Mission Mission

This just in from Dolores Park Works. Porta-potties will be installed along Dolores St. this summer! I guess petitions really do work!

On non-event weekends (event producers are required to provide portable toilets), RPD will provide five portable toilets and a hand washing station.

The Association of Creepy Muni Track Peeping Toms (ACMTPT) is expected to protest this development.

(photo by superdillettante)

Nice. The Tens captured some highlights from Mission fashion week.

"Castle of Sin" 1978

Did you really think that role-playing / fantasy geeks actually give a shit about wizards and broadswords and stuff? The truth is, they are in it for the voluptuous fantasy babes. No one understood this better than legendary painter and apparent ass man Frank Frazetta, who passed away Monday.

In his honor, Mission Comics & Art is hosting a “Memorial Drink and Draw,” featuring live art, music, and models. I assume “models” means Vampirella-type female models, but it could very well mean paintable Warhammer 40000 pewter models. Attend at your own risk.

The event starts at 8pm tomorrow at 3520 20th St. More info at on their blog.

In honor of Bike To Work Day, Timbuk2 is hosting a party tomorrow at their new mission digs (583 Shotwell at 20th). There will be free food, music, and a brand of beer that may or may not have won a blue ribbon in 1893. And who knows, if you ask nice and sign a waiver, they might let you ride the Death Trap mutant bicycle. Staff will be on hand to repair bags if you got ‘em, too. The event goes from “5pm ’til you leave,” so be sure to bring a sleeping bag (don’t really do that).

For your commute home, they will also be hosting an Energizer Station at Mission playground on 19th and Valencia with drinks and snacks, from 5-7pm. More info here.

Allan and I got to tour the facilities last week and had a swell time. I was really impressed that Timbuk2 head honcho Mike bikes to work at least 3 times a week. “Big deal”, you say. Well, he does it from Novato which is 38 miles each way. This month, he’s doing it every day. I hope his office has in-house showers.

(Photo by Savage13)

“Actors act; actors sniff jackets” – J. Franco

James Franco is probably the most important dreamy stoned slacker character actor of our time. Did you know he’s from Palo Alto? Well  now’s your chance to finally bring that Freaks and Geeks erotic fan fiction in your Documents folder to life:

826 Valencia is thrilled to offer you a chance to Make a Movie with James Franco! For only $25, you can enter to win a chance to collaborate with actor/writer/director James Franco on a short film starring you. Are we kidding? No! We aren’t kidding! This is a drop-jaw amazing opportunity. And yes, you can buy more than one ticket.

The drawing will be held on Monday, May 24, 2010. All proceeds support our free student programming at 826 Valencia. The film will be shot in San Francisco, date and time TBD. Some restrictions apply.

More info on this ludicrous offer at 826 Valencia.

(Photo: I love James Forever; Tip: Kat, who totally could have just logged in and posted this herself)

Related:

Sean Penn Amazed at James Franco’s Monstrous Penis

Hellen Jo and Calvin Wong (disclosure: he is my awesome bro) did a series of comic strips detailing what they experienced at Lady Gaga’s SF appearance at the Billy Graham Civic in December. Crotch lifts, machine guns, and gyroscopes? Count me in next time.

The rest of this series will be a part of a crazy Gaga fanzine put together by a bunch of indie comix guys based in SF: Prison for Bitches. Be sure to pick up yours when it debuts at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival on Monday. What, you’re not going? Ok, well order it online, I guess.

Previously:

Helllllen Does Lady Gaga

In this video, Lesch from the California Honeydrops (with bonus Quinn Deveaux on the tub bass!) talks about playing music in BART stations. I was really interested to hear how he has found that he could tell exactly what kind of day the passengers have had just by looking at their faces.

As a daily commuter, I know regularly I barrel past buskers without even giving them a glance, even if I really dig what they’re doing. Maybe it’s because I think I’m in a hurry. Maybe it’s because I really have had a shitty day. Or maybe it’s because I don’t have any singles or I don’t feel like tipping. At any rate, I think I’ll be more conscious of it in the future.

There, now aren’t you glad that dude’s balls are no longer the topmost post? I am.

Shortly after reading my thinly-vieled plea to reinstate the Beerdolero, the fine folks at Rickshaw Bagworks invited me down to: A. Obtain a hand-made Beerdolero. B. Tour of their facilities in the SF’s Dogpatch district (allegedly named by a drunkard). C. Dance an Irish jig for them (no joke).

The Beerdolero works great. It is a velcro-secured sleeve that you can attach to any strap, including the one affixed to your Gibson Flying V. Cans fit very snugly into the sturdy loops and wont fall out. It does weigh down the front a bit, so it helps if you are carrying something in the bag to counter-balance.

So why do you want this, aside from the fact that it completes your hipster douche outfit? First of all, this may be the only one you’ll ever see. You can’t buy it from Rickshaw because they only offer them as promotional items. It’s also clear that your beer-carrying situation is dire. How dire? Well, you’re gonna have to tell us… with poetry:

Post a haiku lament about your current beverage transport methods. Be sure to use a real email address in your comment. The best haiku, judged somewhat arbitrarily by us and Rickshaw, wins the Beerdolero. You have until Friday, 3pm to submit

Oh yeah, it’s probably bad to encourage drinking and cycling, so be sure to load this baby up with, uh, Hansen’s if you’re gonna hop on the bike.

Thanks to Lisa, Kati and the rest of the gang at Rickshaw Bagworks for being awesome. Rickshaw Bags is an environmentally conscious and completely local company that puts out super high-quality customized stuff. Be sure to stop by and say hi to them.

Update: Kati says that “Beerdoilero” should be spelled “Beerdolero”.

Also, more about the Beerdolero from Mark Dwight at Rickshaw Bagworks!

I just wanted to give a little background on our Beerdalero… we made the first three Beerdaleros for our company debut at Interbike 2008, just for fun, and raffled one each day at our booth. We have never made it available for purchase. For one thing, it takes about 2 hours to make a Beerdalero — and we make them right here in SF — so they would be ridiculously expensive at retail. Besides, not everything needs to be commercially exploited. We prefer to make just a few now and then for special occasions and special friends — like Mission Mission. Happy Cinco de Mayo! -Mark

Here’s the rather obscure Vertigo snippet that Roger Ebert alluded to yesterday. So there you have it, in 1958 the Mission was considered “Skid Row”. Either that, or Hitchcock was a total wuss. In any case, we’re renaming the blog to “Skid Row Skid Row”.

Mock Duck posted a higher quality .mov of it in the original thread.

Previously:

Ebert Thinks the Mission is SF’s ‘Skid Row’

Oh Ebert, you mostly get it right, but sometimes you get it so, so wrong.

40 going on 28 has the scoop.

Update: BK says, “He’s making a reference to the film ‘Vertigo,’ in which there’s the line, ‘The Mission? That’s Skid Row, isn’t it?’” That doesn’t change the fact that Endup is on 6th and Harrison, though.