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Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
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| Sunday, May 27th, 2012 |
sophy
|
3:39a |
fun fun fun crash
Having a blast at WisCon - doing too much, seeing and meeting lots of lovelies, and so far my three panels all went well!! Tomorrow is the big one I'm modding, so wish me luck! Having fewer "too shy to approach this person" moments than I used to, but it's still hard sometimes. Have also gushed about how much I fangirl some people, which is equal parts fun and embarrassing. Partied hard tonight. Trying to calm down and get some sleep because there are early morning panels I MUST go to.... Tomorrow looks to be long, thinky, and fun. Might just crash Monday. Only one panel I really REALLY wanna go to, so we'll see. Off to read myself to sleep (hopefully). |
| Saturday, May 26th, 2012 | |
sfciviccenter
|
4:12p |
The Return of Narkissos
http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com/2012/05/return-of-narkissos.html 
Narkissos, the last great collage completed by the San Francisco artist Jess has made a welcome return to the permanent collection gallery on the second floor of SFMOMA.
Jess was born Burgess Collins in Long Beach in 1923, was drafted into the military after studying chemistry at Cal Tech, and worked on the Manhattan Project during World War Two. He followed that with a three-year stint at the Hanford Atomic Energy Project in Richland, Washington where he became completely disillusioned with his scientific career and its role in the atomic destruction of the world. In 1949 he enrolled in the California School of the Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) and began referring to himself as "Jess". He met the Berkeley poet Robert Duncan in 1951 and the two became lovers until Duncan's death in 1988.
Duncan and Jess were central spokes of San Francisco gay bohemia in the 1950s and 1960s which culminated in the Beat and Hippie movements, along with whatever we're calling the digital revolution that also flows from their work.
A Wikipedia entry on Jess notes that his collages are known for themes drawn from chemistry, alchemy, the occult, and male beauty, which pretty much describes Narkissos to a T. He worked on the piece from 1976 to 1991, and it's great to have it back out of storage. |
daily_doll
[ panda_cupcakes ]
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7:45p |
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babysittersclub
[ bookplayer ]
|
11:45a |
BSC/My Little Pony crossover fanfic preview: Chapter 2 with Ponies
In my last post here, it turned out that some of you guys like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. So I thought I'd mention that I have written a ponified Chapter 2 for a Foal-Sitters Club fanfic I'm working on. If you want to check it out, it's at my journal. I'm open to any suggestions, and I'm happy to consider this a shared world if anyone else wants to write crossover fanfic! Oh, I also wanted to show off this. Behold my mediocre photoshop skills! |
daily_doll
[ water_rose ]
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3:53p |
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| Friday, May 25th, 2012 | |
sfciviccenter
|
10:31a |
La Koro Sutro at the Berkeley Art Museum Tonight
http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com/2012/05/la-koro-sutro-at-berkeley-art-museum.html 
Years ago I bought a CD of music by Lou Harrison out of a bargain bin at the great Boo Boo Records in San Luis Obispo, and the 1972 La Koro Sutro for 100 voice chorus, American Gamelan, harp and organ quickly became one of my favorite pieces of music. Even though the forces are massive, the work is delicate and dreamy, and is sounding better with each passing year.
The text is taken from a Buddhist sutra, which was then translated into Esperanto, the invented language from the late 19th century which was created to foster world peace. In other words, it doesn't get any more California coastal multicultural gay hippie pacifist than La Koro Sutro, and there's nothing quite like it.
The problem is actually getting to hear a live performance, and once again pianist Sarah Cahill above is coming to the rescue with a Lou Harrison concert featuring La Koro Sutro tonight at the Berkeley Art Museum. Doors open at 5, concert starts at 7:30, and admission is only $7. The fact that I am going to miss this concert because of a last-minute rehearsal scheduled at the San Francisco Opera is depressing, but if you have a chance to catch it yourself, please do. The evening promises to be legendary. (Click here for a nice preview by Jason Serinus at SF Classical Voice.)
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toolgirlfeed
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1:10p |
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daily_doll
[ sweet_misery788 ]
|
7:36a |
Mopey
 Current Mood:  excited |
| Thursday, May 24th, 2012 | |
sfciviccenter
|
10:10a |
Utah, Gateway to Sansome Street!
http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com/2012/05/utah-gateway-to-sansome-street.html 
At the east end of the Montgomery Street underground BART and Muni station in San Francisco, an immersive ad campaign for the state of Utah and its natural wonders has been installed, and it's something of a psychedelic wonder.
Looking at the signage brought back memories of a hilarious 1984 guidebook to the state by Tim Kelly called Utah, Gateway to Nevada! The deadpan satire of the Mormon founded state even inspired a song of the same name by a band called Plague of Locusts (click here for the YouTube version).
Peter Huestis at Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog also just posted a "Random Arizona Memory" with a nifty map detailing Mormon influence in that state, and how he managed to avoid being housed by Mormon families during his stint in a Tucson high school glee club that went on overnight field trips. As he explains:
"If you stayed with an LDS host family, you were treated to a non-stop festival of Mormonism, abounding with special "youth activities" which just happened to be scheduled while you were visiting. Meanwhile, the rest of us were attending totally fantastic teen keg parties. The ones I went to in Flagstaff, huge raucous bonfires in the woods, were the best parties I went to in high school." Click here for the whole, hilarious thing, and do pray to your favorite deity that Mr. Romney doesn't become president. |
| Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 | |
sfciviccenter
|
11:44p |
Phantoms of Asia 2: Mixing It Up
http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com/2012/05/phantoms-of-asia-2-mixing-it-up.html 
The Asian Art Museum, as part of its attempt to rebrand itself, has undertaken an ambitious attempt to rethink the museum, with a contemporary art exhibit called Phantoms of Asia matched up with older pieces from the permanent collection.
The juxtapositions mostly work out quite well.
There are video and installation components, including Death Class above, a very disturbing video by the Thai artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook lecturing a room of actual cadavers about the meaning of death.
Next door in the North Court there's a striking installation of ghostly soldiers playing on instruments, Anno Domini, by Indonesian artist Jompot.
Around the corner is Untitled I (Peacock with Missiles) by the Pakistani artist Adeela Suleman that has its own surreal charm.
Best of all, this show reflecting on Asian cosmologies has been installed throughout the entire museum, escaping the usual touring show ghetto of three boxy rooms in the North Court. Check out the Indian wing on the third floor where The Cult of Appearance III above by Janneth Parda is situated.
So is Absence of God VII by Raqib Shaw in all its glittered, rhinestone glory.
The contemporary art is not only literally from all over the map, but like any contemporary group show, there are highlights and stinkers. The biggest surprise is how many of the older pieces, shown in this context, look so bizarrely contemporary, like the Cosmological Painting from India from approximately 1750-1850 that scholars haven't even begun to figure out. In a strange way, it felt like one of the most modern pieces in the whole show. |
sophy
|
7:18p |
Check-in, Pre-WisCon
Don't you just love when someone makes a post asking for feedback on something and then just totally disappears for weeks on end? Me either. Sorry about that, guys! I hit another busy-recovering from being busy-getting read to be busy again-busy cycles. I'm currently in the getting ready to be busy again part of the cycle, but really wanted to stop in here as part of my doing that. This weekend is WisCon, which is my most frabulous thing of the year. Geeking out with other feministy academic minded geeky freak flag flying sci-fi/fantasy writers, readers, viewers, and consumers. I've been especially preparing because I'm going to be on four panels and will be moderating one of those and this will be my first time modding and is only my second time panneling, so my nerves are kinda going woowoo! Here is my basic schedule: Today and tomorrow: pack, prepare, try not to freak out. Thursday: coincidentally, bestest friend will be in town, so meeting her for lunch and then heading to the hotel with Carrie who I'm sharing a room with for the weekend - mostly chill and continue getting ready for stuff. Friday: go to the gathering for fun stuff, go to my panel Anti-Heroism Defined, rest up a bit, probably go to a couple of other panels before heading to the parties. Saturday: try and get up early enough to hit some morning panels, break for lunch, head to my two back-to-back panels The Power of Play and Considering the Female Villain, maybe hit another panel, chill for a bit, probably hit some more panels before hitting the photo booth and more parties. Sunday: try and get up for some morning panels, break for lunch, head to the panel I'm moderating - Does It Get Better?, hit some more panels, chill, party party party. Monday: hopefully get up for some last remaining panels, try and stay functional enough to hit the post-mortem, possibly stay functional enough to check out the Dead Cow party. Probably come home and watch Buffy with Carrie, as that has become our tradition. Stare blankly at the walls in a semi-comatose state contemplating all of the awesomeness of the weekend. Tuesday and beyond: recover. There are a lot of panels I'm excited about going to. I'm sad that many of them are up against my own panels, but at least that narrows down my options for me! Ha. Yea, Sunday at ten am there are literally 10 different things I'd like to attend. It's hard! But hopefully I'll get to some of the YA panels, the few panels this year having to do with TV (note to self: suggest more TV panels for next year!), some of the disability panels, the trans panels, and maybe a few readings?? Very excited that they're doing the Genderfloomp dance again this year, but sad to see no Karaoke. General party descriptions seem intriguing. I've enjoyed thinking about and researching for my various panels this year. The anti-hero and female villains ones had me falling down tvtropes holes again like the can villains change one from last year. I really love hero/villain dynamics and am so glad I got picked to be on both of these panels so I can talk more about this stuff. The power of play one sounds like it's going be lots of fun with there being talk about props! The does it get better one, I think, is going to be really fascinating. All four of us are coming with slightly different approaches but are basically on the same page so there should be lots of fuel for talk and food for thought. I am a bit nervous about my mod skills. I know I have the skills to be a good mod, but I'm worried about tying it all together. Keeping track of time, keeping everyone on topic, managing audience input, managing the flow of the panel, etc. It's a lot of balls to keep in the air at once, so I hope I'm up to the task. I'm also worried about Cleo. Both Dave and I will be gone for some of the time, so it's all on Angie to take care of her. I know she's perfectly willing and capable, but I just hate being away from my girl for so long especially now that she's showing her age so much more. Even two weekends ago when I was gone and Dave was still here, I wibbled about her constantly and checked in every day. I have to just trust that she'll be okay, but it's hard!! ************** At some point, I'd like to catch you up on what else I've been up to and have in the works (I got to see my niece dance in a recital and got to play with both nieces! I have a trip to visit with my ma'amer friends next month! I'm having a gastroscopy in a few weeks! The TV season is wrapping up with the summer one starting and you know I have a ton to say about all of that!). And, of course, I want to catch up with you all. I'm not sure when all that is going to happen. I might sneak a few peeks tonight or tomorrow depending on how much I manage to get done con-prep-wise, or it might be post-con when I'm obsessively posting/reading about con stuff. But I've missing my LJ friends, and for that matter FB and twitter and the blogs I normally read and even replying to emails! I hate getting so far behind on this stuff. **************** One final note for my fellow WisCon goers, I like to remind people that I'm horrible both at remembering faces and names, so if I know you but act like I don't - please refresh my memory! I'm so excited to see everyone again - even you local peeps that I rarely see because I just don't get out much. |
daily_doll
[ lopoeticalveil ]
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3:21p |
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daily_doll
[ rosella ]
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4:24p |
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| Monday, May 21st, 2012 | |
sfciviccenter
|
8:15p |
Phantoms of Asia 1: Mayor Ed Lee
http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com/2012/05/phantoms-of-asia-1-mayor-ed-lee.html 
Phantoms of Asia, the big summer show at the Asian Art Museum, opened last week with a party, a free admission Saturday during the Asian Heritage Street Celebration, and a press preview last Wednesday morning.
The gaggle of press people on Wednesday were asked to leave the warm confines of the museum and make their way to the Breathing Lotus in the foggy Civic Center where we were to wait for a speech by Mayor Edwin Lee.
The contemporary artists who were attending the opening of the show posed together in front of the lotus, and museum director Jay Xu gave a short speech explaining that the Mayor was running slightly late but "he will be here directly."
Xu was interrupted by the Christian crazy above with a bullhorn who occasionally hangs out in Civic Center. He was drawn to all of us sinners like a fly to excrement, shouting hell and brimstone through his instrument as loud as he could, and drowning out Xu who joked about the wonders of "free speech."
The Mayor and his entourage above finally arrived twenty-five minutes late and we were all cursing him under our breath because it was a bitterly cold, blustery morning in Civic Center and most people weren't dressed for the occasion.
Lee is also a terrible public speaker, so to add insult to injury we listened to ten minutes of cliches and inanities that made absolutely no sense.
The Japanese guest curator of the contemporary Asian art show is Mami Kataoka above, and after a short explanation of the show which was also fairly incomprehensible, we were let loose into the museum which looks very lively with all the new work mingling with the older, permanent collection. |
| Sunday, May 20th, 2012 | |
sfciviccenter
|
9:32p |
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daily_doll
[ sweetgreens ]
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12:27a |
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| Saturday, May 19th, 2012 |
babysittersclub
[ amelia_seyroon ]
|
9:21p |
On the topic of sex education!
Surely the club members must have gone through sex education class, right? Yet I don't remember ever seeing the subject come up (not appropriate enough for young readers or something?). Just to breathe more life into the community, what do you each of the girls' reactions and thoughts would be? Current Mood:  curious |
| Friday, May 18th, 2012 | |
sfciviccenter
|
12:34p |
New York Philharmonic Loses to San Francisco Symphony
http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com/2012/05/new-york-philharmonic-loses-to-san.html 
Last weekend the New York Philharmonic came to town as part of the San Francisco's centennial celebrations, and the two orchestras played a softball game at Jackson Field in Potrero Hill. This was the first rematch of a tied series in close to 30 years, but it turned out not to be a contest, with the SF Symphoniacs beating the NY Philharmonic Penguins 34-4. The not-so-secret weapon was Mark Inouye above, who is not only one of the great trumpet players of the world but who also turns out to be a serious softball player. (Photo above by Chris Lee.)
The Sunday evening performances by the New York Philharmonic consisted of Dvorak's Carnival Overture and Tchaikowsky's Fourth Symphony sandwiching a new piano concerto by Magnus Lindberg with soloist Yefim Bronfman (above right, with music director Alan Gilbert). In the program notes, Lindberg writes about the piece, "The challenge was to stretch expression to the extreme. It includes some brutal music, like in Kraft, as well as very detailed and lyrical music." I whipsawed between enjoying the music and feeling brutalized, and the consensus in the press room at intermission was also passionately divided. Bronfman in any case gave an insanely virtuosic performance, and I only wished that he had been provided a page turner because there were lots and lots of notes.
The Dvorak and Tchaikowsky didn't fare as well, sounding mostly loud and not very Slavic. In the competition for touring orchestras so far this year, I would rate Boston, Chicago and Cleveland at the top in terms of sheer sound and musicality, and I would put the San Francisco Symphony near that top tier too.  |
| Thursday, May 17th, 2012 |
daily_doll
[ lopoeticalveil ]
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10:27p |
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sfciviccenter
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12:52a |
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| Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 |
sanfrancisco
[ d_f_s ]
|
11:10p |
Where to stay, where to shop and what to do in SF
Hi Everyone, Sorry if someone has already asked this but I did not find a post that was relevant to my questions recently. I will be visiting your lovely city from the end of June to the start of July. I have a few questions: 1- I will be attending a conference at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco (5 embarcadero center) for the first week, and will be free to roam the second week. I am looking for the best accommodations (for 2 people) and do not mind moving around half way through my trip. Ideally, I'd be very close (<10 minute cab drive) to the Hyatt the first week, and close to shopping areas the second week. Ideally it would have air conditioning also, since I don't want to get all sweaty every day before the conference. Anyone know of a hotel or apartment rental that would be good for this area? I checked airbnb and there are not many a/c options in those areas. I would prefer not to spend an outrageous amount (about 150 per night for 2 people is what i'm thinking) 2- What are the best places to shop for local and not outrageously expensive things? I am not interested in big box stores or second hand shops, but just reasonably prices local boutiques. 3- what are some cool things I should do while in the city? 4- Where would be the best places to eat (if you're a foodie, i really want your opinion on this, Anthony Bourdain disappointed) Thanks everyone! |
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sfciviccenter
|
3:08p |
Barbary Coast and Beyond
http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com/2012/05/barbary-coast-and-beyond.html 
San Francisco's fervent fetishization of the city's historical past, which is barely more than 150 years old, has always seemed strange. Maybe it is in reaction to the ahistorical attitude of the rest of California and the Western United States, which are mostly a collection of suburbs, freeways and shopping centers.
As part of the San Francisco Symphony's centenary year, the organization presented a concert this weekend called Barbary Coast and Beyond: Music from the Gold Rush to the Panama-Pacific Exposition, which turned out to be a mixture of musical concert, historical lecture, and slide show in an attempt to evoke another time.
The show was well written by J.D. McClatchy, well staged by James Robinson, and well narrated by Beach Blanket Babylon diva Val Diamond. Guest artists included Vadim Gluzman playing Wieniawski, Bull and Kreisler along with soprano Laura Claycomb above singing a Delibes' ditty, Les Filles de Cadix, an aria from Bellini's La Sonnambula, and Caro nome from Rigoletto. Though she didn't sound as perfect as last time I heard her at the San Francisco Opera singing Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, she was still great to see.
Pianist Anton Nel above played Gottschalk, while Caroline McCaskey below played Offenbach on the musical saw.
From the evidence, Old San Francisco was a place with more money than sense, which would go bonkers for any world famous virtuoso or infamous female stage performer. Las Vegas would probably be the most contemporary equivalent. The evening made me realize that I had absolutely no nostalgic longing for that time over the present. Even though there are way too many people here now, we also have penicillin and better music. |
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toolgirlfeed
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1:36p |
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debunkingwhite
[ annwfyn ]
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6:07p |
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| Monday, May 14th, 2012 | |
sfciviccenter
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10:27a |
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