aka The City by the Bay, City of Love, S.F., Frisco, Golden Gate City
Photo by Ms. Atomic
We recently found ourselves around a fireplace, slouched in leather bucket seats, sipping insanely cheap martinis at Joe’s of Westlake in Daly City. We were the youngest people in the room by, say, 30 years. It’s clear we were a little late on the discovery.
I spend all day on the Internet, mostly reading. I’ve had to get glasses. Those flashing and pop-up ads give me a headache. But there are a few sites that are doing text on the Internet right. Exhibit A: The Bold Italic. The Bold offers up tales of the city (it’s San Francisco specific at the moment) through the lens of what they’re calling “bold locals”- their writers. Each article is displayed on one page with story-specific design. It looks good, there’s care in the presentation, and it makes reading a more pleasant experience.
Photo of MARIANNE T. on Lookbook
Held Over, one of the Haight District’s best vintage retailers, has a bin filled with two dollar scarves. There are monochromatic silk squares, paisley polyester rectangles, and striped strips of fabric. The chest has offered up my favorite summer accessories.
I’ve always had a thing for nature shows, but Isabella Rossellini’s kooky low budget skits on animal sex might be my favorite. The first Green Porno series ran on the Sundance Channel ages ago. The construction paper costumes were perfectly paired with her eager, strange, and accurate demonstrations. The series stuck with me. Actually, I’m a little obsessed with it. I’ve even bought her Green Porno book. The whole thing is one part Michel Gondry and one part Radiolab. I mean, she has this ability to make worm sex sound awesome.
It’s been several years since Todd Solondz’s specific brand of awkward family relations appeared on the big screen. His latest project, titled Life During Wartime, seems squarely focused on the theme. It looks promising. In fact, the trailer is awesome.
These days I take my TV in bed, preferably beside my boyfriend. The only action our too big living room flat screen gets these days (from me anyway), is when it offers up a decent movie or Super Mario Galaxy 2. For anything an hour and under, that’s for me, my MacBook, and my boyfriend in our room. Read More
Fecal Face Jeremy Fish studio visit. Photo by Trippe.
I’ve been addicted to Fecal Face’s Studio Visit feature for a long time. Every once in a while John Trippe, the art site’s founder, will crash an artist’s space, bring beers, and take pictures. It’s my favorite thing on FF. The pictures are not staged; they’re more like the pictures your friends take of their friends. The artist is usually milling around, caught mid-conversation.
I’m going to see Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s most recent movie, Micmacs, this week. According to SF Chronicle reviewer Mick LaSalle, it’s not supposed to be good. Roger Ebert agrees. A lot of show without much tie to the storyline or characters, he says. And they could be right. There could be too much whimsy, too much quirk. The thing is: I don’t care.
Fine, it’s a little funny to talk about knits in summer, but I’m convinced that my Salt Water Sandals need a blended wool Cottage Tote accompaniment. The bag is made for a beach blanket and a magazine. And as I was hauling farmer’s market goodies home on my bike this morning, I realized I seriously need to upgrade my current canvas monstrosity. I need something that is deep enough to carry fruit and flowers. A little style wouldn’t hurt either.
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I present exhibit A: The Jalapeño Popper grilled cheese made with chèvre, monterey jack, applewood-smoked bacon, and apricot-jalapeño relish. Just a precious few weeks after opening their doors, The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen and their don’t-show-this-to-mom melty reboot has made it into Grub Street’s top San Francisco sandwiches list. They consistently sell out of every sandwich on the menu, and they offer a milk and cookies happy hour–a pumped up version of the one grandma offered.
It’s official: Pitchfork, the tastemaking indie rock criticism site, is launching a web TV channel in April that hopes to fill the void that MTV and VH1 left when they ditched music for the deranged promise land of reality television.
But unlike television, Pitchfork.tv will be on demand. Users will choose what they want to watch from the daily refreshing content pool that includes full concerts, interviews and music videos — all for free, using the same ad revenue model that the currently use on their site. Read More
For the third time, San Francisco will be launching another Pop-Up Magazine live event, which exists for one night only, in one place: San Francisco.
It has all the elements of a magazine — from the punchy front-of-the-book stuff to interviews and reviews and lengthier features towards the back. It compiles live readings, radio, documentary film and photography — all put together for a live audience.
Bikini Kill
I grew up on Riot Grrl music — bands like Bikini Kill, Sleater Kinney and Team Dresch. They didn’t just talk about how women are marginalized and sexualized in rock music; they made it central to what they sang about, how they performed and what their politics were. Read More
There has been an explosion of new restaurants in my neighborhood — San Francisco’s Mission District. Among my favorites are a sausage joint and a new vegan Mexican place — which, oddly enough, I think draw a cross-over crowd.
