16.08.12 - Le Fin

My last full day. I was at a loss at what to do; I couldn’t think of anything specific that I was desperate to do, so I went to my map for inspiration. My map is almost dead, creases have turned to tears and it is on its last legs, but it has served me well. I wanted to get some Vietnamese dim sum for lunch so I knew that I was going to head north first. The only place of interest marked on the map, that I had not yet been to, was the Walt Disney Family Museum, so I decided to head there. I ate my

dim sum brunch at the top of the Presidio with a view over the Golden Gate before heading down into the park to find the museum. The Presidio has been an army base for centuries as a good location of spying people trying to sneak through into the bay. It is now a park with houses, walks, George Lucas’ head quarters, businesses, etc. The main areas still have a military feel about them, the buildings have been erected for the armed services, rows of white, wooden, porched buildings are divided by wide stretches of green lawn. 

Before heading to the main Disney attraction I came across a free exhibition about the Golden Gate before the bridge. It was named after the Golden Gate of Istanbul. The SF Bay is fed by 16 rivers from the Sierra Nevada, it drains approx 40% of California. The Bay Area can be considered the 19th largest economy in the world.

I have to admit that the Walt Disney Museum was amazing, I spent nearly 3 hours there which is unheard of for me, a chronic sufferer from museum fatigue. It is about the man rather than the empire and chronicles his life; I was almost in tears when he died, the place totally sucked me in. I’d never really though of Disney films not being blockbusters but many of them weren’t very popular; Alice in Wonderland for one. Pinocchio is the most detailed animation ever made (apparently). Walt was friends with Salvador Dali. But what I loved most of all was realising how crazy Fantasia is. It is a relatively early Disney movie and it is basically an art house video; it is so abstract and innovative. We view it now as an old favourite but when it is considered in a contemporary context it is an extraordinary piece.

(This not very good picture shows a film from 1931 compared to a film from 1939. As you can see the difference made in 8 years is massive.)

I got on a bus going to Munich and Geneva; towards the centre of town. I had a really delicious meal and then went to the cinema. I thought I should on my last night as it’s been quite a theme to my stay. I saw 360, a film loosely based on Le Ronde, a B&W film in which a sexually transmitted disease is passed form character to character. The new film was less linear, and connections were not always sexual. It was fine but nothing amazing, lots of famous people in it including Anthony Hopkins who was superb.

Last sleep.

15.08.12 - Au Revoir NAM

My last day in the office. It felt weird walking out thinking that I might never see those people again. I am going to be their London corespondent, whether I’ll ever write anything I don’t know but it’s nice to have that connection.

I used my lunch break to send my framed photo to San Diego. The framing is fine, nothing more I can do apart form hope that it arrives. I have also been contacted by Vogue, asking if I want to be part of a photography advertorial. I have to pay of course but I am going to do it, might as well. Then I can be ‘as featured in Vogue’.

I have started packing up my things, hoping that what I am going to leave behind amounts to the same as new things that I have bought.

I have spent the last couple of evenings trying to finish the large tome on Hugh Trevor Roper. Nearly there. 

Here is Mr T-R’s chilling opinion on Murdoch. “‘He aims to moronise and Americanise the population’ and ‘wants to destroy our institutions, to rot them with a daily corrosive acid’. Hugh speculated about the psychological reason for this attitude. As an undergraduate at Oxford Murdoch had been very left-wing, and had displayed a poster of Lenin on the wall of his room. Hugh recognised that Murdoch tended to appoint peers to the board of Times Newspapers Limited, as if to say, ‘All these people are buyable, they’re digging their own graves for me.”

14.08.12 - Hitting the Tracks

Today I was asked to cover a New America Media teleconference on Deferred Action on Childhood Entry, which is a new law that means children who were brought here illegally, i.e. through no choice of their own, can claim a two year deferment on possible deportation. If they are successful they can then apply for college or a work permit, something that they cannot currently do. I had to have the phone tucked under one ear and type down what people said; quotes, stats, opinions, whilst listening. I am not fast enough at typing for this, my document has so many red lines on it that it looked as though I’d been smashing my fists into the keyboard.

After work I took my bicycle back to the shop where I’d bought it so that they could buy it back from me. Disaster struck on my way there and I fell off my bike onto my hands and knees. I had been trying to turn left when I wasn’t meant to and had got my tyre stuck in the tram tracks. I wasn’t hurt apart from a bruise on my knee and a few scratches on my hands but it was pretty spectacular, right on the main street, in front of a fire engine coming up behind me. Serves me right for trying to cycle where I wasn’t meant to. I felt like a little kid who’d skidded off their bike and wanted their mummy.

I got $140 back for my bike and accessories, about half what I paid, including a $100 bill.

I went back for a second serving of spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread, very satisfying but maybe not a great idea 45 minutes before Tuesday Yoga. I also realised that knees and hands are the most unfortunate places to have bruises when doing yoga.

Bad news from the fitness centre; they no longer do long course swimming. Just as I had discovered the joys of 50m swimming I am reduced to a puny 25m option. The trials of life.

13.08.12 - Sympathising with Mother Hubbard

My last week at work! I am really excited about coming home but slightly scared of returning to real life. I will have to release all of my day dreams into the real world and see if they survive.

I had lunch with Aisha today. She is half African American (AA) and half Japanese. I hadn’t really thought about the fact that AAs descended from slaves often have no idea where in Africa their ancestors are from which must be weird, or maybe it’s not, I’m just so used to knowing exactly who all of my forebears are. Her Dad’s family (the Japanese side) were not very happy about him marrying her Mum. She works as a teacher but spends her holidays travelling around the world hunting out recording artists to make tracks with or spreading the word about Raptivism. Her next destination is Kazakhstan.

In the afternoon I interviewed a woman who works for the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library about their book donation centre and how they reuse recycle all of the books. They get over 50,000 a month and make over $1.3 million dollars a year in sales. I’m not sure if there’s enough for a proper story though.

After that I walked through the sunny streets to pick up my print and then take it on to Fast Frames for a speedy turn around. Either I’ve been massively ripped off or framing here is really expensive, it was about 3 times more than I would pay in London. But I didn’t have much choice as time is running out to get it framed and sent before I go.

An unexciting evening at home, eating the remnants of my fridge. I will be eating out for the rest of the week unless I fancy dry couscous, chocolate and sauerkraut.

12.08.12 - An Evening of Light Rap

Felt pretty ropey this morning, so kept to my bed for most of it. Managed to drag myself to the usual Vietnamese and perked myself up with a Vietnamese coffee and soup. Then I went to meet Bradley and a couple of his friends in the Marina area, where we had gone on the first Sunday that we met. It was a farewell drink but what’s nice is that he is going to be at AJ’s wedding in a couple of weeks so we’ll be meeting up soon on the other side of the pond.

One of the girls called Aisha Fukushima who comes into the office occasionally has set up RAPtivism, a one woman band that promotes universal justice and freedom through hip hop. She is really nice and I’ve bumped into her in Golden Gate Park practising her songs. Tonight she was performing in the Mission district in a tiny, volunteer propelled venue called the Red Poppy Art House, with two other artists. I went with Elena who is one of the editors. She’s fun but needs a bit of warming up before she gets going. It’s weird to have the boot on the other foot and be with someone who clearly doesn’t feel the need to say much, I end up being the chatty one. Aisha has an incredible voice; so full and resonant. For the first half of her set she swept her hair up into a big wrap on top of her head and she looked like an African goddess. The other two acts were probably more interesting if you were a hip-hop fan but they didn’t have the quality of Aisha’s voice. She has a new mega fan in me.

The Red Poppy also organises MAPP (Mission Arts and Performance Project) which once every few months gets people to open up their living rooms or garages for up and coming artists to perform in around the area, singers, poets, rappers, artists, and people can go to them all for free over the course of the evening. I thought that it sounded like such an amazing idea; I am discovering all of this new stuff just as I am about to leave.

If I was staying I would also cultivate Elena as a friend, she’s sharp and witty, although I think that she might be a tough one to crack. She doesn’t give much away and often looks a bit like a moody teenager who needs to wash their hair but I think I could do it if I had the time.

11.08.12 - Mexican Chip Buttie

I went into town for a free Lomography workshop in 360 degree photography. They make a camera that spins 360 when you pull a little string, like a salad spinner, whilst you hold a handle attached to the bottom of the camera. Hard to explain but what you get is 35mm negatives without any breaks, so a continuous negative of a 360 view. There were only 3 of us in the class, we wandered around the piers by the Ferry Building but I had to leave early because I had agreed to meet up with the Dutch guy who had made a video of the homeless man. The reality did not live up to my image of a cool Dutch man, just back from a road trip down the West coast. He was really nice, a primary school IT teacher. A self described geek. It turned out that he had not actually made the video, he had wanted to but when he had arranged to meet the homeless guy again he had never turned up. So, it is a bit of a non-story but it is always nice to meet nice people. In the Netherlands they also have health insurance but there it is compulsory (like Obama is trying to bring in) and seems to work as a system. I guess having much fewer people in a much smaller country helps.

I have managed to break the loo; not my fault, the plastic handle inside the cistern broke and looked as if it was on its way out anyway. I’m hoping that Sandra won’t keep my deposit because of it but I can imagine that she might. I got told off for scratching the inside of the tumble dryer, I didn’t even know that was a thing to avoid. 

Bradley took me out for a Korean BBQ; there are lots near me so it was just round the corner on Geary Street. We had a little grill in between us on which we cooked beef rib meat and belly pork. They were delicious. We were presented with 16 different plates of bit and pieces to eat with the meat; lettuce, radish, tiny little fish like mini, mini whitebait but chewy rather than crunchy, bean sprouts, something like coleslaw and lots of things that I couldn’t identify. At the end of the meal we were given little bowls of rice wine but I was in the loo when they arrived so Bradley told me it was for washing my fingers in. So I did. Luckily for him I thought that it was hilarious, apparently his ex-girlfriend had a hissy fit when he did it to her. Although he did it the other way round and told her that you were meant to drink the hot, lemon soup after eating lobster. 

From there we went to Thieves Tavern which is the dive bar that we went to before. They had Olympic highlights on so I got to watch Tom Daley get bronze, Mo Farah get Gold and the Jamaicans win Gold in the relay. Afterwards we got a California burrito which is steak, chips and cheese wrapped in a tortilla. With some gravy this would go down a storm in the Toon.

10.08.12 - Don’t Go To Killer Joe

This morning I went to interview the editor of Street Sheet, which is San Francisco’s homeless newspaper. Their offices are in the Tenderloin and are pretty run down. All of the chairs available to sit on looked as though someone had wet themselves whilst sitting on them. The Street Sheet is unlike the Big Issue because it is much more politically motivated and the few articles that it runs are about their view on government policies rather than a more magazine style. The vendors also get 100% of what they make by selling the paper. They claim that the homeless problem in SF is 90% due to the lack of affordable, cue some Reagan and Thatcher bashing. The most interesting thing that they told me was that a lot of tourists buy the paper and then send them donations afterwards. I am going to investigate this and see if the same is true for other US homeless papers or the Big Issue. He also mentioned a Dutch guy who had made a video of one of their vendors to try to find him a job, which might be worth exploring as well.

I walked down Market Street to a printing shop to have my photo printed for the show in San Diego. Lunch round the corner, a good American Cobb salad. It was a surprisingly small portion by American standards, I was a bit disappointed. I’m used to being served  a whole platter of food. It was a nice day so I walked back home along the Haight, had a disappointing crepe, bought a denim shirt.

A Friday night’s  activity I went to the cinema to see ‘Killer Joe’. It is the only film that I’ve seen that I would not recommend. It was weird; violent and sick to the point where it made me feel uncomfortable and I was uncomfortable that people were laughing at it.