I was so excited about the Vivienne Westwood exhibition at the De Young Museum that I had to go and see it the very morning it opened. In honor of the occasion, I even put together a look to pay homage to the imaginative designer. I put on a backless tweed vest (nothing underneath), tan…
Author: cjbickford
Atomic Avenue has Launched!
Atomic Avenue, the site for both buyers and sellers of comic books, went live early this morning. I’ve already written about how I think it will make the trade of comics more accessible to neophytes, as well as easier to sell. But last night I also thought about how it will change the near-religious reverence…
The Sunnyvale Library
A few weeks ago, I had occassion to get a Sunnyvale Library card, in order to check out materials that weren’t available through the interlibrary system. As a regular of San Jose’s library system, I found the Sunnyvale library’s comparative poshness incredible. Before I go on, I do want to point out that the San…
What’s the Latin for Avocado?
Shiaw-Ling’s roommate Chris is a language geek, as am I. Now, you might think that whenever language geeks unite, they bond and start telling each other jokes in Esparanto, and get giddy comparing the Chinese and Russian declension of the word for “tea.” Not really. At Shiaw-Ling’s birthday party a few months ago, when Chris…
Middle-Aged Chia Pet Man
For Christmas, Neil gave us a homemade version of a Chia Pet, or er, Chia Pet Man. Per Neil’s instructions, I put soaked the Chia Pet Man and put him in a shallow dish filled with water near the kitchen window. For about a month, nothing happened. Or, more accurately, Chia Pet Man didn’t grow…
The Boo Boo Ball
A few months ago, I bought an exercise ball (also referred to as a balance ball or a stability ball) as an addition to my home gym. It’s essentially just a very large ball, and, supposedly, it’s an excellent tool for working abdominal and back muscles, because not only to you can you stretch over…
Chill Out on Global Warming Already
Now that Al Gore has won an Academy Award for An Inconvenient Truth, I will declare that global warming hysteria has reached its peak. Just the weekend before, the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle showed a map of the Bay Area showing us how our region would look when all the glaciers melt,…
Arcadia at The Pear
Yesterday, Peter and I went to see Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia performed at The Pear Avenue Theatre. First a word, about the Pear Avenue Theatre, or “the Pear” as everyone calls it these days: it’s a very small theatre in a nondescript office block in Mountain View. You wouldn’t think much of it to see its…
Solve This Rebus
Real California Park rangers have a good sense of humor. When we checked in at the Big Basin Redwoods visitor center, the ranger noticed Kelly’s headgear and made a rebus out of it. Can you solve it? minus R=1970s blues-rock band Name that band.
Disneyland California Adventure’s Grizzly Peak Recreation Area versus California’s Big Basin State Redwoods Park
Last year, my family visited Disneyland California Adventure. It was both fascinating and horrifying to see our home turned into a Disney amusement. Since then, I’ve been meaning to do a compare and contrast between real California and Disney California, but there’s so much to compare, I’m just going to have to do it in…