gemini

american gothic cheesecake factory


yadhtrib yppah

Sunday, my actual birthday, was golf and lunch at the Club with fam. Unstuck my sink with my landlord. It was a good day. Didn't even have to use my AK.

cave in

the Nation had a good piece on Nick Cave. i agree with this blogger that it's refreshing to see something non political yet raw in the magazine. makes me want to check out this "grinderman" album. could it live up to the hype? well, judging the Flash-only site, not so much. Who wants Flash? You can't link to anything, steal images/sound.... boring. And it hardly works on Safari. Yeesh people.

dumplings satisfy rumbling monster stomachs

My mom collects children's books. Not books that belonged to kids, but books meant for children. I liked the colorful pictures and creative story lines. I could talk for days about them.

As I ate dumplings tonight on Clement with Mona and Brittany, I remembered this Japanese story, The Old Woman Who Lost Her Dumpling. A talented dumpling entrepreneur chases a lost snack to the underworld. She is enslaved by monsters, who treat her well and love her food. Nonetheless, she misses home, and escapes by boat and magic paddle. Furious, the monsters drink the river to stop the old woman from rowing to freedom. You'll have to read the rest.

I also remembered Tikki Tikki Tembo, but I think the name is more memorable than the story.

riding high

pretty relaxed weekend. walked lake merced and saw Indiana Jones with dort. watched MMA action with James and Tina. fixed a flat and rode with Masa to Sausalito. So windy, the tourists got blown off their bikes. poor tourists.

week in review

• brunch at carol's


• beer party at micah's


• menlo park, palo alto, fraiche, 27 dresses, home cooking, vino


• violin lesson


• fiery furnaces with brittany, food at Mel's (van ness)


• sex in the city with brittany

moby on moby

Check out Moby doing a director's commentary with his new album. He sounds genuinely sad the rave scene is done. I remember in Bolivia, the soundtrack to the TV news photo montages of 9/11 was Moby's concept album, the famous one Play. That was seminal. I also went to a rave in Bolivia but I don't remember hearing Moby. Anyway, rave on, dude. And do more punk covers like this.

Thanks for the link Brittany.

memorial weekend

Dort had me pull off 280 in Daly City as we drove south to the Peninsula. She wanted to pay tribute to her husband at his resting place.

We drove around the big military cemetery looking for the grave. Thousands of little American flags planted by Boy Scouts and larger ones lining the road for Memorial Day flapped in the breeze. The gentle wind, sunny sky and green grass sloped down from the top of the cemetery toward the Bay.

We stopped a couple places. Dort got out and read the names on the white tombstones. Everything looked the same. Finally she signaled me. They had removed the tree that used to show her where her husband lay. Only a flat stump remained.

Dort said she felt better that the tree was gone because the roots made her uncomfortable. I got uncomfortable hearing that, visualizing tree roots burrowing into Uncle Ski's casket.

There are women buried there, too. Dort said they were the wives of service members. I did not ask if Dort would be buried there. She later said the place is full, though, so that answers that question.

old friends, new toilet

I've got mucho news lately. I'm still picking law schools, btw.

• dinner with dad at Joey and Eddie's, used to be Moose's; used to be good.
  
• playing with video cameras at work. I covered a "truck blessing" at Port of Oakland and Burmese protest in front of Singaporean embassy. They're pressuring Singapore b/c they head ASEAN, which can theoretically help cyclone victims.


• locked out of apt. twice. saved by Dort.


• fish dinners at dort's, twice


• Numayr called as he walked home from a party in Manhattan. We agreed that we weren't suicidal, which means we're optimistic people. He asked whether I feel guitly for kicking Mike S. out of What Now My Love without proper notification. I agreed to apologize to Mike.


• Mike S. called on his last night in Boston, as he walked one last time to the train station or something. he was upbeat and perceptive. i was in a funk for some reason and he picked up on it.


• wandering Bay to Breakers, before meeting David and lunching in Darla's and shooting from the De Young Tower.


• dinner with Brian at Naan 'n' Curry after watching a performance by Ascend Dance, a mix of rock climbing and dance. They synced one male-female number to The Mission theme song :). B said he and Corinna will move to Germany in a year.


• saw performances by "scratch guitarist" The Genie and kid rock-ish The High Decibels.


• watched Spencer Nakasako's films Refugee and a.k.a. Don Bonus about Cambodian-American identity formation. boys cry.


• watched Gonzo, the Hunter S. Thompson story at the SF Int'l Film Fest.


• biking the Headlands.

Meshugga Beach Party at Bay To Breakers 2008

The Chosen Surfers rocked out on JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park.

bay to breakers 2008 - USA!

these model citizens yelled "free tibet" after this discourse. then a firefighter made them get down and they didn't actually die doing it. I think that's a beer in the left one's hand.

death by street view

Top 15 Google Street View Sightings
Street View Fun
Blurs to come

Death lurks in my parents' driveway (I blurred the addy):

go green with me

my favorite Green-related musical ventures:

-The Moldy Peaches feat. Kimya Dawson and Adam Green
-Another Green World, album by Brian Eno
-"I'm seeing red" by Minor Threat (I'm colorblind)
-Green Day, natch
-"Moneytalks" by AC/DC

Jet Li and Jackie Chan

brutal, on court and off.

Tom Waits Press Conference

say hi to yr mom for me Tom.

harvest coming

word is, the orange trees in Menlo Park are coming into ripeness. time to pick. anyone want some juicy ones?

mother and son

mother and son
Originally uploaded by Monster Pete

mother and family spoke to Oakland mayor ron dellums after parents feared ICE would raid their elementary school.

ladies night

man i don't know what to say about this company: BigTime. maybe monster pete + the chiefs don't have enough ladies' nights and special reasons to see our band, besides our music.

What Jesus Would Eat

If He were in the Bay Area, where would He feast?

I know He likes His loaves and fishes. The salmon population is hurting, so local chinook is off the menu. I'm sure He would not want anything frozen and transported too far. He had no motorized transportation in His day. Christ's a locavore.

Mercury levels threaten one's health if you eat too much fish from the Bay. Once a month is okay, per NPR. If you are eating out, according to CBS 5, We Be Sushi and Blowfish as well as Whole Foods pass the test.

For bread, He'd probably go to the workers' co-op Arizmendi. Jesus was all about people power, and that sourdough on Fisherman's Wharf is too darn expensive, plus it just sits out getting dusty.

After the meal, He would have to get a good view of San Francisco. He might walk across some water. In Oakland, He'd find Mr. Brians and his new golden wok(search DO THE WOK OF LIFE). But I suspect the Lord could make a wok golden just by peeing on it or some such thing, so He might not be impressed.

If He came over my place, the menu would be simple. Probably salad, pasta, toast and meatballs or stir fry. But He'd get to listen to the new Maven, at which point the devil within would bubble up and out and succumb to the pulsating sounds, leaving the Lord with a full stomach and empty conscience. Then we would find a good, free MIT course to take. I'm thinking kitchen chemistry.

'going commando' no joke, pros say

Real life commandos are reclaiming the phrase, "Going commando." Performing on duty without undergarments is no easy task, U.S. troops say. Hearing the phrase bandied about in popular culture does little for company morale. Check out the news brief.

Frosty needs a visa

Dort walked up to the counter at McDonald's and ordered two "Frosties" the other day, meaning ice cream cones. The young South Asian-looking woman at the counter charged her for some other ice cream item, more than two cones cost. Dort soon found the error, and asked for two "cones" instead.

"Cones" used to be called "frosties," Dort explained later. She ought to get hip to the new lingo, she concluded.

I can't blame her for using the term she used all her life to order a cone from McDonald's. So why should I get irritated when she says all immigrants should "get in line" like her parents, who came the "right way"?

I shouldn't. I'll just tell her calmly, "Our government no longer serves that."