late to the party - the oa

photo: netflix

you know when that friend recommends a tv series and you just think you just don't have time. this is what happened to me with the oa. i'd been recommended the first season a few years back with the "if you liked lost, you might like..." 

it came back up on my radar when a coworker mentioned he easily binged the second season. i dove into the wonderfully mind-boggling series on a rainy day late in march. it's cray and so wacky, but it's carefully crafted relationships are the heart of the series. i've always admired the talent of show runner, lead brit marling. i'd seen another earth, the east and arbitrage. gurl sure knows how to spin a tale and act in it. 

after seeing sharon van etten in concert, that was my catalyst to finally dig into the second season. so many things that tugged on my love for my hometown of san francisco. oakland native zendaya! 16th avenue tiled steps. treasure island! sure, there's some over the top stuff, but it's still the characters stories that drive my love. oh, also to top off more reasons to love this series - andrew haigh directs two episodes albeit not in sf. (haigh directed another home town show, looking, which i loved).  so now we await a season three hopefully.

photo: nicola goode, netflix

hometown glory

kristin farr with her masterpiece

sfmoma

mori point

richard serra's sequence returns

spencer finch

do ho suh: the spaces between us

jr's the chronicles of san francisco - sketches

hsb 16

it's been almost a decade since i've attended hardly strictly bluegrass. ester and I went when there were only three stages. the crowds were so small that we could be up front for gillian welch. now the festival has ballooned to 7 stages, but remained entirely free. thanks warren hellman! virginia was with me for day one as well and her first time at the festival brought revelations i hadn't noticed before. there are no sponsorship signs. everyone is just laid back. i think the 9 years in ny have drained a lot of that from me. it's good to be reminded of my roots. i really missed drinking in the park without having to look over my shoulder for a cop. no one is crazy drunk or belligerent. everyone is just happy and enjoying great weather (no fog this year) and music.

philly discovery - hop along

 fell in love with the cactus blossoms

as always no HSB is complete without a little gillian and dave rawlings, who covered ryan adams and ended with a cover of the band's "the weight."

niners win?

okay, i didn't actually watch this game because it's rough being a west coast fan living on the east coast. 10pm start times are rough. so what i gathered the morning after is that carlos hyde had an amazing monday night and my niner fave of the "old" guard navarro bowman was stellar. panthers are up next, which will be a true test. here's to being a faithful. 

niners win!

it's been a rough season, but we kinda saw it coming. at least we ended it with a rare OT win. hoping for a brighter season...

dubs and niners win!!!

so in a feat of bay area sports goodness BOTH the dubs and niners won last night. i was able to keep my tradition of nosebleed seats at the barclays center to cheer on my warriors as they extended their streak to 22-0.  it's insane. maybe even more insane is that my niners won against the bears yesterday as well.  this makes for a happy shar. 

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

niners win!

Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle

where have my niners gone?

first off, sorry for the radio silence. life, work and travel have consumed me for this first few months of this year. this is a very belated commentary on the end of an era for the niners. at the end of the year, i said goodbye to coach harbaugh.  that was only the beginning to a major shift in niner personnel. news of patrick willis' retirement and then frank gore goes to the colts. yesterday chris borland announced retirement and today we sign reggie bush. not sure what is happening and it's definitely not the team i knew and loved even during the dark years. we faithful are up for more dark days ahead. i'm going to erase this from my head until the fall. i'll stick with some distractions by the warriors (though i'm weary they might be losing a little steam). i hope they prove me wrong tonight with big statement win over the hawks. oh yeah, giants season is revving up.

niners win

Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

home state goodness

almost 2 weeks in the home state. met the new niece. caught up with friends and family. got in some good art shows. road tripped with my best friend to la. attended hanna and james' wedding. all in all good close out of california for 2014. see ya in the new year. 

the many faces of mikayla

paul wacker at eleanor harwood

homemade pad thai by j (aka hask sf)

jay howell at ffdg

gonna miss this

got upgraded at palihouse santa monica

finally saw urban lights by chris burden

niners win

so that was a doozy. i was able to watch the better half of the game with my mom. glad i didn't have to witness how the niners let the saints almost pull out a victory and keep their crazy win streak in the super dome. got this must win, on to ny giants next. 

niners win

it wasn't a pretty first quarter, but we rallied in the end. we have a mini lead over the seahawks after they fell against the cowboys.  i think that's the first time i've ever rooted for the cowboys. seattle defense wasn't looking so hot. up next for the niners is a doozy - denver. 

Photo: Scott Kane / Associated Press

niners win

San Francisco 49ers' Perrish Cox (20) celebrates with Aaron Lynch after Cox intercepted a pass by Kansas City Chiefs' Alex Smith in 4th quartet of Niners' 22-17 win during NFL game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. on Sunday, October 5, 2014. Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle

niners win!!!

so the defense got it done in the first quarter and pretty much that was the game. the offense has a lot of work to do, and knowing this was our defense not at full strength our opponents should be scared.

fairyland

Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father by Alysia Abbott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This might be biased as I'm a native San Franciscan but this has been the best book I've read this year. I know it's only been a month but there you go. Abbott captures the time capsule of the '70s and '80s of SF beautifully. I could picture the streets of the Castraight (Castro and Haight) from the shops to cafés. More than anything a love story for her father. It also was a narrative of crossroads, whether a cross country move to New York or a study abroad trip to Paris. I connected to her struggle to move back to a postcard hometown or stay in a city full of new adventures. Bravo!

thanks niners!

what can I say after staying up until 3am in lisbon prior to my morning flight? the game that was tauted as a tight one came down to the final seconds. unfortunately kaep's throw into the end zone to crabtree was deflected by our most hated enemy, richard sherman. i actually thought kaep was the better quarterback even though he threw a pick. he showed a decent drive in the final hours. 

don't even get me started on the refs. two major missed calls, including one where bowman clearly had the ball before tweaking his leg uber bad. makes me sad that he won't get to play in the pro bowl. the defense was amazing and wanna say better than seattle, having stopped not one but two deep in the red zone touchdown possibilities. our boys played their hearts out. i'll obviously be rooting for the broncos because seeing those cocky seahawks win a super bowl will hurt my heart of hearts. 

niners win!

Photo: Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images

holy moly that was close. too close. torturous, but here we are on our way to carolina. if the saints knock of seattle and we take care of the panthers, there might be one more game at ol' candlestick. we might get a little payback for our "loss" to the saints in the regular season too. for now, let's breathe and relish this playoff victory in the cold, cold tundra. 

niners win!

Photo: Christian Petersen, Getty Images

niners came out blazing with 17 points in the first quarter and then were quiet until the fourth. in the end they won, 23-20 with little change to what was expected for the playoff picture. we have the #5 seed and we'll be off to green bay for playoffs on the road. thanks niners for a great regular season. let's make some magic in the post-season.

perfect farewell to the stick - niners win!

everyone was nostalgic last night. as if niners fans haven't been tortured enough we were close to losing our final game at candlestick until navarro bowman came up with a pick six. he'd just let an onside kick go by him only to have it recovered by the falcons in niner territory. we were looking at a loss or some overtime, but the stick provided a little magic last night. check out the thing of beauty above. 

coach harbaugh said, "that's the best thing I've ever seen happen in a football game." and on his birthday nonetheless. he said it was the best birthday present, second to being born. 

okay boys, no rest for the weary. let's focus and get ready to close out the regular season against the red hot cards sunday and get that final win.

niners win!

woot! kaep was looking better and running. me likie. let's hope the titans can take care of the cards and send us to the playoffs.