May 23, 2008 at 3:07 pm · Filed under Life, Meaning, & Selfhood + Bicycling
So I got hit by a car on Friday of last week. Typical frantic mother deciding last minute to pick up cough meds for her daughter. She pulled into a parking spot right in front of me. Thankfully, I was able to stop in time so as I didn’t go flying into her car. Still my front wheel tacoed and I dropped to the ground giving myself some quality road rash on my elbow.
She was nice, drove me to work, and she’ll pay for all damages. Turns out that the damages are just to the front wheel, but I’ve got decent rims so that turns out to be a decent amount. I was already leaning towards looking at a new bike sometime this year so I decided take a gander on craigslist to see if there was anything interesting. As it turned out there was. A total drool-worthy bike right up my alley — so I went ahead and did it using the repair money towards this new bike instead. I figure I’ll slowly repair the old bike and sell it or use it as a second bike.
I’m really happy with my new bike and it’s frankly a bit 1 level higher quality overall then what I was looking for originally. It’s pretty and therefore solidly a target, so I’ll need to upgrade my locking standards. It’s also a bike that goes against almost everything jwz says about proper bicycle commuting, but then again I’ve been bicycling for years in San Francisco too so I’ve built up my own share of opinions on bicycles, commuting, and utility bicycling.
When I first started writing this post, I had thought I would craft a similar advice list discussing where I agreed/disagreed with jwz; however, as part of this is about upgrading my own bike I thought I’d create a list for intermediate level utility cyclists — which will be the focus of my next post.
November 26, 2007 at 3:25 pm · Filed under Art Freak Culture
Come out tonight and join us for What’s Your Answer?!!
From the same people who’ve chosen to accept the BLAME (and some limited legal responsibility) for such FAMOUS travesties as URBAN Golf, The BUZZED BEE, The $25,000 Pyramid Scheme, and Crackhouses For Humanity comes the most COMPELLING underground entertainment EVENT of the first part of this week:
“WHAT’S YOUR ANSWER?” - the Pub Quiz night where the most humorous answer wins!
At “What’s Your Answer?” we don’t care how many obscure historical facts you’ve memorized, or which team has kept up to date on the latest dirt about Britney Lohiltonhan, or who knows which rogue nation just now broke off all diplomatic ties with the U.S. and is threatening an imminent nuclear attack. Well, okay, we might care a little bit about that last one. But ONLY if your answer is funny.
That’s right. The answer that gets the most LAUGHS will also get the most points, as awarded by our panel of celebrity judges. At “What’s Your Answer?” there’s NO NEED to actually KNOW ANYTHING, just so long as you and your team can crack wise. Or crack stupid. We really DON’T care. But at the end of the night, the team with the most points will win some fabulously crass PRIZES, and bragging rights (or “street cred”) redeemable within a laughably small and hopelessly ESOTERIC local sub-culture!!!
This NOT-TO-BE-MISSED show will DEBUT at 9pm on MONDAY the 26th at renowned Mission Street hotspot 12 GALAXIES.
$5 dollars admission, no one turned away for lack of funds, taste, timing or tact.
More details at the “What’s Your Answer?” Web Experience
As seen on LAUGHING SQUID
July 24, 2007 at 7:20 pm · Filed under Blogging about blogging + Politics
This being San Francisco—which is if not the heart at least the aorta of the intertubes—one would expect all its candidates to have web savvy campaigns. I mean come on this is 2007! If the little town of Medicine Park, OK (pop. ~400) can have a blog, shouldn’t we expect our politicians to be a bit more internet-slick?
Recap of Round I
In Round I, I covered the web campaigns of Chicken John and Gavin Newsom. Neither of them got very many style-points for their web presence, but Chicken John was the winner of that bout with his more personal and direct internet campaign.
The judges reconsider
However, it seems that the judges missed something in their review: as it turns out, the Gavin Newsom campaign, Act Locally SF*, has a flickr account, and they have an active YouTube campaign. Mostly it’s just a bunch of long rambling unedited boring meetings, but I love his Pet Peeves on the Streets series!
The Pet Peeves on the Streets video series have Gavin Newsom himself interviewing random people on the street and in barbershops asking what their pet peeve is with San Francisco. The series is a few months old at this point, but they are a good attempt to reach out to people the way that this new social web is meant to. We need to see more campaign ideas like this.
So with this revelation, I gotta give the YouTube Stardom category over to Gavin Newsom, and I’d say the Web 2.0 Social Aptitude category is now a tie.
With this turnover, Gavin Newsom is now in the lead as the top 21st century political candidate of San Francisco!
A scrappy new contender
However, Gavin Newsom shouldn’t get too cocky. He only won that one by a nose and as Scott Beale of Laughing Squid reports, Josh Wolf seems to be coming out with both guns blazing. He’s got a new blog, Josh Wolf for Mayor and a campaign video. The judges have yet to completely review but they did have this to say:
“Please please next time get a tripod and don’t ever sit in front of a nauseatingly bright greenscreen!!!”**
So stay tuned for Round II where it’s the stiff backed experienced politico Gavin Newsom against the slouched over activist Josh Wolf!
* I gotta say though that Act Locally SF is a terrible campaign name. It sounds more like a generic NGO then a campaign. Why not just Gavin Newsom 2007?
** Bonus Points go to anyone out there who takes Josh Wolf’s video and remixes it using the greenscreen background for something Dumb. Note: that’s Dumb with a capital D—ya know the kind of Dumb that’s actually funny and creative.
July 20, 2007 at 3:01 pm · Filed under Art Freak Culture + Blogging about blogging + Politics
Chicken John, SF Mayoral Candidate, has started a blog: Chicken John Rinaldi For Mayor of San Francisco, which includes an instructional video to help collect signatures. He needs to collect 10,000 signatures by Wednesday, July 25th to get on the ballot — go help him out!
Chicken’s joined facebook too on the advice of Scott Beale of LaughingSquid. Chicken’s also on that den of iniquity and bad design myspace and tribe. Next thing we know he’ll be on Twitter, Flickr, Pownce, Digg, Delicious, and of course YouTube — well actually Chicken is already on YouTube with a video of him eating a lightbulb.
So let’s tally up the scores of who’s the more 21st Century political candidate…
Google Name Recognition
Web 2.0 Social Aptitude
- Chicken John - 1 facebook profile, 1 myspace profile, 1 tribe profile
- Gavin Newsom - 3 facebook profiles, 3 myspace profiles, and one Gavin Newsom Sucks myspace profile. {While Gavin wins by sheer number of profiles I have a strange feeling they aren’t really him, so I had to give this one to Chicken}
Blog-o-sphere Cred
- Chicken John - 1 fresh off the presses mayoral blog written by the man himself (when he doesn’t have the cold that is); hosted at Wordpress.com but with his own domain which adds a couple more cred points
- Gavin Newsom - 1 boring PR spewing pseudo-blog written by the mayoral toadies in Newsom’s name; hosted as a subdomain on Typepad. And 1 other boring PR spewing pseudo-blog with an unknown CMS with a lousy old HTML 4.01 Transitional doctype.
YouTube Stardom
From a mayoral gravitas perspective, I don’t think either candidate wins in this department.
So there you have it! Chicken John is the better 21st century political candidate! Gavin is more searchable by far, but Chicken’s web presence is more personal and web 2.0 connected — quantity vs quality.
Unfortunately, for elections it’s quantity that wins. No matter though it’s always worth it to add that little something else to spice up the pot, so go help Chicken John by signing to get him on the ballot!
May 24, 2007 at 1:30 pm · Filed under Art Freak Culture
Tomorrow, Fri the city goes a bit haywire…
I don’t give a damn about the bike courier, but I do think a very short critical mass and then get taken by zombies along market is in order.
Heads up thanks to SFist “Like Dropping Mentos in Coke, Only With Bikes”
May 11, 2007 at 1:39 pm · Filed under Art Freak Culture
Laughing Squid is reporting that The Shipyard is closing up shop due to uncompromising Berkeley bureaucracy.
Supposedly, the stacked shipping containers are not structurally sound enough for Berkeley. Jim Mason, the owner of the facility, has received a “vacate and abate” notice unless he can prove, in three days, the “shipping containers as a new rated assembly for habitable buildings.”
It’ll be sad to see it go. It had been the home for several fabulous events and art projects including: How To Destroy The Universe Festival (2004 & 2005), The Clock Works (2005), Neverwas Haul (2006).
Jim Mason has stated that he is looking to move everything to Oakland. Hopefully, the new home bring less bureaucratic headaches.
More info at: Laughing Squid and O’Reilly Radar Blog
