— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Much to our surprise, Mission Local could only fine one Republican in a park famous for its access to weed snacks. So who is this Republican? Someone from outside the neighborhood who supports Prop 37 and thinks knows Monsanto is part of the “evil empire.”
[via Mission Local]
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Election season is almost behind us, and this bummer cycle leaves us nostalgic for the fun and spirited enthusiasm of 2008. What happened to all the beautiful artwork? Horrible songs from the likes of will.i.am? A Barack Obama who seemed to give a shit about winning? Really, it's sad when the most exciting thing about a presidential campaign are the borderline racist blathering from a $3 Billion hairpiece on top of human garbage.
Thankfully, Mission Bicycle managed to find some of that 2008 fire late last week and built a rear wheel that lights up Valencia in support of Obama.
Behold:
Jefferson, the manager over at the shop, admits that taking a stand in official support of Obama “doesn't sound like much of a risk.” But as a shop that ships their bikes across the country, “we will for sure lose a few red fans over [it].”
(Besides, shouldn't we be happy that they're proudly flaunting their political positions, rather being sketchy and secretive over it?)
MonkeyLetric created the technology behind the lights (but, sadly, the Obama version is not for sale at this time) and the filming was done by local filmmaker Luis Peña. And should the video not be enough for you, the wheel is running up in their front window through election day.
(And don't forget to vote tomorrow!)
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Things are still feeling tense around the Mission after Sunday Night, but can we all at least agree that this dude is the best thing to come out of the mayhem?
(Video by the brilliant Eddie Codel, whose longer video of the revelry is most definitely worth a watch.)
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
We're sure to see a hurricane of bonfire videos make landfall in the next day or so—and we welcome it—but this early taste from the SFC Podcast kids is destined to be among the best.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
It's that time again—another day, another video about gentrification. It can get tiring, we know. But this one fascinated us.
Why? Well, for starters, it's not shot with a cellphone. But more curiously, it's weird to hear a start-uppy guy—speculative after a nurturing breakfast at Craftsman & Wolves—say the Mission won't be that interesting down the road.
That's not to say we haven't heard that line before either, because people have been claiming the Mission would be lame in 5 years since the 80s. And that fear has been coming up to the surface a lot lately (for some of the funniest thoughts on this, former neighborhood comic Chris Garcia has been working on a pretty solid bit about Apple Storification of Valencia restaurants). However, when it comes time for finger-pointing, tech is oft on the receiving end, not the other way around.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
SF's very-own Ty Segall has been blowing up lately (which, I'm sure you already know, but it bears repeating). He's cranked out 3 LPs this year—one of which is destine to wind up on various album-of-the-year lists, he'll be taking the stage at that festival on that old naval island in the middle of the bay this weekend, and he just dropped his latest album on Tuesday (which received a respectable 8.0 from noted album grader Pitchfork). Apparently he even dedicated the latest record to San Francisco in the liner notes, which is real nice, even if no one really buys CDs and cassettes anymore.
But all that comes to a head next Tuesday, when Ty is scheduled to make his late night TV debut on Conan. It'll be big for him, but awesome for us. I mean, just watch how fucking weird it got when he did a network morning show in Chicago last week:
See? Rules. I can already see him just screaming “CONANNNNNNNN!!! COOOOOOONANNNNNNNNNN!!” at that goofy Irish dude over and over again.
11pm Tuesday on TBS (or Wednesday AM on YouTube).
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
The San Francisco Citizen's Initiative for Technology & Innovation, or sf.citi, released their first viral video earlier today, which aims to explain what Twitter/Zynga/Salesforce/AT&T/Airbnb/Ed Lee/Ron Conway-backed organization will accomplish. Let's give it a watch:
0:02 - “San Francisco is dope and all…”
0:05 - “…but people get parking tickets and bikers look like assholes in my rear-view mirror.”
0:10 - Disenchanted high school vice principle reveals himself: “It'd be awesome if we used technology to cure aggro cyclists. Let's give it a shot.”
0:15 - *takes 15 second weed nap*
0:30 - Freakishly tall yeti emerges beside his texting teen sister: “SF is seven miles by seven miles, and that's adorable.”
0:35 - Yeti fails to hail a cab, demands answers.
0:40 - Dude named Biz makes a bold suggestion: “How about we glue a giant iPhone to the side of every Muni shelter that tells you where every cab, train, bus, boat, plane, homeless person on PCP, human slingshot, poorly locked bicycle, and dressage pony in the city is and maybe helps you get a ride that probably isn't there?”
0:52 - VEGANS RUINED A DUDE's FRUIT STAND COMBINATION LIQUOR STORE. THROW MEAT AT THEM NOW.
1:01 - OH SHIT, DON'T WORRY BRO, TWITTER WILL THROW MEAT AT THEM FOR YOU.
1:08 - Victim with MacBook Pro is unable to afford $40 for a basic DSL service, has to check email from place where weird smelly people shoot heroin. How can this be?
1:14 - Guy on a Wes Anderson film set: “We'd like to maybe idk someday put wifi hotspots in old telephone booths. Someday!”
1:20 - Person speaking in tongues wants to know what the city can do about hipsters and foodies and gentrification and rising rents.
1:28 - Answer: “Uhhhhhh…. dunno.”
1:40 - “Parking? There should be an app for that.”
2:00 - The Yeti is back and now he wants to get in his teen sister's pants. Unfortunately, she lives in the Sunset and—gosh darn it—there isn't a cab around, so they're off to find a dumpster to plow behind.
2:02 - Wait, this is an advertisement supporting Prop E? The proposition that would change the city's tax policy? It's an advertisement for Prop E even though the video's funder, Silicon Valley Mob Boss Ron Conway, said it wasn't a campaign ad? How exactly does changing our tax code get us public wifi and the Yeti in his sister's pants in the privacy of his own mancave?
2:10 - Good thing they didn't promote that internal SFPD report filing app they created but the department can't use because they cannot afford the cell phone plans…
2:23 - *Asshole bikers evidentially still a problem*
Now, this isn't all to say that Prop E is bad (it isn't, and it's supported by pretty much every politician, NGO, and newspaper in town), nor that free public wifi would be bad for SF (it would plug up all those cellphone dead zones, reduce utility bills for businesses and residents, provide ever-necessary connectivity to low-income students and families). However, this ad does more than exaggerate Prop E's benefits or make small fibs—it is straight up deceitful in claiming voting in favor of Prop E will do anything to improve ordinary San Franciscan's problems. Prop E won't give you wifi or fix Muni; all it will do is improve the San Francisco business tax code, largely for the benefit of tech start-ups.
Also, why pick on vegans, cyclists, and Latino's with genuine problems?
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
We all know that goofy gangsta raps about white people shit (read: food) are a thoroughly exhausted meme, but with lyrics like “just one thing missing from this blessed day, a motherfucking magnum of cuvee chardonnay” and protips for how best to deal with spazzing girlfriends, this one is worth a watch. Also, there's lots of gratuitous grape eating and box throwing, which were two of my favorite activities as a temperamental child.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
After they filmed this particular scene, one of the white dudes holding a 40 produced a pirate kite from his JanSport bag, so you know this one is going to be solid.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Have you ever seen a Golden Gate sunset video? No? Well there's about a million of 'em on YouTube, in case you were interested. See, every tourist upon visiting San Francisco busts out their inner Michael Bay and records some sweet vid of the sun setting against our fine bridge and uploads it for their friends and family to awe at.
Apparently this bird got fed up with seeing this harmless shit go down day after day and decided to do something about it. Fortunately for us, the camera's owners found the device and uploaded the resulting video for all their friends and family to awe at: