Mission Mission

Well I sure know what I would do if I had a kick ass view of Sutro, make a bunch of timelapse videos of it. Thats what Jonathan did.

Check out this stunner. Kinda makes me feel like I’m soaring towards the Ivory Castle on Falkor, my trusty luck dragon:

The instructions for making your own are simple, just fire up that Linux machine you have lying around and dig through heaps of ffmpeg forums:

I used gphoto2 running on an Ubuntu machine to grab photos, basically as quickly as I could get them off the camera (roughly one every 5 seconds). I’m getting them at fairly large resolution (2048 x 1536), though I crop and downsample them for the video. To create a 20fps video from the still photos, I use ffmpeg, which is amazingly powerful provided you get the command line options right.

He adds:

So as the unrepentant perfectionist, I still see some areas of improvement. Despite a fairly decent camera mount, I still see more camera motion than I would like: I am going to try bolting the camera directly to the building, but I suspect the building itself moves.

God damn plate tectonics. Maybe he could bolt the camera to Sutro?

[via rotormind]

Man, over at SF Appeal what started as a simple, “can my landlord really raise my rent?” turned into, “short answer is yes, long answer <insert history of land ownership in Western civilization>”. Here’s a snippet:

As societies became more complex, ruthless bands of sociopaths (call their leaders pharaohs, kings, popes, bankers or the 1%) took control, they usurped the commoners’ (call them the people or the 99%) rights to own the land. I’m sure the bargain went something like this: “Look peon, I’ll defend your land for you, but because I have taken on this burden you have to give me unfettered rights to your land.” Faced with an offer they could not refuse, most commoners gave in. Those who resisted lost their ability to pass down their genetic make-up to future generations. It seemed that evolution created the perfect marriage of cowards and kings.

Good read, if you wanna shake your fist at the sky. Check it out.

[via SF Appeal]

[via The Fog Bender]

Have you ever noticed how when someone else makes a sandwich for you it tastes better than if you made it yourself? Even if your sandwich-making companion puts exactly the same stuff in the same amounts as you would, it just tastes better when someone else does it.

The same principle holds true for juice. I’m a big green juice fan (exhibit A) and I have a Jack La Lanne power juicer (yup) which I use regularly, but I still find myself drawn back to Sidewalk Juice every month or so to partake in the holy ritual of buying a green juice and then walking down Lexington to see if the disco ball is lit up. (It wasn’t today.)

SWJ is so rad. Even since they took down the little drawings of all the employees, I still love the establishment and all the sometimes-stoney employees. Also, they have frequent buyer cards, so you get every 11^th juice free. Today José took this photo of me so you can see how happy I am about their continued neighborhood presence.

On the way home I saw this guy in an elaborate camouflage coat having an extremely heated conversation about vegetarian spaghetti sauce.

Mission Local is following the progress closely:

Betty and Luna Barrios, the grand-daughters of La Rondalla’s original owner, have toonce again delay the re-opening of their family restaurant. Earlier this week, crews were busy putting tiles in the dining area.

The Barrios have had to apply for a liquor license transfer with Alcohol Beverage Control and that permit is pending.

They now expect to open by June at the latest.

Read on for more pics.

Oh, and it’s all thanks to David Lynch (the sommelier, not the filmmaker). Eater SF reports:

Today there’s more to share on the late Spring advent of St. Vincent. To begin with, chef Bill Niles—who, you’ll recall, comes from Bar Tartine—says he’s nailing down the specifics of a “simple, seasonal, yet modern and creative” approach to wine tavern food. Since the concept is the love child of sommelier David Lynch, wine will be of equal if not greater focus than the food. Niles menu will play into that with French, Italian and British influences, and he worked in the Philadelphia area before moving to San Francisco, so a take on the classic Philly-style pretzel will definitely available. Other items mentioned: a beef shank filled with “deviled” marrow that’s whipped with foie, a mixed roast plate of aged lamb cuts, and a seasonal take on the classic British dessert, spotted dick. Also: an in-house bread program.

Ooh, I like takes on classic pretzels. Read on.

The Unresolved Love Life of Evelyn Lee is nearly here, people! From the official Facebook page, about two hours ago:

Ok, it’s happening tonight. Logos are being banged out by the amazing Micael Klok and we’re and gearing up for a party. It’s gonna get weird.

Can’t wait!

Del Popolo, the mobile pizza party housed in a transatlantic shipping container crate was spotted recently on Flour+Water’s Instagram page. John Darsky, former Flour+Water pizza chef and Del Popolo mastermind spoke with the Tablehopper earlier this year about his upcoming “of the people” portable Neapolitan vision.

Here’s the deal on Foreign Cinema:

With a flicker of an 8mm reel, Foreign Cinema has created an audio
visual soundtrack–

Hey wait this sounds just like the restaurant! Sorry, please continue:

–with influences cross pollinating elements of shoegaze, trip hop, and dub. The band’s noir sound balances light and dark, with ethereal warmth and interjected groove to create a romantically dark world guided by interpretive lyrics about the human condition.  Founded in 2008, the symbiotic core is comprised of Astral singer/guitarist, Dave Han of San Francisco and bass courtesy of Natty D from Goiania, Brazil.

They perform tonight at Brick & Mortar, and you can win tickets by telling us your best anecdote regarding Foreign Cinema the band, Foreign Cinema the restaurant, OR foreign cinema the type of cinema. Contest ends at 2pm today. Winners will be selected based on merit.

Our pal Matt just happened to see it in action, minutes after we asked if anybody had ever seen it in action:

Heading out the door for work and lo & behold. Not a crappy photo, just going for the blurry bigfoot aesthetic I swear. Incredible balance, deplorable sidewalk riding.

Thanks, Matt!