SPUR and urban living

SPUR without signage yet

Loungy interiors - not a loungy crowd...

Opening day

I attended the opening party for the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) at their brand spanking new building on 654 Mission St. (thanks Steven for the invite!) The space seemed smaller than I expected, though that may be due to the packed masses of urban planning enthusiasts and city developers jammed into the modest square footage.

I support alot of their program goals, especially making SF a more livable and transit friendly city. Having lived in one of the most livable cities in the world (Vancouver, BC) and now living in one of the most expensive cities in the US, I have high expectations about spending so much of my income just to stay here. I continually weigh the pros and cons of urban life in SF. Could I find a comparable lifestyle in Seattle or Toronto, which are somewhat more reasonable financially? I know I still want to stay near a vital downtown, and SF has one of the most populated and popular downtowns of any city in the States. It also has great cultural venues, museums, restaurants, gay culture galore, mild climate and scenic vistas everywhere you look. BUT...it's also very expensive, dirty, druggy, politically retarded, has inconsistent public transit at best (a real hell hole at worst), precious little green space (despite wearing environmentalism like a boy scout medal) and just plain full of itself.

The SPUR center has a board with cards indicating "what's the first thing you would like to do if you were mayor of SF?". Where to start?

SFMOMA Rooftop Sculpture Garden

I went to the opening preview of SFMOMA's new rooftop sculpture garden last Saturday and enjoyed the beautiful day in this lovely new space (15,000 square foot expansion) designed by Jensen Architects and landscape designers Conger Moss Guillard. It's connected to the cavernous 5th floor gallery (my favorite floor) and gives an eye popping view of the art deco PacBell Building. Cost? A cool 24 million.

Also, for you coffee snobs, Blue Bottle coffee is opening a retail stand here!




Of course, I suffered a tongue lashing from the Filipino security guard for taking this video "No video, pictoors OK"...I didn't mind so much as she reminded me of the kindly Filipino nurses at San Mateo County Hospital where I did my residency.

Still Walking or Aruitemo Aruitemo *****

I think I'm partial to certain Asian films about family life (the masters are Ang Lee and Yasujiro Ozu) because I see so much that is familiar in my own family dynamics. The passive aggressive tactics and the importance of what is NOT said over what is actually verbalized. So watching the new film Still Walking from Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda at the 2009 SFIFF felt like "going home" in a way.

The story is quite simple. There is a small family reunion of two siblings with their respective families, visiting their elderly parents. We don't know there has been a death in the family until the early mid part of the film, and it takes some time and attention to fully realize all the different family connections. It feels really natural and unforced. The father is a retired clinic doctor who is still overly invested in his past career. The mother "who has never worked a day in her life" but is more than the dutiful caretaker that she projects. The son is reluctantly returning home with a new wife that was widowed with a young son. The daughter is happily married and a mother of two rather spoiled brats. The film basically follows the family gathering over the course of 32 hours. Nothing earth shattering happens, but at the end of the day, you get the sense that each character had a major shift in their life.

The style of direction and story seems most similar to Ozu, especially the static shots and family structure of the storyline. However, I was also reminded of Demme's Rachel Getting Married, in which you immerse yourself in another family reunion. However, in that film the communication is far more direct and confrontational, befitting an American family. They would make interesting companion pieces in a study of cultural differences. The actors are all very believable, especially the handsome Hiroshi Abe who plays the son Ryota and the fabulously named Kirin Kiki who plays the mother. I look forward to checking out the films of Mr. Koreeda, I've only seen Nobody Knows.

Art? Exploitation? Bad taste?

I saw these images for Italian tile company Bisazza in this month's Metopolitan Home and shook my head. I didn't immediately recognize them as the work of controversial photographer Nobuyoshi Araki. The name is only familiar from browsing the former Virgin's bookstore, and remembering the tackiness of his photos in a Phaidon collection. I don't remember finding them particularly offensive, but this ad campaign changed my mind. Why?

We have a Japanese woman tied up like a turkey, posing in sexually provocative positions and looking frightened (OK that may be subjective, but I don't think tears usually signify a sense of feeling powerful). I read in this blog that she is "tied in the ancient art of Japanese bondage or kinbaku". Well, just because something is "an ancient art" doesn't make it acceptable.

Is this just another version of S&M? Perhaps. I really don't care what two consenting adults do in their own bedroom. I guess the images really bother me because of the overt posing of this woman as, not only a minority, but a possible victim of violence. The whole sexualization of violence is disturbing to me. Especially any images even hinting at rape and torture as an "alternative lifestyle"...it just doesn't belong in a mainstream magazine, let alone an ad advertising overpriced tiles!!

This reminds me of the recent trend of "torture porn" films like Saw and Hostel. I know some of my friends really enjoy these films, but I just can't imagine viewing someone getting tortured as entertainment.

I did a quick survey of friends about what they thought of this ad, and most seemed marginally negative about it. Nobody seemed as disturbed as I am. I was a little surpised given the backlash those Abercrombie "wong brothers" t-shirts got a few years back.