SFGate Culture Blog: The Cinematic Orchestra coming to Bimbo’s

Oh damn, I’m totally going to this. Will be interesting to hear what they sound like live. Instrumentation: drums, double bass, piano, guitar, saxophone, laptop and voice.

BLDGBLOG in San Francisco - Saturday April 7th

A day of landscape and architecture talks at the California College of the Arts (SF Campus) 2:30 - 5:00 pm on Saturday April 7th, 2007.

SF Urban Iditarod 2007 - March 10th. We mush at Noon.

Last year was quite the sight to behold. I cannot believe the SFPD actually chaperones this drunken debauchery all the way across town.

SFJAZZ Spring Season 2007 - Jerry Gonzalez; Omar Sosa

Double bill at Palace of Fine Arts Theater on March 9th. $30 for decent seats.

“viral littering” - Google Search

Coined by Andre in response to Toyota’s ham-handed “viral” stickering campaign in SF last week. Walking around Hayes Valley this weekend I saw a ton of them. Pretty lame.

San Fran Pillow Fight 2007

MASSIVE PILLOW FIGHT TONIGHT when the clock strikes 6 at Justin Hermann Plaza (across from the ferry building). Be there!

John Hodgman at Cody’s Books SF

While perusing Upcoming.org today I was surprised to see that author of “Areas of my Expertise” and Daily Show resident expert John Hodgman was doing a reading at Cody’s Books. Not to miss such an unexpected opportunity I hopped on the bus and headed downtown.

Hodgman reading at Cody's Books SFThe place was pretty full by the time I arrived, but I was fortunate to find a nice nook to wedge myself in. The talk started with the performance of Hodgman’s theme song, by his friend and literary troubadour Jonathan Coulton (dressed in a leather shirt and coonskin cap – Hodgman claimed to have rescued Coulton from the wilds of Connecticut, where he had been raised by a flock of chickadees.) The song was hilarious, with Hodgman remarking afterwards “I don’t know why more authors don’t have their own theme songs!”

Reading from “Areas of My Expertise” he recounted his adventures in the Mall of America and gave a brief overview of the lifestyle and values of American hobos. While funny read from the page, it was even more enjoyable to hear him deliver the lines in his dry, witty style. Coulton came in with musical backing throughout the reading which livened things up and almost made it seem like a radio play.

They paused mid-talk for a bourbon break (supplied by Cody’s apparently – I wonder if they ask for bourbon at all their readings!) while letting the “Areas of My Expertise” audiobook play. During the question and answer period Hodgman explained that he sometimes felt uncomfortable putting himself into such an intimate situation with strangers, so to keep the proper distance he passed out walkie-talkies to the crowd. The remainder of the Q&A session was done over walkie-talkie with questions and responses ending in “OVER”. Highlights of the Q&A session included his denial that he was ever a Dungeons and Dragons nerd (but if he had been, he certainly would have been a thief) and a story of how he ended up getting arrested breaking into the London Zoo after hours while drunk.

By the end of it my cheeks were sore from all the laughing. Definitely glad I headed down there to check it out.

The Morning News - San Francisco Green Space, by Margaret Mason

I don’t know how she could have left out Chrissy Field. And while she says Ocean Beach, I say Baker!

Speeches written by 7-10 year old San Francisco kids read by a Bush impersonator

The premise - “What if President Bush had a change of heart and could actually be the president of your dreams?” Zoe and Melissa crack me up! Even 7 year olds aren’t above taking potshots at Bush! “La dee la dee la dee la!”

Ask a Scientist - San Francisco Science Cafe

Scientists leap into the SF cafe scene for a series of lectures/discussions on scientific topics of interest. There’s one tonight in the ‘hood down at the Canvas Gallery.

NPR : Remembering the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

Heard this story on the way into work this morning. Hard to believe the city rebounded from the devastation shown in the photographs! To think that Telegraph Hill was once a working class neighborhood! Hah!

San Francisco Bike Ballet

Stumbled upon this on craigslist. Short clip of the SFBB troupe “doin’ the daisy.”

Powaqqatsi

A stunning film. The live music by the Philip Glass Ensemble was great, especially the opening theme and later the “call to prayer” by the vocal solo. Lucky to have caught it live at Davies.

Pillow Fight in San Francisco!

Down by the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero. When the clock strikes 6, everyone is going to whip out their concealed pillows and go nuts. I’m in. This is gonna be good…

Rent your Parking Space at Car Harbor

TechCrunch on a not-yet-started service in San Fran that will broker the renting of parking spots (private citizens and schools)to people desperate for a spot. Interesting mobile possibilities. I left a comment.

“A Night in Noir City” - Charlie Haden Quartet West

The legendary jazz bassist and his esteemed quartet close out this year’s San Francisco Film Noir festival with a concert mixing selections from classic noir with original compositions inspired by the films of the era.”

SFMOMA Podcasts

“Present your MP3 player loaded with the current SFMOMA Artcast at the box office and save $2 on museum admission. Offer good through December 31″

Inveneo.org - Serving NGOs and Remote Communities with Technology

“A low cost, ruggedized, pedal and solar-powered PC and communications system that provides remote villages access to simple computing, voice calling, e-mail and the Internet.”

Renzo Piano - California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco (CA), USA

Illustrations and models of Renzo Piano’s design for the new CalAcademy. Opens 2008.

1878 San Francisco Panorama

Very cool. QTVR composed of historical photographs. Great view of pre-1906 SF.

Golden Gate Sunset

From the Gigapxl project. (A van mounted 1 gigapixel camera)

The Wind at Crissy Field Center

Wind stats generated from the Crissy Field Community Environmental Center’s rooftop weather station. Nice live-updating csv for further parsing.

Exploratorium Weather Station

For kite flying conditions on the Marina Green and Chrissy Field…

Real-time San Francisco Bay wind pattern streaklines

USGS site with applet that displays (slightly delayed) animated wind flow patterns over the SF bay. Just indicates direction, not speed. (They do have a color-coded speed map in knots)

The City - Elizabeth Hickock

Photos of model San Francisco cast in Jell-O.