The San Francisco Citizen

Look what’s coming to the intersection of 10th Street and Mission in the western SOMA - a huge billboard demanding the release of Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez, otherwise known as the Cuban Five.

To help pay for the billboard, the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five is throwing a party tonight in the Mission at Centro Del Pueblo, 474 Valencia.

A writer from the New York Times detects some irony: 

High-ranking officials in the Cuban government, which regularly jails people without public trial for speaking out against Communism, talk at length and in detail about the lack of evidence in the case, and they rail about the lack of “due process” in American courts.

But, as always, you make the call.

via STML’s photostream - a shot from Cuba, where outdoor billboards are all the rage.

Guess what. Smokey the Bear is back, baby. And he’s all bear. Smokey recently came to San Francisco’s City Hall to show off his new look.

Kind of a gender bending ad campaign, you might think. Check the video if you want. CGI S.B. is now voiced by Sam Elliot, sort of.

What would you make of this scene?

Feel free to check things out. The Bear is Back, after all.

The problem with this new Poochie-esque makeover of shirtless Smokey is that, at least in San Francisco, this is a bear:

via markjhandel’s flickrstream

But if the new half Fonzerelli/half Smoking Joe Camel Smokey doesn’t do it for you, there’s always the national Real Time Wildfire Map to look at. It’s kind of cool.

And your kids might like this. Stay safe this summer!

The Castro District of San Francisco, with all it’s rainbow flags, is looking très festive these days.  SF Pride (avec Parade) is coming soon.

Speaking of which, the Friends of the Pink Triangle are looking for help again this year with a little setup assistance for the biggest one ever this Saturday, June, 28th. (Will Senator Carole Migden be there with her twirling baton, as per usual?) 

The forecast is for sunny skies….

What’s up with that? Earlier today, people trying to read the SFWeekly got sent to Ohio’s Cuyahoga County, in a way. More precisely, their browsers got sent to Cleveland Scene. Did somebody hack on the pooooor Weekly? Was this some kind of joke against Ohio’s Mistake By the Lake or agin Village Voice Media? Now who would do a thing like that?  Thankfully, things are back to normal now.

But what about over at the San Francisco Sentinel? Some web surfers interested in learning about the people working for Proposition G and Lennar Corporation weren’t able to access this page. All they could see is “Not Found” and “Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn’t here.” Isn’t that a shame?

But through the miracle of the cache, here’s the missing webpage:

After all, information wants to be free and available, doesn’t it? 

Wasn’t it Chairman Mao who said, “Let a hundred flowers bloom, let the hundred schools of thought contend”? It sure was. So, let’s stop all this internet fooferall and stop messing with peoples’ websites.

Capische?

There was a time when a big movie like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would open at a place like the now-deceased Coronet Theater. But The Castro was doing pretty well  for itself last night with a packed house on the first day of the new Indy.

Bullwhip? (Doesn’t everybody in San Francisco have one already?) Free.

Costco drinking water? $.12 plus $.05 CRV.

Fedora? $29.97 from Lucky Supermarket.  

Memories of entertaining the long lines of people waiting to get a good seat? Priceless.

View from the balcony includes an old-skool organist and a proper chandelier

Don’t forget to complete your Indiana Experience by purchasing LEGO Indiana Jones Adventures. All the cool kids are doing it!

So turn up your hearing aid (if you have one, as the Castro Theatre’s sound system seems a tad on the quiet side) and get on out there!

LEGO, the LEGO logo, DUPLO, BIONICLE, MINDSTORMS, the BELVILLE, CLIKITS, KNIGHTS’ KINGDOM and EXO-FORCE logos,
the Brick and Knob configurations and the Minifigure are trademarks of the LEGO Group.
© 2008 The LEGO Group. All rights reserved. Use of this site signifies your agreement to the terms of use.

© 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All rights reserved. Used under authorization.