Mission Mission

Ever feel like these days people are too closed off in their own world (or phone) to notice not just what’s going on around them, but also who?  Ever read some pitiful Missed Connections post about someone who supposedly met the love of their dreams but either couldn’t muster the courage or just simply couldn’t think of anything to say to them?

While a pre-emptive resolution to Craigslist Missed Connections is probably not the original inspiration for the project, it’s nonetheless one of the many applications for this populist experiment dubbed “Public Prompts” - Meaningful Conversation for the Masses.  One of the creators of the project, George, recently gave us the low-down:

It consists of publicly-placed conversation starters that inspire fun interactions between strangers. We’re pasting em all over bus stops, BART and Muni, especially in the mission since thats our hood. In fact the templates are all on the site, so anyone can put up their own as well!

Ooh, sounds like fun!  I wonder how many Public Prompts we can come up with?

Had a schwell time at @missionbowling in SF last night. Some great Belgian beers, not enough strikes

— gotye (@gotye) September 12, 2012

I apologize equally for the horrible pun and for the song stuck in your head again.

At the Verdi Club no less, as part of some Litquake thing because she wrote a book or something.

[via lmc]

Cover your nether regions, one angry clerk at Pay’n Save (18th and Guererro) is taking his hatred of the lazy to the streets:

Hey I’m not crazy about lazy people either, but I gotta say: corner store clerks aren’t exactly the most shining example of hard workers, unless you count sitting on a folding chair next to a box fan for hours and sighing heavily when someone asks for double-A batteries “working”.

I kid, I kid. Thanks for all the Tecate and coconut juice.

You may know from ‘Deep from his alter ego Trikeasaurus, or his residential parklet occupied by a topiary triceratops. Well, here’s yet another notch on his resume of heartwarming neighborhood quirks: ‘Deep is getting hitched today at noon, during Sunday Streets, in his parklet! (And I hear they’re giving out cupcakes to passersby.)

For schedules and more information, check out Kim and ‘Deep’s wedding Tumblr. And did I mention that today is Sunday Streets?

The guy on the right there. Lived in the Mission for five years like ten years ago or something, had his fill, moved elsewhere, comes back only once in a while. But last night I talked him into Slow Jams at the Make-Out Room (every Tuesday night, free) and he had the time of his life! Slow dancing, 1960s prom-style decor, cheap drinks, comfy booths. He says he’s going back next week. Time of his life, just look at him!

The Mission wins again.

Local commuter David Enos shares some insights:

This living alone out in the avenues business is a weird thing.  It’s isolated out here.  Been waking up from bad dreams, finding myself staring at such things as Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara’s imdb pages until dawn, then getting in another hour or two of sleep before another shift.  An endless, silent train home and then doing it over again.

Sounds peaceful enough. Read on for the punchline.

[Map by Google Maps]

His name is John Seastrunk, and you’ll recognize his seasonally appropriate handiwork from the windows of Boogaloos, St. Francis, Napper Tandy, a bunch of taquerias, and more. The Bold Italic has just published a piece on him, so you can finally put a name and face to all of that familiar hand-painted lettering. According to the piece, John has been painting signs for over 30 years and has over 120 typefaces memorized!

Read on for more about this unsung local hero.

Since none of us can get enough of Danny Bowien, here’s yet another article about him, in NYMag. (Bonus #1: This one was written by Molly Young, a San Francisco native and one of my favorite young reporters today. Bonus #2: Unrelated, but NYMag also just happened to publish a piece featuring one of our very own writers’ feet.)

In this piece, Danny talks happiness, monosodium glutamate, duck blood extrusion, Martha Stewart and her seating requests, partying, puking, and his tradition of pounding Buds in honor of visiting dignitaries.

First she came up with the idea for coconut water (as you can see in the “Man Down” video below), and now she’s hanging at Zeitgeist. Rihanna is cool.

UPDATE: I think it’s true, based on how badly this guy wants us to think it’s not.