Aku Aku

L'avventura Awakening.

Is there a technical word that means "transitioning between sleep and wakefulness?" I bet there is. Something Greek or Latin. This is the best one of those I've seen in a film:

L'avventura Awakening

This is Monica Vitti in L'Avventura. She puts the mmmm in 60's Italian neo-realist mmmmmmovie star.

LOL Economist

Loleconomist

    Ha ha. That's rich.

A Day at the Ballpark?

Do you remember the movie Bull Durham? Great movie. It was based on the real minor league team the Durham Bulls. In fact the ballpark scenes were shot in the actual stadium. When I lived in North Carolina I saw quite a few games at that stadium until the team moved up to AAA from single-A and built a brand new ballpark. The new ballpark managed to hold onto enough intimacy and charm of the old one (they moved the giant Hit-The-Bull-WIn-A-Steak sign to the edge of the new outfield) so I went to even more games there.

Hit_bull

Now my friend Paul back in NC has found out that at the end of the 2007 season, you can rent out the entire stadium including an all you can eat buffet, access to the field, dugouts, sumo wrestling suits and an appearance by the team mascot Wool-e Bull! We're trying to raise $50 from 50 people to go for it, I think we can make it happen!

Bulls_ballpark

The Ultimate Company Outing - You own the Ballpark!
Step up to the plate and take aim at the famous Snorting Bull in Left Field.  Play catch with your family in the Durham Bulls outfield.  The Bulls season ends in September but there are 15 dates available for businesses who would like to rent the ballpark for food, fun and a company baseball game...

Field of Dreams Day at the DBAP

Schedule of Events

Dates Available: September 22-27, October 12-20

 

 

Field of Dreams Day at the DBAP includes:

 

• Three hour exclusive rental of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park
• Use of the dugouts and field to take batting practice or play a game
• Use of inflatables, Sumo suits and other on-field games.
• Behind the scenes tour of the DBAP including clubhouses, batting cage, training facilities, owner's box and even the Blue Monster scoreboard.
• Appearance by Wool E. Bull
• All-you-can eat buffet featuring:
  • Cheeseburgers
  • Fried Chicken
  • Hot Dogs
  • Potato Salad
  • Baked Beans
  • Cole Slaw
  • Rolls
  • Pepsi Products

Total Cost:                    $2750

Price based on 50 Guests

Additional guests:          $15pp

Don DeLillo's Falling Man

I'm a pretty huge Don DeLillo fan. I've read just about everything he's written, including the plays, so I grabbed a copy of his latest novel Falling Man when it came out without knowing anything else about it. It turns out to primarily follow a survivor of the 9/11 World Trade Center collapses. My first thought upon realizing this was disappointment. DeLillo is one of the greatest living writers and this subject matter, while I'm sure personally deeply relevant since he is a Manhattanite, seemed too easy. I was won over fairly quickly however.I often describe his writing as such that you could black out entire pages except one sentence, and that one sentence made the whole page worthwhile. In the end I really enjoyed this book and count it now as one of his best. To give a sample, I've recorded myself reading a passage that describes the protagonist's poker nights with a select group of friends, some of whom were killed on 9/11. I personally have no interest in and not much experience with playing poker, but I enjoyed the imagery of this passage. It seems to compare with the arbitrary self-discipline employed by religious fanatics such as those who flew the planes into the twin towers.

A passage from Falling Man

Don DeLillo

Patrick Roddie / Webbery

I felt like I should give some recognition to Patrick Roddie of Webbery.com, an amazing photographer who has been shooting Tesla since she was just a bump in Mie's belly. His photos are fantastic, and he's been doing similar work for many other Bay Area families. This is in addition to his wonderful shots from Burning Man (including HIPS book, a great project). If you're looking for professional quality photos of your children, I don't think you could do better than look him up.

HOWTO Make Warm Water Cove Boring

The San Francisco government has destroyed one of the best galleries for wild style graffiti writers in the city. Warm Water Cove is a small park situated in the midst of what can only be described as an industrial wasteland. The park,  also known as Toxic Tire Beach, is popular with the artistic fringe of SF (punks, burners, etc) as a location for both larger events and small picnic gatherings. My brother Marcus and his friends has been hosting free punk music shows there for over a decade. Chicken John has held circus and other shows there. I think it's where La Contessa received a viking funeral (although I missed that event).

Why has the city taken sudden interest in this park beloved only to its fringe citizenry? Could it be because of all the condominiums popping up several blocks away along the new third street MUNI line? Not all of the art spray painted on these forlorn walls was wonderful, but some of it was. Some of the best pieces were many years old, respectfully untouched by the other writers and taggers. What's going to happen now that the wall has been turned a drab olive green? They will soon be covered by ugly hastily thrown up tags that truly are ugly and without merit. The park will continue to be a small mostly forgotten piece of land in the midst of an industrial wasteland, it will now just be much less attractive.

Warm Water Cove South Fence 1

What can be done? The answer comes from the Port of San Francisco Director of Public Works Executive Director in a form letter sent out to the many unhappy citizens who emailed him:

The second phase of the planning process for Warm Water Cove Park will include community input. We encourage you to be come involved in this planning process, if you wish to have a voice in the beautification and stewardship of the park.

We the community need to make it clear that we -liked- the artwork at Warm Water Cove. We want the artists to be given permission (and supplied with paint) to recreate the artwork that was destroyed.

Update: OtherThings of Graffiti Archeology has a great roundups of links  covering theis event in the blogosphere and traditional media. If you really want to see why people love the art in that park, check out his like to Graffiti Archeology's timeline photography at the site. The SF Chronicle article makes it sound like there is a chance some compromise can be worked out with the city. I've created a Warm Water Cove yahoo discussion group, please join if you want to participate in further community response regarding the park.