Precita Eyes Fundraiser & Soap Gallery

July 24th

After spending a wonderful morning wandering around the Mission looking at yard sales and finding some great things (including an awesome Tim Biskup toy), Ilya and I went to check out the Precita Eyes Fundraiser. It was taking place in a cute park about two blocks away from our apartment with a ton of local graffiti artists and boards set up for people to spray paint. It was pretty fun with some work that was actually pretty good but the strong wind caused the spray paint to be a bit too much to breath. On the way to dinner, later on, we saw that Soap Gallery (a gallery nearby that is usually closed) was open and stopped in. What a fun show with great works that inspired me with some ideas for shows. All of the work was based upon the junk ads for supermarkets with over sized products made from a variety of materials. Wonderful!!! There was a wonderful piece with three straws that we are waiting to find out if we can purchase it or not.

Book/Audio Book Update

FINISHED: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini on Audio Book, Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde on Audio Book

READING: The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

Interview with Jeanine Briggs by Naomi Huth

 

July 22nd

I finished the video for my interview with Jeanine Briggs, current Artist-in-Residence at the de Young Museum. This one took a bit longer to do than the interview with Michael Horse because Jeanine didn't want to be on screen at all so I had to use images of her work and relevant images for the video. It was really fun to do and I am now an iMovie master. I will do another on for the August Artist-in-Residence before I go back to New York, but there isn't too much time left anymore. I really like being able to take on more responsibilities and come up with fun projects like this one.

The Great Hot Dog Maker

July 20th

We bought this 1976 hot dog maker for $1 a few weeks ago but actually used it tonight. AMAZING!! They cooked so fast and were perfect. All I had to do was plug it in and they were done in under two minutes. people always say that cooking hot dogs is so fast and easy but there is a lot more to it. The pan needs to be heated up with oil or water (depending on how the hot dogs are cooked) and the dogs need to be watched. Not with this device. And the condiment holder made everything better. Emily, you are going to love this.

SF City Tour with Papa

July 19th

My dad was in the city today with his tour group so Ilya and I went along for the day. The city tour on the bus was nice but I really can't handle seeing everything only from the window. I had seen all of the places (Golden Gate Park, Twin Peaks, the ocean, Chinatown...) before but it is still hard to not get out and wander around everywhere. When we got to Fishermans Warf, I was pretty hungry so we had delicious bread from a bakery that made crab, lobster, and turtle shaped bread. Food should always come with the option of looking like animals or people; it just tastes better that way. 
After that we went over to the Golden Gate Bridge and walked across the bridge. I have done this before but I kept thinking how different it felt from walking across any bridge in New York. I think it is because the weather was so gray and dreary that it was a different experience from sunny walks in NYC. The Brooklyn Bridge is one of my favorite bridges to walk over in nice weather and I think that I have it in my head now that bridge walking should be done on beautiful afternoons. We headed into Sausalito, an adorable town just outside of San Francisco. Heidi and I used to visit sometimes in high school for one great candy store, still there, that has huge wooden barrels filled with assorted taffy candies. Ilya and I picked up some delicious ice cream and headed over to buy some candies. They did have some new items, including these amazing candy grillz. Candy really has changed...maybe for the better...or just weirder. Wandering through the town, we came across a super fun toy store that had tons of teeny tiny animals, including LOL Cats. Things are so much cuter when they are tiny. We didn't buy anything there but the toys were so adorable that I was very tempted.

We met back up with the rest of the group and took the ferry back to San Francisco. Enough touring for me but I love Sausalito and I really love being on boats, even if they are very windy. I hope to someday take a boat trip around the world, or at least a long boat trip outside of the US. Anyone interested or have a boat?

Berkeley Sunday

July 18th

We took a Berkeley day trip to see the Hauntology exhibition at UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and ended up discovering an artist that I hadn't heard of and really like, William T. Wiley. His work was very beautiful and had many interesting elements. One piece in particular was wonderful. It was clearly influenced by Joseph Kosuth but well done.

After that we went to a great toy store and saw so many crazy toys and games that I didn't know what to do. I wanted them all. I know some day I will have a huge room/apartment that is just filled with fun games and toys and it will be awesome.

Bunny Out For a Ride

First Person Magazine: Issue #4 Launch Party

July 17th

I dropped by Levi's Workshops (580 Valencia Street) before a vegetarian Japanese dinner for First Person Magazine's Launch Party. They had participatory art projects and performances by two bands, Laurel Halo (from Brooklyn) and Honey (from San Francisco). The magazine celebrated its first poster edition with a special letterpress edition that they describe as a "sculpture of paper and ink that translate their aesthetic, content and contributors works."

The artists involved were Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Daniel Arsham, Bonnie Prince Billy, Yoko Ono, Ryan McGinley, Lee Bontecou, and Maya Deren. It was pretty great that the mob scene that normally would have occurred for this sort of event in New York just didn't exist here. The place wasn't overly packed and there was only one photographer. I think it is because people stay in their own neighborhood for events and don't bother to go very far for most events.

When Target Attacks Museums

July 16th

Dgiin and Sunset Arts Movement performed at this Target Sponsored Bastille Day and it was crazy. Almost 5,000 people were there and the kids were out of control. Several small children tried to sit on my lap, one boy tried to slyly push me off of my chair by getting on it himself, and several other children almost pushed me to the ground many times. Wow! Target may have called this event family arts and wonder weekend but there was nothing wonderful about it except the Sonoma County band, Dgiin. Target really treats museum events on the west coast completely differently from what I have seen of their events in New York. Good thing I won't be around for the next Target Friday.

LA & Monterey Weekend July 10th-13th

July 10th-12th

Ilya and I decided to spend a long weekend in LA and see my parents (who were both in LA on tours) and some of Ilya's friends from UCLA. The drive down was actually not bad and took a lot less time that we thought. Hopefully Ilya will find a car so we can continue to take road trips. We stayed in North Hollywood and spent our first day visiting the Getty museum with my dad, meeting up with my mom in Manhattan Beach for dinner and dessert (very cute candy and ice cream shop), and then a birthday party in Venice. Sunday we had brunch with some of Ilya's friends back in Venice. Monday we wandered around LA shopping and looking at yard sales; we saw some strange things for sale including a crazy monkey painting. We also checked out the Grove and Santa Monica later having dinner in Thai Town.

Thai Town was nothing like what I expected and very disappointing. I assumed that it would be like Japan Town in San Francisco but I was very wrong. The restaurant we went to was overpriced (extremely expensive for anything that wasn't a very basic noodle or curry dish) and there was an hour and a half between the first person's dish arriving and the last. Thai Town itself was just a few Thai restaurants in a strip mall. Regardless, the LA trip was enjoyable but too much time was spent sitting in the car. It is difficult to spend so much time driving around and not really getting anywhere. I enjoy being able to jump on the subway and getting to wherever I want in usually an hour or less.

July 13th

We left at the crack of dawn to drive to Monterey and check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I haven't been to Monterey since I was little but the aquarium was just as beautiful as I remembered with tanks filled with jellyfish and a touch pool of manta rays. There was a special exhibit up on seahorses that was really exquisite. I don't know why people don't pay as much attention to sea creatures like sea dragons; they are one of the most amazing living things that I have ever seen. I could have stayed for hours just looking at these amazing little guys (video here).

As it was, we stayed at the aquarium for over three hours looking at sharks, a variety of fish, and penguins. One exhibit was about flamingos and the fight to save the environment. At the end of the exhibition was a wall where people could leave their comments addressing climate change. Some of them were amazingly funny: "Use more alcohol -Famous 6," "I think I would add polar bears," "Fish are preety," "Drink Party Blaze." Walking around Fisherman's Warf we came across a group of very lazy and sleepy sea lions sleeping in some docked boats. I got pretty close and they never budged from their comfortable spots in the sun. 

We were lucky enough to be around for the Old Monterey Market and had delicious samples of yummy foods until we were stuffed. It was a lovely weekend and an enjoyable trip. 

Velocity Circus & Opera at Cultural Encounters

 

July 9th,

The Friday night Cultural Encounters are really a lot of fun for me, especially this one. I spent the evening taking photos and videos of the performances and had a wonderful time. Velocity Circus had two tiny Mongolian contortionist that were so flexible that I wanted to fold them up into a box and take them home. The cancan dancers were great but not nearly as good as the ones that Emily and  I saw last year on Bastille Day. I was able to watch the end of Landmarks of Western Art: Impressionism & Post Impressionism, a fantastic documentary. It is a shame that more people in their 20's and 30's don't come to the Friday nights because they are fantastic. One of the things that I am working on is creating films that highlight the performances so more people learn about the events. More videos are posted on YouTube.

Forestville Visit and New Deck

July 6th

I took a quick drive up to Forestville to visit with my dad and see the new deck that he built. We used to have a massive redwood tree in front of the house but recently, the roots became a problem and it had to be cut down. It was so large that it took five men to haul pieces of it away. My dad used a lot of the tree to make the deck and some benches. The new deck is so amazing and I can't wait to see it surrounded by flowers next spring.

4th of July Priceless Weekend

July 3rd-5th

Fourth of July weekend was spent without any fireworks but an enjoyable weekend all the same. Ilya and I spent the weekend at Priceless, a three day camping event with music and 500+ people in Belden (part of Plumas State Park). The drive up was really fun with lots of fruit stands and roadkill along the way. Ilya and I discovered the delicious and cheap foods of Denny's (we later learned the shockingly high calorie and sugar amounts). 

I haven't been camping in a couple years and this was Ilya's first time so I wasn't totally sure what to expect. I was surprised to see how little room there was to set up tents once we arrived but, we found a small spot that fit out tent, squeezed in with some fellow campers. I did learn on this trip what people mean when they talk about concert camping and it is very different from normal camping. I like the idea of camping much more than the actual activity but having a car nearby makes everything much easier. This is really how I like camping: wandering around the surrounding areas (towns or hiking paths), going to sleep early, waking up with the sun.
Besides the DJs there were many activities planned but since no one wore a watch and there was zero cell reception, some activities didn't happen at all. For each activity we received a merit badge and at the end we became full fledged scouts. Ilya and I both helped paint a paint-by-numbers mural of Belden and made sand castles, among other things. However, the heat and the dust made it hard not to get sleepy early and go to sleep well before everyone else. 

Regardless, we had a lot of fun exploring the neighboring lumber and mining towns, one ghost town, stopping at some yard sales, and walking along the nearby train tracks. The next town over, Quincy, is an old lumber town and absolutely adorable. We went in a few times to get dinner and wander around the quaint streets and old fashioned shops. Videos here, here, and here.

Mission Muralismo-Cultural Encounters

July 2

This Friday at the de Young Mission Muralismo presented the Graff Convention and exhibited a mural created for the event. I was able to hang out with a few of the graffiti artists during the event. I wasn't feeling very well so I mostly watched the lecture of three different artists and had a pretty good time. I am now making the videos for the Friday night events and here is the videoBriggs. She is working on a collaborative project that has the public tie found objects onto bicycle wheels and create a Detrtisauraus. for July 2nd. I also had a chance to check out the new artist-in-residence, Jeanine

Off to Priceless and 4th of July.

Visits with the Father

June 29th

My dad came up to visit today and we started off with the Precita Eyes murals around the Mission. There are so many great murals around that it makes wandering around the neighborhood a fun adventure.

After that we took the bus over to Chinatown for some lunch and wandered downtown. We spent some time at the Contemporary Jewish Museum (736 Mission Street) and saw the exhibit on Jewish singers. "Raindrops are Falling on my Head" is really hysterical especially when sitting on a couch that looks like a 1950's living room. I like the museum a lot but they really overdo it with the wall text. Emily, there was even more all text than when we were at the Jewish Museum in NYC last. Sometimes less is more.

Pie and White Castle - July 1, 2010

This was the last week of my first class this summer! Two new classes start next week! Although I still have to finish up some writing by tomorrow, schoolwork isn't my real excuse for not posting much lately -- it was extremely hot and humid here last week and my Metrocard ran out of money, so I mostly was lazy, kept to myself, and read too many comic books. But I'm excited for the weekend ahead and have a couple awesome things on the agenda!

Today, I walked up to south Park Slope-ish and had delicious pie at Four & Twenty Blackbirds, located on the corner of 8th Street and 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn. Though they sell some breakfast items / pastries and coffee, the shop is mainly about PIES! The dude at the counter told me that they normally have 3-5 different kinds of pie every day -- the kinds they make depend on what ingredients they have, what's fresh / in season, and what they feel like whipping up that day. I love that mystery / surprise pie element, because it means you just have to go there and see what they have: there are lots of chances to try new pies!

I was with two friends so we each got a piece from a different one of the three pies-of-the-day and shared. The apple pie had a marvelous crust, and tons of thin apple slices layered and stacked for a thick, but still light, pie. The blueberry and strawberry pie was delicious, and had really fresh fruit -- the dark berry juices made the crust lattice on top soft and sweet, so that it broke apart in your mouth. The buttermilk chess pie was like no pie I've tasted before! It had an amazing fluffy custard sort of filling, with a flavorful / spice (?) kick. All the pies were superb, and weren't overly sweet, sticky, or heavy. DELICIOUS.

(Pies, from left to right: buttermilk chess, blueberry and strawberry, apple)

Walking back home, Liv spotted a White Castle and my heart stood still -- those tasty sliders are, by far, my favorite fast food. I got even more excited when Liv said that she'd never eaten one before. O, soft delicate squishy bun made slightly wet by burger juice! O, super-thin square of hot meat sprinkled with onions and pickle! (And, in this case, a dab of ketchup -- hmmm, the White Castles I've had before (in Illinois, quite a while ago) have never included ketchup, but it was just as tasty with as without.)

(Liv, trying her first White Castle burger)

Overall, a successful day!

BOOKS!
Reading: Heartbreak Soup (Gilbert Hernandez), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 2 (Alan Moore), Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Paulo Freire), Infinite Jest (David Foster Wallace)

Movie Mondays

June 27th

Monday equals double movie day again. This week: Cyrus and Prince of Persia.

Cyrus was first and totally different from what I expected. I actually thought that both movies would be bad since summer movies often are but Cyrus was something totally different. This quote from Ilya sums it up perfectly: "If you ever feel like time is moving too quickly and getting away from you, go see 'Cyrus.' It is the longest 92 minutes you will ever spend. The movie is pretty good but it felt like it lasted for days. When I got out I had this feeling like I had overslept and missed a bunch of appointments." Prince of Persia was actually a very fun action movie even though it got such bad reviews. I want more movies to come out this summer so that we can keep doing double features on Mondays. Why do such bad movies come out like crazy during the summer?

BOOKS

READING Summerland by Michael Chabon