Mission Mission

Local filmmaker Jay Francisco Lopez recently completed his first feature, Sin Padre, which premieres this Friday at the opening night of the San Francisco Latino Film Festival.

I first met Jay on the set of Peter and Benjamin Bratt’s 2009 film, La Mission. He was a background actor and I was doing the behind-the-scenes. Since then he starred in a short feature that I co-wrote at BAYCAT, The Invisible City, about a group of friends in Hunters Point. After that he raised funds himself to write, produce and direct his own feature film about a Honduran teenager getting by in the Mission, where Jay himself was born to Honduran immigrants.

Jay’s film screens at The Victoria Theater (on 16th at Capp) on 9/14. The show is sold out, but according to Sin Padre’s Facebook page:

Due to popular demand and the high ticket sales Just added a 2nd screening of SIN PADRE this Sunday Sept 16 5:15pm at the Opera Plaza Cinema Theater 601 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102 you can buy tickets at http://sinpadre2.bpt.me/

Before Sunday screening there well be a meet and greet with the director and the cast from 2pm to 4pm at the Verizon Wireless store [at] 2654 Mission St.

Jay’s film looks good, check it out when you can.

P.S. I also have a film in the SF Latino Film Festival, Miles Away, a short I co-directed with Jose Alfaro, will be screening at the Opera Plaza Theater this Saturday at 1:00pm.

Jason Jägel is one of my favorite local artists by far. Check out his work at Needles and Pens, at 3253 16th Street, between Guerrero and Dolores:

Join us Friday September 7, 2012, from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. for the opening reception of The Castle a solo show by Jason Jägel
with a musical performance by Dominic East

Many veterans are out in the streets this afternoon protesting the 2010 arrest and detainment of Bradley Manning, the Army soldier who gave WikiLeaks hundreds of thousands of classified documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The leak brought to light many details and events that embarrassed the military, such as efforts to drastically lower the public civilian death count.

You can learn more about Manning and the case at bradleymanning.org, or get the gist of it at Manning’s Wikipedia page.

Apparently this evening while I was stuck inside (ugh, buildings, who needs ‘em?) we were graced with some amazing skies that included some rainbows. Thanks to the readers who sent in these pics.

[Thanks, Matthew!]

[Thanks, Amar!]

UPDATE: Here’s one from Alicia!

UPDATE 2: This one from Dana may just be the most spectacular yet!

With more still coming in through the comments.

If you ever feel like you’re gonna explode, this spot on Mission Street might be the best place to stand.

Because A) this bus has taste and knows what Flavor is and why it still matters no matter what you think; B) said flavor is the flavor of toungey white lady skinny dipping in the salsa; and C) it was founded by Ron Swanson’s great great grandpappy. Maybe.

Our buddy Christopher sent us this pic he took at the Street Food Festival of the mural at Cesar Chavez Elementary School. There is a large white stripe that almost seems as if it’s specifically covering Chavez’s mouth.

Hmmmm . . . ?

A depiction of how you’ll end up.

A friend from South America, just hanging out, thinking about how great Ronaldinho is.

Finally, a classic cool kid, delightfully/annoyingly mismatched.