The World Since Yesterday

 I have known and loved Will Walker's writing for more than 20 years now. He is part of our Tiapos (This is a piece of shit) and/or Fluf  (Fucking love you folks) writing world and so of course I ordered his newest poetry book from Amazon. Here is one stunning poem from The World Since Yesterday.

Subversive

Because living is a tricky business,

I bless the earth while I can, by morning light, hoping

to emulate the finches flocking in the trellis out back,

an upturned forest of star jasmine and bougainvillea,

shades of green not yet in bloom, where the finches

seem content to perch and sing and fly to another perch

with no pattern I can discern, announcing daylight,

affirming all that has led me to watch them in their busywork,

the instant embrace of any available branch,

the glide through sunlight, the song of no occasion.

~ Will Walker

Chinese New Year's ~ celebrate!

 Sorry for the bad people photo, but the table at Pat's was gorgeous and we all had a fine time last night celebrating the Lunar New Year with noodles and green beans and fortune cookies and more. We tried to ignore politics but that didn't quite work out the way we planned. (OK, I meant that the photo was bad, the people are good. Trust me.)

curating and arranging

 The Blogmaid gifted me with three (3!) new pieces of Joan Brown art and yesterday Handy Jan came to hang them and to help me keep my little home safe and organized. The two new cat prints are downstairs in Emma's Room and the glorious "two dogs and toddler boy" are here in the living room where I can admire it often on a daily basis. The bottom photo is of an oil painting from my late friend Curtis Fields (1957, when he was just starting to paint) and it really works well downstairs. I need to keep my world small now with all the horrid world news, right?

Borders at Bodega

 As promised, here we have Dancing Jen, Shauna and your blogger last Saturday at the Bodega restaurant on Mason Street in SF. We three laughed and cried together over various small issues that our corporate bosses felt were VERY important when we worked at the big and difficult Borders big box bookstore at Post and Powell. It was quite wonderful catching up and my friends look fabulous, as you can surely see in the above photos.

Irish book, stew and movie

 Small Things Like These was the very moving book by Claire Keegan and after a delicious dinner we watched the movie on Prime TV. We all highly recommend both! Lee was our delightful hostess serving Irish lamb stew and of course since we believe in diversity we dabbled in German chocolate cake and Chinese fortune cookies with our English tea. A lovely time.

The Year of the Snake

 Re the Snake ~ this is not a political post. I was asked to bring "the best" fortune cookies to a Chinese New Year dinner next week and of course that means the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company in Ross Alley (2nd photo) where there was a line out the door. Getting there was great fun as Grant Avenue was closed to traffic and all the colorful children and vendors were out selling all sorts of red and gold snake stuff. I walked and walked and then met two wonderful friends for lunch and I will tell you about that at a later date. 

back to MOMA

 Mr. and Ms. Blogmaid were kind enough to include me on a trip to SF Moma yesterday and we had a splendid time revisiting Amy Sherald and Kara Walker (pictured here). A lovely lunch on the 5th floor and some smart shopping in the gift store. A lovely day indeed. I always see and learn something new when I visit an exhibit for the 2nd or even 3rd time. 

Oscar nominations

                                         Sunday, March 2nd ~ we have some "work" to do. 

Best Picture 

Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
I'm Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
Wicked

Best Director 

Sean Baker, Anora
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
James Mangold, A Complete Unknown
Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance

Best Actor 

Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice

Best Actress 

Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Fernanda Torres, I'm Still Here

math nerds and mysteries

 I watched the first two episodes of the brand new Prime Target last night on Apple TV and it is pretty good despite all the genius mathematical business which many will find interesting. You might give it a try. Or not, but I will probably continue with more tonight.

Adam Gopnik in person

 It seemed like some sort of sign or omen when I read that Adam Gopnik was speaking at the Jewish Community Center on Husbando's birthday. So last night I hauled ass (via Lyft) to hear hm speak because he was always a favorite writer of Bill's and I like him too. I was hoping for a little more Jewish humor but it was still an interesting evening and I'm glad I went. The topic? Jews in the cities and yes, a strong turnout for this New Yorker essayist.

one rough yesterday

 Not only did we have the right wing show of horror in Washington, DC, but we learned of the way too early death of the amazing Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood and a long time women's right activist. Trying to shake despair today. RIP  Ms. Richards.

vegan heaven

 Green's has been around since 1979 (!) and is as good as ever, in my opinion. Susan was down from Davis yesterday and we had a lovely late brunch in the crowded restaurant. Then we walked and talked and visited Tunnel Tops and pre-planned her next visit. She has a grandson living in SF and it all works out nicely for both of us. 

it's all a game...

 ...and Tik Tok will win. Elon Musk will win. tRump will win. China will win. I don't use Tik Tok (nor most other social media platforms) but this will be interesting to watch and will most likely be considered a victory for the new old President. I will wear all black tomorrow. And no tv.

cabin 116

 There has been an inordinate amount of computer work and this is how I have spent the last two days, preparing for the Danube river cruise in April. I fly into Budapest and fly home from Prague. Meeting my friend Ginger from Santa Barbara and now looking forward to this adventure. I have never been to this part of the world and I am quite sure that it will be amazing and wonderful. Thanks, as always, to the Blogmaid for her help and encouragement during this process.  The name of the boat (ship?) is AmaBella, how perfect is that?

a working rehearsal

 Classical music with starts and stops and mostly in blue jeans. The SF Symphony working rehearsal is fun for me because it is warm and casual and still beautiful. Doors open at 9am and I met Amy there for about three hours of Carmina Burana with a soprano star plus the SF Girls Chorus and another piece by John Adams and one by Charles Ives. The audience was huge, with school kids and seniors and everyone respectful and appreciative. Oh, it was free, an added benefit for sure. As Amy pointed out, when people bitch about our city they neglect to mention all these glorious benefits for the plain old average citizen.

getting ready for Season Two

 I didn't really like Severance on Apple TV the first time I tried to watch it. But I am getting ready for Season Two which is supposed to be fabulous and I can see the appeal of this program. I do like the actors and the plot is making a lot more sense and so now both of my thumbs are UP.

a parrot line

 

Our official city bird ~ this photo is from the next neighborhood over, Potrero Hill. These wild parrots are all over SF now and of course this makes me VERY happy.

signs of the times

 Of course it would be way better if these signs were not needed, but since they are and will be, I was happy to see them in the retail businesses up on 24th Street. 

back to trash pick-ups

 Manny's was packed with enthusiastic people of all ages and colors yesterday morning as we all headed out to collect trash and make our city even prettier. This felt great. Manny is collecting specific things for the fire victims in SoCal and we will donate a lot next week and a caravan of caring people will deliver our donations over the weekend. Red Cross and World Central Kitchen received some money from me too. Humanity is basically good.

lost in Maine

 This author, Elizabeth Strout, just has an amazing gift for writing and story telling. The way she weaves her plots and somehow makes the most average person seem unusual and interesting is something to admire and applaud. Tell Me Everything is her latest book and I have been waiting for a quiet time when I needed to escape. This is that time. Thank you, Ms. Strout.

Rug Life and Friendship

 Yesterday I met Ken (the Person) over at the Museum of Craft and Design on 3rd Street. We have been friends for more than 30 years and he is also from SoCal so we had much to discuss. Delicious pasta at Piccino and then I wandered through the exhibit entitled Rug Life which features the work of 14 contemporary artists including Ai Weiwei and his tiger (top) and the tv screen is by Nicholas Galanin from Alaska. There were a few prayer rugs too and god knows we need them right about now...

with the help of YouTube

 I missed a couple of speeches yesterday at the funeral for President Carter, so just now I enjoyed watching Gerald Ford's son Steve and then I clicked on Carter's eulogy for President Ford. I am grateful that we can re-visit history this way. The funeral was remarkable and moving, those leaders gave me hope even though I so worry about the next four years under tRump.

chaos, disaster in SoCal

 The perfect storm of wind and drought. These wildfires are just too horrible. What we do NOT need is tRump making idiotic statements and blaming Newsom and the liberals. Childhood memories of Pasadena and Altadena return as we all try to process this disaster. 

our guest writer today

 My friend Doug is my writing partner this week (always a treat) and this was part of his piece from yesterday.

TUESDAY: BACKBONE

Remember when all those ships carrying new cars and refrigerators and tvs and computers and fan belts and batteries and pants and jackets and sledgehammers and drill bits and plywood and 2 X 4s were lined up out to sea, waiting to get into a port? There were not enough dock workers to unload the ships and not enough truck drivers to transport the goods and not enough store employees to carry everything into the stores and not enough part timers to stack the plastic cups and bags of rice and wallpaper paste onto the shelves. We stayed close to home except to shop, and when we did try to buy things, shelves were often empty.

But we didn’t go hungry, because all those Latino farm workers we now want to throw out of the country kept working, despite getting sick themselves, and all those slaughterhouse workers we claim are lazy rapists stayed at their jobs so we could eat our chicken nuggets and supersize our colas, and all those auto repairmen from Tamaulipas and house painters from Shanghai and short order cooks from Guatemala City and elder care ladies from Lagos who we accuse of taking jobs away from American workers kept right on caring and painting and fixing and frying while the government paid U.S. citizens to stay home. 

How soon we forget.

almost an opera

 I couldn't wait for the sun to go down at 5:03 pm or so last night so I could watch Emilia Perez, the fascinating film that I had never heard about until the Golden Globes. It's all in Spanish (pretty much) but good large subtitles and a glorious cast including Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and the wonderful Karla Sofia Gascon (wearing orange, above). One critic said that Selena had unlocked her jaw for this movie. Not nice, but funny. I just loved this glorious Netflix film. Thumbs up.

well, that was fun

 Nicole came down for pizza and two salads (and cookies and tea) to watch the Globes which we both thought was VERY well done. I have a long list now of "what to watch next" and will begin first shot with Emilia Perez. The host, Nikki Glaser, was terrific and I am now a new fan.

The Golden Globes tonight

 

Best Motion Picture – Drama

• The Brutalist

• A Complete Unknown

• Conclave

• Dune: Part Two

• Nickel Boys

• September 5

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• Anora

• Challengers

• Emilia Pérez

• A Real Pain

• The Substance

• Wicked

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

• Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl

• Angelina Jolie, Maria

• Nicole Kidman, Babygirl

• Tilda Swinton, The Room Next Door

• Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here

• Kate Winslet, Lee

Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

• Adrien Brody, The Brutalist

• Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown

• Daniel Craig, Queer

• Colman Domingo, Sing Sing

• Ralph Fiennes, Conclave

• Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice

Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• Amy Adams, Nightbitch

• Cynthia Erivo, Wicked

• Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez

• Mikey Madison, Anora

• Demi Moore, The Substance

• Zendaya, Challengers

Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain

• Hugh Grant, Heretic

• Gabriel Labelle, Saturday Night

• Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness

• Glen Powell, Hit Man

• Sebastian Stan, A Different Man

Best Motion Picture – Animated

• Flow

• Inside Out 2

• Memoir of a Snail

• Moana 2

• Wallace & Gromit: The Vengeance Most Fowl

• The Wild Robot

Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language

• All We Imagine As Light

• Emilia Pérez

• The Girl With the Needle

• I’m Still Here

• The Seed of the Sacred Fig

• Vermiglio

The Golden Globe Awards will be hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser and will air live on CBS on Sunday, January 5, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) and will be streamed on Paramount+

the problem with new art

 The three pieces on the left were gifted to me for Emma's Room downstairs. Bare walls there in much need of art. Alas, I want to enjoy these now, everyday. The far left is from my neighbor Rob (who did the big pink) and the two Joan Brown's from the Blogmaid. I love them all even though they need to move down to the "garden suite" ~ but not quite yet.

Missing You on the Flix®

 You remember Rosalind Eleazar (on the right) from Slow Horses ~ she is in Missing You and she is a favorite of mine. One review called this thriller "overstuffed" and I tend to agree because there are a lot of plot lines, but still fun simply because it is British and well, you know...

the birthday of the Blogmaid

What a nice day we had! More Mary Cassatt at the Legion of Honor and then an Asian lunch on Balboa Street. As someone pointed out, the Blogmaid seems to be aging backwards, I'm sure you agree. I celebrate this very special friend everyday, along with her husband, Bill, of course.
 

Tamara de Lempicka

 Chef Sarah had the audacity to call this the Limp Dick exhibit and on that note we had a lovely time yesterday at the deYoung. This artist was born in 1900 and this is her first FULL exhibit as she was "out of favor" at the time of her death. The delightful Sam accompanied us and that was special. They picked me up and then I took Waymo home from the museum ~ solo ~ and that was just fine and I didn't worry for a moment in my driverless car.  Happy New Year!