Saturday in Berkeley and SF
Aug. 27th, 2005 11:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trocheeFriday night I drove to Oakland and had dinner with AA (& CM), IZ (& M). We had a delicious dinner with fresh green salad (along with grilled goat cheese crostini) and a baked macaroni-and-cheese that was really yummy. We talked about travels in Europe, about the concept of a radical Haggadah, and catching up on old times, red wine, and sherry. We adjourned to the living room (despite complicated politics with M's roommate) and watched Akira; I've only seen that movie once before and I liked it much better this time; I may write at some point about my sense of Akira as a Japanese cyberpunk Peter Pan.
I spent the night in Berkeley in AA's spare bedroom again, and in the morning we awoke and walked to the local "gourmet ghetto" (a real neighborhood name) to get new bread and cheese, and picked a tomato at CM's garden, and then realized we should have French toast instead.
After breakfast, we three (AA, CM and I) piled in my rental car and drove (at CM's recommendation) to the San Francisco Zine Fest at Cell Space. The three of us were not participating in the fest (except as fans) and I spent perhaps too much on clever little comics from independent artists. CM collects odd books and pamphlets, and he picked up a number of old Emma Goldman reprints, and other things. I found several really marvelous well-produced comics from Global Hobo distributors; I hope that the content is as entertaining as the quality of the black-and-white line art. I also picked up a number of other bits based on one or more of the following reasons: the art was intriguing, the producer was cute; the producer was nice or funny; the story or subject amused me even when the art did not.
I also picked up collections called "Coffeehouse Crushes" (about, well, crushes that happened around coffeehouses in Portland) and "Constant Rider Omnibus" (about the people seen riding the bus, also in Portland). For several creators and distributors, I escaped as quickly as possible -- a few were odd, and some were quite noticeably nuts. But many are quite friendly folk. Most of the people there were exchanging with each other; that I showed up to inject $50 or so into the local zine economy was a big win for everybody.
We had some lunch with their friends J and C who had themselves been at the show; J runs a mail-art zine known as "Red Letter Day". I didn't catch whether C also creates zines or if she was a fan/friend like me.
We left for Japantown, where AA spent an incredible amount in the Ichiban-Kan dollar store. I took them out to an early dinner at a (Japanese) restaurant and we visited the surprisingly pleasant Japanese mall -- despite its size, each corner feels like part of a much smaller building.
We returned to Berkeley via the Golden Gate Bridge, and stopped to look back at the city from the East Bay vista just off the bridge, talking about houseboats and the advantages of visitors (one gets to see parts of the city that are famous and well-known, because the visitors provide an excuse) and hoping that they will come and visit me in Seattle sometime soon. I would like that much. Our return to Berkeley landed just after sunset, and we wandered over to CM's house to sit, read the pamphlets and zines, and (in my case) write Livejournal entries.
I spent the night in Berkeley in AA's spare bedroom again, and in the morning we awoke and walked to the local "gourmet ghetto" (a real neighborhood name) to get new bread and cheese, and picked a tomato at CM's garden, and then realized we should have French toast instead.
After breakfast, we three (AA, CM and I) piled in my rental car and drove (at CM's recommendation) to the San Francisco Zine Fest at Cell Space. The three of us were not participating in the fest (except as fans) and I spent perhaps too much on clever little comics from independent artists. CM collects odd books and pamphlets, and he picked up a number of old Emma Goldman reprints, and other things. I found several really marvelous well-produced comics from Global Hobo distributors; I hope that the content is as entertaining as the quality of the black-and-white line art. I also picked up a number of other bits based on one or more of the following reasons: the art was intriguing, the producer was cute; the producer was nice or funny; the story or subject amused me even when the art did not.
I also picked up collections called "Coffeehouse Crushes" (about, well, crushes that happened around coffeehouses in Portland) and "Constant Rider Omnibus" (about the people seen riding the bus, also in Portland). For several creators and distributors, I escaped as quickly as possible -- a few were odd, and some were quite noticeably nuts. But many are quite friendly folk. Most of the people there were exchanging with each other; that I showed up to inject $50 or so into the local zine economy was a big win for everybody.
We had some lunch with their friends J and C who had themselves been at the show; J runs a mail-art zine known as "Red Letter Day". I didn't catch whether C also creates zines or if she was a fan/friend like me.
We left for Japantown, where AA spent an incredible amount in the Ichiban-Kan dollar store. I took them out to an early dinner at a (Japanese) restaurant and we visited the surprisingly pleasant Japanese mall -- despite its size, each corner feels like part of a much smaller building.
We returned to Berkeley via the Golden Gate Bridge, and stopped to look back at the city from the East Bay vista just off the bridge, talking about houseboats and the advantages of visitors (one gets to see parts of the city that are famous and well-known, because the visitors provide an excuse) and hoping that they will come and visit me in Seattle sometime soon. I would like that much. Our return to Berkeley landed just after sunset, and we wandered over to CM's house to sit, read the pamphlets and zines, and (in my case) write Livejournal entries.
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Date: 2005-08-28 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-28 10:55 pm (UTC)Is it friday yet ?
Date: 2005-08-28 10:00 pm (UTC)I am doing better today fyi . Thank you for last night's talk.
I miss you sooooo much.
W and I had a talk about you and your relationship to comics. You should ask him about it. It was a good one !
Finder nbr 2.... !!!!! Gotta go to your house and get that !
God.... another 6 days before you come home.
I am ready !!!!
Je t'aime.
Re: Is it friday yet ?
Date: 2005-08-28 10:54 pm (UTC)Sin-Eater 2 is good schtuff. But I can't wait until you get into the following books. She really hits her stride there.
Re: Is it friday yet ?
Date: 2005-08-29 02:23 am (UTC)Well, one of us added the hawt adjective. I'll let you guess who.
Re: Is it friday yet ?
Date: 2005-08-29 02:30 am (UTC)