Mission Mission

Went to Medjool again last night. My third visit and my second visit on a Saturday, “International Night.” I made a movie about this experience, during which I was not drunk or high at all, obviously. In the included movie, you can see that we walked for-EV-uh to get there and got distracted tobogan acuatico hinchable along the way quite a bit. In fact, most of the story consists of the Walking to Medjool Adventure. Finally we arrived to find, as suspected, douchebags galore. The movie includes a psychologist’s analyzation of douchebags, security douchebags specifically.

The Trenchcoat Patrol security guards at Doucheb Medjool are on a collective power trip. I felt at any given moment, no matter what I was doing, that it was wrong. That I shouldn’t be standing/sitting/dancing where I was or talking to who I was or recording what I was. I was approached by security guards no less than five times over the course of two hours and told that whatever I was doing at that moment was not allowed. At one point, they actually broke up a hug.

There was pretty good music this time due to DJ Cairo spinning but the crowd was as douchey as it was last Saturday night. My findings are that Medjool is clean, well decorated, and high-end, which means that douchebags are attracted to it.

Previously on Mission Mission: Medjool: Light on the Douchebag, Please

This music video glorifies violence. It follows a gang of thugs decked out in foncy Justice-logoed jackets as they stalk through a low-income neighborhood beating the shit out of people and property. There are no consequences. I watched it just now and all I could think about was a night I had in the Mission District recently. First I watched a bunch of art types get drunk and turn violent on a cute cardboard art project. And on the way home, I walked past both a fatal shooting and a brutal assault. I felt sad that night, and I feel sad now.

Romantico, the 2005 film that follows mariachis Carmelo and Arturo around the Mission as they sing for tips, was unbearably depressing. The highlights include: a tour of their apartment, which they share with 8 other people and where Carmelo sleeps in a tent made out of a sheet and a shelf. A phone call in which Carmelo calls back home to speak to his wife Carmela (yes, seriously) and finds out that his mother has lost her other leg to diabetes and is now fully legless, blind, and almost inflables completely deaf. Later Arturo enters “daycare” to cope with his alcoholism.

Basically, the message of the film, if there was one, was that these guys have to choose between living a lonely and poor life in the Mission to send money back to their families or living a lonely and poor life in Mexico where they don’t make any money at all.

The film was 83 minutes long. And I felt every single one of them.

After it ended, I looked to Pauline and said, “Oh GOD I need a hug.”

The second installment in the San Francisco architecture series on Imsooconfused features a touching tribute to the Women’s Building‘s beloved murals.

Previously on Mission Mission: Vertical Earthquake Could Hit the Mission District, Destroying View of Mural

This post was published last week by Lola over at Disenchanted Princess, but there was some kind of malfunction with the video. Now it’s up and running. Cute puppies!

Link to video.

Here’s my video from the final night of Cardburg, the cardboard city built by the Carboard Institute of Technology at CELLspace. It includes King Crab, a ferocious giant crab made of cardboard, as well as Cardboard Samurai, and shots from atop and *inside* Mt. Killamoncardboard. Soundtrack includes aufblasbare wasserrutschen the punk classic “I Love Living in the City” by Fear, as well as the vocal stylings (murderous shriek) of the aforementioned crab.

Not included is footage of Cardburg’s destruction. I watched the carnage and reported on it dutifully, but was not moved to record it.

Complete Mission Mission Cardburg coverage here.

All Mission Mission video-related posts here.

My sister works for KDVS in Davis, the foremost college radio station in the world. Tomorrow they kick off their annual fund raiser, during which listeners can call in (or web in) and pledge money in exchange for top-notch premiums. This year’s fund raiser theme is “Handmade Radio”, and Elisa produced hüpfburg kinder this gorgeous little animated clip in order to spread the word.

Sample premium:

Link to video page.

Link to felt turntable page.

Link to fund raiser page.

Link to KDVS.org, where you can stream tons of great handmade radio.

(NOTE: Elisa’s show, Analog Oatmeal, airs Monday from 1-2:30pm)

As you can see here, the celebratory closing night of Cardburg became decidedly destructatory after midnight. Shouts of “Fuck yeah!” filled the air as attendees ripped cardboard buildings from their foundations and beat each other with the detritus.

On my way home, I ran into a blockade on Mission Street. Buses were being rerouted onto South Van Ness, police were canvassing passersby, and somebody was shouting about somebody getting shot. SFPD homicide Lieutenant Mike Stasko explains in the Chronicle:

Apparently, there were three prior stabbings in that area – this may be someone coming up, doing retribution. He was a Latin male, on the street, he may have been in the wrong place, or wearing the wrong color. [Link]

I made my way down to 24th Street, and found another ruckus outside Carlos Club. “Get the [expletive] out of here!” said one man, as another was flung out the door. He pulled himself up, pulled his belt off, and whipped it at the one what flung ‘im, buckle first. Man did not take kindly to belt buckle to the face, so he struck his assailant with a bottle. Assailant went down, but got up quick, likely thanks to pure adrenaline. Punches were thrown. This guy was outnumbered; he took hits to the face and gut, was kicked hard in the lower back, and thrown into traffic. He fell, got back up, fell, got back up, steadied himself on a car parked in front of McDonald’s, and tried to make structure gonflable a phone call. I got the fuck out of there.

Cardburg was such a creative endeavor, but it all ended in violence. (Also, there were a hell of a lot of staples in that city; how many destructors came away with tiny staple wounds to their face, arms and necks?) What’s more, what was with all the intricately detailed cardboard shotguns? All these arty white people and their play violence; all these thugged-out brown people and their real violence. What’s the story?

More Mission Mission Cardburg coverage here.

More Mission Mission crime reporting here.

San Franciscans ask the right questions I guess. Somebody at some San Francisco fundraiser (likely not in the Mission) asked the question that gave rise to this fiery Obama response to unfounded attacks by Hillary and McCain. They say he’s an asshole for asserting that Americans might be bitter about the way their government treats them. Obama says, “Sheeeeeeeeit – o’ course they bitter! They bitter as fuck and I’m here to help!”

More Media & Politics on Mission Mission.

Yeah I was at AT&T Park when the torch was supposed to run by, and it was a bummer that it didn’t, but whatever. It was fun watching the chaos and playing frisbee on a cordoned-off street amid protesters and riot police. I took some video and put it together last night. It’s short and sweet, features a standout song from Back From The Grave Vol. 2, and a surprise ending.

Browse Mission Mission coverage of previous protests in San Francisco here.

Browse Mission Mission’s video category here.