Since Peter bought me a mountain bike for Christmas, I’ve become an enthusiast for biking in the wilderness. It’s like fast hiking, which lets me go faster, further, but it also requires some new skills to ride quickly over ruts and tree branches and to spin around uphill and downhill curves. I also like the…
Dogs of San Francisco
I recently finished reading Red Zone, Aphrodite Jones’ book about a brutal dog maulting murder in San Francisco in 2001. It was particularly significant to me, because I remember the story from the news at the time, and I often take my children to parks in San Francisco with off-leash zones. Much has been made…
MySpace: Spam or Opt-In Marketing?
I appropriated Kelly’s MySpace page as my own. Now, news reports may give you the impression that MySpace is a place where teenage girls post embarrassing pictures of themselves, and pedophiles find victims to prey on. For myself, however, it’s become an excellent way to keep up with bands I like. For years, I’ve been…
Jordan versus Jordan
England has two scary female celebrities who go by the single name of Jordan. The first Jordan is heads and shoulders cooler than the modern Jordan. I only learned about the first Jordan, or Punk Jordan, at the Vivienne Westwood exhibit. She was a clerk at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s Sex boutique, and became…
Foreigners’ Self-Segregating Art Preferences
The large majority of visitors to San Francisco’s major art museums are local, or at least American. But I’ll often overhear the accent or language of a foreign visitor, which is no surprise, since I’d be visiting their art museums in their country. What I do find surprising is that certain nationalities tend towards certain…
The Zeum Playground
Kelly is not really convention ready. She’s at an age when she really likes to pick things up, examine them, restack them (often in a different place), and eat a lot. Many of the booths at Wondercon were remarkably indulgent: the man with the tiny voodoo doll keychains was especially nice, and let Kelly hold…
A Visit to SF MoMA
Wondercon was buzzing on Sunday, and Peter had to work at the booth until 3:30 pm, so he couldn’t simultaneously take Neil around the show floor. We needed to get away from the booth, so I decided to take the children to the Picasso and His Influence on American Artists exhibit at the nearby San…
Wondercon Sunday
I expected Wondercon to be quieter on Sunday. I’d worked at the ComicBase booth on Sunday last year, and the last day of the show was uncrowded, though not in a deadly way. There was no such luck at Wondercon. I arrived early, but by 11 am, the attendance was in full effect again. Inevitably,…
My Wondercon Party
My approach to conventions, of any kind, is like going to a large party. I will see people I know, and people I’m casually acquainted with, find out about things I’m interested in, and meet new people who are enjoyable (or not) to talk to, even if I’ll never see the person again. I used…
Neil’s First Visit to the De Young Museum
The Vivienne Westwood exhibition was also the first time Neil has seen the de Young Museum. I usually go on a weekday, when it’s not crowded, but the show happened to open on Saturday, so Neil was out of school. Neil is learning about modern art in school this year, and he announced to me…