Now that I’m safely back in San Francisco after spending Thanksgiving in Kentucky, I can share the following air travel wisdom.

Apparently, if you’re occupying the exit row of a Southwest flight from Louisville to Oakland, you should be prepared to use your laser eye beams to burn through the door, making sure not to start a fire in the process.

Those of you who have not attended Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters are out of luck. You’ll have to switch seats.

Neck Face. His graf style is no-style. You’ve seen his scrawlings on the old broken Shell gas station garage at 20th and Valencia. On the side of a tall building visable from 9th and mission. On a utility box near the 4th street bus stop at mission. And countless other places in SF.
But this past week, wandering through Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, I almost dropped dead when I saw the neck face tags all over a foot bridge. Look!

I have a friend who says she knows a friend who knows neck face.
Neck Face is Ugly! Neck Face is Global. But who is Neck Face?
UPDATE: Check it out, Neck Face made talk of the town in the New Yorker earlier this year.

Since I’m new to the area I’m trying to find suitable replacements for the things I miss most about Los Angeles. While I know there is no substitute for the Arclight there are a few things that can bring a wee bit of joy and happiness to an otherwise dreary day. First and foremost I’m looking for a new Pool Hall. I used to play at Hollywood Billiards quite often and am in need of a place that’s not too dodgy, has a good bar, a jukebox that doesn’t resemble a “Journey” and “Chicago” reunion torture tour and well maintained, regulation sized tables. Somewhere in the city is really preferred. Nothing like a few games of pool and a few Guinness after a long day at the office :-) Unfortunately these places tend to double as sports bars which is fine as long as they don’t cover ALL the tables during the Sunday games. Secondly I’m looking for a new pistol range. I’m willing to travel outside of the city for this one. Looking for a place that has a good selection of well maintained rentals. Indoor or outdoor is fine as long as it’s a modern place. It was a Blogging.LA tradition for Sunday brunch and gunplay and I’d like to keep it alive up here in the great white north. And if anyone is interested in getting together for either one of these fine family activities drop a comment and we’ll see what we can get cookin!

If you’re a movie lover, chances are that in the past five years you’ve noted with sadness the passing of several unique neighborhood movie theaters you loved. Yes, the astronomical rent increases that hit the city hard circa 2001 was one factor, but lower than profitable attendance is another key factor — and one that you can personally influence.

Rather than lamenting the loss of another great SF theater, why not get involved with the SF neighborhood theater effort, or just make an effort to go out and see indie and foreign films on the big screen? Yeah, you can wait for them to come out on Netflix, but even with a great projector setup at home, it’s not the same as sitting in an audience full of movie lovers. And instead of heading out to a mega plex, why not go see a blockbuster at the Coronet — it *is* the biggest screen in SF after all.

So, keep an eye on what these neighborhood theaters are playing, and help save us from a megaplex-only future:

• The 4 Star
• The Balboa
• The Bridge
• The Castro
• The Clay
• The Coronet
• The Lumiere
• The Metro
• The Red Vic
• The Roxie
• The Vogue

Thank you to Gary Meyer of the Balboa Theater for reminding me (via a recent newsletter) of the moviegoer’s part in the plight of the local theater.

Ah, ad campaigns. A few months back, I blogged on the new SF tourism campaign centered on the theme “Only In San Francisco.” The flip side of that, of course, would be that if it’s only in SF, it’s not anywhere else. Like, say, Los Angeles. Meet a new slant on the SF tourism campaign: notinla.com (which bounces you to onlyinsf.org). According to the caption from this SF Chron photo, the campaign is designed to play up the Nor/So rivalry while luring SoCal-ers North:

Full disclosure: I’m from Los Angeles. I’m fairly SoCal biased, frankly. Though I certainly enjoy by NorCal digs enough. One thing I don’t get, however, is the extent to which NorCal types seem hell bent on poking at those of us south of SLO. I can assure you that down there, we just didn’t spend that much time thinking about San Francisco. But whatever.

I will, however, continue to find these sorts of ads “hella”-amusing.

Living in North Beach now, Paul Boutin has a fresh perspective of the life of a San Franciscan, relishing in the air of freedom, creativity and aesthetics.

All he has to do is walk down Columbus to “Cafe Pucinni” or go find this incredible place called “Albona” (on Francisco) to know that he’s in a place, like no other place on earth.

Yet – it’s getting harder and harder to stay here.

I have three sons approaching draft age…..

Here’s Paul’s post…..

Now you can quit blogging about it and just go! CanadianAlternative.com makes it easy- they’ll even host a seminar December 6 in San Francisco, to help with that big Toronto-or-Vancouver decision. The Associated Press reminds you that “Americans have to follow the same procedures as everybody else — including the $500 (387 euro) application fee, the $975 (755 euro) landing tax, and the wait of six months to two years.” I made a few calls and confirmed that yes, you’re allowed to come back for Burning Man, but don’t try to bring your “medicine” across the border.

[Paul Boutin]

Medicine indeed.

It’s fun watching a New Yorker get to know our fair city.

The R&G Lounge is one of the leading, authentic Chinese places in town.

Here’s some photos from her recent visit:

R & G Lounge

Highlights from a recent meal at R & G Lounge. From top to bottom:

Salt and Pepper Crab, Three Treasures with Black Bean Sauce (bean curd, eggplant, and hot peppers stuffed with with shrimp meat), Prawns with Honey Walnuts.

[aFullBelly]

[reprinted from Marc's Voice Nov. 12th, 2004]

Usually we make the four hour trek north to Chico for the holidays, but since my mother is currently waiting for her new home to be built, she is down here in San Jose staying at my brother’s. My mom did most of the cooking; ham, green beans, corn, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, rolls, etc. I made a contribution to the feast by cooking the turkey at my place and then bringing it over. She did a great job considering it wasn’t her kitchen, although a few grumblings could be heard throughout the day. “I just can’t find the big spoon, he never has enough spoons..”

Hello! I’d just like to pop in for a second and say a hearty hello to my new home! For those of you who don’t know me my name is Jason DeFillippo and I’m one of the co-founders of this here Metroblogging thing. I just moved to this fine city and have had to leave behind my comrades at Blogging.LA so I’m feeling a bit nervous about my first post. Feels a bit like my first day at school. I’m just learning my way around the city and getting settled in so bear with me while I get up to speed and try not to go the wrong way up a one way street. Which I have done a few times now but survived thanks to my mad driving skills which are inversely proportional to my sign reading skills. So on this, my first Thanksgiving in a new city, I hope yours is a happy one and marginally more interesting than mine. I plan on hitting the local laundromat for several hours and exploring my new neighborhood which, if you’re wondering, is right by Amoeba in the Haight. So any recommendations on places to hang out here are very welcome. See ya around!

I live and work in San Jose, California. It is located at the southern part of what is referred to as the San Francisco Bay Area. For the 4th year in a row San Jose has the honor of being named the safest big city in the USA. Much of the credit goes to the police force and community groups. For the most part, I feel safe driving my taxi here.