soleilisme

This past weekend we girls (Krista, Marcia, Joy and I) went to the Secret Garden Tea House in San Francisco. We sipped on delicious tea and ate tiny food. It was delightful! It made me want to wear my British accent and get that pinky up there!

Here are a few photographic illustrations of the experience…

Yummy savory treats

The tea pot’s face

The pouring in action

Me trying (but not succeeding very well) to be girly. Courtesy of Joy

Note to English speakers: The French would say I have “la bouche en cul de poule“, which means “my mouth like a chicken’s ass”. This often refers to how snobby people sort of pinch their lips together and push them forward (kinda like Zoolander) because they’re uptight, which is exactly what I was trying to portray. Don’t ask me why the French language associates it to a poultry’s rectal orifice. See? I’m just not good at being girly, here I am making language comparisons involving chicken’s buttholes on an originally-intended-to-be-lovely blog post.

More photos on Flickr!

Since Justin and I both live in San Francisco, work in Sausalito and both ride our own Vespa, some nights conversations go something like this…

First stop light on Lombard St after crossing the Golden Gate bridge:
– Hey!
– Hey.
– How’s it goin’? (Light turns green)

Second stop light:
– Pretty good, you? (Light turns green)
– (Nod)

Third stop light:
– Good… I’m hungry! Are you hungry?
– Nah, not so much (Light turns green)

Fourth stop light:
– I’m reeeaallly hungry! Wanna stop at Trader Joe’s or something?
– Uh, I don’t know.
– Yeah I guess we don’t really have bags.
– Yeah, I don’t know… I mean we can…. (Light turns green)

Fifth stop light:
– Nah we don’t have to. We can just make some of that Indian lentil stuff we have at home.
– Yeah… (Light turns green)

Sixth stop light:
– Yeah, I was sorta thinking salad would be good.
– Oh, we can do salad. We can stop at Trader Joe’s and get salad. (Light turns green)

Sixth stop light:
– Well, I was thinking Cala*. To just get a bag of lettuce with… (Light turns green)

Seventh stop light:
– With what?
– What?
– Bag of lettuce with what?
– Oh, with ham and almonds with a little balsamic vinaigrette. (Light turns green)

Eighth stop light:
– Ooo that sounds great! Maybe we should pick up some bread too. (Light turns green)

Ninth stop light:
– Sho, that’s cool.
– So, should we make a left on Clay and a right on Hyde? Oh wait, we can just do a left on Bush and up Larkin and a right on California… Yeah, that’s probably too complicated.
– How about we just park the Vespa home and walk to Cala*? (Light turns green)
– (Big nods)

Tenth stop light:
– Ha, yes! Much better plan.
– Okie. (Light turns green and we ride home)

* Crappier grocery store but much closer to where we live.

As you can tell, the only way for us to exchange more than 2 sentences is to be stuck at a stop light. Conversations are very chopped up and sometimes hard to follow, but we somehow manage to make some decisions! And so tonight, we had a lovely, flavor packed salad.

Thank you Red Lights, we couldn’t have done it without you!

I got to see program A of SF Hip Hop Fest last night. Well, it was mind blowing!!!! and really bad at the same time. Why bad? Well because the pressure’s on for us to be as good for tonight’s show as all these outstanding companies! Yikes!

Hip Hop seems to be evolving (or going back) to a light, fun, narrative or conceptual direction. Very little dances were just dancing with formation changes and tricks. If formation changes and tricks there were, it was within a clear concept or idea that lead the whole piece. I could write and talk about that show all day long… but I’ll try to sum it up and tell you what and who stood out. Quite frankly, I can’t tell which is my favorite.

DS Players from San Jose

Man these guys are smooth! In their long tuxes, and old school style, they captivate and don’t let you go!

Over The Influence from Vancouver

They rocked the house! With their janitor concept, in working overalls, using brooms, rolling planks, handkerchiefs, they were light, funny, so refreshing. I didn’t want them to stop!

Mind Over Matter from San Francisco

If Allan Frias can do something, it’s sexy! Prison scene, with rolling wire fences brilliantly dividing up the stage using transparency. With girls dancing dominatrix style and boys hooking up (very graphically) at a bench press, this piece kept your jaw dropped and at the edge of your seat the whole time. I was a bit in shock of its R rated staging, but after all… why not! All of it was beautifully executed.

Funk Beyond Control (FBC) from San Francisco

I think they have the best dancing kids ever!!! Awesome concept portraying entertainment for a king and his royal surroundings. They used all sorts of styles including Belly Dancing. Their costumes were an ancient royal/hip hop mix. It totally worked and was a great way to manage a huge group of dancers. Loved it!

Mop Top from New York

OK. Check out this video:

Imagine this b-girl, in a Dorothee outfit, with red booty shorts doing the same thing. Yeah, she kicked ass! The rest of the group was very cool too, especially the tin man. It was the Wizzle to the Izzle!

Neopolitan from Oakland

Mix of Afro and Hip Hop. I’ve rarely seen such a clean dance going so fast with movements that can easily look mushy. I was hypnotized the whole time!

FootworKINGz from Chicago

So what do you think their forte is? That’s right, footwork, man! Their little feet went so fast that my eyeballs couldn’t keep up. The most impressive part? When all their little feet went crazy and in sync!! It’s like insane tap, but hip hop style. Man, amazing!

Can’t wait to see what’s in Program B!

So, I was going to blog about something completely different… a dead rat I found on the street yesterday. But when I saved the rat pictures in my “miscellaneous” picture folder, I rediscovered this other picture I’ve always found interesting. Not because of the quality of, but because of the subject and the story behind it.

A few years ago, I was eating fries. French fries, made at home, probably not from scratch. Me and my roommates were chatting and munching. I pour some ketchup on the side of the plate. More talking, more munching, mmm. I love my fries with ketchup.
I look down to my plate to see how I’m doing on the ketchup level, and holly shit what do I see?

A face! I drew face! I drew a face in ketchup with fries! Not looking! Not intending to!

Immediately I grabbed my camera and tried to take a few shots. Given the low light and my shakiness, the shots didn’t turn out very good, which is why I turned it into a more dramatic black and white version.

Looking at it more, I think it looks like a Native American, almost smiling. Hmm, but it could also look like a TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). I don’t know… what does it look like to you?

Oh and by the way, this is the photo I was originally going to post. Poor rat. It was pretty cute.

Today was the official first rainy day since I got my Vespa (in May). I actually am really happy it rained, nature really could use it.

The only thing is… riding in the rain. It wasn’t that bad this morning, as I was mentally prepared not to ride too fast, not to go in between car, not to turn on painted areas and just to be extra-cautious, as I know some drivers freak out when there’s water on the road. Drivers, think about it, you’re protected! I’m on 2 wheels, with no roof or windshield wipers and still on the road!!!

The only uncomfortable thing was getting my legs wet. I need to get some rainproof pants. My thighs got wet on top and my jacket was dripping right into my crotch… the wind made everything so cold that I felt like it was burning!

Luckily, I was smart enough to bring a change of pants to work, so I could ensure being dry all day. Yipee me!

PS: “Flic Flac Floc ” or “Flic Floc” is apparently a French only way of referring to rain or puddles… how is it in English?

This picture is an old picture I took on my cell phone of the dryer we use at the laundromat around the corner (I finally found out how to get my cell pics onto my computer!).

Do you see that red rectangular thing in the middle? Yep, that’s fire! The dryer heat is apparently created by a fire chamber in the back and controlled by a little vent that opens and closes depending on how much heat is needed… When the door opens, we can see the flames!!! When Justin and I saw that, we were in shock!

Is it just me, or does look like a 19th century dryer mechanism? I wonder if somebody’s in the back with a shovel feeding the furnace with coals…

Loose Change Dance Company is having a fundraiser on Saturday, Sept 15th at City Dance in San Francisco!! We need some $$ to go perform our full length show “Human Nature” in Salt lake City.

Here’s the official info…. I’m sooo excited!! and nervous :)

- Saturday, September 15th 6:30pm-11:00pm
- Performances start promptly at 8pm
- City Dance Studios
- Sliding scale: $10 and up at the door
- Food ($7 per plate) Beverages ($3-5)
- Music, performances and dancing ’til close (performances by Loose Change and special guests performers including Bay Area favorites Soul Sector, Funkanometry and Paco Gomes & Dancers.)

Here’s the map.

Directions:
The easiest is coming from Van Ness (going south), cross Market and make a right at the 1st light (Otis St). About half a block in, make a right onto Brady St (looks like an alley) and a right onto Colton St.

Parking: There’s a parking lot in front of the studio, but it will fill up quickly. If you drive around, there’s some parking on S. Van Ness and other adjacent streets. But take a map with you as it can get confusing in that area. It’s highly recommended to carpool!

Public transportation: Any bus/metro that goes down Market are good and the 47, 49, 26, 9, 14, 21 are good too.

If you are unable to attend, but would like to make a tax-deductible donation to Loose Change Dance Company here’s how:
CHECKS
Make Checks payable to “Dancers’ Group“, our fiscal sponsor, with “Loose Change” in the memo and send to:

Loose Change
c/o Elliott Donnelley
584 Castro St. #318
San Francisco, CA 94114or

CREDIT CARD (via Paypal):
Go to http://www.dancersgroup.org/donate_info.php and type “Loose Change” in “Message to Seller” section in PayPal.

Please let us know about your contribution so we can look out for it.
If you have any questions you can send an email to: info@loosechangedance.com

I’ll also be available on my cell anytime if you need to call me 707-321-4302.

I can’t wait! And I hope to see you there :)

Yesterday, Justin and I took a walk around Golden Gate Park’s Arboretum and played with the camera…

This one is the perfect computer desktop background. Abstract. Round.

This one was fun laying down under the flowers and having people think I’m a pro :)

The center of some plants have fascinating patterns.