Arty Party with Tomato Soup

Sorry I didn't post for the entire month of February - it just flew by! There was no shortage of things to do though, so here we are again, kicking off March in style - 60's style that is.


Check out Amoeba Records' Factory Party this Friday night in Emeryville. It's a re-creation of Andy Warhol's Factory Party from the 60's complete with Velvet Underground cover bands and screen tests. They're encouraging dressing up in 60's clothes - that can only add to the atmosphere! I've got some great yellow boots for the occasion... will have to see what else I can come up with.

And it's for a good cause too. Bring cans of Campbell’s Soup to donate to the Alameda County Food Bank and be entered to win far-out prizes: museum passes, original art, local restaurant gift certificates, video accessories and games, Amoeba gift certificates, and more. Every can is a chance to win!

To top it off - it's FREE. Food and Beverage Sampling: $10 ($5 with valid student ID) Proceeds benefit Pro Arts. Food and drink area featuring the East Bay's finest restaurants, caterers, wineries, and breweries.

Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.

Best Seats in the Sky

I just learned about this super awesome website - Seat Guru! It's got every airline and seat maps of all the plane types flown by that airline. AND these seat maps are annotated with information about each individual seat as you mouse over them, so you know what you're in for and aren't disappointed that your view is blocked by the engine, or worse yet, you're in the one row that doesn't recline!


In my most recent reservation, after picking seat 7A, thinking it was one behind the bulkhead, so it would have stowage, but also a good view, I consulted this site, only to find that seat has a protrusion from the wall making it slightly uncomfortable, but that the bulkhead seats have foot cutouts, so there's room for your feet to stretch AND even a small bag! Wow! I never would've known until I was unhappily seated on the plane that day.

Here's to no more unpleasant seating surprises in the sky!

Owning the O

I've recently been struck by how many people and ads are playing off the whole Obama O thing. But as I thought more about it, I wondered, does Obama own the O?

One of the first things when I think of an O, is the old jingle for Oreo Cookies... "Oh, oh, oh, who's that kid with the Oreo cookie...O-R-E-O."


And then while we're on the subject of food O's you can't forget the classic "Incredible O" Cheerio's. These have a good all-american O feeling to them too.


As a kid I went to a few Baltimore Orioles games, and loved cheering on the "O's." I got a kick out of yelling especially loudly on the "Oh! say can you see..." before the game started.


And you can't forget America's favorite lady O... Yes, there was Jackie O, but there's also Oprah. She has her own magazine that just goes by the single letter O, and that happens the first thing that comes up when you Google O. That lady really knows how to market.


Then along came Obama, the reigning king of the O. He branded it perfectly, made it available to the masses, and they embraced the O. It got incorporated into every word in his campaign.


Artists were empowered to design posters, many of which revolved around the Obama O.


And really famous artists who already had established themselves with a twist on the O, re-purposed their artwork for his purpose. You can see some of their art at a gallery show in New York going on now.



Then Pepsi got on the bandwagon, promoting their new "Refresh" campaign, and showcasing their new (and in my opinion, lacking) logo by placing it in words instead of the O's, just like Obama. Does Obama even drink Pepsi?


But nothing can beat the power of two O's together - "Ooh!" and now I wonder what position Obama will give Oprah in his administration. Is there a COO position open in the federal government? O & O apparently did have a heart to heart in '04.

Flashback to the 80's

It's time for the annual Rubik's cube competition at the Exploratorium. Watch the nerds and the geeks and possibly your "cube" neighbor as they test their mettle at this retro-fashionable contest.


The event will be run by a team of cubers from the Caltech, Berkeley, and Stanford Cube Clubs. They say on their site: San Francisco Open 2009 is open to competitors of all nationalities and skill levels. Anybody who can solve a cube—or has a curiosity for cubing—is encouraged to attend. World records were broken at all the previous Exploratorium competitions. Will it happen again? Come and find out!

Intergalactic Planetary travel

I came across these posters today and they made my wanderlust fire up, wanting to go beyond our world! Too bad it's not quite as hospitable as these posters make it look. But skiing on Pluto! Sounds awesome!


Artist Steve Thomas (no, as far as I can tell, not the same guy from This Old House), has created these great posters in the style of the vintage WPA travel posters for each of the planets (and Pluto). The images are very charming in their own retro-futuristic sort of way. These would definitely be up in the Jetson's house, I think!


Steve has prints available for as little as $11.95 or you can get larger fancy prints on canvas framed and ready to go! They'd make great prints for your space station condo, or your place here on earth.

Showing my Cards

Since I can only cover so many things here, and obviously, I've been a bit remiss in keeping this up to date anyway, I thought I'd take this opportunity to share one of my sources.

FunCheapSF.com is one of my favorite places to find out about the goings on here, especially those that are fun and cheap! I met Johnny Hayes, AKA Johnny FunCheap, at a San Francisco Small Business Administration class about how to get your business started, and it was like meeting a minor celebrity. He was so nice and easy going, and after meeting him, I knew for sure that I would trust his advice on what to do. He does a great job of curating his list, and I've often followed his recommendations, and was not disappointed.


And today, I just saw that he was featured on NPR in an interview. Listen for yourself and you'll get the idea. He's on first, but then followed by some others who are doing things in a similar vein, so you could listen to the whole thing if you want. Links to a bunch more useful sites are also listed here. Among them, myBART.org (free events near BART stations), MyOpenBar.com (places to find free drinks), and TunedInSF.com (free music events).

And to further vouch for Johnny FunCheap's events, he listed an event that I was putting on a while back, and everyone I met who came who had read about it on FunCheap were super nice cool people too. And totally a diverse bunch, exemplifying the greatness that is San Francisco.

So, don't hide in your homes with the heat cranked up thinking that you're saving money in the recession. Turn down the heat and head out to see what you find!

New Year's Resolutions

Well, it looks like I fell off my blog in July... Let's see if I can do better this year! Not sure what happened there, but there's nothing like a new year to get started up again!

Today I was inspired by what everyone always says they want to do in the new year - lose a few pounds. Well, the Epicurious website had a lot of ideas for that.

First, they had a great chart that broke down all the different fad diets, and how to choose the one best for you. Looks like I'll be on the Mediterranean diet because I like to actually eat. It might not be the fastest way to a bikini bod, but hey, I want to have a little fun!


Reading a little more in the Epicurious healthy section, they had this selection of gadgets to help with weight loss. My favorite were some portion control plates with a nice graphic treatment to remind you to fill your plate with more veggies than the other stuff. Some of the other items were a little obsessive, but if you're taking it seriously, it's probably not a bad idea to pay attention to these things.

Cheers to a happy and healthy 2009! Now on to more blogging for the new year... No fear, I'm sure this will still include plenty of chocolate and wine features too.