Mission Mission

Bryan Whalen sends us this beautiful flyer and says:

Many will attempt to enter the arena of battle, but just one team will climb atop a mountain of destroyed egos, mangled wrists and crushed PBR’s to hold the trophy high above they’re head and claim the throne to all of the Pinball Land.

All Conan-isms asides, the time has finally come for teams to prepare for the 1^st Annual Ball Busters Pinball Tournament. I’ve been plotting this tourney for a number of years, and finally , with the help of Rebel8 and our non-profit partner, Keep A Breast, it’s all come to fruition. The tournament is an invitational, and I’ve hand-selected teams that I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with over my time with Pabst Blue Ribbon. I greatly appreciate everyone who has supported myself and the brand, and now I’m hoping to give you all a kick ass time in return. The event is open to the public, so I highly encourage inviting as many friends as possible, particularly for the purpose of cheerleading. We will also have 200 limited edition tees and posters by Mike Giant (who will also be doing a live piece), all for the ridiculously low price of $20, as well as the El Tonayense Taco Truck (I will provide some freebie tacos) and “refreshments”, so bring cash! I am not charging for the tournament, but would love if each team made a small donation to Keep A Breast.

All the info you will need for the event is below:

1^st Annual Ball Busters Pinball Tournament

• Saturday, Aug 21^st 6 – 12am
• Guerrero Gallery, 2700 19^th @ Bryant
• Team Check-in:  5 pm (or earlier)
• Team Warm Up: 5-6
• Tournament: 6pm on

Rules:

• Single Elimination tournament. Sixteen 2 Person Teams.
• Teams will draw cards at random to determine machine and competitor. Teams flip for either 1/2 player or 3/4 player position.
• Scoring : 1^st round teams play two games. Team’s drop high and low scores, remaining scores averaged. High score in match advances. 2^nd round/semis/ finals/ championship play one game. Team’s score to be averaged, high score in match advances.
• While I am all for pinball finesse (nudging, bumping, bang backs), slamming, lifting, kicking, or slapping on machines is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. Players displaying poor pinball etiquette will be swiftly ejected from the tournament. See next item…
• TILT RULE: 1^st tilt player will be issued warning, 2^nd tilt player will set out rest of game.
• No food or drink on or near machines during gameplay.
• Awards: 1^st , 2^nd Place and “Ball Busters Spirit Award”. Spirit. Award to be determined by PBR staff and will be based on, but not limited to: cheerleaders, costumes, heart and good sportsmanship
• Side bets and good natured trash talking are encouraged, but not required.

TEAMS CONFIRMED: HUF, Benny Gold, FTC, Medicine Agency, Workshop, Bender’s, Fecal Face, Rebel8, 330 Ritch, Evergold/SFAQ, Self Edge, Bro Palace, 111 Minna, Indie Mart

So there you have it. NOW GET OUT THERE AND PRACTICE! I won’t reveal what particular machines will be featured, but they’re quite common (if you’re good, you should be able to play on any machine!).  If you need hints on spots to practice, here’s a few: Lucky13, Elbo Room, The Uptown, Route 101, Malotovs, The Cinch, Doc’s Clock, Ace’s, Bender’s, Musee de Mecanique, Lucky Juju (east bay). Maybe I’ll see you out there and join in for a game.

Will there be a team Mission Mission? Outlook not good. I know there are a few pinball wizards here, but I think Tetris and Ping Pong are more our sports. We’ll just be there for the beer and yelling.

This just in from Andrew W.:

Hey San Francisco! We’re in town still and want to keep giving you ice cream, so we got together with our friends in Still Flyin’ and are doing just that.

Tonight at 6:30 in Dolores Park we are having a free ice cream social as well as a mini show from Still Flyin’ that we’ll be recording for Road Trippin’ with Ice Cream Man.

So get over those mid-week blues with some upbeat music and delicious Ben & Jerry’s treats!

If the music video for the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Today” is any indication, ice cream and rock music is an awesome combination.

The current theory held by residents of the building that burned this Saturday is that the blaze was started by by a recently-evicted tenant. The disgruntled tenant allegedly set a mattress on fire and left the gas stove on as an act of revenge. SF Appeal has more on this development.

I have a couple of friends who lived in the building who lost a great deal of their belongings. It’s not the fire that causes all the damage. Water from the sprinklers does a lot of harm, too. I hope for their sake they find this (alleged) asshole.

As you may have heard, there was also an unrelated shooting involving three victims on the corner of 17th and Mission later that evening. Not a good night for that block.

[Photo by Army of Robots]

Previously:

Fire on 16th and Caledonia

Looks like the now open Commonwealth decided to keep the unearthed Hunt’s Quality Donuts sign for the time being. The El Herradero sign was not so fortunate.

Wanna bet that they’ll have a tribute donut dish on the menu? I can’t go there yet because they politely asked us early donor certificate holders to chill for a few weeks while they get off the ground.

Our business manager would like me to add: “As you know, cash management is a challenge for new businesses. We’d really like Commonwealth to be around for the long term, and these first few weeks are key. Ask them to wait a little bit, maybe a month, before using the gift certificates.”

[Photo by David Gallagher]

Previously:

Adios, El Herradero

Unmasking the Past

“I’m right by the big-ass unicorn balloon.”

[via We Built This City]

MIT’s Copenhagen Wheel just took the 2010 James Dyson Award for the US.

Here’s what it is:

• A self-charging motorized rear wheel that fits on existing bicycles
• A trip/traffic planner that syncs with your docked smart phone
• A social networking tool (throwing social networking into everything is the new putting a clock into everything)

See the demo video for more information:

At a projected cost of $600 per wheel, not to mention a big red “steal me” target of a design, I think you’d better get a good cable lock for this sucker if it ever becomes a reality. But from the sound of things, it may be GPS equipped meaning you might be able to track it down if it gets lost.

Go ahead, purists, tell us all about how this is the worst thing to happen to cycling.

[via core77]

Meli at Bikes and the City met this MacGuyver of bike rear view mirrors. I love the idea, but I wonder how he cut the mirror or if he just found one that fits.

Quick, without peeking, what kind of beer is that cap from? Head over to Bikes and the City for the answer.

Whoops.

This is news to me, but MUNI buses are equipped with front-facing cameras that have been used to spot parking violations since 2008. Due to a software glitch involving daylight savings time, the city issued 4 months of bad parking tickets. Either that, or MUNI buses are equipped with hidden flux capacitors.

ABC has the scoop:

Through a California Public Records Act request, the I-Team has confirmed the cameras on 17 buses failed to switch over to Daylight Saving Time in March, and that technicians didn’t catch the problem until the end of June.  The time was off by one hour, so the city issued 510 bad tickets during those months.

So if you’ve been ticketed recently, you might be entitled to a refund. Check the full list of affected tickets or give the SFMTA a call on your cell phone, which contains a clock that is far more advanced than that of a MUNI bus.

[via Dan Noyes at abc7news.com]

OMG the Mish! was all “OMG!” over this mural of Valencia Street on the wall South End Grill ‘n’ Bar. Look closely and you can spot Omer the rocker (aka Bum Jovi)!

If you want another challenge, see if you also spot the six things that are missing from this mural. Answers over at OMGTM.

Planning for the proposed park on 17th and Folsom is shaping up nicely.

The current design includes such non-standard park fare as a community garden area, an outdoor classroom, greenhouses, rain-collecting barrels, and even “demonstration gardens for wildlife habitat and water conservation”. Holy crap, was this thing designed by EarthFirst?

As if that weren’t enough, the park also features espaliered fruit tree fences and a bioswale! What, you don’t know what those are? Good thing Curbed SF did this thing called “research” that we casual bloggers keep hearing about:

And so you don’t have to look them big words up: a bioswale is a planted filter for water runoff from paved areas, sort of a ditch with a reason. Espalier, originally French and both a noun and a verb, is the technique of training a plant, most commonly a fruit tree, to grow on a grid or a fence.

[via Curbed SF]