The San Francisco Citizen

Obama ‘08 Headquarters at 939 Market Street near Fifth receives yet another delivery of oversized balloons from well-wishers.

Click to expand:

They barely fit through the front door

Look out! The same people (such as “composer, lyricist, scriptwriter, concert hound, music reviewer and web designer” Mark Tyne) who brought the Death of Castro Halloween funeral procession all the way down Market Street from the Ferry Building in 2007 are at it again.

Except this year the theme is the Death of Wall Street and the Rebirth of Castro Halloween. So we’ll see you out there, unless you get cowed by the ham-fisted “Home for Halloween” people, who would probably prefer you to stay at home and watch Major Dad reruns on the telly.

This pair of queens in the Castro shared a nice moment with a masked wrestler back in 2006, back in the good old days:

See Dow. See Dow die. Die Dow, Die!:

Death of Wall Street Funeral

 Procession

 
Halloween 2008 - San Francisco

——- DIE DOW DIE ! —-

 

Come mourn “the death of wall street” &

celebrate

“The rebirth of castro Halloween”

(funeral procession)

Halloween - Friday 10/31/08

The Victory Garden at San Francisco’s Civic Center has a new lease on life due to today’s mayoral reprieve:

“Today Mayor Gavin Newsom announced his intention to keep the Slow Food Nation Victory Garden at Civic Center Plaza in place until November. The garden was originally scheduled to be disassembled and moved to a more permanent location on September 21, three weeks after the conclusion of Slow Food Nation.”

Now the whole idea of this garden smacked of Marie Antoinette’s L’Hameau de la Reine from the get-go and the fact it was supposed to be undone in September was met with some criticism, but having this thing around for another three months seems like a good idea.

Of course SFN was well-attended, with lots of coverage from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, SFGate and Eater SF.

Now on with the show.

This voter registerer got cuffed by a Park Ranger right next to the Civic Center Windmill. Some rich hippies took offense and questioned the necessity of this detention. Apparently, the very same man was asked to leave SFN just the day before.

People, people, people, have you no respect for the DPT? Just one Parking Control Officer had the opportunity to issue scores of tickets to those in too much of a hurry to get to Slow Food Nation. It’s as easy as (slow) pie to park for free all day in this area.

See you next year!

Right now it’s just blowing in the wind, but pretty soon this newly-installed windmill will earn its keep at San Francisco’s Slow Food Nation ‘08.

Finally, here it is!

“Welcome Pavilions – Jensen Architects
The entryway to Slow Food Nation, the Welcome Pavilions at Fort Mason and Civic Center Plaza will be visible from near and far. Serving as a beacon and a billboard, each Welcome Center will be housed in a re-claimed shipping container painted Slow Food Nation signature orange and topped by a full size, galvanized steel windmill.”

The Victory Garden is coming along nicely and even the skeptics might be getting on board.

See you there!

As promised, there was a huge turnout for WordCamp from Wordpress last Saturday. Check out an insanely detailed account here and some nice photos from Adam Tow here.

Perhaps the best part of WordCamp is the Apple-inspired Genius Bar, where everybody knows your name.

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn’t you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.

2008’s Golden Gate Renaissance Faire was the place to be this past weekend in San Francisco. These shots from the jousting in 2007 show we were a little luckier with the weather last year, but there was a good turnout this go around as well.  

David Yu has a few shots here and they’re more coming in over the Flickr.

Except for the modern chain link fence and the ATM machine by the entrance, this is a pretty credible attempt to show what life was like back in the day.

Hang up the cell phone, it’s time for a “flower circle” ceremony:

Jousting practice:

A new horse this year:

See you next year.

All the meadow’s indeed a stage
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Each anothers audience
Outside the gilded cage

WordCamp 2008 is going right now in San Francisco with 420 enthusiastic attendees.

Here’s what it looks like. Click to expand:

This weekend, you need to get on over to Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park to check things out. Bonus: the Obama people will be the scene.

“On August 16 and 17, 2008, Speedway Meadow will be transformed to a delightful Elizabethan town filled with myriad characters and vignettes resembling those of Shakespeare’s plays we so dearly love. In addition, over 900 costumed entertainers and over 100 shopkeepers and artisans will add to the ambience of the Faire.

“This year’s theme for the Golden Gate Renaissance Faire is Shakespeare’s Muse. It’s the ultimate Renaissance bash, a lively Dionysian party, where the guests enjoy turkey legs, exotic food, and drink as they banter with the myriad performers filling the streets.

You are so there. Here’s a small discount coupon. And take a look here at years past. What it looked like last year:

Jousting is the highlight of the schedule. Click to expand:

A gay wedding from the time 500 years before Proposition 8:

Here come the horses:

Target practice.

Hyper local produce from the Cabrillo Safeway getting sliced and diced:

The victor:

See you there! 

Daily Events & Stage Schedules 

These and many more acts will be performing throughout both days.
    Parades & Street Scenes:
    Opening Parade    10:00
    Mayor’s/Merchants Parade    11:00
    The Danse Macabre    11:30
    The Queen’s Arrival/Progress    Noon
    The Danse Macabre    3:30
    Closing Parade    6:00 (Sat)/5:00 (Sun)

    Crafts, Demonstrations, & Activities:
    The Scavenger Hunt 12:00 & 3:00
    Shyre Woods Woodworking
    Clan Iain Abrach Spinning, Cooking
    Any many more occuring all around the faire throughout the day
    Tournaments & Competitions:
    St. Michaels/DEMAS    Rapier Tournament (Saturday)
    Longsword Tournament (Sunday)
    Clain Iain Abrach    Iron Skillet Competition (period cooking)
    The Tournament Arena:
11:15    Military Demo   
12:45    The Knights of Avalon   
3:30    The Knights of Avalon
4:30    Battle Pagaent
    Queen’s Stage    Village Stage    Gypsey’s Stage
10:30    Trey Cromwell: Danger Circus    Tobias the Adequate    Fowl Tales
11:15    Myth & Magic    Bella Donna Courtesans    Ottoman Traders 
Noon    Out of Kontrol    Belle Voci    Merrie Praynksters
12:45    Trey Cromwell: Danger Circus     Tobias the Adequate    Siamsa le Cheile
1:30    Myth & Magic    Bella Donna Courtesans    Fowl Tales
2:15    Out of Kontrol    Bella Voci     Merrie Praynksters
3:00    Trey Cromwell: Danger Circus     Tobias the Adequate    Ottoman Traders
3:45    Michael’s Songs & Tales     Bella Donna Courtesans    Siamsa le Cheile
4:30    Myth & Magic    Bella Voci    Fowl Tales
5:15    Out of Kontrol    Michael’s Songs & Tales

It’s on! [Update: As of Friday, August 15th, it's sold out. 420 lucky people got tickets.]

WordCamp San Francisco is a conference organized by the creators of WordPress for users and developers. (It will be just like San Francisco’s recent Cupcake Camp, but without the cupcakes.) The 311 on WordCamp: 

When?

Saturday, August 16, 2008. Registration will start at 8 a.m.  The camp should end around 5:30 or 6 p.m.

Where?

Mission Bay Conference Center, San Francisco — Map

Why?

To get WordPress users together, learn from each other, figure out the future of publishing the web, and have a good time.  

What to wear to WC 2008 in S.F.? Your shirt from WordCamp 2006. Of course:

via alexanderljung’s photostream

See you there!

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I take a look at my life and realize there’s nothing left
Cause I’ve been scripting and blogging so long that
Even my mama thinks that my mind is gone

Bin spending most our lives
Living in a Blogga’s Paradise 

Keep spending most our lives
Living in a Blogga’s Paradise

 

Things are speeding up at Slow Food Nation ‘08 in San Francisco.  After fighting the worm wars, it’s nice to sit back and spend $500 to eat some celebrity chef food under the rotunda of City Hall. It’s the Victory Garden Celebration Dinner on August 24:

District Attorney Kamala Harris, Peter Coyote, Thomas Keller and Alice Waters invite you to celebrate the Victory Garden on Civic Center Plaza. We’ll gather in the garden, share a meal prepared by Chez Panisse, and plant the seeds of victory at San Francisco City Hall.

Or just get a table for $10k and invite a few friends to have some paella, your choice.

Blue corn as high as a elephant’s eye, and it looks like it’s climbing clear up to the sky: 

See you there!

“The Slow Food Nation Victory Garden, planted by a coalition of volunteers including Mayor Gavin Newsom and Alice Waters, is an edible garden on the Civic Center Plaza. Planted on the same site as the post World War II Victory Gardens 60 years ago, the Victory Garden represents the values of sustainability, community and stewardship of the land, while producing high quality food for people in need.”