Nails Expo, Tokyo.

Duh this sh!t is in Japan. The Nails Expo 2009 took place today, November 30th. I saw some nails in the flesh during my trip to Japan in the summer, and what you see below truly does exist. They are the definition of the phrase "make it work" - I mean, could you imagine shoving those HK nails in your pocket for some Yen to get on the subway? Didn't think so...

Photo's from my trip:

Gobble Gobble, Putas.

Not making a turkey on Turkey Day. Making a steak instead. The fact that Khloe Kardashian is on The View is gonna be the gift that keeps on giving.

The Original: A Series.

"Baaaag Lady, you gone hurt yo back.
Draggin' all them baaags, like that.

So - pack light."

The Original
BUMPY'S LAMENT SOUL MANN & THE BROTHERS (1978)

XXPLOSIVE DR. DRE (1999)

The Remix(es)
BAG LADY ERYKAH BADU (2000)

Bikes: still the underdawg.

Scott and Oak. No, ur bike sucks!




The Wiggle: Beer truck blocking the lane. no respect!

I was riding my bike today, (duh) and was reminded that bikes are one of the most prominent underdogs of society. The are considered a vehicle, yet they have no infrastructure on the street to support and protect them. Examples of this can be seen with the lack of bike lanes in SF (which advertises itself as one of the most bike friendly cities). Another example would be the disintegration of the current bike lanes in place - many being painted over or simply weathered. Probably one of the most enraging would be when cars disrespect the infrastructure in place by parking and/or idling in a bike lane. Bikes are also not welcomed on the sidewalk, so when lanes are unsafe to ride in, sidewalks aren't even an option (thanks for nothing!). In Japan, bikes were allowed everywhere - sidewalks, streets. It created a sense of chaos, but lets face it, Americans will never be able to swallow the Japanese way of life. Once you adjust, bikes blend into the fabric of society.

***FLASHBACK*** IT WAS A SHINY AFTERNOON JUST FIVE YEARS AGO, AND I WAS ON MY WAY TO WORK.

At the time I was employed at a bougie-diva-pet-boutique. (HEY! we all gotta start somewhere...) It was always a delight to commute to work. The first leg included my first love - the 71-Haight, which always had the likes of pink grocery bags paired with feuding junkie couples. My other choice was the sluggish 21-Hayes. Other than the fact that there is a bus stop on every corner of every block, it is probably one of the most enjoyable bus rides in the city.

However, once I got to Van Ness it was a different story. That boulevard is just cursed for public transit! If it isn't the fact that MUNI must battle the traffic from an inner city highway, it must battle the reputation of being society's boulevard of tears (same goes for the 19-Polk). There must be a Guinness World Record for the amount of junkies on these buses. These are the worst kind of fellow bus rider. These are the types of junkies that need attention, and they choose to do so by getting in a fight with the driver for not accepting their transfer from last month, or by stepping on someone, or by being in a wheel chair. No matter the case, the shape, or the flavor, these people always smelled, and would always make me late.

And this brings me back to that one faithful day when I was en route to work. I jump on the 49-Van Ness and the only seat is next to... you guessed it! My best junkie friend. When you get on a bus and the only seat is next to someone undesirable, you either don't sit down and risk the chance of offending someone, or you sit down and prove to everyone on the bus that you're a city chick and are down for whatever. So I sat down. To start off, her head was down, asleep. About half way into the ride, her head starts to do the bob and lean, and before I know it, she is all up in my space. I tried to pop my shoulder a little bit and give her a chance to rethink her decision. Nada. This bitch was asleep on my shoulder, so I stood up. And that was it, the next day I bought a bike and promised myself to never commute on a Van Ness bus ever, ever again.

Since then, I have had a torrid love affair with bicycles - one stolen bike, one totaled bike, three severe bike accidents, and about a million close calls. I have also worked closely along the bicycle movement, building connections with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and helping organize one of the most successful Bike to School Day events at SFSU. Biking also enforced my ultimate dream of making cities dense and walkable utopias, void of cars - or void of the need to depend on them.

City Streets, the urban canvas.

San Francisco might have introduced me to street art, but Mexico schooled me on it. After returning from MX, I was pleasantly surprised with the city streets of my hometown. I have noticed some interesting and intellectually stimulating images on the streets. Work it out SFC.

(Market St.)








(Clarion Alley)






(Grove @Diviz)




(Sutter)




(Oakland)




(Valencia)

The Original: A Series.

MIA Paper Planes has always bugg'd me. By the time her second album dropped she had too much hype around her and I just couldn't allow her to be a guilty pleasure, her first album was too good. The sophomore album seemed like a pop-afterthought. Which meant that my relationship with MIA was over...

With that, when I heard Paper Planes as the background track for the new Michael Moore movie I threw up a little bit in my mouth. That was awkward. Even more awkward was when I heard the song that Paper Planes was sampled from, a track from The Clash, and I loved it. Dang.

STRAIGHT TO HELL the clash




PAPER PLANES m.i.a.

Video Collabo: B vs LG

Booty shorts and Divas.

Beyonce has created so many images for herself that it is hard to imagine her in a different light, but they managed to do so in this video. The overall feel is flat, and this format has already been done by Beyonce ("Check Up On It" anyone?). The most disappointing was the fate that Lady Gaga looked so... normal. If there is one thing that LG does, is challenge the status quo in current pop culture. It seemed like they toned her down so that Beyonce could shine, which defeats the point of having Lady Gaga cameo on the remix - even her verse lacked salt. I saw the quote the LG wanted to "do B", but come one girl, just do you. That's why we all love you, cuz you cray-cray. Normal LG is just a throw away Christina Aguilera.

Beyonce is hella smart though, because she remains the star of the video, which surprised me. I thought for sure LG would steal the show. Overall, I like the video/song, very 90's thanks to Hype Williams, but at the same time, nothing new, nothin to cray-cray, and mos def nothin cutting edge.




Instead I prefer when LG keeps it real, like in her new video: Bad Romance.

Diary of a Juera: Arte Calle

Mexico is a land equally rich in history, heritage, and art. The birthplace of artistic revolutionaries like Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros. I was amazed by the amount of street art on my trip. Oaxaca and San Cristobal are cities that have an active community base, and have displayed their participation and opinions with events like the teachers strike in 2006, when people took to the streets of Oaxaca rioting against the poor compensation of teachers, bashing windows and even resulting in the death of one American journalist, which of course yielded national attention. San Cristobal hosted the Zapatista revolution in 1994, taking the lead from Emanuel Zapata, who was disgusted by the unbalance of capital wealth in captitalism as a result of cheap Mexican labor. Some tourists were kidnapped to balance the situation, but the State of Chaipas has since simmered, and Ovetic, the Zapatista compound, welcomes tourist traffic, but a passport is necessary upon arrival. In some ways the remnants of these events still lurk on the streets in the form of stencil art, the civic participation now taking form in spray paint.

Of course not all of the street 'art' can even be dubbed thus, and there will always be kids running around with spray cans claiming to be rebels or artists, but many of the images are politically motivated by social justice and government issues.

San Cristobal

It was interesting to see Bush in San Cris, in the dirtiest undercut of the city.






Oaxaca