niners win

niners 10, bills 3

S-K-A-T-E

best investment: figure skates. i got these prolly over 5 years ago when i fufilled my childhood dream of taking ice skating lessons. i've been using these skates ever since, and i'm SO glad i shipped these when i moved to the east coast. i really need to sharpen these puppies. anyone know a good place where i can get this done?

best deal: the pond at bryant park. nothing beats free (with your own skates)! i hit this spot a hand full of times last year, and am determined to skate here once a week before it gets too crowded with holiday revelers.

must trek to a rink: lasker rink. this is way up at 110th street, but worth coming to avoid the more popular wollman in the southern part of central park. thanks mike for the tip and skating on one the coldest weekends. also, thanks for taking lame pics of me attempting to do tricks.

p.s. that's NOT me spinning, rather my landing on a half ass wally jump. i forgot how to execute one. :( this was me feeling it out to no avail.

most roomy rink: wollman at prospect park. i hit my local rink with saki, jen, susan, holly, sue, kimberly and young yesterday. it's about the size of the pond and lasker combined. they also play indie rock (of montreal and the shins) intermixed with oldies. it's also relatively cheap at $5 admission if you got skates.

someone record top chef for me tonight

margot on conan

oh golly, i heart them so. i still haven't gotten my "animal" record. i need a record playah.

horse feathers, rosewood thieves and small sur @ union hall

best pre-concert activity: faux-fireplace time at union hall. jason and i snaked this primo spot yesterday and the gang reaped the benefits of the hearth.
must soundtrack for this blistery weather: horse feathers, rosewood thieves and small sur. all three bands are special shar finds. small sur was one thanks to npr's second stage. their track "everyone" stuck with me since late october. the haunting beginnings, "oh everyone, oh everyone" seem to come out of my lips randomly in the day. they rocked the basement of union hall with their mellow folk.

next up was rosewood thieves, who found me on myspace. i'm not a huge adder of random bands, but something about their tunes got to me. maybe it's their rollicking sound. also doesn't mackenzie on keys look like shelley duvall? (mike pointed that out.) and i think that lead vocalist erick resembles alex turner from artic monkeys and the last shadow puppets.

the headliner horse feathers was an absolute treat. i've been keeping an eye on them since i heard their sesh on daytrotter. omr compared them to iron & wine which is pretty spot on. lead justin ringle lulls sweet lyrics to tenderly strummed acoustic guitar, with backing strings and sometimes saw. he is another justin after my indie rock heart's of heart.

kehinde wiley @ dietch

early FLTGC: kehinde wiley's down at deitch wooster street. kehinde rocks the hip hop to the rococo. i likes it. reclining hip hoppers against flowery, ornate patterns. sweet! based on fallen heroes, the large form paintings encapsulate young african american men in a beautiful new light.

jac thought this one to the left was kanye. what do you think? i think it's a random.

niners win!!!

reason to stay faithful: niners 35, rams 16. golly gee, after monday's heartbreaker i was waning on my faith. how could i doubt my niners? they came out today in full force. now we are #2 in NFC west, no three way tie for 2nd. we own it. sure, we are 3-7 but it's defintely something to cheer about.

truly old timey nyc

must nyc high kicks: rockettes at radio city music hall. i've been dying to see them since i saw them in annie. you know the part when they come out of the movie reel for "let's go to the movies"? the bff was in town last year around this time and we were thinking of going to the christmas spectacular. sorry leigh-anne, i went without you. i got tix through work at a discount. it was a little weird to go this early for a christmas show. it was a little cheesy, but the rockettes more than made up for it. a new york tradition in a truly historic venue. radio city kinda reminds me of the paramount in oakland. old timey, depression era feel.

most fitting follow-up to radio city music hall: ziegfeld theatre for quantum of solace. okay, it's not the original ziegfeld, but close riiiight? the film in my opinion wasn't as great as casino royale. you get all the great action sequences, but the story was a bit lacking. i blame paul haggis. after the show, i had me a gin martini shakin' not stirred with a twist to really get in the 007 mood. thanks eric for indulging me.

skating inspiration

best winter activity: ice skating. it's holiday time and that means skating for shar. TONY recently came out with a list of rinks in nyc. i've only hit one about 5 times and that would be the free one at bryant park. a girl's got skates and it's cheap. i've been dying to hit the wollman rinks in central and prospect parks since last winter. also, the new south street seaport sounds good too. i have to sharpen my skates, but who's down for some icy goodness?

reason to be inspired: kristi yamaguchi. she's from the bay and who doesn't love a good wholesome figure skater. no tonya harding or oksana baiul nonsense, just pure figure skating at its bestest. she's not bad on the dance floor either. anyhoot, here she is interviewed by my pal yoon for a kqed extra special.

foxy

Fleet Foxes - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

top 10 days in the sf bay

11/1: housewarming "let's build a grill" at jenn and steve's

11/2: berkeley and ritos

11/3: day with my brother, which featured santa ramen and body of lies

11/4: election special day = voting + academy of sciences + de young + san jose sharks

11/5: day at the Q. dude i miss the folks at the Q. craig brought in celebratory obama ribs as promised. marie and kristin introduced me to cupcake wednesdays

11/6: pre-wedding errands with cyn, followed by HMB beer at cameron's and dinner with angelina at cetrella

11/7: iris and jeru time. jeru wasn't born b4 early august, so i had to met him now. he rules and is named after the miles davis song. AWESOME!

11/8: maorning farmers market selling stace's local and mostly organic sweets. then, cyn and ryan's wedding = ucsd reunion

11/9: day with heidi, liana and janet, featuring park life, q and let the right one in. i love that my pals are down for a swedish vampire flick. you gals rule. i missed it at tribeca film fest and glad you indulged in my bloody obsession. end the eveing with good ol' snf with the rents.

11/10: walk down market and embarcadero for visit with the fine folks at the osher foundation

sorry to all those that i didn't see or didn't spend ample time with. i'll try to be better next time.

park life

most missed artsy fartsy hub: park life.  i miss park life goodness so i had to stop by and ended up seeing good stuff.  see below and got me a sweeeet tee on sale.

i can't want for the show curated by bill bob todd.  yup, i totally called you out bill.  

today in soma

saw this fellow driver in soma this morning on my way to the flower market.  

greenest museum to systematic landscapes

greenest museum in the world: cal academy of sciences.  so i have been saying how i've been dying to check this place out and i was lucky enough to on tuesday.  the rain forest, planetarium and roof were ahhhhmazing.  check it.

the place was a buzz even on a weekday.  i had heard that there are crazy lines on weekends to get in the rainforest and planetarium.  it was nice to see familiar items that once were at the original cal academy when i was a wee tot, like the pendulum and seahorses.  i was bummed i missed out on seeing my pal charmagne's cube.  she designed the fancy t-shirt you can get in the giftshop.  it's sweeeet!

must exhibit after the cal academy: maya lin's systematic landscapes.  i don't know too much about maya lin except for her design the vet memorial in dc.  her current exhibit at the de young was a mastery of space and construction.  

double winners

victory for change and hope: obama! i'm super relieved and excited for our new president. on a sad note, prop 8 passed. :(

most belated live victory: san jose sharks v. minnesota wild, 3-1. i have longed to go to the shark tank to witness the greatness that are the sharkie sharks.  yup, i got to see them skate out of a shark head.  AWESOME!  that's nabby coming out in the pic on the right.  

it was mystery puck night and my brother got 5. one of them being an autographed joe thornton puck.  woooo whoooo!  i really wanted a cheechoo puck, but i had to settle for a christian ehrhoff. also got a devin setoguchi, torrey mitchell and rob blake.  those went to my brother coworker for letting use have the seats.

sharocks the vote!

i'm glad to be home to vote in cali. 

no on 8!  i was appalled when i saw signs for yes on 8 in my lil town of millbrae.  good thing i also saw residents giving the thumbs down to the picketers.  

i got there right when polls open and got my "i voted" in the presidential election sticker.  i hit the *bucks for my gratis java.  thanks cheapass for the scoop.  i think i will get my krispy kreme next.  :)

back to back in the bay

best homecoming concert: matt nathanson @ warfield.  i'm home and matt's home so it's only fitting that i see him. the last time i saw him in new york at roseland i was a little disappointed. not sure if it was the gigantic venue or the crowd.   

matt sprinkled the show with cover interludes like "big country", "losing my religion", "jessie's girl", and "the kids are alright".  he also played oldies but goodies from his ernst album - 

"first time" and "all been said before". matt's first headlining gig at the warfield was a treat and hope there will be more to come.  congrats to you for making it from the brainwash to headlining the warfield.  you deserve all the mad love you get.  lastly, and not least, another converted matt fan = henry!

must concert to brave the rain that never came: jason mraz @ greek theatre. i've never seen jason in an official concert. i did see him in an alice lounge back when i worked there.  the intimate show tied me over until now.  i threw down the dough because lisa hannigan, who i've adored since her stints with damien rice, was opening for him.  she stepped in on "lucky" with jason and hands down sings a better rendition than colbie caillat.  lisa's voice is

ahhhmazing.  the show was a good reunion for some ucsd kids like us (me, leigh-anne and dennis)

only in berkeley moment: passed by this love fest on my way to the greek.

best post-concert grub: el farito on 24th and mission on dia de los muertos.  for all those cali kids who miss a good burrito.  here's to you.