season's greetings

baseball season's back, and the bullpen baker returns with more regular postings. go here for my most recent posting, which includes a recipe for rum baseballs. mmm, balls.

vroom vroom

when you're on the phone with someone and they ask if there's a lawnmower tearing through your backyard, that's when you finally realize that your cat purrs really, really loudly.

what the fauxhawk?

oh, american idol. do you want more people to vote for sanjaya 'cuz all i (and the rest of the nation) gotta say is WTF?


in other sanjaya style news, the soup had an amazing little skit this weekend that just seems perfect right about now. enjoy!

nerve gas

i lucked out last week when my main squeeze offered me a ride home after work. yippee, i get to ride in a car! most likely, i slightly resembled lulu, the great dane we had when i was growing up, what with my head stuck out the window, hands clutching the door, and ears, tongue, and hair flapping in the wind and all. but then i had a scooby doo moment (yes, another great dane! they're the best pooches ever.), where he goes "ruah ruow," and his ears perk up a little bit. $3.77 for the low grade of gas? the station across the street was 40 cents cheaper, so i think this is what is commonly referred to as extortion. but as i normally ride the bus to and fro, my extortion exposure is pretty low, unless you count paying $45 a month to hang onto a bar by your pinkie while getting crushed by busloads of people, many of whom whack your head repeatedly with their fashionably oversized yet commutably irresponsible handbags, before tearing yourself away to bolt towards the door and out into world, all the while going a mere 3 miles in 40 minutes, increasing the frizz factor, and perspiring enough to fill a kiddie pool at high noon. at least the clouds were sort of pretty in the background.

SF Ballet, Program 5, 3/23/2007

Thirstquenchingly good
San Francisco Ballet
Program 5
March 23, 2007, 8PM

San Francisco Ballet’s season is quickly cresting past the halfway mark, and Program 5 swelled this Friday evening with four contemporary yet differing works.

The evening’s highlight proved to be the debut of Christopher Wheeldon’s “Carousel (A Dance)” to the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical of the same name. Sarah Van Patten and Pierre-François Vilanoba, as the young lovers, transformed the stage from sheer performance into an alluring story, and a well-danced one at that. Wheeldon, breaking out of his Balanchine-esque ways, choreographed an enjoyable vision to watch, and as the couple’s relationship grows, you almost want to giggle giddily along with Van Patten as she realizes she’s in love. The orchestra, conducted by Martin West, swayed confidently through the score, and the corps’ human carousel at the end (oh, what a spectacle!) adds an extra “oomph” element to “Carousel,” all the more reason to relish and bathe in the sweet moment.

For more, go here.

Sarah Van Patten and Pierre-François Vilanoba in Wheeldon's Carousel.
© Erik Tomasson

a freak at heart

i've been riding the bus to work for the past 9 months (before that, i walked to work, and before that, well, i took the bus). at first, i'd board the bus at my "regular stop," that is, the stop closest to my apartment that is also closer to downtown. after awhile, though, i was fed up. by the time i got on the bus, there would be no place to sit (especially if a bus was missing from the line), and i'd get crushed in the back. getting off downtown was a nightmare, with the bus driver often closing the back doors and moving on to the next stop before all of us scramble through the loads of unaware riders superglued to each other, all sticky, sweaty, and exhausted from being crammed into a too-tight space for all of us working professionals, school-bound children, and miscellaneous riders. after some thought, i decided why not go to the next farthest out stop? it's the same walk from the house, but 1 block west. that first day, i was elated- nobody else waits at that stop. and why? there's no coffee shop or dry cleaner or mailbox or corner store/porn depository at the intersection (and you know how i love porn with my morning coffee). now, instead of fighting with 10 people for those last 6 seats, i'm 1 of maybe 3 or 4 happily placing my round tookas in 1 of 10 seats, and i don't give anyone a concussion with my gym bag or umbrella. someone passed along this link to me today, and i'm glad to know i'm not the only one who's realized this (although i didn't do it in such a scientific way).

fusion food at its best

pizza, pollo pibil, and pho all under one roof. how much better could it get?

SF Ballet, Program 4, 3/13/2007

Just copy and paste
San Francisco Ballet
Program 4
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

The city’s ballet aficionados were out in full force Tuesday night for the premiere of San Francisco Ballet’s Program 4, a mixed, and contemporary, bill chockfull of imagery and appeal.

The hit of the night proved to be the US premiere of Wayne McGregor’s “Eden/Eden,” which was originally choreographed for Stuttgart Ballet. A beautifully disturbing look at human cloning, nine dancers, dressed in striking attire by Ursula Bombshell and led by the stunning Muriel Maffre, explore the world of carbon copies and the slight nuances that make us human. Drawing on aspects of Adam and Eve (here, Eve came first!), the dancers delve into the deep issues of immortality, choice, and individuality. Dana Genshaft showed amazing flexibility and line during her sections with Pascal Molat, and Hayley Farr stretched and cavorted like a pixie. In fact, the entire cast astonished me with their ability to move very rhythmically in a very non-traditional way, and if I hadn’t known better, I would have thought we were in Germany. Charles Balfour’s stark lighting initially covered the stage with a silvery-white newness a baby might experience in its early stages, and later the lights transcended to a rich, dewy orange, similar to a sunny evening at Baker Beach. Minimalist Steve Reich’s rich and ear thrilling score combines text, vocals, techno, and classical music in a way that made me bop along in my seat while wishing I could grand battement up the aisle, down Van Ness, and towards the bus stop. Intellectual yet intricately choreographed, “Eden/Eden” builds to a satisfying yet still disturbing climax, which had many jumping to their feet in applause at the end...

For more, go here.

Dana Genshaft and Pascal Molat in McGregor's Eden/Eden.
© Erik Tomasson

tumble dry

i went through all the trouble of lugging over several pockets full of quarters (along with two overflowing laundry bags of whites/lights) to the laundromat last night. everytime i moved, my fellow washing peeps looked at me funny. "sorry. it's just that my pimp paid me in quarters this week," i replied. "he was out of $100s." too bad i didn't know that it now costs only 24 cents to do 7 minutes of drying! if only i had loaded my jeans up with nickels, dimes, and pennies instead...

golden grams

i talked with my grandma yesterday, and she mentioned that she wanted to be the flower girl at my sister's wedding. um... grandma, you're about 73 years older than the average flower girl. but perhaps the flower golden girl? yep, that's more like it.

zach attack

dear zach braff,

we are sorry. so so so sorry. please know that todd and i did not mean to return your supposedly most unsuccessful movie, the last kiss, to netflix. we truly thought we were returning the wonderful and powerful documentary (that we actually did watch) who killed the electric car?, but with visitors in town this weekend, we mixed up the dvds/netflix envelopes in all the scuffle. one day, i hope to watch the last kiss without utter pangs of regret piling up in my stomach while thinking, "gee, i wished i had returned it by mistake. again." but for now, you'll be dear in our hearts as the director/star of garden state (with todd's imaginary girlfriend natalie portman) and a comic genius above all others on scrubs.

smooches,
becca

all within the span of an hour

emily (my sister): i wanna add you to my myspace!
becca: ok. i don't use it often, but sure.
emily: ok... how do you spell your last name?
becca: duh. you're not married yet, silly(but congrats on the engagement!). it's the same as yours!
emily: oh yeah!
(and scene)

later...

todd: so that's what MC stands for!
becca: huh?
todd: master of ceremonies
becca: um... yeah. wait, are you kidding?
todd: yeah. of course! everyone knows that ceremonies starts with an "s".

smile, you're on candid camera phone!

two interesting sights on the bus recently.

the first one i'll refer to as nose man. now, while i've had a crooked nose for years, i'm finally looking into getting it fixed cuz it'd be nice to be able to breathe well, not snore and wake up the neighborhood, and take sick days for things other than constant congestion and sinus pressure. but if i had a nose that had a flat tip like a hammerhead shark, well, i would have had that thing fixed years ago.


the second image is from our weekend with todd's cousin and friend, both from boston and more accustomed to the new england way of life. we were out giving the traditional nighttime tour of the panhandle/lower haight/castro area of the city. surprisingly, we weren't offered any balloons, shot at, or hit on. instead, we discovered biking attire nouveau (take note, mom, em, and kevin!), and this was truly the best sight of the night (although i feel bad for the possum).

it's elementary, dear watson.

i caught a short bit of are you smarter than a 5th grader? the other night, and i had to wonder how dumb are these adults who go on this show? apparently, very, as obviously they were too busy selling pot by the four-square court to care about basic geography, math, and science way back in the day. luckily, you can challenge your elementary school aptitude in the privacy of your own home without demoralizing yourself in front of a national audience by playing fox's are you smarter than a 5th grader? trivia game. sadly, i let out a whoosh of relief when i scored 100% (and no cheating here, mind you!). does this mean i've graduated to 6th grade status?