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Today I spent a few hours on Union Street taking in one of the best festivals in San Francisco. Many neighborhoods in San Francisco host festivals once a year during summertime, and the Union St. event is one of the best. Arts and craft vendors line Union Street between Gough and Fillmore, from 11am until about 5pm, usually on the first Saturday and Sunday of June each year. There are at least 100 different tents selling photography, paintings, clothing, food, and other crafts, plus about a dozen beer gardens. These festivals are great opportunities for advertisers to hand out samples and show off their wares. Mini, Comcast, Mentos, Chevy and Boost Mobile all sported conspicuous presentations of their products. Mentos gave out free 3-packs of product, and Calistoga water was there handing out free bottles, too. A few pictures of the event are below. I highly recommend a trip to these types of festivals. The North Beach and Fillmore festivals are very similar, with many of the same merchants opting for booth rentals at these events, too.

Here's the link to the event and a few photos from my phone (including one from the USA/China soccer game in San Jose later that night that was awesome. US won 4-1.

http://www.unionstreetfestival.com/

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Last weekend, I visited Kiawah Island, SC. This haven for New Englanders doesn't fail to disappoint. The beaches are warm in May, and the residents and visitors are as a relaxed as Hawaiian natives. Kiawah Island is a newfound source of inspiration for me, and I feel this first visit to the island will not be my last. If you've never been there, go at least once. Home prices are expensive, but rental units are very affordable. We stayed at one whose backyard was the 16th green and 17th tee box of one of the five championship golf courses on the island. Island folk in Kiawah that aren't relaxing on the beach often take a bike ride on one of the many island trails. They snake their way around the golf courses, up an down the ocean, through forests and over marshlands rich with wildlife. A visit hear will afford you an opportunity to forget about your worries and clear your mind. Bring a notebook. You'll be inspired.

http://www.kiawahisland.org/Wildlife/Default.aspx

American Alligator

Bird

Beach Photo

I chose a not-so-ideal day to visit the Exploratorium, but it was still a great time. Late May is when the school kids take field trips in droves to this place, so battling 30plus kids at a time to play with iron filing exhibits and cans with strings can take a lot out of you. Just a few hours is all you need at the Exploratorium, to get a chance to look at everything, but you'd really need a few weeks there to get a full understanding of the science built into each exhibit. I was most impressed by the live video images of magnified mouse heart stem cells. The chicken embryo exhibit was equally intriguing. Go early in the week if you can, and bring your student ID for a small savings. The Tactile Dome was a disappointment. They make you pay up front for it, but it's at the end of the hall. When you finally get there, you realize that it's no bigger than an igloo. I thought it was going to be a giant dome. They do a great job marketing it, but it's sort of a bait and switch technique. I didn't go in. Below are images of the little map they give you upon entry, as well as a photo I took with my cell phone of the grasshopper exhibit. This particular grasshopper enclosure was rockin' with an all out orgy. You can see the two getting it on at front left, and there's a threesome going on in the middle. Grasshoppers like to party.

ExploratoriumBrochure

Grasshoppers Getting it On

Just a quick entry here to keep up with the blog. I'm heading to South Carolina for a wedding this weekend, so I'm planning to feed my brain early next week, but if any of you are thinking about Bay to Breakers and have never been, DEFINITELY GO! It's awesome and a guaranteed good time, unless you drink too much, trip on your own feet, and crush your sunglasses. But everything up until then was memorable. 

I just finished the How to See book by George Nelson.  This is the first book I've finished in one day, in about ten years, so there's something to be said for that (probably that it's mostly pictures). I always liked picture books growing up, but as you get older, books tend to have fewer pictures, and then in about fifth grade the pictures are completely gone.  This one was written in the 70s, originally, so it was a nice opportunity to look at what was popular back then and what some of Nelson's predictions for the future were. He seems very disappointed with the trend of standardization (tract housing, for example) throughout the book, and this has certainly become a stronger thread in our cultural makeup.

The lack of research that went into the book is disappointing, considering how many claims Nelson makes. I thought it amusing that in his Acknowledgements in 1977 at the back of the book, he explains how he pondered whether or not to solicit professional research for his book, but decided it was "too late" for it by the time he thought of it. He mentions that he feels uneasy about it. He probably should. You can't really take someone seriously if he makes a lot of claims but has no evidence to back them up.

A lot of Nelson's ideas do make sense, but without anyone else to support them, they're just that, ideas. The section "Design: Articulated to Closed," really jumped out at me. Nelson talks about such creations as the typewriter and automobile, and postulates why their designs moved to a closed form over the years, but he never gives consideration to reasons such as increased safety, noise reduction, and reduced necessity to gain access to working parts due to increases in efficiency and reliability (autos and typewriters). Concealed parts on automobiles also helped increase efficiency by making them more aerodynamic and was more feasible as better design technologies allowed the vehicles to cool effectively in a closed form. When he mentions pencils as a "perfect design" he supports this claim by citing that "pencils are still made and sold in large quantities." This doesn't tell us much at all, and leaves out the possibility that the pencil was a hot seller only because public schools provide them at no cost to students. Was it really the flat sides that kept pencils from falling off the desks, or was it that it gave the user a better grip? I remember plenty of pencils rolling off my poorly-designed slanted desktop as a student. The flat sides didn't help.

Some of the pictures in the book were terrific, and I feel like reading the book has helped encourage me to look at things a little differently, and perhaps to look a little deeper into everything I see. Few people take the time to notice what they see each day in our world. He makes a good point there. Unfortunately, I'm left with the impression that very little work went into creating this book, especially considering the fact that the version I read was the one revised by Rob Forbes in 2003. It could have been MUCH better, if he'd done some research and solicited a few opinions about his ideas. Overall, though, it's a worthwhile read and would make a nice addition to anyone's coffee table.

Hey Folks,

Here are the pictures from my visual presentation. I finally know how to select an image to resize it in Photoshop. Baby steps...

Shine On Visual

Track4 Visual

This week's Feed Your Brain exercise was a trip to the SFMOMA to see a few of Picasso's works, along with some of the works of American artists inspired by him.  They don't allow you to use pens at the MOMA, but they were more than happy to provide me with a golf pencil, for which I was grateful. I still think I could have done damage with it, but for some reason, they're more concerned with pens.

Of the five floors of exhibits, only one was closed. The third floor photography exhibit was closed for renovation. Still, I was there for the Picasso pieces in particular, so I wasn't too disappointed. Level two is where most of the action starts. I particularly enjoyed a loveseat by Tom Sachs, made of phone books. No cameras are allowed, so I couldn't snap any shots, but many of these pieces can be seen on the internet, so I recommend visiting and jotting down your favorites. Level two also had a Matisse called "Woman with Hat." I remember this one from eighth grade art class, so I was a little excited.

We moved on the fourth floor, an extreme disappointment. This floor was filled with stuff I could do myself in about ten minutes, and I may be alone here, but I just can't call that art. There was a large blue square, and one piece was three large white canvas squares along with a description of how the artist "broke all the rules" by expressing himself outside the traditional bounds of color. It was time to move on to Picasso.

The fifth floor Picasso exhibit is worth the extra $2.50 (don't forget your MAS ID card). There were pieces by Max Weber and Man Ray that were their own interpretations of some of Picasso's works. There were also a few Picassos on loan from The Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. I was just there last September, so it was quite a treat. "Head of a Horse" is my favorite Picasso, but it wasn't on display. Apparently, Guernica, his most famous work, was on display in San Francisco in the early 20th Century. That one's back in Madrid now, probably for good.

This was incredible trip I highly recommend. I found inspiration everywhere. Even the solid color squares, while disappointing, made me laugh and think of a few funny TV commercials. Stop by if you have a chance. They're closed Wednesdays, Thursdays are apparently quite a singles scene, and here's the website and a few photos...

www.sfmoma.org

HeadOfHorse

Museum Map

Museum Ticket

Hey all, here are some notes from my music presentation, and a few links, if you're interested in learning more about any of the bands.

Bob Sinclar  - “Love Generation” 2005 –  Album, Love Generation

Website: http://www.bobsinclar.com/

Long Beach Dub All Stars – “Sunny Hours” 2001 – Album, Wonders of the World

Counting Crows – “Hard Candy” 2002 – Album, Hard Candy

John Denver - “Blue Grass” – 1974 - Album, An Evening with John Denver

Lazy Bones Bluegrass Band – “South Fork” – Album, Lazy Bones Bluegrass Band

Website: http://www.humboldtmusic.com/webpage/index.cfm?id=228

(This band broke up a few years ago)

My feed your brain activity this weekend was a trip to the Independent, on Divisadero, to watch a collection of bands play for the Green Apple Music and Arts Festival.  The first band, the Jitters, was one of the worst live bands I've ever heard. I wouldn't waste time seeing them live, and their performance was bad enough not to search for their recordings. The second band, Poor Bailey, was interesting mix of phenomenal instrumentals and horrible vocals and lyrics. With an intelligent writer and a reasonable lead singer, they have potential to be great, but it just wasn't happening for me. I felt like the Counting Crows could take their tunes and make a few hits from them. They were a pop/rock band.

The Pine Box Boys came on third. A powerful display of polished Bluegrass with humerous lyrics and talented instrumentals. They stole the show (and kept us from walking out disappointed). Trainwreck Riders, the headliners, had a tough act to follow. They disappointed after two songs. Unable to hear the lyrics over the novice-sounding guitarists, we decided to leave. Overall, the $12 cover was worthwhile, and some of that apparently goes toward keeping planet Earth around a little longer, which is nice.

Pine Box Boys:

http://www.trashfish.com/pbb/

Their site says they're "Singers of songs of murder and misery."  Their tunes are a bit morbid, but rather humorous when mixed with the banjo an an upbeat tempo. It's an interesting contrast, and the crowd really got into it.

I went to the Giants game on Saturday. Nice to see Barry hit another one, and another today. Watched the game today on TV. Southwest Airlines has some of my favorite commercials. The one with the lady in the elevator trying to get the door to close before her co-worker gets in captures an embarrassing human truth quite nicely.

Picture of AT&T Park Scoreboard from Saturday:

AT&T Park Scoreboard

If you're looking for affordable Thai food, one of my favorite places is Little Thai, at the corner of Broadway and Polk. If you like noodles, King of Thai noodle has a few locations around the city, and all of them are great. Andy's Chinese food is a good deal, too. For pizza, the best deals are at the Front Room on California St. If you don't have a delivery.com account, you might consider setting one up. They have a bunch of places that give you 20-25% off your first order. Delivery can take up to an hour, but I've never had a problem with billing, mishandling of orders, or anything like that. It's a great tool if you're feeling lazy.