Mission Mission

Our pal Nico (who you may remember for creating the best Giants riot video so far) recently returned from a trip to South America, where he Fitzcarraldo’d his way down a river on his way to Angel Falls.  Luckily for the rest of us, he resisted embracing any godhead and managed to shoot some amazing hi-def video throughout the whole journey that really captures the immensity of the natural landscape there, complete with raging rivers, luscious rain forests, and cloud-nestled peaks.  Oh yeah, and there’s this waterfall too.  You may have heard of it.  It’s huuuuuuuuuuuuge.

Check it out here.

What do you get when you put a hipster in a lab?  A labster–identifiable only by a penchant for tight lab coats, thick-rimmed safety goggles, and a refusal to do experiments on anything other than tofu mice.

Ah, memories!  The only thing they left out is a propensity to “borrow” some ether from the stockroom and enact favorite scenes from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Chris Garcia wrote this set just for you.

Update: Chris performs at the Dark Room on Mission b/t 18 and 19th every Wednesday at 8-10pm as part of the Business. He recommends pairing this with a burrito and Whiskey Wednesdays at Benders.

Check out the newest piece from Strike Anywhere Films. A mesmerizing music video that takes place on our very streets. 24th Street, to be more specific. Florence Hartigan sings “Paris” by Friendly Fires.

Hint: you’re going to want to click on the bottom right button to watch it fullscreen. How do they get that zoom so smooooth??

Notice how the amber colored haze of our pollution as it wafts across the bay to Oakland gives it a nice Tony Scott-like feel at the top of the frame.

Bonus! Check out this rad spec commercial they did. Simple and with perfect timing.

Okay, so the dudes that pop half-mile wheelies through city traffic are probably the type of cyclists that make people who aren’t cyclists hate cyclists (say that 10 times fast). But I’m not gonna lie, it’s a blast watching these reckless assholes fly through the insane intersections of Manhattan in the trailer for Empire, screening at Mission Workshop on Friday.

Sure, we’ve got the morning Market St. scrum, but does that really compare the the car/pedestrian clusterfuck that is Times Square? As the New Yorkers say, “forget about it!” Wait, do they still say that? New York readers please confirm/deny. Also chime in on these babies: “Why are you breaking my balls?” “Let’s get some fucking pizza” and “Fuck you, asshole!”

Back to the trailer. Check out those amazing skitchin’ shots. In case you aren’t familiar with the 1994 Sega Genesis game of the same name, “Skitchin’” is when you grab on to a car and hitch a ride. It’s like swimming with the whales except the whale is your enemy.

Check out the youtube trailer and the details below:

Mission Workshop is hosting Bicycle Film Festival San Francisco with the screening of Empire.  The Bicycle Film Festival is a platform to celebrate the bicycle through music, art and of course film.  As part of it’s 10th anniversary line-up the festival will be showing Empire at Mission Workshop Friday, November 12 at 6:00pm, tickets are $7 and can be purchased at the BFF website: http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com/san-francisco

Let’s be fair,  though. SF probably started this sort of bike video nonsense with Mash.

California is a Place posted a lovely mini-documentary on a Los Angeles Mariachi trumpeter who goes by the name “El Rey” that you should check out. These guys live music.

Next time you’re sitting next to one of these smartly-dressed fellas on MUNI, be sure to wish him a good gig.

Here’s the link. Embedded below if you’re not google reader’ing.

Forget baseball, this is the face-off we really care about.

Miguel and Victor Escobedo of Papalote went head-to-head with Bobby Flay on his show, Throwdown, back in February. Papalote’s award winning “Triple Threat” burrito was put up against Bobby’s “Green Burrito” (demonstrating Flay’s expert knowledge of how to appeal to San Franciscans).

If you’ve been keeping up with this sort of thing you already know who won, but we wont spoil it for you. The whole episode is on Hulu now. They both stay pretty gracious throughout, but things almost get out of hand when the Escobedo bros lead a “GRINGO” chant against their competitor. See if you can stomach the cheesy stock music and 3-second cuts long enough to see who came out the winner.

Here’s the link.

Thanks to Sally Kuchar from Curbed SF.

“Are you injured? Are you alone? Are you driving without insurance?” Jonathan Byers wants to help.

The latest on EDW Lynch’s latest romantic status was revealed at a press conference last week at Amnesia:

So glad to see the return of BBC reporter Darvid Tokishi. Anyway, they are accepting dating applications for all you interested parties, ladies or men. Legally, they can’t require you to specify.

The EDW Lynch corporate manglomerate is delighted to announce we are now accepting applications for our Fall romantic evaluation meeting (dating) season.

The manglomerate has been inundated by romantic inquiries ever since EDW Lynch announced our tri­umphant return to the San Francisco romantic market last week. Our easy to use dating application form will streamline the process of selecting qualified applicants for romantic evaluation meetings during Fall 2010.

Apply Now! EDW Lynch Application for Romantic Evaluation Meeting

As you can see, there are some very important questions in the evaluation:

I’ll have to run these documents by legal and touch base with the VP of Romantic Affairs. In the meantime, you can review the documentation at EDW Lynch.

Previously:

Breaking: Manglomerate EDW Lynch Leaving the SF Romantic Market

Iraqi-Japanese Fusion Restaurant Bonsai Tree Piercing

Traditional jazz outfit Gaucho has been holding down the Wednesday 8-10pm slot at Amnesia for over 7 years. That has got to be one of the longest-running gigs in the Mission, right? Their new album “Pearl” was released today by the Mission’s own Porto Franco Records.

The record was recorded in Amnesia early this year while the bar was closed during the day. I was fortunate enough to sit in on those sessions while munching on my first ever Rhea’s sandwiches and it was a real treat. “Pearl” is almost entirely original compositions by guitarist and band leader Dave Ricketts that feel right at home with classic trad jazz standards.

A few songs feature vocalist Tamar Korn who they met last year on tour in NYC. Her amazing falsetto voice makes me feel like I’ve travelled back to a time where “dudes” where “fellas” and “fixies” were “penny-farthings“. Here she is singing a song about Dave’s cat:

You buy the record (CD or download) and check out some free tracks at Gaucho’s web site.

[photo by Brenda Ernst]