SF (and non-SF) in SF
I've been spending a lot more time than usual in San Francisco lately.
Partly that's 'cause I've been working in SF more often than usual lately (we officially move to the SF office in about two weeks). And then there was the Noises Off trip I mentioned the other day, and the two Borderlands events a week apart. Then the weekend before this last one, I accompanied Kam and her family to Teatro Zinzanni, which I keep meaning to write about; for now, suffice it to say that parts of it were spectacular, and other parts were a little cringe-inducing (due to humor-of-embarrassment).
And this coming Friday, April 23, I'll be going up to SF for Robots Are Us, a benefit for the Speculative Literature Foundation's Fountain Award. The event will feature Pat Murphy, Rudy Rucker, Terry Bisson, Ken Wharton, Charlie Anders, and Omnicircus ("an experimental, surreal-psychedelic musical-cabaret group"); 7:00 p.m., $10-$20 sliding scale at the door. It'll be at 550 Natoma, a few blocks from the Civic Center BART station, near 7th and Mission.
And this morning I got up early, after not sleeping much, to make it to Redwood Shores by 8, to make it to the all-company meeting at 9 a.m. at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco (same building as the Exploratorium). I thought about sticking around in SF afterward to see various people (especially J, who's still around; see below), but I was sleepy and grumpy and probably kinda dopey, but I've made that joke before so never mind. Anyway, instead I went back to Redwood Shores for the afternoon and then came home.
But the main reason I'm bringing up my recent SF visits is to say that this past Sunday, I drove to Millbrae and BARTed up from there to see J (I never know how to refer to people whose LJs don't reveal their real names); we had dinner not far from her hotel, near Market and Embarcadero, and then walked out along Embarcadero almost all the way to Ghirardelli Square.
We were going to try to get to G.S. for some chocolate, but we got sidetracked by an exhibit on the art of Dr. Seuss at the Dennis Rae Fine Art gallery (781 Beach St.). They had a bunch of prints from The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss, a book that I had never heard of but that I now totally want to get.
They also had a bunch more art, some interesting, some not. I have a certain fondness for stuff like the Alexander Volkov paintings they had on display—bare branches against snow and such—despite having a feeling that it's probably a little tacky or overly sentimental or bourgeois or something. I think J liked the Jiang pieces more than I did, though I did think they were pretty interesting. I was really struck by three Norman Rockwell pieces I'd somehow never seen before: the WWII "Buy War Bonds" posters for Freedom of Speech (I think I'd seen the image without the war-bonds context) and (especially) Freedom of Worship, which I found really moving despite the war-bonds thing, and The Problem We All Live With, showing a young black girl being escorted by marshals into a newly desegregated school, with signs of violence on the wall she's walking past.
J particularly liked Michael Wilkinson's sculpture pieces. That page doesn't really show what they're like; some of the faces are convex, like normal sculptures, but some are concave, and because the pieces are made from clear acrylic, you can see the concave ones from the other side, looking through the material.
Also of interest: Giulliano Giuggioli. I can't remember whether we looked at those in the gallery or not, but I like 'em. Especially Liberty II, which reminds me a bit of one of Kat B's pieces.
Afterward, we walked back to J's hotel, and then I BARTed and drove home. V. nice to see J (hi, J!); a good start to my three-weeks-of-socializing. Much more walking than I normally do, but I stretched a bit before going to bed and haven't been too sore.
