As seen in 1/8000 of a second at Justin Herman Plaza, September 12th, 2012:
Click to expand
Voluminous.
And see what Vernon Davis thinks about the upcoming game with the Detroit Lions Sunday night at the ‘Stick right here at TV 49.
Speaking of which, check out the New Santa Clara Stadium, which is probably going to be about 20 times better than Candlestick Park.
All right, tink happy toughts until 5:20 PM Sunday…
Here’s the latest from San Francisco Chronicle writer Jaxon Van Derbeken on PG&E CEO Anthony Earley:
“It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my career — I was literally walking into the owner’s suite,’’ he said. “And the lights went out.’’
[Earley] said two power feeds serve the stadium, one had a repair of a previous break, known as a splice. He said the utility does visual checks of splices before the games, but the problem with the splice was apparently not visible, it became superheated and failed.”
Uh, “superheated,” sometimes referred to as boiling retardation?
‘Cause that’s what you’re saying.
You know, like this:
Oh, what’s that, you were just waxing poetic ‘n stuff?
No.
No, no, no.
The time to bandy about with the allegory and whatnot is not when you’re explaining why your big blow up occurred.
If you meant that the thing got too hot, then just say that the thing got too hot.
All right, PG&E, Go, and Sin No More.
Oh, and you know what you should be embarrassed about, Mr. Early, is having your spokesmodels out there Blaming SFGov First during this particular crisis. I know that’s what they’re taught to do, deflecting blame during an emergency, but, you know, isn’t that a bit cheesy?
And in fact, Mr. E., there are many, many other aspects of PG&E that you should be embarrassed about as well.
All right, GASNM.
Well here’s the news, CW Nevius has taken to the air, once again.
Here’s an early review, from Rich Lieberman 415 Media:
“I heard Chronicle metro writer, Chuck Nevius’ new report on the 810 “news” Tuesday. It was plain horrific and god-awful. Nevius’ forte is as a writer. He’s NOT a radio guy. His voice was tantamount to listening to wallpaper. He tried in vain to be funny. He was not. The subject matter was the lights going out at Candlestick at the 49ers game Monday Night. It would have been merely bad if the segment ran a couple minutes. Nevius’ piece droned on well past four minutes. If this is supposed to draw listeners, then some moron needs to get his head examined.”
(Meesa say, “How wude!”)
Anyway, listen for yourself:
SF Chronicle columnist CW Nevius has joined the KGO 810 news team as a daily news commentator.
Nevius is well known to Bay Area readers for his unique look at the Occupy Movement, San Francisco politics, and even street toilets. His first commentary for KGO is a sad farewell to Candlestick Park, where Monday Night’s blackout during the 49er’s game may have signaled the end of the stadium.
C.W. Nevius has been a columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle for over 20 years, covering sports, reviewing movies, and spotting trends. He is currently a metro columnist, appearing on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
As a sports columnist he climbed the ski jump at the Norway Olympics, ate bee larvae in Japan, and skied in the French Alps. In all he covered eight Olympic Games, from Australia to Spain to Korea. (And the strangest place of all, Los Angeles.)
He also wrote about riding the “Straight Talk Express” with John McCain during his first presidential bid, parachuting out of an airplane, and running the Boston Marathon. Although he only reviewed movies for a year, he did rate a blurb with his byline on the DVD box of “Santa Clause II,” to the undying embarrassment of his kids.
He co-authored “Splash Hit,” about building the Giants’ new waterfront stadium with Joan Walsh. His latest book is, “Crouching Father, Hidden Toddler. A Zen Guide for New Dads.”
News and Program Director Paul Hosley said, “We’re thrilled to have a journalist of CW’s caliber join the news team. We look forward to hearing his perspective on the Bay Area’s news stories.”
Realize that this might mean that you’ll have less Nevius to kick around, SF Chronicle-wise.
Oh well.
Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antenna bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free
I don’t know, PG&E. Don’t you know by now that you’re a loser organization?
So how does it help to have your spokesmodels Blame the Customer First?
“Right now, we’re actively investigating the cause,” PG&E spokesperson John King said shortly after the outage. “It could be a number of things, from customer-owned equipment to PG&E equipment…”
Oh, I know. The answer is that it doesn’t help.
It doesn’t help at all.
Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job:
Via David Yu - click to expand
Here’s the latest:
“PG&E and the City and County of San Francisco Investigate Power Outages at Candlestick Park
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 19, 2011 — Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) issued the following statement from Geisha Williams, executive vice president of electric operations, about the power outages that impacted Candlestick Park this evening:
PG&E is working closely with the City and County of San Francisco, owner and operator of Candlestick Park, to determine the cause of tonight’s power outages. The first priority for both PG&E and the City and County has been to get the power restored as quickly and safely as possible and keep the power on through the rest of the game. Determining exactly what happened and working to prevent something like this from happening again is very important to everyone involved.
SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company”
And from SFGov:
“MAYOR LEE’S STATEMENT ON POWER OUTAGES AT CANDLESTICK PARK
Mayor Edwin M. Lee today issued the following statement on the electric power outages at Candlestick Park at tonight’s San Francisco 49ers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers Monday Night Football game:
“Following the loss of electric power to Candlestick Park before kickoff this evening, I directed our Police, Fire and Recreation & Park Departments and our Public Utilities Commission to work closely with the 49ers and PG&E to ensure that maintaining public safety and restoring power to the stadium were the top priorities. City staff worked immediately to deliver backup power and support PG&E staff in their repairs.
I have directed Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White and SFPUC General Manager Ed Harrington to conduct a full investigation into the cause of both outages and, with PG&E, identify immediate actions that must be taken to prevent incidents such as this from happening again.
Tonight we all share in tremendous pride for our San Francisco 49ers. We must make every effort to support continued victories for the team and fans across the Bay Area in the weeks ahead.”
And from Mayor Ed Lee on September 1, 2011, during the one-year anniversary of PG&E’s incompetance killing eight people in San Bruno:
“They’re a great company that gets it.”
Uh, nope!
Well this is the view you can get from Buena Vista Park in the middle of San Francisco.
That’s world-famous* Candlestick Park, Home of the 49ers and the Gold Rush, in the foreground, and in the background camera left is the City of San Jose, California’s third-largest and the Capitol of the Bay Area:
Click to expand, of course
Now I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking, “Enhance that image.”
Well here you go, it’s downtown San Jose with all those tall buildings. See? It’s San Jose City Hall, “The 88″ residential building (which is actually only 87 meters high but let’s not dwell** on that), the Bank of America Building (nee Bank of Italy) from 1926, and the “Knight Ridder Building” (per Google Earth, I don’t know what they call it these days).
Oh, and somewhere in the mix there’s also Mineta San José International Airport – Silicon Valley’s Airport and the San Mateo Bridge and the Dumbarton Bridge.***
Anyway, I didn’t know San Jose had a skyline what you can see from the 415.
But don’t look for it to get any easier to spot in the future owing to the fact that that SJC international airstrip is right in the middle of it all and there’s a height limit of 87 meters (I think?) in the area.
So, San Joser has a big, domed City Hall and a tall Bank of America Building and whatnot. They’re just like us!
(Oh, and speaking of the Niners, enjoy our winning football team(s), Santa Clara County.)
*No, not “world-class.”
**Check it:
Eighty-eight (88) symbolizes fortune and good luck since the word 8 sounds similar to the word Fā (发, which implies 发财, or wealth, in Mandarin). The number 8 is considered to be the luckiest number of all in Chinese culture and prices in Chinese supermarkets can often be found containing many 8′s (see numbers in Chinese culture). The Chinese government has even been auctioning auto license plates containing many 8s for tens of thousands of dollars. The 2008 Beijing Olympics opened on 8/8/08 at 8 p.m. The shape of the Chinese character for 8 (八) also implies that a person will have a great, wide future as the character starts narrow and gets wider toward the bottom. 88 is used to mean “bye bye”; found in Chinese-language chat, text, SMS, IM. 88 is pronounced in Chinese Mandarin language as “ba ba” (“bā bā” to be precise), simulating the sound of the English language farewell “bye bye”.
And there’s this:
Eighty-eight is used as code among Neo-Nazis to identify each other. H is the 8th letter of the alphabet, so 88 is taken to stand for HH which in turn means Heil Hitler.For example, the number is used in the song “88 rock’n'roll band” by the neo-Nazi group Landser. The late convictedOrder terrorist David Lane wrote “Fourteen Words” and 88 Precepts, and the numbers are often found in combination (1488, 14/88, etc.). This form of the number has inspired the naming of the groups Column 88, Unit 88, White Legion 88 and Barselc88. Holocaust museum shooter James von Brunn often signed his writings as “JVB-88.”
***Both of which were featured in the 1992 Robert Redford movie Sneakers. Hurray!
“Redford tries to describe to Strathairn, who is blind, what he heard while in the trunk of a car. He remembers going across a bridge and being in San Francisco it means one of four possible bridges: Golden Gate, Bay Bridge, San Mateo, and the Dumbarton. They rule out the first two and then narrow it down to San Mateo based on the sound and frequency of the seams in the concrete.”
Well, let’s check the official Food Desert Locator, you know, from the Feds, to see that the location of that new self-serve Fresh & Easy grocery store at 5800 Third isn’t in a “food desert” after all.
See?
Click to expand
The pink areas are the purported food deserts. The blob on the right is mostly mostly-shut-down Hunters Point, where I think I’d get shot if I snuck in to look for a gro sto anyway. And the lower pink blob contains Candlestick Point, which is loaded with parking lots and a dismal state park for parking your RV and a big old stadium, so there you go.
But, even before the new F&E, the vast majority of the residents of Bayview Hunters Point weren’t living in a “food desert,” FTR.
I know it’s fun to use new catchphrases, but you shouldn’t do that when they don’t apply.
So, am I saying [insert ridiculous conclusion-jump here]?
No, I’m just saying:
That New “Fresh & Easy” Gro Sto Wasn’t Put in a “Food Desert” – Most Bayview Residents Not in “Food Desert”
That’s all.
Writers, please try harder. Pols, I know that doing things the right way doesn’t gain you any votes, but don’t you have some pride?
Just asking…
Now it was a little funny earlier this year when a high level person at Rich King* Casting started quoting sub-minimum wages for extras in that new Contagion movie starring, I don’t know, everybody, you know, these people right here (and let’s throw in Famous Movie Director Steven Soderbergh too – he’s a luminary as well):
But then somebody, no not somebody from the local Film Commish and not any MSM reporters (who don’t seem to be aware of what the minimum wage is in the place where they live and work), but somebody up here in the 415 got word down to Los Angeles County about The Law ‘n stuff.
So fine, the RKC people changed their minds and decided to pay extras “$80″ for up to eight hours (and then they finally did the math and decided that $79.36 would be the wage, cause, you know, después de todos, dinero es dinero.)
But now word comes that RKC thinks it’s OK to pay people up to six weeks** later?
And the extras still haven’t all been paid?
And RKC is ignoring contact attempts from said extras?
Could all this be true?
Well let’s hear from a Real Life Contagion Extra:
“I got in the film as well, but its now mid April, and I have not seen the payment in the 6 weeks that the casting company stated. Got my work receipt right here – would be nice if someone from this casting agency would follow up with my contact attempts.
“It was still a really cool day either way. I got to see an amazing set up of the set @ Candlestick and didn’t mind standing/sitting around all day. That is what background extras do. All of these girls were being very rude that day saying “when are we going to meet the stars”, and “I can’t believe they are making us stand around”, and “come on! I wan’t to be in the movie already!! Shortly after one of the assistants heard those remarks, our group was dismissed for the afternoon. It is like they never listened to what they told us at the casting meeting at Fort Mason, or the information the casting directors told us over the phone when they offered us the part. I did not get an email confirmation after that day, but a personal phone call.
“Would be nice to see my check, but I will give them a bit more time to respond since I bet the other 5,000 are hounding them as well. I mean come on – I am on unemployment – it would be nice to have the $79 bucks right now, but I can wait a bit”
Now, isn’t it ironic, dont’cha think, that a company what has a cavalier attitude about at least one kind of wage and hour rule would drag its feet about making payments? (Well, maybe not, in my experience.)
Anyway, all you non-union extras ought to form a union or something so you can start playing hardball with the Hollywood vanga vanga.
So why don’t you pay all your extras ASAP, Rich King Casting? Like posthaste or something.
Now, speaking of Hollywood, wouldn’t you like to see a list of all the movies that Steven Soderbergh has seen the past twelve months? Sure you would. See it after the jump.
*Forget about Obama’s birth certificate – I want to see the one with “Rich King” printed on it, and oh, Sandy Beach too, I want to see one of those as well – I think Hollywood still has a few guys around with that name.
**I should make a horror film – it’ll be about the horrors of Regular People dealing with Hollywood People. It’ll be called 42 Days Later.
Turns out that you extras working on the local Contagion shoots are going to get $80 per working day instead of the $64 that Rich King Productions was talking about the other day.
Simply, the people at JKP were unaware that S.F. has its own minimum wage of $9.92 per hour.
Anyway they’re back down in Los Angeles now, but they’ve just sent a message to me how they going to pay $80 for starters and then more after the first eight hours, if necessary.
Break a leg!
[UPDATE: It's all good, hard-working extras. Just got the call from Down South about how you all are going to get at least $80 per working day. They were all apologetic, saying stuff like, "Thanks, you really saved our bacon on this one." Turns out that San Francisco County is the only place in the entire state what has a higher-than-CA min. wage.]
That means that $64 ($8 times 8 hours) isn’t going to cut it, right?
Remember those “unfortunate,” “innocent” 18-year-old faux prostitutes in Chinatown from the time that horrible Trauma series came to the 415 all lies and jest? Those people got paid way more than $64 a day – it was close to $80. So why should you Contagion extras get paid any less?
Is it possible that Rich King* Casting doesn’t know the minimum wage in the area where it’s casting?
Yup!
Those playing hos back in ought-nine got paid minimum wage, so why not you?
Feel the excitement:
(And the beauty part is that there are “no fees to apply” Really? No fees to stand around for hours trying to get a gig that doesn’t pay minimum wage? Sweet, Thanks Rich King Casting.)
So, extras, practice this line: “I knows I gots to get paid!”
Start chanting all together and then your $64 paychecks will increase to $79.36 paychecks tout de suite.
Of course, if they take you to the East Bay or if they shoot on Federal land(?) in the 415, well then maybe you won’t get your full $9.92 per hour. But they’re talking about filming at Candlestick Park and Chinatown,** where San Francisco laws are in full effect.
In closing, these pretzels are making me thirsty!***
Extras Needed for New Matt Damon Film “Contagion”
Filming in SF February 9-19, 2011
Casting Call
- 1/29/11 Fort Mason,
- 1/30/11 Embarcadero YMCA
Filming starts on February 9th and goes through the 19th. Before shooting though, we will be coming to San Francisco to do an open casting call for those who may be interested in working on this film on Jan 29th and 30th. We are looking for Men and Women all shapes, sizes, types and ethnicities to be background performers for this feature.
We look forward to offering the opportunity for fun,exciting PAID work to San Francisco and Bay Area area residents. We will be casting lots of locals in the production.
The date and times for the open call castings are:
January 29, 2011 (2pm-6pm)
FORT MASON CENTER
Landmark Building C
Room C260and
January 30, 2011 (10am-4pm)
Embarcadero YMCAAll applicants need only a pen, a small photo of themselves and a great attitude. It’s as easy as that!
>> For more information about the casting call: 415-373-4202
*C’mon, “Rich King?” I suppose that’s better than Sandy Beach or something. (Never trust anyone from the movie biz.)
**Contagion in Chinatown? Hey, remember SARS? Restaurant owners would come out on Grant and to try to, physically, pull diners inside. Bad times.
***That’s from the comments section on SFGate. (Kramer was going to be more than an extra on that Woody Allen film, but anyway…)
This is what our skies looked like during the Second Game of the World Series against Texas last night (and that link has an orange and black pump shot for you foot fetishists / women’s shoe salesmen*).
Here’s the reaction about town:
Allan Hough from Mission Mission tells us that the “Environmental Protection Agency Shuts Down Ghost-Busting Operation“
Stuart from Caliber SF says “That Sky Last Night” “Looked Like Ghostbusters“
What do you say?
A lonely airliner at exactly 4000 feet heading towards SFO, just under all the commotion:
From Mervyn’s Heights – Click to expand
Another look:
Look to the Skies for Signs and Wonders
*Those categories overlap more than you might imagine…
