Caught my eye
It has been a few days since I posted and wanted to give everyone a quick update on what's happening in the life of the Van Sant family. We had a very cool Christmas, spent time with some of Kelly's family and basically relaxed as much as possible. Of course, Kel and I both played with our new toys the majority of the time (SLR camera for me and laptop for Kel).
But after the holiday weekend we both reluctantly went back to work and got back into the swing of our normal routine. Fortunately we both had Monday off and Kel is moving back into a dayshift schedule for a few weeks.
Now, you know I have tons to write about in the coming days, with all the crazy things going on in our political world and such. But I wanted to highlight something that caught my eye.
I came across a very cool little cafe in downtown yesterday. It's called Z Cafe and is located just off Broadway here in Oakland. I took my truck to the dealership yesterday to get some minor work done. Typically I hate taking my vehicle into a shop, cause you sit there in some stale waiting room watching crappy TV soap reruns. So I ask if the place is wireless. The guy says it is, and also offers the restaurant if I was interested in getting something to eat. I figure this is a restaurant nearby. He says "no, it's in the building."
At this point, I'm starting to think this isn't going to be so bad after all. I walk through the showroom and find a very cool little cafe that is separate from the actual car dealership. They have a beautiful bar, cafe tables throughout and even outdoor seating. I order some breakfast and a cup of coffee and quickly log into their WiFi. Original art dons the walls, jazz music plays over the sound system and the food was darn good!
This will forever change the way I view taking my car in for servicing.
Merry Christmas!
Just wanted to pass along a very warm and heartfelt Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my friends and family out there.
Like sheep on a pasture
The graffiti door went a good week and a half before someone decided to join in the fun. As you can see above, the door was tagged again this past week, probably sometime around Monday, Dec. 19th.
No more attemps have been made by the building owners to repaint... yet.
Yum Yum
I just wanted to pass along that my boss treated the content staff to lunch today at
Ba Vo, an amazing vietnamese restaurant across the street from our offices.
It was my first real experience with vietnamese food and all I can say is...Wow! If you're ever in the East Bay and looking for good food, I highly suggest this place. It's located at 416 13th Street in downtown Oakland.
The fantasy ends
The Chisled Nibler year has ended. No championship. No money. Not even a playoff victory. I finish my season with a 9-4 record, ranked 3rd in the league, #1 in points and I lose my first round game to a 6th ranked 6-8 team. Lovely!
For those wondering, I'm talking about fantasy football. Better yet, I'm talking about my failed attempt at making some money off my vast wealth of sports knowledge. So much for watching all those games and reading all those fantasy columns. In the end, my team was a bust. My sports intellect was thrown out the door and my pride was crushed the moment T.O. ran his mouth one too many times.
But seriously kids, this was my first jump into the world of fantasy sports. And overall, it was quite fun and entertaining. My team went on quite a tear through the mid-season and it looked like the Nib wouldn't be stopped. I even had teams that were way out of contention trading me their top players. But as soon as I started thinking I knew what I was doing, my players went MIA in critical games.
QB Peyton Manning - Was solid most of the season. But when I needed him to come up big for my first playoff game, he gives me two interceptions and only 8 points. Definitely not the fantasy player of years past.
WR Chad Johnson - Looked unstoppable mid-way through the year. Gave me a solid effort this past weekend with 9 points. But only earned me 3 points the previous two games. Houshmandzadeh started stealing some of his thunder and will likely be the fantasy star from Cincy through the playoffs and next year.
WR Santana Moss - I traded Oakland's Jerry Porter for Moss, as he was the top receiver for Washington and averaged over 10 pts a game. He gives me 7 points the last three games. Dude, go back to "The U".
WR Lee Evans - I pick up this dude after he scores 3 TDs against Miami. Guess what he does after I sign him...88-yards in two games with 0 TDs. Read that one again...zero touchdowns. They don't have a ton of weapons up there in Buffalo...surely they could have found a way to get the guy the ball.
RB Mike Anderson and LaMont Jordan - No complaints this week, but they seemed to go MIA the previous two. Not like that mattered when it came down to one playoff game. I'd go with them againt next year...that is if Oakland fires Norv Turner and finds someone who will committ to the running game.
TE Jason Whitten - This guy was to be one of the top TEs in the league. Someone better get them a QB in Dallas, cause Whitten and Keyshaun were busts the second half of the season.
K Lawrence Tynes - This was one of my most solid players all year. Until my playoff game. I'd go with him again though.
D Atlanta - Should have been much better than advertised. They even gave me some good points early in the season. But as with the rest of my team, they took a wrong turn to the stadium the past 4 weeks and ended up at a bar in Bayonne. God only knows when they will return.
So as it goes, it doesn't really matter what you know when it comes to fantasy sports. Pick some guys, go with it, and hopefully you'll get lucky. I seem to remember a girl in my office a few years back winning an office poll because she picked teams with the coolest names.
So next year, I'm gonna draft Porkchop Womack #1 in my fantasy team and run with it.
My first quake
So Kelly and I moved here to Oakland back in July. We had heard about the earthquakes and of course, everyone back east made it sound like they happened every-other-day. So I wasn't sure what to expect when the ground would start shaking.
As each day went by, I would go through my routine like everything was normal. But tucked away in the back of my mind, I would wonder what my first tremor would feel like. Sometimes I'd ponder where I might be. Would I be relaxing on the couch? Would I get caught off-guard while in the shower? Or would I, god forbid, be stuck on the 40th floor of an office tower in San Francisco? And what would I do? Would I jump for a doorway with paranoia? Would I remain calm and try to act like a seasoned quake veteran? The questions go on and on.
And now I have some answers.
This morning around 10:30 a.m., while sitting at work, I felt my first California earthquake. It was only a
3.4 magnitude, which is very minor on the shaking scale. The quake was actually centered to the north of Oakland in Vallejo. It felt almost like I was sitting in the front seat of a truck while driving on a manicured dirt road. Better yet, it felt like ripples going through my seat and shaking my ass.
Everyone around me looked up and most started asking each other if we felt it. It only lasted about 2 seconds and I honestly didn't even have enough time to think. I just sat there in my chair like a deer in headlights, trying to decide if this was really happening. There was no paranoia, but one co-worker did get worked up enough to make everyone else feel uncomfortable. As I said to a friend, her worries actually made it seem worse.
So there it is, my first earthquake experience. And I know there are California natives reading this and thinking...dude, it was only 3.4. But when you feel the ground move like that for the first time, it doesn't matter what the magnitude, it's downright strange! As my buddy Adam would say..."that ain't right!" So as my boss said to me just after the event... I can now say I'm officially a Californian.
Street Art worth saving
Soulcookie has done it again folks. I'm sitting there at work when I get a tap on my shoulder to check out something interesting online. Here is what I find...
How freaking cool is that! Now that is what I call tagging! But seriously, this street art was created by a guy named Julian Beever, to be viewed from one angle. And when you do, it's something truly amazing and quite the illusion. Beever has made pavement drawings for over ten years and has worked his magic on the streets of the U.K., Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Australia and the USA.
Opps...tagged again
So I began my chronicle on the life of this door last week after it was freshly painted. The door has been painted and tagged about five times in a row now. Last week was yet another effort being made by the owners of the building to make this corner of Oaktown look half-way decent.
As of Sunday, Dec 11, the door was tagged again. And so the story continues...
Barnett's downfall
From the Associated Press - Gary Barnett's tumultuous stay at Colorado ended Thursday when the coach reluctantly stepped down, accepting a $3 million payment to sever a tenure riddled by off-the-field problems and finally done in by bad results on the field.I just read the above story on
CBS Sportsline and couldn't help but blurt out my frustrations to all my co-workers. What in the heck is wrong with college football? More importantly, what is the major malfunction of college administrators?
Gary Barnett is basically fired from Colorado after taking his team to the Big 12 Championship game. Sure, they got pissed on by Texas 70-3 in that game. (I should remind everyone, a Texas team that will play USC for the national title) But Colorado was the Big 12 North Champs. They've owned that title four times under Barnett - 3 in the last 4 years. Barnett himself has been named Big 12 coach of the year twice while at Colorado. So what's it gonna take for a school to be happy with their coach? Better yet, what's it gonna take for a coach to keep his job these days?
May I remind college administrators, there is only one national champ. Not every school can win the title. Not every school can be conference champs. Not every school can have a winning record. It's basic statistics here kids. You're the college administrators...you should understand these things.
Fact is, Barnett had his program winning titles. He had his program going to bowl games. One of these days, he could have had his program win a national title. Just ask coaches like UNC basketball coach Roy Williams. Look how successful he was before finally winning a title with UNC. And look how long it took him. Had Kansas fired him for one bad season, or for one bad game, where would he be? Had UNC fired him after finishing 19-11 his first season, would they have won the title last year?
One of these days college admins will figure out they are shooting themselves in the foot by firing coaches left and right. One of these days, Colorado will see Barnett be successful...
Somewhere else!!!
Tagged
After reading through my last posting, I thought I should clarify my stance on graffiti. I do not condone anyone defacing private property. But I do understand why these artist put their skills on the sides of buildings. Just watch the movie BeatStreet from back in the 80s. It's a good rep on what makes the graffiti artist tick and what is the perfect canvas in their eyes. It also shows why these people can be called artist and not just vandals.
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To the right you'll see a photo of a door covered in graffiti. The photo links to a larger image of this door. It's a side door to a building right next to my office in downtown Oakland. For as long as I can remember, the door looked like this. Until one day, the owners of the building paid to have it repainted. As I walked by on my normal route to lunch or the coffee shop, I was pleased to see the positive effort. Less than two days later, it was tagged again. They have since repainted this door about 5 times in the last month. This is the difference between a graffiti artist and a vandal. This door was tagged by criminals. The tagging depicts names of people, gangs, and whatever else they could think to scribe. This is what makes graffiti artist look bad and what gives the idea of urban art a bad name.
Below you'll see a photo of that same door from today...
I've decided to chronicle the life of this door. I'm sure if one of the talented Bay Area graffiti artist had painted something interesting here, the door would be left alone. But it's obvious the taggers won't give up, nor will the owners of this building. Let's see where this one takes us.
Sony gets a fat lip
What in the world? What does graffiti have anything to do with Sony? And what about the above photo gives them a swollen beak? It's simple kids...they're posers!
I was in the middle of my daily check of
Skyscraperpage.com when I came across a thread about
Sony defacing the Mission neighborhood. Naturally I'm intrigued by the title. I come to find photos of graffiti that was placed on buildings...not by taggers...but by Sony themselves.
Okay, here's the deal. The Mission is home to some of the most creative and artistically genius tagging on the west coast. There are other cities that have similar issues (or problems, depending on how you look at it). So Sony decided it would be a creative idea to hire people around the country to faux tag buildings with ads displaying their new PSP. They've hired wannabe hipsters to take pre-made screens and place these little ads, that look like graffiti, on sides of random buildings and structures. Kinda ballsy for a big-time corp I say! But after doing some research provided to me by
Soulcookie, I checked out an article in Wired Magazine titled
Sony Draws Ire With PSP Graffiti. The story mentions Sony has paid these building owners to place these ads on them. So what looks like underground tagging is actually a paid advertisment displayed completely within the law.
So now that you have the story, what are your thoughts? Here's where I think they went wrong...
Sony is a corporation. Graffiti and tagging goes completely against the grain of corporate society. It's like a revolt against the structure of our society. These are artist who find the joy in a blank train or wall, not in the boundries limited in painting on a canvas. Graffiti isn't about the corporate world. It's not about the politics of getting your work in a gallery and selling it to make a profit. It's about art for the world to see without the ego driving it. It's about operating beyond our laws and within your own boundries. It's art in its purest form. Sure, you'll see a name tagged here and there. But you'll never see the artist, nor will they ever publically take credit. (getting arrested curbs that one) Graffiti is the ultimate undergound source of expression.
Sony tried to be cool. They tried to appeal to a young and hip urban audience who understands graffiti. But as anyone knows, if you take the under out of undergound, it's just not the same. Anyone who understands the very essence of something underground knows that the moment you go mainstream, it loses its appeal. This is why so many DJs try to avoid selling out to mainstream producers. It's why hip-hop artist try to maintain their street cred, even though they live in 'uber-rich suburbia.
No one really cares that Sony created ads that look like graffiti. They care that Sony tried to pass them off as something organic. Trust me, I like the idea of guerrilla advertising. I see the advantages of using everyday life to tip society into buying your product. Ben Affleck and Jen Garner know very well how much walking around with Starbucks coffee all the time helps keep that brand in everyones mind. (not suggesting there's anything going on there between the happy couple and S'bucks)
So, Sony got a fat pucker because they tried to front. Back to the drawing boards Sony...or better yet, back to the agency. Hey, call my friend Adam in NYC, he's quite the ad guy on Madison.
Ferrari en Paris
A
friend of mine passed along a link yesterday to a very interesting video.
The film, "C'etait un Rendezvous", is the creation of the French filmmaker Claude Lelouch in 1976. Using a Ferrari 275 GTB early one August morning, Lelouch attached a camera to the bumper of the car and sped through the streets of Paris. He gave the driver a set route from Porte Dauphine, through the Louvre, to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur, which is straight through the heart of Paris.
The driver is still unknown to this day, because Lelouch was never able to obtain a permit to close the streets. The driver, who Lelouch told officials was an F1 racer, went over the speed limit and blew off many red lights. When this film was first shown, Lelouch was arrested, and because of this, the footage has spent many years underground before it began to resurface on DVD a few years ago. Lelouch used a new technology of the time, a gyro stabilized camera mount, in order to mount the camera on the car. The problem with this is that the technology of the time only allowed for a ten minute film with this mount. Lelouch told his driver to rush because of this time limit, and the video itself is only about nine minutes.
Watch and enjoy one of the true legends in underground cinema.
The party continues
I know everyone was just dying to see this photo of Damon Wayans long lost cousin, so I figured I'd share. Truthfully, I'm thinking this is Reggie (the insult comic) from The Nutty Professor. If you haven't seen the film, it's worth the $2 at Blockbuster.
So now that we have that mild banter out of the way, let's get back to the Nick Kerzman story. We survived the first night at Ruby Skye, the farting homeless dude, Reggie with the blue hair, and the cool cab driver from Afghanistan. We then spent the next day, Thanksgiving, eating.
Oh, but don't think it was all glutney. First thing Thanksgiving morning, Kelly, myself and Nick had to peal 20 lbs of potatoes. Why 20 lbs? Cause we wanted mashed potatoes and our appetites were obviously much larger than our belly. Plus we were cooking for about 20 people for which we would join later that afternoon at Greg and Tiff's. The day was festive, the food was great and we had enough leftover potatoes to feed a small army.
I then took the next day to show Nick all over our great cities. We drove through downtown Oakland, cruised into Hayes Valley for a latte and did the usual tourist bit around SF. I took Nick up Nob and Russian Hills, down Lombard Street and over through Fishermans Wharf. We drove by Crissy Field and up through the Presidio to get some views of the Golden Gate.
After a whirlwind tour of San Francisco, Nick and I set out his last evening in town in search of House music. This is where the story gets fun, depending on which club you own.
We started the evening by driving by Suite 181. The line to get into this place was probably 200 deep and the venue is right in the center of the Tenderloin, the worst in SF. There wasn't any parking nearby (there's never any parking nearby in SF) and I wasn't about to leave my truck in some dark lot. Sorry guys, your club isn't worth a stolen vehicle.
So we drove back up Market to Bambudda Lounge where we could park right across the street. Again, it's still not the best of locations, but it was slightly better, specially considering we could see my truck from inside the venue. This time there was no line and after spending a few moments inside, it was clear why. Before you start thinking the worst, let me say that Bambudda is a nice little lounge. It's located in the Phoenix Hotel, which is a trendy version of the 60s mod motel. The lounge is decorated nicely with dark woods and soft colored materials and opens to a very cool patio out back. The patio is flanked by a pool and several cabannas in the courtyard.
The crowd was thin and there was no live DJ. The sound system blew and everyone seemed more concerned about their next destination. It certainly didn't help that the bar staff was as slow as if there were 200 people waiting for drinks. Only in this case, there were probably 3, including Nick and I. But Nick noticed the potential in an Saturday or Sunday afternoon house party thrown by the pool. It really does have a south beach vibe going on and it's something that would fit perfect with SF's high style and house love affair. It might even help this lounge survive. But then again, hiring more attentive wait staff can't hurt either. One drink and done was our call and off to Voda it was...
Voda is located in a small alley in the financial district and it's basically nothing more than a vodka lounge. There was a house DJ spinning soulful grooves and the crowd was definitely more lively. One drink and done again, as Nick and I had more places to see.
We walked to the Starlight Room at the top of the Sir Francis Drake and made a quick exit when I saw Lawrence Welk. We then moved over to the Redwood Room and decided against that venue because of the pointless line waiting to get in. Seriously, the only reason for a line at the Redwood Room is for some owner to get a chubby because it's making it look like a hotspot. As we say in these parts...next!!!
We then walked up Geary to Swig. Swig has been one of my favorite starting points, because of the great location near Union Square and everything else. Only this time, something was very wrong. We walked into Swig and were quickly greated by a standing room only crowd and really crappy 80s music. I'm not talking good stuff you like to dance to, but crappy Different Strokes style music. So we proceed to the restroom, hoping things will change after a short break. Oh, were we wrong.
Something died in the mens room at Swig. I don't know what it was, or how it died, but something was clearly festering in that facility. What's worse is the staff at Swig clearly made no effort to clean it up. I know us guys tend to be dirty sometimes. We don't need to sit down when we see a man about a horse and after a few drinks, sometimes our streams go awry. But never does any respectful man deserve to walk into a john with something that nasty going on. No drink, no pause for reflection. We got the hell outta there!
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So we finished our night at a new venue on Mission called Duplex. This little lounge was clearly the winner of our night. Frenchy Le Freak was dropping some dirty house music on the crowd and the staff was more than happy to welcome us in and serve us tasty drinks. The crowd was local, stylish, and quite friendly. The design was something from an urban loft, dominated by a bar and dark dance floor. Duplex was fun, and that was what we were looking for. Nick's visit was quick, it was action packed. But we got him to one of the best clubs on the west coast, got him to see our tourist attractions, and got him to hear some classic San Francisco house music. I'm only sorry he had to leave so soon, cause as we found out, there is just way too much to see and do in only a few days. Heck, years won't even cut it. I'm now off to get a latte from my corner coffee shop.
Mr. Kerzman comes to town
Yeah, I know what you're thinking...this dude is slow with the updates. Tell me about it! I've been walking in and out of my apartment the last week saying I need to add to this blog. But each night comes and goes and I find myself going to bed without any new verbage. No worries, I'm still here though. And boy do we have lots to tell you about.
Nick Kerzman, my good friend from Tampa, flew into town for a few days over the Thanksgiving holiday. He arrived Wednesday afternoon and stayed through Saturday morning. It was a quick trip but we made sure he got his fill of our SF lifestyle.
I won't go into every single detail just yet, cause you'd be reading half the night. So let us just begin with the first night for now and then we can carry on later.
So Nick arrives on Wednesday around 2ish into SFO. After exchanging hugs and butt pats we head on. Kelly and I drive Nick back through San Francisco so he can get his first view of our city's skyline. Needless to say, he got to stare at it for about an hour as we sat in traffic. But the conversation was fluid as old friends were able to spend some time catching up.
After a quick visit to the grocery store, we went home to relax for about an hour before our guys night out. One of Nick's first comments about the area was how diverse it was. I mean, it's no joke kids. We have people of all backgrounds literally in every neighborhood you go into. You can drive down any street in Oakland or SF and see restaurants from every corner of the world. Kelly and I recently had our first taste of Eritrean cuisine.
Anyhow, I decided to just stick with basics on Nick's first night in town. Myself, Nick, Greg Norte, and Bernie Auth took the BART into the city for dinner at Gordon Biersch. After enjoying fresh made beers and an amazing dinner, we took off on Muni for Union Square. Our destination was a VIP table at Ruby Skye.
Now, Nick is no stranger to good nightclubs. He's been inside the best Chicago, Miami and China has to offer. But after a few brief seconds inside SF's most lavish club, Nick claimed the sound was one of the best he's ever heard. Not too shabby eh!
So here we are, enjoying some of the best sound a club can pump out, a VIP table with bottle service and the company of good friends. The only thing left is to have Markus Schulz go on stage and perform a sick DJ set. And you know he did! But we're not there just yet. After we got settled into the VIP area with our bottle and drinks, Nick wanders off to take in the essence of Ruby. I hang by the bar and put out the vibe, only to see our friend Greg asleep on one of the luxury chaise lounges.
Now don't get all crazy just yet about someone falling asleep in a club. I've seen this happen more often than you think...only it's usually alcohol taking effect. No, Greg wasn't drunk. Poor dude was downright tired! He gets up every single day at like 4 a.m. and so once 9 p.m. hits, it's usually bedtime. Yet here we are keeping my boy up well into the nocturnal hours.
So around 1 a.m., Greg decides his bed would be much more comfy than the VIP suite. He heads for the door and grabs a cab home. We definitely missed you Greg! But it wasn't long after that, Nick, myself and Bernie made our way on stage to start taking photos.
The night really hit it's peak when Nick is on one side of the DJ booth and I'm on the other, both taking photos while Bernie danced with the Ruby Skye go go dancers. I'm listening to one of the greatest dark trance sets in my life when I hear the crowd roar. I'm thinking this is coming from the record, but no, it's the SF crowd showing their love for a true talent on the decks.
We wrap up our night by walking to my version of the after-party...
the 24-hour Starbucks in Union Square. On the way we run into Damon Wayans long lost cousin who decided to make fart noises as we walked past. Nick and I both grabbed a photo and closed out the evening with a latte. More happenings from Nicks visit will come along shortly, as well as a photo gallery from that evening.
