Ha! This just occured to me:

I really love the minimalist Golden Gate Transit logo you see on the buses and bus stop signs around here. It’s the simplest possible way to evoke the region: blue sea, green hills (at least in the winter and spring), and orange bridge. I wonder if the logo has a name, perhaps something like the tri-color swoosh or the Golden Gate figure-8?

Judging from their website, it seems that the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District has been phasing the logo out in favor of one that leaves much less to the imagination. That’s too bad. All it really needs is the Web 2.0 treatment (think: gradients, reflections, drop shadows) for a new lease on life.

Oh what the heck, I couldn’t help myself. I even managed to add a fourth element: the fog.

I discovered the other day that the color of the bridge is known as international orange, which was chosen because:

it blends well with the span’s natural setting as it is a warm color consistent with the warm colors of the land masses in the setting as distinct from the cool colors of the sky and sea. It also provides enhanced visibility for passing ships.

The HTML hex notation for international orange is #FF4F00. Neat.

Last year Mark gave a rousing review of his experience at the Crucible’s annual Fire Arts Festival in Oakland. “They had these fire torches that shot flames up within range of the BART trains traveling overhead,” he said. I was instantly bummed I’d missed it. So when it started getting close this year, I was vocal about wanting to go.

Given past enjoyment in capturing flames in motion at night, I was looking forward to bringing my camera and documenting the experience on my blog—for friends near and far. That is, until just before we left, when I stumbled upon this strongly worded prohibition:

In order to protect our patrons’ privacy and respect our performers and artists ingenuity we ask that there be no photography or videography without prior written permission from The Crucible. Under no circumstance will images of The Fire Arts Festival be sold without written consent from The Crucible in addition to a model release from individual(s) depicted in the image. By purchasing a ticket, you agree to abide by these rules.

You might as well just say, “Please do not blog about our event.” Somewhat disappointed, I left the camera behind. Some things are meant to be experienced and not captured, I reminded myself. Except that once we arrived, there were tons of cameras. What a crock.

Well anyway, around midnight, just as we (Mark, Monica, Marcia, Stephanie, and I) were getting ready to pack it up and head back to Santa Rosa, we saw the fire tornado demo starting up—which I’d heard good things about but hadn’t seen thus far.

Imagine 6 or 7 large industrial fans set up in a circle, all pointing slightly right of center so as to create a funnel of air. Then imagine two crazy dudes in silver flame retardant and heat resistent “bunny” suits, both holding long poles spraying out some highly flammable liquid—most likely propane, the fuel-du-jour at this event. Then imagine them doing this so as to create a giant funnel of flames that shoots straight up into the air.

Seriously. It was so hot and slightly off-center (towards our side) at several points that we had to scramble backwards to lessen the heat.

Suffice it to say, I took the liberty of snapping a few shots with my camera phone. Enjoy.

Regina Gleeson, curator of the Better Than the Real Thing? project, has a website, culturalfishing.net, whose header image currently includes a laptop sitting on a desk, displaying a closeup of my blog, justinsomnia.org, which at the time happened to be displaying a neatlink homage to Magritte with an image of Martin Shannon’s excellent Self-portrait as Amanda Coogan as David with Cattle.

When we tired of Friday night’s hustle and bustle, Stephanie and I took leave of our comrades and headed over to the Hotel Bijou, as this weekend, come rain or shine, we were going to explore the city. A little more.

We woke up late Saturday, gobbled down half a loaf of banana bread (that Stephanie had made and brought with!), and walked down Market to the SFMOMA. Stephanie had never been, and I was quite happy to go back after visiting with my sister last month. We stopped in at the Caffe Museo for a little salad and pizza before beginning our arting.

Two of my favorites from their collection are Roy Lichtenstein’s Rouen Cathedral Set V (after Monet)

and Diego Rivera’s The Flower Carrier

Of course don’t forget the beyond wonderful Calder exhibit—which runs through May 21, 2006. I especially liked his wire sculpture of two acrobats that appeared both flat and three dimensional, no matter what angle you viewed it from, and these two amazingly balanced floor mobiles towards the end, and…

We stayed till our eyes were dry from looking at so much and our legs were sore from walking the four floors of art. That and the museum was about to close.

Dinner was a spicy curry and kebabs at an Indian and Pakastani restaurant outside our hotel. We went back to our room to dress up a little, then hopped a cab over to see Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake at the Orpheum Theater.

If I’ve learned anything, it’s dancing = complex. Oh my god. And if you can’t tell by the graphic at the right, this was Swan Lake with a twist—which I’m beginning to realize is how Stephanie likes her dancing. The Swan was played by a male dancer, there was homoeroticism, sensuality, humor, and well, violence. And did I mention complicated, intricate dancing involving a dozen or more people on stage?

Afterwards we went out in search of bar with a view, eventually making our way to the aptly named View Lounge on the 39th floor of the Marriott Hotel. We had mojitos (which I think is my new drink of choice) and a bite of chocolate before heading back to our hotel to collapse.