Feathers Fire and Sound

It's been a rough couple of weeks so excuse the delay, but there were a couple of notable moments to document.

I attended Audium, the "sculpture through sound" theater which is only set up for this sort of performance. It looks straight out of 2001: Space Odyssey, with a very 60s feel. You sit in a circle in a round room with walls full of speakers. They turn off all the lights and the show begins. You are in pitch blackness for about an hour and a half, listening to abstract and recorded sounds, some of which sound like the beeps from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and some which sound like you are standing in the middle of a street and a parade is marching around and past you. I couldn't take photos in the mod theater, but there was some interesting art in the lobby.



I went to the Chinese New Year parade and street fair. This photo is interesting only because it shows one of the streets of the fair, all of which were still allowing vehicle traffic. Chaos.



One day X wanted to make flying thai-style lanterns. Not having a clue how to do it, we each tried our own style.





Neither flew, but both made brief and fiery spectacles on Ocean Beach. I later learned that the lanterns are much huger than we had thought--bigger than a person, as you see in my friend Nik's blog. We will be re-attempting this venture. Stand back.



On a totally different note, I sometimes go to this park in SF. The park is not a secret, but it is hidden. It's the Levi's park, part of the plaza, and its design is fascinating and soothing. It has to be the cleanest and best park in SF, unfortunately probably owing a lot to the private security that patrols it. A great place for a work day picnic, with RJ's market and deli right near by.



On Valentine's Day I had the uncertain pleasure of taking part in the massive pillow fight at the Embarcadero center. It was quite a spectacle and lasted with earnest for half an hour, though there were many smacking stragglers. Wish I could post video! My friends ended up on the news talking about how my friend's shirt busted open mid-fight. This 5 second sound byte was of course clipped from a five minute interview. There were gusts of feathers blowing down Market Street afterwards. The flying snowstorm of feathers during the fight made the softcore violence almost magical. Definitely special.





X and I went for a night walk in the city down to the Aquatic Park and saw a seal in the cold water and a nice skyline, for which this photo doesn't do justice.