There I was, looking fierce bouncing up and down in my little black dress and orange pumps, along with bunch of other people.* We few, we Band of Brothers, we Baseball Furies.
Anyway, as the above link to Haighteration shows, the Big Pig, she got messed up.
But here she is back on the road in 2013, wavy roof panels and all:
Click to expand
I don’t know, I think this ride is worth more than it would have been without the battle scars from aught-ten.
I think this rig is now a historic artifact worthy of preservation.
*Oh, not really. Actually, after watching on a friend’s big screen (’cause I don’t I have cable ’cause I want the Comcast monopoly to die die die) I had to ride my bike on up to Pac Heights. The city was electric, all over, not just in the Mission and in the Haights.
Oh, no no no no no. The original estimate of the “economic benefits” (whatever the Hell that amorphous amorphism means) of the 34th America’s Cup was $9.9 B-as-in-boy billion.
“America’s Cup organizers are falling short in their efforts to raise private donations to help pay for the cost of bringing the America’s Cup sailing competition to San Francisco — and that could leave the city on the hook for about $20 million. The Board of Supervisors holds hearings Wednesday to discuss the shortfall. Supporters say even without all of the promised private funds, the city still benefits financially from hosting the America’s Cup.
Host: Michael Krasny
Guests:
Jane Sullivan, city spokesperson for the America’s Cup
John Avalos, San Francisco supervisor representing District 11″
I understand that Mayor Ed Lee has a cheerleading function as a part of his job. Fine.
But what’s this? What the Hell?
“We expect to have some 500,000 people on a daily basis…”
Just take a look on the YouTube, at around 9:30 and, mind you, this is AFTER everything blew up and people started realizing that the 2013 America’s Cup won’t be anywhere near as popular as advertised:
So, does Ed Lee actually believe that there’s a chance that the America’s Cup will attract anything close to a half million people “on a daily basis?”
No he does not.
So why does he say it?
Mmmm…
Now, speaking of cheerleading, @olivaglobal is the dude who was hired by the San Francisco Chronicle to promote the America’s Cup over the next 1.5 years. Here he goes:
“The America’s Cup is the world’s third-largest sporting competition, after the Olympics and soccer’s World Cup.”
Here it is in the flesh:
So, let’s think about this here. I guess the bullshit Bay Area Council Economic Institute (BACEI) organization is allowing that the Summer Olympics and the World Cup just might possibly be bigger than an America’s Cup. But what about the Winter Olympics? Oh, and what about the Super Bowl?
Who actually believes that the America’s Cup, that thing where half the staff just got laid off and NBC needs to be paid in order to broadcast, is actually going to be bigger than a Super Bowl?
Nobody.
Not even the cheerleaders.
So why do they say these kinds of things?
All right here’s one more from the messed-up study what’s going to cost the taxpayers of San Francisco tens of millions of dollars. It discusses, and I’m srlsy, the “fleet of super yachts” what are going to be attracted to the bay area due to the America’s Cup, and then it talks about how much money we’re going to make by gassing them up and Windexing the shiny parts and stuff like that.
I’m srsly.
These cheerleaders are members of a modern day Cargo Cult and we’re all along for the ride.
And oh, we’re going to get the Golden State Warriors without funding the stadium at Piers 30-32? All right, so why then are we funding Larry Ellison’s ego trip of a boat race? Why are we allowing Him to get away with this?
I know not.
Screw the America’s Cup.
“The world’s most popular sport may be soccer, but in cold, hard dollars, nobody throws a party like the National Football League.
I’ll tell you, I’ve never used Verizon, but I approve of this message:
“Verizon Wireless Network Ready For San Francisco Giants World Series Victory Parade - Parade Attendees Can Take Advantage of Company’s Super-Fast 4G LTE Network
WALNUT CREEK, Calif., Oct. 30, 2012 — When the San Francisco Giants parade thru the city October 31, the Verizon Wireless will be ready to handle the frenzy of calls, cell phone picture and video messages and texts from the one million excited fans expected to attend.
The company has significantly increased capacity on its voice and 4G LTE data network in downtown San Francisco and at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Verizon Wireless’ network is ready to handle more voice and data traffic than that at the busiest time on a normal day.
As part of Verizon Wireless’ preparation for the parade, the company will have temporary cell sites, known as Cells on Wheels (COWs), deployed near the parade route to handle increased network traffic. These sites can process thousands of calls and data transmissions each hour and are designed for use at special events that demand additional network capacity. They will be deployed to downtown locations.
“We have made a significant investment in network improvements in preparation for this major event,” said Russ Preite, region president for Verizon Wireless. “Our customers will be talking, texting, navigating and e-mailing with their wireless devices at a fast pace. We are prepared, as we were with the SF Giants 2012 playoff and World Series home games, to handle more traffic and to provide the reliable, high-quality service our customers expect from Verizon Wireless.”
Verizon Wireless’ network reliability is supported by industry-leading redundancy and maintenance measures, including back-up power at most facilities. For additional reliability, generators are installed at all switching facilities and many cell site locations.
The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network offers more 4G LTE coverage than all other competitors’ networks combined. The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network is currently available in 419 markets to more than 250 million people throughout the United States. For more information, please visit www.verizonwireless.com/lte.
Verizon Wireless has invested more than $70 billion since it was formed in 2000 – on average more than $6 billion every year – to increase the coverage and capacity of its premier nationwide network and to add new services.
About Verizon Wireless Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable and largest wireless voice and data network, serving 87.7 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with more than 87,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.”
Let’s meet the team – there’s a white boy, a white boy, a white boy, a white boy, and a white boy:
Click to expand
Hey, why don’t they call themselves Team North Korea, cause, you know, that would be just as accurate.
Or, indeed, Team Kyrgyzstan, you know, whatever.
(There was an idea to have actual Koreans on Team Korea. First, it was going to be 30% Korean, and then 15% and then after those proposals got shot down we’re back to the original requirement of 0% Korean. And if you think China Team is Chinese, well…)
Oh what’s that, it’s where the boat was made is what counts? But isn’t this a spec race with all the boats basically the same?
The World Wonders.
Now, speaking of Team Korea, let’s check in:
You’ll note that this Tweet was “promoted” by purported Korean Mark Bulkeley, so that his banal message would go out to more than just his few dozen Followers. One could assume that one Markie B. was paying some hard-earned won or quid or whatever they use for money wherever he’s from or pretends he’s from, but he says he Tweets his unsolicited Tweets at no charge.
Perhaps the City and County of San Francisco is picking up the Tweeting bills of all the “professional sailors” involved in the America’s Cup scrimmage races?
Speaking of which, how much is each Sailor costing San Francisco taxpayers? About $100,000, $200,000 each? It’s like welfare for the “sailing community,” huh?
Speaking of which, isn’t the America’s Cup a big disappointment already? I think it is.
So it’s “NASCAR on the bay” complete with faked incidents for the cameras (like last year’s pitchpole near Alcatraz – that’s the first thing they show on the broadcast that nobody wants to pay for) and yet still nobody’s interested.
OK fine.
P.S. Nobody cares about anything related to the America’s Cup, you’ll see. They had a scrimmage down in San Diego not too long ago and nobody showed. Anyway, this whole deal is kind of a fraud. You’ll see.
(So, as I said yesterday, get your tickets at SHN now - they’re not getting any cheaper and this musical leaves us on August 26th, 2012.)
Now here’s Emily L’s review from the Orchestra Section’s Row U:
“Extraordinary musical! Les Miz is a beautiful story of a man’s life struggles, portraying bourgeois issues such as poverty, child abuse, prostitution and other political corruption in 1800 France. I was instantly enthralled from the very first scene of the show. This cast is amazing and captivating in every way. The voices went with each characters’ every movement and the visual sets were stunning. The orchestra seating was a special treat as the sound resonated throughout, spot on with the actors. In 2 hours, Les Miz will bring out smiles, pains, laughs, cries, ‘aww’s, and cheers – it’s a roller coaster ride definitely worth riding at least once!“
So there you have it.
Les Miz reminds me of that other famous, long-running show, Phantom of the Opera, in a way. But guess who saysLes Miz is “far superior?” It’s Steven Winn of the San Francisco Chronicle:
“Just saw #lesmiserables@shnsf at the Orpheum – perfection – standing ovation .. Highly recommend it!”
All right, see you there!
“Cameron Mackintosh presents a brand new 25th anniversary production of Boublil & Schönberg’s legendary musical, LES MISÉRABLES, with glorious new staging and dazzlingly reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. This new production has been acclaimed by critics, fans and new audiences and is breaking box office records wherever it goes.
Based on Victor Hugo’s classic novel, LES MISÉRABLES is an epic and uplifting story about the survival of the human spirit. The magnificent score of LES MISÉRABLES includes the classic songs “I Dreamed a Dream,” “On My Own,” “Stars,” “Bring Him Home,” “Do You Hear the People Sing?,” “One Day More,” “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” “Master Of The House” and many more.
I understand that Mayor Ed Lee has a cheerleading function as a part of his job. Fine.
But what’s this? What the Hell?
“We expect to have some 500,000 people on a daily basis…”
Take a look on the YouTube, at around 9:30 and, mind you, this is AFTER everything blew up and people started realizing that the 2013 America’s Cup won’t be anywhere near as popular as advertised:
So, does Ed Lee actually believe that there’s a chance that the America’s Cup will attract anything close to a half million people “on a daily basis?”
No he does not.
So why does he say it?
Mmmm…
Now, speaking of cheerleading, @olivaglobal is the dude who was hired by the San Francisco Chronicle to promote the America’s Cup over the next 1.5 years. Here he goes:
“The America’s Cup is the world’s third-largest sporting competition, after the Olympics and soccer’s World Cup.”
Here it is in the flesh:
So, let’s think about this here. I guess the bullshit Bay Area Council Economic Institute (BACEI) organization is allowing that the Summer Olympics and the World Cup just might possibly be bigger than an America’s Cup. But what about the Winter Olympics? Oh, and what about the Super Bowl?
Who actually believes that the America’s Cup, that thing where half the staff just got laid off and NBC needs to be paid in order to broadcast, is actually going to be bigger than a Super Bowl?
Nobody.
Not even the cheerleaders.
So why do they say these kinds of things?
All right here’s one more from the messed-up study what’s going to cost the taxpayers of San Francisco tens of millions of dollars. It discusses, and I’m srlsy, the “fleet of super yachts” what are going to be attracted to the bay area due to the America’s Cup, and then it talks about how much money we’re going to make by gassing them up and Windexing the shiny parts and stuff like that.
I’m srsly.
These cheerleaders are members of a modern day Cargo Cult and we’re all along for the ride.
And oh, we’re going to get the Golden State Warriors without funding the stadium at Piers 30-32? All right, so why then are we funding Larry Ellison’s ego trip of a boat race? Why are we allowing Him to get away with this?
I know not.
Screw the America’s Cup.
“The world’s most popular sport may be soccer, but in cold, hard dollars, nobody throws a party like the National Football League.
Will organizers lie about attendance by simply adding 5000 people to the previous year’s estimate as is their custom? We’ll just have to wait and see. Somebody will document the crowd overestimating, but I don’t know if it will be me this year…
Click to expand
All the deets:
“Due to a scheduling conflict, the Walk for Life will be unable to follow its familiar route from Justin Herman Plaza and along San Francisco’s waterfront to Marina Green. Instead, we will be gathering at Civic Center Plaza at 11:00 am for the Info Fair to be followed by the rally at 12:30 pm. At 1:30 we will start walking down Market Street to Justin Herman Plaza. There will be no additional events at Justin Herman Plaza.
We are excited about this new opportunity and believe that this new venue will give us the chance to grow our numbers. More information to come so please sign up for our email blasts to keep informed of these important changes.
HOTEL UPDATE: We have sold out of the rooms at the San Francisco Marriott Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel. We were able to negotiate a discounted rate at the Kabuki Hotel in Japantown (very close to the Cathedral) for $139/night. For further options, gohere.
FLYERS: Color flyers are now availble for download. If you would like to receive copies of the flyers, please send us an email with your address and how many you would like. Help spread the word!
Confirmed speakers include: Lori Hoye, Dr. Vansen Wong, Rev. Clenard Childress and Jacquie Stalnaker.
Once again this year EWTN will be broadcasting the event live via satellite on TV andImmaculate Heart Radio will be broadcasting the event live on the radio.”
As recently seen on Polk, near the western fringe of the crime-ridden Tenderloin. Criminals tend to not like crowds of potential witnesses, so dread nought.
Why not get in line at 652 Polk betwixt Eddy and Turk, dine and then make a post to the Yelp, as thousands have before you?
Maybe someday the liars over at Walk For Life West Coast will explain how a march that was only two-thirds the length of last year’s (48 minutes (or so) long in 2010 and 31 minutes long in 2011*) could have 5000 more people.
It’s a miracle!?
It’s worth noting that nobody had a crowd estimate of less than 22K last year and nobody independent from the movement has a an estimate north of 20k this year. I put it at 16k and KGO 7 ABC TV is saying “about 20,000.” The organizers, under enormous pressure to claim ever growing attendance, claim 40,000+. Oh well.
Anyway, here are a few shots from this afternoon, starting with the counters.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were on hand. I’d say 5000 souls saw this sister and a fellow sister today – they were the focus of the march, particularly on the right side of the river of people going by. Here’s your welcome to San Francisco:
The mise-en-scene:
Tax Church Property and INVESTMENTS! Sure, sounds good to me.
And here’s Frank Chu, in the middle, going on about the Galaxies, as per usual:
And here’s the main body, 16k or so marchers from all over California and beyond:
St. Patrick’s Teens, Sonora, in the hiz-ouse:
Some people from Fowler, CA? Sounds far away:
Yes We Can change:
Yeah BABIES:
“Flower” and “shears”:
A brace from Sacramento:
Save the human babies. Of course! Human babies, that changes everything!
And there you have it.
*We’re talking about at the start here, people. Ferry Plaza was a ghost town by 12:33 PM. If the same number of people showed up as last year, it would have taken until about 12:50 PM for everybody to get going. Obviously, the march will spread out over time and narrow due to the way the course is set up.
