Thompson. You can view Junna's blog entry for him here. I'm very much enjoying his work and plan on attending his art show this Friday. If you're interested, the advert is above. If you want to see more of his work, you can view his blog by clicking here.

[Thanks to Hello Yummy]

Salem Announce North American Tour

Just bought tickets to see Salem on their first visit to SF. Very excited to check these guys out live. If you haven't looked into them, I recommend you do. They made both my lists for Best Albums in 2009 and 2010. They make some pretty advanced music. Have a listen above (the music doesn't start until a minute in), or click here to hear "Redlights", one of my favorite tracks from them.

Tour:

03-15 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
03-16 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
03-17 Toronto, Ontario - Wrongbar
03-18 Montreal, Quebec - Le Gymnase
03-19 New York, NY - Santos Party House
03-20 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
03-21 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brendas
03-28 San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
03-29 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
03-30 San Francisco, CA - 103 Harriet
04-01 Portland, OR - Branx

Portlandia - "Bicycle Rights"

[Deep breath] I can't tell you the catharsis I felt when I watched this. Every day of my life as a driver in San Francisco includes at very least one or two negative encounters with someone on a bike. For a while I had this odd compulsion to pull over whenever a biker yelled or made a gesture at me and I would genuinely try to engage in a dialogue with them as to why they thought I did something wrong, since of course I did not believe I was in the wrong. That has actually only resulted, however, in every biker I ever stopped to calmly talk to swearing and yelling at me and in one case, with my door open, an entirely insane man screaming in my face threatening to kick my ass and calling me a "faggot" with spit flying out of his mouth and veins bursting out of his face–all while wearing one of those professional bike racer outfits, which honestly how am I supposed to take you seriously when you're wearing that. We won't mention the fact that he was riding down the center of a two-way road that had a massive "No bicycles on this road" sign. Beside the fact that it was a cars-only road, I suppose I did come flying up behind him at a whopping 10 mph. I forgot I was supposed to pull to the side of the rode, come to a complete stop, turn off my engine, get my binoculars out, and watch to see when he was finished using the road. I could literally dedicate an entire blog to this topic–and really probably should–but for now just watch this video and know that while it is funny, it is also completely spot on. I deal with this asshole on a daily basis, and he is a self-righteous piece of shit.

Yes, I Live In Pacific Heights

This is for all you bastards who told me I lived in Western Addition when I moved here. As I told you, I live in Pacific Heights, so suck it. The San Francisco Association of Realtors has released a new map of the 10 districts of San Francisco, and as you can see in the second image above, my apartment at California and Fillmore falls into district 7b Pacific Heights. Not Lower Pacific Heights, not Western Addition, not Fillmore District, not Cow Hollow. Pacific Heights. Click here to view a Flash version of the map to find out which district you're in.

[via The San Francisco Chronicle]

It's All About Me

My personal trainer Taz Shirota is featured in The Wall Street Journal today for an article titled "The Rise of Holiday Me-tailers", about the increase in personalized options in the marketplace. Taz had 200 bobble heads made of himself to give to his clients as a Christmas present / marketing tool. I love that the quote they're featuring from him is "I don't know, maybe I'm just cocky."

SFOhhhhhhhh Yeah!

That is a picture of the design for The Plant Café Organic and Pinkberry Yogurt, two of many additions included in the new Terminal 2 Virgin America / Jet Blue wing at San Francisco International Airport, set to open April 2011.

Click here to see many more pictures, including some vintage ones from the original SFO, as well as further descriptions of what to expect.

30 Reasons To Hate San Francisco

As I enjoy my final months here in the City by the Bay, I realize that as absolutely amazing as San Francisco is, there are several aspects of it I am simply tired of on a very deep, fundamental level. It's not that every place a person lives doesn't have its own share of problems, it's just that I'm tired of dealing with the same problems over and over and over again for more than 6 years now. I'm ready for a new list of problems to encounter in my daily life!

My friend Scott over at The Steaming Poop sent me this link of a list created by another blogger, "30 Reasons To Hate San Francisco". Trust me, there's lots to love about SF and I may end up back here again one day, but here is a list one man put together that I can't say I don't almost entirely agree with. I can particularly relate to numbers 30, 15, and 3:

30. It's cold and windy almost all the time. While the rest of the country enjoys a pleasant summer day, it's Ice Station Zebra up in this bitch.

29. There's nowhere to park.

28. Too crowded. Why is everyone always where I want to go? Don't you people have anywhere else to go?

27. Hippies.

26. Homeless. Esp. the person who took a shit on my front steps earlier this week.

25. Everything is too fucking expensive. $1250 for that studio in the Tenderloin? That's like a 3-bedroom house anywhere else. BONUS: No whores.

24. Too many weirdos.

23. Too loud.

22. Earthquakes. How about a completely random event that can destroy your house and everything you own and kill you and your family? Great, where do I sign????

21. There's no Target. I know, I know, there's going to be one over on Masonic, if it EVER gets built, which brings up:

20. NIMBYs. Including people who never want to change anything or see anything new.

19. Hipsters.

18. Bros.

17. Marina chicks.

16. Gavin Newsom.

15. Pretentious, heavily-tattooed waiters who think you're scum because you're not working on a screenplay or art installation. Why don't you install that flatiron steak right the fuck over here, asshole.

14. Muni. These people shouldn't be operating the Little Puffer Miniature Steam Train at the zoo, much less the transit system of a major metropolitan area.

13. People who say "I'm a fourth-generation San Franciscan." I'm a fifth-generation Who Gives a Fuck.

12. 4 Non-Blondes.

11. The Incredibly Useless Board of Supervisors. If we've gotten around to banning Happy Meals, I guess all the other problems have been cleared up. Right? Right?

10. Tourists.

9. Bike snobs. People who say "I choose not to own a car."

8. Terrible drivers.

7. Too many hills.

6. Chris Daly.

5. Chevy's.

4. Drunks. People yelling outside your window at 2:30 a.m. after the bars close. STFU.

3. Foodies. Why have a pizza when you can have an Artisanal Crispy Flatbread with Burrata from Cows Massaged Thrice Daily and Locally-Produced Dry-Cured Prosciutto Seasoned with Herbs from the Chef's Special Garden for $23?

2. Rainbow Grocery. People who shop at Rainbow Grocery.

1. People who bitch about everything.

Shit, I forgot Burning Man.

UPDATE: There is also, apparently, a list of "50 Reasons To Love San Francisco", in fairness. However, in going through that list, I realized most of them are things I would put on the "Reasons To Hate" list, but to each his own.

[via 40 going on 28 and thanks to The Steaming Poop]

Congratulations, Giants!!

"The Unseen Sea" - Simon Christen

It's reminders like this that just make it really hard for me to even engage in discussions over which city is more beautiful, San Francisco or New York.

[Thanks to Hello Yummy]

Pretty Good...

Courtesy of San Francisco's own Red Devil Lounge.

HDR Video Demonstrated

And look, there's my work!

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, and its basically the process of combining an over exposed image and an underexposed image into one resulting in a beautiful final image. HDR photos are about to come to the iPhone, which is awesome. Now it looks like maybe HDR video could eventually follow. Have a look at this video demonstration. Pretty gorgeous.

Click here for more.

Sol Food

One of my favorite restaurant is Sol Food in San Rafael. I should really do a much more extensive blog post on how amazing it is, but for now I'm just going to post this Food Network video I found about the restaurant. Unfortunately it's with that guy from Minute To Win It (great show), but it's still really cool to see some behind the scenes cooking at such an incredibly tasty place. If you haven't eaten there yet and are within driving distance, go immediately.

On Target

The bid to finally get a Target in the city of San Francisco takes its first step July 21 with a community meeting to discuss the proposed locale at Masonic Ave. and Geary Blvd. It would take over the space Mervyn's and Good Guys occupied, and neighbor Best Buy and Office Depot.

Click here to read more.

Comings And Goings

This is a map of where San Franciscans are moving to (red lines) and from (black lines).

Click here for other cities and more information.

[Thanks to The Sassmouth Chronicles]

The Morning Benders - "Excuses"