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.