You lazy cur.

"People convince themselves no one will read 20,000 words on Ayman al- Zawahiri," Remnick said. "It's not short, there are no movies coming out about it, and yet you do it and you hear about nothing else for weeks to come, and it's very gratifying."

From the SF Gate

We went to Baz Luhrmann's production of Puccini's La Boheme this week down at the Curran Theatre (next to the Geary in San Francisco). Wow, what a show!

The staging wasn't all about voice and singing gymnastics, thank goodness. The sets, costumes, large chorus (extras to you movie types) and the before-your-eyes scene changes were stunning, perhaps to the point of distraction. Before this, I had not heard an audience gasp upon lights up.

I can see how one could sing opera. I can see how you can perform a play with lots of movement and still get your lines out. I don't see how you can move around so much and still sing well. There must be some serious deep breathing exercises going on back stage.

Just about anyone could be entertained by this production. I can't comment on how strong the operatics are, but, you know, I don't really care. They were strong enough. I had a good time.

I'd never been in the Curran, Broadway musicals not being my thing. The creaky planked floors and turn-of-the-century details give it a wonderful vaudville feel. The lobbies are woefully undersized.

La Boheme: Recommended to regular theater goers; Highly Recommended to rare or occasional theater goers.

Anne said that she felt like we were cheating on ACT as we were walking past the Geary, trying to avoid eye-contact. Heh

If you know the difference between London Gin and Dutch Gin, read on. If you've HEARD of London vs. Dutch gin, read on. Otherwise, skip this entry and you won't go wrong with with the Bombay Sapphire.

The bartender at Bix was pushing Damrak a few weekends ago. Clearly the result of a promotion on the stuff. (For example, last time I was in Moose's, they were hawking Vox as part of a city-wide promotion. Shite. I mean, really.)

Anyway, Damrak is an interesting Dutch (ahem, Amsterdam) gin. Makes an compelling dry-ish martini. Virtually no bite, subtle botanicals, yet somehow rich and complex. I've gotta get a bottle of this stuff and experiment around with it. Certainly the most interesting Amsterdam I've had.

Damrak - Give it a whirl. Can't recommend it until I've fiddled with it some.

The Orbit Room, "Where the Mods hang out", as Paul once said back in '97. A Lawrence discovery for me though. I've always though of it as the place where the Vespa with the orange flames painted on the side is parked.

Alas, Pat, our guiding star and bartender extraordinaire is no longer at the Orbit Room. Other than the regular surfer 'tenders at the Balboa Saloon, I've never been to a place enough to get to know the bartenders, never mind get to know them by name. Pat, wherever you are now, you certainly made the Orbit Room for us. I learned as much about mixing a good cocktail from Pat as from the Wired Cocktail Alchemist Paul Harrington.

Anne and I ran into Pat once in Japantown. A bizarre situation. It was like running into Walter Cronkite on the street. Just what do you say? We wanted Pat to mix the drinks at our wedding, but the club would have none of that.

Anyway, we just got back from a Monday night at the Orbit room. In Pat's place is a new group of bartenders. The girl in the cat glasses is way into her mixes, which is great to see. She takes it seriously, and digs cucumbers. I didn't get to chat with the guy in the track suit, but he seems pretty good too.

The Orbit Room Always highly recommended. Especially recommended for owners of - Vespas, 70's vintage T-shirts, 70's track suits, Airline Paraphernalia, and exacting cocktail drinkers of all stripes.

We went to the opening of Gerhard Richter at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art last night.

Very accessible stuff, and all the more so if you've have ever taken a second to consider the results of your own snapshots: Color shifts, shutter blur, depth-of-field problems, etc...

The abstracts work too, especially the smaller 858 series on aluminum panels. And I'm generally no fan of abstract painting.

The Patron-level preview and reception was a great people watching experience. Similar to the Members-level reception, but older, better dressed, and somewhat less funky.

Gerhard Richter: Highly Recommended.
SFMOMA's Patron-Level Previews & Receptions: Recommended -- at the very least go once.

I miss the Floors, and well, WXXP too. And the Floor's official website is way down in the Google rankings. Gotta give 'em some 'hep':

The Affordable Floors "Official" Site

I made high quality MP3s (VBR, 192kbit-256kbit) of a few of their albums back during the Napster craze. Every few days someone would download the whole lot of 'em, often sending me an IM wanting to chat about the band. That's stickyness.