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Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Lost wallet and found faith in humanity: a Thanksgiving story
I don't remember when or where I bought my wallet, but I'd guess that the leather accessory is at least 15 years old. Along with the essential plastic cards and licenses, it's bursting at the seams with BART tickets and business cards that date back to my 1990s job as a courtroom reporter in Los Angeles. Prominently displayed in the interior window is my California Highway Patrol press pass from my time as the editor of my college newspaper. The expiration date for this artifact is 03/01/96.
The Benji of of wallets: It always comes home.
It needs to be replaced. It's also a constant reminder that people are basically good. Three times this wallet has been lost. Three times it has made an incredible journey back to me. In addition to holding a few $1 off coupons for Amoeba Records and a ticket stub from my first Giants game with my wife, somewhere nestled in this billfold is my faith in humanity.
I've witnessed many not-so-random acts of unkindness during my lifetime. When I look at my cell phone, I'm reminded of my previous phone which I lost last year. Someone found it, answered my first two calls to my own number, and decided that holding on to the phone was more lucrative than the $50 reward I suggested. (It's a lonely and helpless feeling to text your own phone with a ransom offer, and then get no response. Give me back my son phone!)
But in the spirit of the holiday season, I'm going to focus on the good today. I'm giving thanks for the people who made it possible for this crappy old embarrassment of a wallet to remain a part of my life.
My three wallet return stories below. (And my ultimate lost valuable story is here.) Your happy stories of reunited valuables in the comments. Tales of returned wedding rings, money clips, cell phones and pets are also welcome. Read More 'Lost wallet and found faith in humanity: a Thanksgiving story' »
| Nov 23 at 06:13 AM
Monday, November 22, 2010
Six best uses of San Francisco City Hall in the movies
I took my son to see "Megamind" yesterday afternoon. I already knew that the fictional Metro City government building was heavily inspired by San Francisco's City Hall -- I talked to the filmmakers about it while writing a pair of articles about the movie -- but didn't know the extent to which it mirrored the real thing. Along with the architectural similarities and gold leaf accents, the supervillain Megamind even found an excuse to paint the dome blue.
wikipedia.org
Just don't burn it down again ...
I'm adding "Megamind" to my list of films that have made the most memorable use of San Francisco City Hall. The historic structure, rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake, doesn't may not appear in films as often as the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars or Alcatraz. But it's often even more striking, especially when the an interior scene with the rotunda is included. Inspired use of San Francisco's City Hall in a film is generally the mark of a director or moviemaking team that has ties to the area -- all but one of the movies on my list had a strong local connection. And is it a coincidence that the odd film out featured the building engulfed in flames?
I didn't penalize movies that failed to accurately identify the building or even the city. (See No. 1 on my list.) I did consider the importance of the scene or scenes that feature City Hall, and whether the movie completely sucked. Hence, "The Wedding Planner" and "Bicentennial Man" didn't make the list ...
Please tell me what I missed in the comments. Read More 'Six best uses of San Francisco City Hall in the movies' »
| Nov 22 at 07:03 AM
Saturday, November 20, 2010
This week on VYou: Blog demographics, paint samples and Tim Goodman
Thanks for your patience with my VYou experiment. I received a lot of great questions in my first five days, and have already answered a dozen of them. Readers can now find out more than they ever wanted to know about The Poop's demographic breakdown, my shaving habits and my fantasy football team. Just click on any of the questions below my awkward welcome video at the end of this post and my answer should appear. I'll answer more questions throughout the week.
After a rough first day (I've adjusted the lighting so my bedroom look less like a serial killer's lair), this has become easy and fun on my end -- and I can see how it will become more useful in the future. I already got received two ideas for post topics while answering VYou questions. Read More 'This week on VYou: Blog demographics, paint samples and Tim Goodman' »
| Nov 20 at 12:10 PM
Friday, November 19, 2010
Celebrities making the extra effort: Peter Weller/"Robocop" edition
I was excited to read the story about Andres Torres being such a great guy, taking the time to meet fans, sign autographs, hang out. He's been my favorite Giant all year, because he pretty much exemplifies hard work and hustle.
It's always fun to see stars or athletes acting like regular cool people. I don't know why I enjoy it so much. Maybe we just hear so many stories about half-famous ego jockeys telling kids to get lost that it's refreshing when someone else takes the time to sign some autographs or pose for pictures.
cyberpunkreview.com
Crime fighting is great and all ... but Hallmark is where my heart is at.
Then there's Peter Weller.
Peter Weller is my new hero.
One of the blogs I follow, Sweet Juniper, had a post about a young boy dressing up as Robocop for Halloween. Take a look here -- are these not the most adorable photos of a pint-sized Robocop patrolling the streets of Detroit once again?
Weller, who played Robocop, somehow got wind of the post and ... sent the boy a personalized, signed picture of Robocop. Can you imagine being a small child and getting an actual card from the character you dressed up as? I would have died -- just died -- if Phineas Bogg sent me a picture of himself with Omni. So I can only imagine the boy's joy in receiving this card from the Robocop. Read More 'Celebrities making the extra effort: Peter Weller/"Robocop" edition' »
| Nov 19 at 02:36 PM
The Woody Taco, and other kid-celebrated landmarks
If I ever take my children to the Sistine Chapel, and stare up at the hand of God -- it's a guarantee that one of them will pull my sleeve while trying to point out the Clonetrooper design on another kid's backpack. I know because it's a hereditary trait. I remember, as a very young boy, being bored by Yosemite. Yosemite! I was more excited by the golden arches of the McDonald's we passed by on the way to the national park.
Call Pixar. I think we have our new protagonist for "Toy Story 4"
Children choose their own landmarks, and they don't match the ones that adults celebrate. I've been thinking a lot about this lately, mostly because of my 2-year-old's current obsession: The Woody Taco.
This started about four months ago during our daily drive from Oakland to Alameda, where my wife works and my kids go to their school and babysitter. Arguably the low point, aesthetically speaking, comes when we pass the corner of High Street and International Boulevard in Oakland. Half the time the asphalt is ringed by black half-circles from the latest sideshow. There's a check cashing place on one side, and on the other a Burger King, which recently got national attention from a viral video showing (among other things) a pregnant woman in a fistfight.
There's also a sign on the corner, in front of a muffler shop, with the word "TACOS" over a picture of an anthropomorphic taco wearing a sombrero. (Note: There's no Mexican food place nearby, so I think either there's a taco truck in the back of the establishment, or this is the rare Oakland muffler shop that also serves lunch.) My younger son locked on to this image, was reminded of "Toy Story" and started shouting "Woody! Woody!" every time we passed through the intersection. His decibel level and the urgency in his voice was roughly equivalent to what I imagine Columbus must have sounded like when he first sighted New England the Americas.
Clueless, my wife and I didn't know what he was referring to until my 5-year-old son corrected him.
"Milo," he said with a exasperated sigh. "That's not Woody. That's just a taco."
Read More 'The Woody Taco, and other kid-celebrated landmarks' »| Nov 19 at 07:06 AM
Thursday, November 18, 2010
When do you start putting out Christmas decorations?
When it comes to Christmas decorations, I'm one of those people who becomes a cranky old man as the holiday themes start appearing earlier and earlier every year. Since I spend about 20 percent of my free time at Target, that store receives the focus of my ire. I'm guessing they've been rolling out holiday decorations the day after Halloween for years, but my outrage always has a short-term memory. (My wife endured another long diatribe a week and a half ago when the Christmas wrapping appeared where the costumes used to be.)
Too early?
I don't hate Christmas -- far from it. In my head, I'm trying to save the holiday. When people start celebrating at the end of October, and then keep their tree up until February, I would argue that it only serves to dilute the Christmas spirit. With my wife's approval, we've always honored the holiday with a slow build-up starting the day after Thanksgiving, and then a no-nonsense ornament removal on Jan. 2. Kicking the tree to the curb that early always feels a little bit like tough love, but there's something satisfying, too. The tree is suffering once the calendar hits 2011. It wants me to put it down.
I also do it out of fairness to the other holidays. From a relaxation point of view, I think Thanksgiving is the best holiday ever. It seems mean to let Christmas steal some of the focus off of football, gluttony and family dysfunction.
I budged a little last Friday, when my editor David Wiegand handed me a small live Christmas tree with wrapping paper around the base. It was promoting something on ABC Family (hopefully the underrated "Prep & Landing") which was no longer attached to the tree. David and I get all manner of strange stuff sent to us, so this gesture wasn't unusual. He knows my kids, and probably figured it was something one of them would like in their room. Later we could plant it in the yard and make it a teaching moment.
Read More 'When do you start putting out Christmas decorations?' »| Nov 18 at 07:20 AM
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Andres Torres was nice to my dad (and your local athlete encounters)
I was crossing the Bay Bridge into San Francisco on Sunday, and received a picture mail from my dad. My phone is old and lame, so the picture was very small. It looked like he was either in a police line-up, or maybe being held hostage. Before I had a chance to panic, I received an excited phone call from my mother. They were at the 49ers game, and the picture was of my father with Giants outfielder Andres Torres.
Courtesy Phil Hartlaub
Who's the luckiest 49ers fan? This guy!
Before I go any further, some background. We've been sitting in the same 49ers seats at Candlestick Park since before I was born. Four generations have gone to games. Our quadrant in the Upper Box seats about 50 people, mostly working class types who have been there as long as we have. We rarely see any new faces, much less a celebrity, much less a WORLD CHAMPION SAN FRANCISCO GIANT, much less arguably the best-looking Giant. So my mother calling and saying Andres Torres was a few seats in front of her would be kind of like my wife calling and saying Cody Ross is in our living room eating popcorn and watching "Toy Story 3."
My mother doesn't suffer fools, and 49ers game etiquette can be complicated. I braced myself for criticism about his bad behavior. "He was very, very nice. He was signing all the little kids' autographs," she said. "He spent the entire halftime talking to people, and he kept saying 'thank you" to everybody." Apparently my father tried to get a picture a couple of rows away, and Torres urged him to come closer so they could take this excellent photo.
Even more awesome, Torres was enthusiatically cheering for the 49ers! The closest thing to a negative report was my parents' observation that he was wearing a ton of jewelry, and they were worried about his trip through Hunter's Point on the way home.
More thoughts on this below. Please share your local sports encounters in the comments. (We did something like this earlier this year, but I'm hoping everyone else's memory is as short as mine.) Read More 'Andres Torres was nice to my dad (and your local athlete encounters)' »
| Nov 17 at 06:50 AM
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Pimp My Card Table: A Thanksgiving contest
I haven't even contacted the winners of our last contest yet, and The Poop bylaws clearly state that I can't start a new one until prizes are in the mail. But the timing isn't going to work unless I bend the rules here. So with my apologies and assurances that this is going to be taken care of swiftly, we're ready to announce ...
Pimp My Card Table: A Thanksgiving contest.
psmd.co.uk
Thanksgiving will never be the same ...
It sucks to get stuck at the little kids table on Thanksgiving. This is often a crappy table that's only used once a year, with a hodgepodge assortment of seating that often includes folding chairs, a computer chair or a piano stool. The numbers rarely work out right, so at least one adult (often a slightly heavy, single uncle) gets stuck at the little kids table.
But what if the little kids table was the most awesome table in the house -- so fabulous that everyone else at Thanksgiving was begging to sit there? The aim of this contest is to take the craftiness that we put into the Halloween contest and extend it to Thanksgiving dinner.
The rules are simple:
1. Use whatever materials and skills at your disposal to make one of your Thanksgiving tables look amazing. Pick flowers, make a tablescape, string lights around the side or overhead. Choose a jungle or princess theme, or work action figures into the motif. Let everyone at the table wear crafty themed hats. Anything you can think of to make everyone sitting at the other tables feel insanely jealous.
Read More 'Pimp My Card Table: A Thanksgiving contest' »| Nov 16 at 11:33 AM
Monday, November 15, 2010
All of your questions answered on VYou ...
I receive a lot of e-mails from The Poop readers, often with a question about the blog or something I wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle. I fully intend to answer every one of these, but often save them for later, and then forget. And then that person thinks I'm stuck up and stops reading this blog.
vyou.com/peterhartlaub
My VYou portal. Looking forward to your questions about my bedspread.
So when I heard about VYou, I was intrigued. It's a Q&A-style; video platform, where you can type in questions, and I answer them in my spare time using a webcam. The online start-up is in beta, but Chuck Klosterman and a few others are already set up. You can ask questions and (starting later today) see my answers to other people's questions at www.vyou.com/peterhartlaub. Assuming you didn't type in something I already covered, you'll get my "I haven't answered that question yet" message. Hit "yes" and your question will be added to my queue.
Down the line, I think anyone who wants to can set up their own account, and then everyone talks to each other using dynamic networking cross-channels that I don't completely understand, but I think work sort of like the Borg collective. In other words, it's a lot like Twitter.
Selfishly, I can think of a lot of interesting ways that this could be a fun addition to The Poop in the future. For example, if something like the Lloyd LaCuesta phenomenon happened again, I could theoretically pick a day to let you ask him questions, and then bring a laptop to whatever rainstorm/multiple murder scene he's stuck in so he can answer them himself. (My goal is to get Paul from the Diamond Center answering your questions on VYou before next Spring.) Read More 'All of your questions answered on VYou ...' »
| Nov 15 at 06:42 AM
Friday, November 12, 2010
The five most delicious "Star Wars" characters of all time
For "Star Wars" fans including myself who have watched "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" 40 or 50 times, it's easy to start focusing on weird little details, developing strange conspiracy theories and maybe even imagining some things that aren't even there.
devnet.superoffice.com
Bantha meat: A little too gamey for our list.
For example, when looking at the different aliens in the Mos Eisley cantina in "Star Wars," I can't help but speculate what drugs the special effects people might have been on when each new species got designed. (Marijuana ... Marijuana ... Peyote ... A really bad batch of LSD.)
During other parts of the series -- especially "Return of the Jedi" -- I have a theory that the character designers ended up doing a lot of work when they were really, really hungry. Either that or they were running out of ideas, and decided to develop the last few characters based on whatever was left over in the Lucasfilm pantry and communal refrigerator. Based solely on the inhabitants of Jabba's Palace, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a character on the cutting room floor who looked like a Double Stuff Oreo.
And with that, I bring you the five most delicious-looking "Star Wars" characters of all time, along with one honorable mention. I only chose characters from the six live action films, although you're welcome to dine on characters from "The Clone Wars" and "The Star Wars Holiday Special." Please add your own choices to the comments. Read More 'The five most delicious "Star Wars" characters of all time' »
| Nov 12 at 06:38 AM
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