Tales of San Francisco: Part One

I am currently sitting in an office at my sister's place of work in San Francisco. In a couple of hours we are going to be heading to the Outside Lands Festival at Golden Gate Park. I am looking forward to seeing Radiohead, along with a few other acts.

It's funny to think that when Radiohead released the song "Creep", my sister was in high school. She saw them perform when they were still relatively unknown, and she said that they were shy and didn't face the audience. Now here I am, 16 years after the release of "Creep", going to see Radiohead with my sister at a music festival with thousands of people.

I arrived in San Francisco Wednesday night at around 11 p.m. It was a 13 hour train ride with beautiful scenic views. The pacific ocean had never looked more beautiful than it did when I passed through Santa Barbara and neighboring coastal towns. The color is so beautifully blue. It doesn't look the same in Newport Beach or Corona Del Mar. The coastal portion of Northern California is beautiful.

I met some people while on the train. Robert from Holland, and Arielle from Oregon. We talked throughout the ride. T'was nice. We stopped in San Jose, and so the three of us got off the train, and then got back on where the sleeping cars were because we wanted to see the "v.i.p." section of the train, where mere coach passengers such as ourselves were not allowed. The food looked delicious too, which I could have eaten, but I chose not to make a dinner reservation. I heard that the Roasted Game Hen was very good. Haha.

So, I got to my sister's apartment and got settled. The next morning we walked/took the bus to her work (for those of you that are not aware, it is impossible to find a decent parking spot around here. You are better off walking or using public transportation. Cars are better suited for drives outside of the city.) On our way to work, we stopped at this quaint little French cafe where we ate croissants. We arrived at work, and I helped sort through some compact discs in the music archive. Blah blah blah...we then walked around to various shops. I loved this little place called Pens and Needles. They sell artwork/books/etc from local artists. We then stopped at this newly opened eating establishment called "Little Star". They have the best deep dish pizza I have ever eaten. I hardly find good pizza. My mom makes the best pizza, but this pizza was a close second. To all the citizens of Chicago, Illinois, I am sorry but the best deep dish pizza will not be found anywhere in Chicago, but instead in San Francisco, California.

Later that night we took the bart (train/subway) to the SF MOMA (museum of modern art) where the Frida Kahlo and Lee Miller exhibits were being displayed. Lee Miller was a photographer for vogue, as well as a model and war correspondant during WWII. She photographed much of the war, and was the first to go into Normandy. I particularly love the photograph of Picasso and her son, Antony.


After seeing wonderful works of art, we stopped at the Coffee Bean where I so gracefully spilled a bit of my Hot Vanilla on my coat. Then, we took the train home.

More stories to come.

Error.

Tokyo Police Club.
Weezer.
Angles and Airwaves.
all on the same tour.

Does this not seem wrong to anyone else?
Weezer? Fine. (still somewhat strange, but Weezer is a classic and acceptable band.)
Angels and Airwaves? Not fine. (at all)

I think it's an odd mix, with TPC on there. It doesn't fit well at all, but it's not my call. I simply voice my opinion.

I enjoy Tokyo Police Club. I prefer their older stuff. I wish I could have gone to their awkward small shows when they first started out two years ago or so. They were great then. I can't get into their new stuff really well.


Every time they are in town, I always miss their show.
I'm lame and only like shows at small venues. I really don't like stadium shows, because I feel as though it's really impersonal, even though you can do a lot with a stadium show.

Anyway, my point is, it's a terribly strange lineup.

The young folks.

I think it's cool when teenagers are exposed to different things (positive things), like different music from different countries, art, cuisine, etc. It's really refreshing to see people my age who care about important things, and do things differently, but in a good way.

I don't think I expressed myself adequately with those words.

I'll try again later.

Plug.

From Riverside:



From Los Angeles:


book these kids.

leaf.

Yesterday I was at my cousin's house, and upon walking in the kitchen, I notice something displayed on the fridge. It is splatter paint. A leaf with splatter paint. I thought that was excellent, and so I photographed it, and I shall be showing you this bit of artwork created by my twelve-year old cousin, Alex.



It's an extremely simple thing, but I found some inspiration in it.

Lower Green House Emissions, Higher Food Prices

Recently, the U.S. has been producing corn for biofuel. One third of corn production int he United States is used for that purpose. As you may know, Europe has made the change to biofules. They use vegetable oil. Apparently, all this is causing a huge rise in food prices which has pushed 100m people below poverty level.

Brazil, on the other hand, uses sugarcane as a form of fuel, which does not have a dramatic impact. Now, one might ask, "Why don't we all just swich to sugarcane?". There are some very political answers to that question. I don't know if they are true or not, so I won't state them.

So, essentially, governments across Europe, and our own U.S. government are making changes to help the environment, but in return, our human race is affected tremendously in a negative way.


please educate yourself and form your own opinion:

click here

Debate, don't fight.

A Green Sahara

I had heard about this theory before; the Sahara was once a lush green valley.

Just now I came across an article that proves this theory true. They found remains of animals from thousands of years ago that do not inhabit that region anymore. They also found remnants of two ancient civilizations that are believed to have existed 1,000 years apart.

Link: here

I don't know about you, but I think it's interesting to think about the people who lived thousands of years ago. We live in the digital age, the "age of wires". These people lived in a simple way. When we think about how humans first lived, it's sort of a realization that we truly don't as much as we have. But the world is moving forward, faster and faster into the digital abyss. I guess we all have to catch up some time.