Thursday, October 29, 2009

bg/ish: Sunrise @ Dolores Park

Today is a new day...

bg/ish: Seven Hour Suicide Watch

Wednesday, 5:18 p.m.

My usual ride home from work is interrupted by SFPD blocking off Valencia street at 16th. Crowds are gathering. My initial confusion goes away when I look up...


That man, 5 stories up, on the roof, is threatening to jump.

A conflicting wave of thought and emotion rolls over me. Fear, concern, compassion, anger, apprehension. Police are doing their best to control both traffic and the crowds. Strangers talk amongst themselves as the anticipation and tension in the air is thick and palpable.

He had been up there for approximately 20 minutes.

* * * * *

Most of the conversations I had consisted of the same thought...

"I don't want to see him jump."

...and yet we all seemed strangely compelled to stand there and wait to see what exactly would happen. The strange reality of it all was setting in on us as we discussed the situation unfolding before us.

"If he jumps, I'm turning my head", one man said to me.

"It won't matter, you'll hear the impact", I replied. Not trying to be macabre, just evaluating the reality of what we were seeing.

"This is just like some shit out of a movie."

* * * * *

An hour passed. Eventually, the man sat down on the ledge. Police attempted to talk him down. The crowd would thin out and then swell up as new passerby's stopped to see what was going on. Police shouted at people not to be "looky-loos", but who can blame people? This is our neighborhood, and a man was effectively holding it hostage.

I left. I went home. I was going to meet friends, but I grabbed the good camera and went back to the scene on my way. The man was still there, and it seemed nothing had changed.


I spoke with two employees of the Mexican resturaunt next door to the building the man was now sitting atop.

"We can't get to work. The people inside can't leave, we don't know what to do."

It began to dawn on me that, despite whatever troubles this person was having to lead him to the point of a potentially public suicide, he was infringing on the rights of the people who lived and worked in the neighborhood, and our police and fire resources were being used in a way that was beginning to seem wasteful, to prevent a suicide that seemed less and less likely to happen.

Police on the street were getting frustrated with controlling the crowds. The crowds were getting frustrated with the situation. One man held the key to the resolution, and he was either coming down safely, or coming down in a heap.

I left, silently wishing for the best.

* * * * *

Shortly after midnight, police were able to talk the man down safely.

Around 9:30, before I went to bed, I posted the following comments on MissionMission...

"i agree it was a sad scene for a while. i came across it trying to get home from work. but after a couple of hours, it dawned on me what a waste of our tax dollars and police and fire resources, and how it was effectively shutting down the local businesses on that block.

what a jerk.

hope he didn’t jump though…"


I was in turn called a jerk. And that's fine. It's just the way I feel. I'm not saying I don't feel compassion for the guy, because I do. At the same time though, I feel for the people of my neighborhood. People who were left feeling fear and anticipation. People who lost wages because they couldn't get to work. The police and fire workers who dealt with the situation for seven long, arduous hours. Who wins when one person opts to selfishly cry out for help?

It's a cold, lonely world sometimes.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

chair: vegas recap

a few weekends ago, i popped my proverbial vegas cherry. for some reason, vegas never appealed to me. i pretty much had to be dragged kicking and screaming this time for my sister's bachelorette party.

one of the girls just e-mailed me some photos that they had posted on facebook.
dw and ag are well aware of my tendency to be glum in pictures (and real life) ... but these pictures are kind of funny and reaffirming.

let's start with a normal group photo. yayy i blend in~!


awkward side posing -


my face says it all -


see if you can find me doing what i do best in this photo -



and a bonus (oh god) booty shot -


ahh vegas. i will not be seeing you for a long time.

Monday, October 26, 2009

bg/ish: Saying Goodbye To An Old Friend

Technologies come and go. Remember your first pager? I do. Of course that eventually gave way to your first cell phone, and with it, text messaging and the fall of western civilization. I also remember my first 56k modem, and with it, an abundance of pornography. Of course that eventually gave way to my first DSL modem, and with it, a fucking unfathomable amount of pornography.

My point is, these technologies come along, we grow to love them, and they pave the way for newer and often, but not always, better things. This blog being a perfect example...

I was disheartened today, albeit not at all surprised, to read that GeoCities, once proud home to millions of the most worthless websites you'll ever see, is dead. By the time you read this, it will only be a distant, cruel memory.

Oh GeoCities, we loved you so.

CNN, in a rare show of competency, hit the nail on the head with it's article:

It's a move that will scrub from the Web a significant, albeit dated, piece of Internet history and the pages where millions first tried their hands at coding and designing.

Um. Fuckin' right.

The first bg/ag publishing website was launched on GeoCities. Your boys us learned how to code in html just so we could get our site online with GeoCities. I essentially learned by using ag's early coding as a template. Of course, things are much easier now. Sign up for blogger, pick a template, type, "publish post".

It's strange, but part of me really misses the feeling of coding an entire bg/ish from scratch. Especially when putting together a longer, more involved piece for the old site, there was a more palpatable sense of accomplishment.

Eventually, GeoCities dickpunched us with annoying banner ads. So we spent $9.95 and upgraded. However, in the ultimate shit move, Yahoo/SBC Global wiped our site off the face of the earth when I canceled my DSL service when leaving one apartment for another. The "upgrade" had rolled the GeoCities account in with my SBC Global account and when I canceled my service they destroyed us without warning. And that's the biggest shame now, Yahoo won't be archiving any of the millions of GeoCities pages that still exist.

Another big "suck my balls" from Yahoo to it's customers. They've also killed the Yahoo Briefcase, and now you have to "upgrade" your Yahoo Mail to access POP3! Too geeky? I digress...

Alas, GeoCities, we will miss you so, even though we haven't thought of you as a viable option for web site building in what, like 10 years now? Pfft!

A n y w a y s...

If you'd told me then that bg/ag publishing would outlive GeoCities, I would have shook my head and laughed.

That's word.

Now ag! Sing a song for GeoCities!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

bg/ish: The Scene - Free Live Music In San Francisco

A friend of mine recently launched The Scene: Free Live Music in San Francisco, a blog devoted to, well fuck, do I really have to explain it?

For those of you that live in this fine city, head over there and check out the concept, (It's still a wee infant of a blog) cuz if you like things that are FREE and you like music you might find something that tickles your proverbial pickle.

For those of you who do not live in this fine city, head over there anyway, to at the very least pad their hits stats and in turn, their raging, vile egos. Ah, I kid, I kid... we're dealing with good people here.

* * * * *

"Would you please put some pants on? I feel weird having to ask you twice."
bg/ish: State of the Union

And the Union is me, your boy bg.

I've been posting more pictures than words here lately, those of you who are slower will appreciate that. j u s t k i d d i n g...

I'll actually be posting another set of pictures later today. But neveryoumind!

However, this is a blog, so here are some random rumblings...

* * * * *

First thing, I guess, is the new template we've been using for the blog. I'm not 100% sold on it. Figured I'd give it a month, and see what happens from there. But there's a good chance it could be gone in a few days. I'm not too big on a straight reversion back to the old style either, so we'll see. Gotta find some middle ground, incorporate aspects of both that I like maybe. Back in the old days your boy ag did all of the site design. We locked him in a room and administered lashes while he coded html. "Code faster damn you! Code harder!"

* * * * *

Somehow managed to complete the trifecta of "Movies With Absolutely Senseless Plots" a couple weeks ago. It was a summer blockbuster extravaganza via torrents and shady methods. We holed ourselves up in a bunker containing only Tecates, cigarettes, weed, humus, and deli sandwiches, and then proceeded to numb our brains and pour sand on our retinas with the likes of Transformers 2, G.I. Joe, and Star Trek. Some quick thoughts...

Transformers 2 was the worst of the three by a long, long fucking shot. In fact, it was one of the worst piles of cinematic fodder I've ever been privy to. It set the standard so low, I wouldn't have considered it for my old "Movies So Bad, They're Effin' Rad" column. (Wow, that's two references to the old site in one posting. How nostalgic.) Why? Cuz it was not rad, in any sense of said word! It beat you over the head with a blunt object repeatedly. That's all that is...

I couldn't watch it without being reminded of a story I was once told about someone having a gay sex foursome with that chump Michael Bay. Or, as my roommate said after one scene in particular, "Michael Bay just Michael Bayed all over your face."

G.I. Joe had a few redeeming qualities I suppose. I can't recall what they are. I only know that it didn't make me want to drink a bottle of rubbing alcohol. I remember some action packed battles, a blatant disregard for human life, and some provocatively dressed women, but no sex. And yes, I did in fact just describe my typical weekend here in the Mission.

Star Trek, the reboot of the series or whatever, was certainly the best of the lot, and yet I can't completely absolve it of it's GAPING plot holes. We're talking Sarlacc sized, man eating pits of despair type plot holes. And I would know, I've battled a Sarlacc first hand! But whatever, that shit was entertaining as fuck.

Kirk kicked ass. So did the Doc. Spock was a sociopath, and Scotty was the shit. Oh yeah, I also grew up suckling Star Trek movies vehemently. So what. You wanna judge me for that? I'm here to judge movies!

At any rate, JJ Abrams deserves all the credit for saving this movie from a certain death of imploding inside it's empty, barren soul.

* * * * *

On the subject of movies, what do you get when you have Michael Mann directing Johnny Depp playing a sociopathic, tommy gun wielding maniac, and you still manage to churn out a steaming shit pile of a movie? Public Enemies, that's what.

* * * * *

Last night, I left work at 7 p.m. I'd been working since about 8:30 that morning. I was tired, and wildly annoyed. Many incidents had incited my wrath. I'll spare you the details.

I finally make it outside, unlock my bike, and get ready to head home. Best feeling of the day. Less than 30 seconds into the ride, my front wheel goes straight into a 6 inch hole, and I go flying head first into the air, landing on the left side of my body, hip and shoulder taking most of the impact.

The fact that I fell off my bike isn't entirely surprising. I've fallen a few times now. I'm quite adept at it. The difference this time was, I didn't see it coming. And that, is a disconcerting, wide eyed feeling. One second I was cruising along, the next I'm diving headfirst into a cement pool of hate.

Now, like I said, I've done the Superman before, the last time being when a skateboarder I was passing lost his shit and his board ran under my front wheel. Of course, thanks to my quick goat thinking, I saw it happening and prepped myself for the spill. I'm pretty sure that's the better way to go down on a bike. We're not talking "drunk survives car wreck because he doesn't tense up" type of survival tactics working on a bike here.

And I guess that's my point. I'm feeling pretty banged up today, although I don't know more or less than had I seen the fall coming. What I do know, is I don't like that "on bike/off bike" instantaneous transition, and it only served to remind me that despite our best efforts, sometimes, we can't see everything coming.

* * * * *

I never covered this in full detail. I suppose I won't now either. But here are some lovely emails I received in one day a few weeks ago:

To: All Staff

Our office was broken into last night. It appears they pried the 3rd floor back door open, and went through the 3rd/4th floors.

V------ has called the police and they are on the way. Please let me know ASAP if something is missing from your office/desk.


Uh huh. Both laptops on my desk. Gone.

Multiple suites within our building were broken into. I've also heard that multiple buildings in the area may have been hit as well.

The building was evacuated earlier because an unidentified bag was discovered in an upstairs suite. This bag turned out to be an empty laptop bag (possibly from one of our Dell laptops). Because of the security issues with a different tenant from last Friday, V------ took appropriate measures to investigate the suspicious bag in order to ensure the safety of everyone inside the building.

One of the two laptops stolen from our suite was thankfully recovered from a different floor.


Yup. My shithouse, 6 year old Mac Powerbook. The one that would have resulted in me getting a new Mac laptop had it managed to STAY STOLEN! Meh.

So, later that day...

To: All Staff

There is a bomb threat on Post street outside of Gumps. At the moment, there is not a mandatory evacuation, and the police have instructed us to stay inside the building.


Good times.

There is no mandatory evacuation yet. The police have asked us to remain in the buildings for now... in case something happens on the street, it will be dangerous to be on the street if there is any debris.

Mmmmm...

To: All Staff

This is from CBS5 as well as breaking news:

SFPD has evacuated the building at 135 Post Street and have closed Post Street between Grant and Kearny near Union Square due to a suspicious device. The bomb squad is on scene.


Burglaries, bomb threats, evacuations... will it ever end?

To: All Staff

Not official yet... but I just watched the cops remove caution tape outside and give someone in Coach a "thumbs up" sign.

I will check w/V-------, and see if we have the all clear.


By this point, I could use a drink or a bowl or a tuggie or something...

To: All Staff

There are cookies at the 4th floor kitchenette. Enjoy!


Fuck.

To: All Staff

FYI - Starting tonight, the building will have a security guard in the lobby from 10 PM to 6 AM every night.


Ayo! It only took two burglaries to get 24 hour security! And here's the kicker, at the end of it all, it turns out it was the same dude as before, and he had a key to the front door.

I'd like to thank whoever had their building key stolen in the first burglary and didn't report it to anyone. That's heads up shit right there.

* * * * *

Fuck you maxmuscle.com. This is not the same person...


* * * * *

Pick up 5: 5 Years of Hyperdub as soon as you can. I'd never advocate illegal means. Ask ag about 30 Rock.



* * * * *

"You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when my sister brought Doug home, I knew he was one of my own. And my wolf pack... it grew by one. So there... there were two of us in the wolf pack... I was alone first in the pack, and then Doug joined in later. And six months ago, when Doug introduced me to you guys, I thought, "Wait a second, could it be?" And now I know for sure, I just added two more guys to my wolf pack. Four of us wolves, running around the desert together, in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine. So tonight, I make a toast!"

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

bg/ish: The Rock

So we went to Alcatraz a couple weeks ago. None of us had ever been. Personally, I had no idea what to expect. I'd heard the tour was informative and interesting, and I suppose it proved to be as much.

As far as taking pictures goes though...

Well it's weird. They pack you on a boat with a couple hundred other peeps and most are packing cameras and rolling with a pack mentality. Shuffle along slowly. * Snap * The whole experience teetered on the brink of being, for lack of a better word, boring. However!... we overcame, got our minds working by shooting a bunch of mostly inane shapes and forms in the structures. I've excluded most of those from the gallery that follows though, and have just focused on our views of the city and perspective of "The Rock".

Alcatraz...