SF's Lunch Bell [Routine]

Though born in SF, it wasn't until this year that I got a chance to really explore my hometown. At times, I still feel as if its a foreign country to me. As Xavier said in L'auberge Espagnole:

When you first arrive in a new city, nothing makes sense. Everythings unknown, virgin... After you've lived here, walked these streets, you'll know them inside out. You'll know these people. Once you've lived here, crossed this street 10, 20, 1000 times... it'll belong to you because you've lived there. That was about to happen to me, but I didn't know it yet.

Every Tuesday, at noon, air raid style sirens scream through San Francisco. According to the SF gov't website:, "Every Tuesday at noon, San Francisco tests the Outdoor Warning System. During the test the siren emits a 15 second alert tone."

Turns out there is a rich history behind the weekly event. It was created during the second world war as a civil defense measure. 72hours.org with the help of the SF Department of Emergency Management created a short two-minute clip that explains the genesis of the outdoor warning system and profiles Cesar Santos, the dispatcher who tests the Siren every Tuesday at Noon.

San Francisco is slowly becoming mine.

Online Marketplace for Directors [Online Film Festivals]

While living in DC, I was lucky to be part of a film festival. What continually amazes me is the depth and quality of amateur work out there. Given the high cost of making mass consumptive media (like movies and commercials), its no wonder that companies rarely bet on an unknown director.

Film festivals, especially the strappy small ones, seek to showcase emerging talent and their unique stories. For example, a Paris-based production company Mr. Hyde has launched The Hyde Tube, which provides an online venue for directors to have their work juried.

There are two things I like about the project:

• Creation of a Marketplace: Mr. Hyde, hopes that the Hyde Tube will becoming a marketplace where clients can find source new talent (and probably for a cheaper cost). In effect, Mr. Hyde is trying to remove the middlemen in the process--for a nice price"Clients will contact The Hyde Tube in order to pass on a project to a specific director, who is then free to decide whether or not to accept it. If accepted, the director will write a treatment or make an animated test within 3 to 5 days. For this work you will receive approximately 500€.

  If the client is happy with the treatment and decides that the director will make the film, The Hyde Tube will connect the director with the client, and Mr Hyde or one of its affiliate studios will oversee the production until the film delivery."

• Visualization of Content: With a reported 100 directors, I was deeply curious on how they were going to help clients scroll through all the content. The use of screenshots allow the clients to scan multiple aesthetics efficiently.
  

Volatile Organic Compounds [The Answer]

What is new car smell.

We all love it, is it because its an association with newness? Whatever the case, new car smell can now be yours (sans the volatile organic compound stuff).

If you go to a factory, you'll notice most people who assemble cars wear a mask. They have a mask because they're constantly made to smell that new-car smell. That smell is not necessarily healthy for you. Most of those odors are VOCs, volatile organic compounds.

- Paul Dan Schneider, VP of marketing for Chemical Guys.

Thanks answer fella!

From the Streets [Food]

Street food is all the rage--bulgogi @ L Street Vending cart in DC, Goat Cheese cake from the dessert truck in NYC, to papusa's @ the Brooklyn flea. It's exciting to see San Francisco with a growing and vibrant street food culture.

When I went to Laiola last week, I learned about the taco menu making its grand entrance today at the Ferry Building. So that's where I decided to grab lunch this Thursday. Tacolicious is simply that--tacos that are delicious. They offer three different types of tacos: steak, chicken and pork. My favorite is by far the chipotle-braised pork shoulder taco. (Confession, I love pork). When ordering, don't forget to help yourself to a generous squirt of one of three sauces. Sweet tomato is my fave.

Dripping with sauce and flavor, be careful when you eat it!

You also HAVE to try the grilled corn with an ancho-chili rub with lime. The lime offsets the super sweet corn. I know you're concerned; corn for lunch? What if I get corn stuck between my teeth? It's not going to go well with my 2 o'clock meeting. Maybe they'll offer toothpicks next Thursday. If not, I'm packing some floss just in case.

I'm so glad to welcome another fine addition to the Ferry Building. I can't wait to get myself a tacolicious Tshirt to show my support!


Tacolicious
1 Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA 94111

I went to the woods... [Outdoors]

“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.”

-David Thoreau

Every year, my old college roommate and I get together for a little camping action. Last time I visited him in Texas. This year, it was my turn to put together a mini-expedition.

With the uncertainty behind the future of California State parks, I wanted to get my camping in. Through ReserveAmerica, I was able to reserve a slot at Butano State Park. It's only an hour north of Santa Cruz and the drive down the Cabrillo Highway is absolutely breathtaking. What's also great about the area is the number of must-see places.

Areas around include:

• Pigeon Point Light Station - Best visited during dawn or dusk for your best pics
  
• Año Nuevo SNR - Get there before 2:30PM to get a permit to get up close and personal with the elephant seals
• Santa Cruz - We never made it down there, but it's a beautiful beach town. Check out a google map of potential sites I made before the trip here.
• To Kiss or Not to kiss, the banana slug.
  

There is enough hiking in Butano to keep one occupied for an entire day. We left at 10AM and 6 hour later, looped through the entire valley on a 12-mile hike. Below are some pics I took from the trip, you can get more a more detailed look at the pics here.

Crabtastic [Thanh Long]

I came here for the first time because my friend had a cousin in town. Instead of taking him to Fisherman's wharf, we decided to do something different. We are so glad we came here. There's nothing like the bone breaking sound of crab while wearing a plastic bib.
Furthermore, the service is impeccable. I shall return!

Things to get:

• The Roast Crab is absolutely delectable. I'm not sure what the "secret spices" are, but mixed with the garlic, I was tempted to eat everything down to the shell.
• Garlic Noodles. There is a reason why everybody talks about it.
• Shaken Beef. Yummy.
• Soft Shell Crab. Yes, we couldn't get enough crab

Tip: We had a good ole time ordering drinks. Let me tell you, they are VERY heavy handed with their vodka.

Thanh Long
4101 Judah St
San Francisco, CA 94122
(415) 665-1146

The US Deficit

Megan McArdle of the Atlantic Monthly has an interesting post of the budget deficit. Read it here.

Twitter 101

I've been playing around with twitter the past couple months, but haven't been able to move beyond the inane, "I'm on a plane, stuck on the tarmac" tweets. While there has been an explosion of twitter accounts, few people truly generate content. However slow, I've been starting to explore more and more of what Twitter provides value for me:

1. Easier for me to follow people (Maybe I'm more a taker than a giver)
2. Twitter is my social networking gateway (I sms twitter which will automatically update my facebook and friendfeed accounts)

I've also noticed that while I "follow" 50 people, I truly only follow 15 people. Those 15 people tend to be people I've had personal connections with (@bryantng, @mcurren, @xenlogic). The other people I follow closely are CXO superstars like @padmasree and @stevecase.

For those of you who want to get in on the action too, but have been a bit too timid to test the waters, Infinite Thinking Machine cites a couple places to get you started:

1. Twitter in Plain English - a great video that explains Twitter in a nutshell
2. 7 Things You Should Know about Twitter -Educause publishes a series of excellent articles detailing new and emerging technologies.
3. Tweetdeck -Use this third party app to manage Twitter. It's much better than using the Twitter web interface.
4. TwitThis -Install this tool into your browser's toolbar so that you can share web sites on the fly as you surf.
5. Hootsuite -This is a great tool for managing multiple Twitter accounts. Try this out once you've mastered Twitter basics.

Arlington

I'm also sad that I gave up my VA drivers license for a CA one....

Before and After the Course [A16]

Having recently learned that Nate Appleman won this year's James Beard Award for Rising Star Chef, I decided to visit a second time. With an open kitchen and a remarkable staff, this is an ideal place for a date.

To the restaurants credit, there are some lean-forward dishes--burrata, salumi, and chocolate tart. With such great appetizers, I found that the main course had a hard time competing for my attention. I found myself looking forward to the beginning and ends of the meal.

Overall, A16 is a solid and dependable restaurant, but not a place that will blow your mind. My advice is to drop by for the bookends of your meal.

Things to order:

• Mozzarella Burrata. If you like cheese, you'll love these bite size pieces of heaven. Burrata is basically a mozzarella inside a mozzarella. It's fluffy, light, and absolutely delicious
• Salumi Sampler. Get a taste of Italy with a sample of their salumi.
• Chocolate tart with olive oil and sea salt. It's amazing what salt can do to a dish. A little bit of salt serves to reinforce and accentuate the flavor. The sea salt brings out the sweetness and flavor. As one who doesn't have a sweet tooth, I was amazed how much I ate of the shared dessert.
  

A-16 Restaurant
2355 Chestnut St
San Francisco, CA 94101
(415) 771-2216

A Third Toy Story [Pixar]

I remember when Toy Story came out on VHS. I watched it relentlessly for an entire summer. I had never seen digital animation as detailed before and it simply blew my mind.

Since then, I've becoming a loyal pixar fan; hungrily consuming each masterpiece. Well, it looks like June 18, 2010 will mark a third and most awesome Toy Story 3. Enjoy the preview.