Techie aphrodisiacs have their limits
With the town overrun with socialnetworking bons vivants, the subject under discussion on Mission Local is dating techies. Marta Franco’s story on the site quotes at least one woman with reservations: “Coding doesn’t make me excited,” she said.
And then, of course, there are commenters, complaining about the assumption that techies are male and that Mission women are all of a type, too, as well as complaining about the subject matter. “Oh dear,” writes one person, “is MissionLocal turning into Cosmo?”
Of course, there’s nothing new about the process of attraction. Bridge tales keep on coming: Roger Moss and his wife, Jean, attended a luncheon at the St. Francis Yacht Club, organized by the Golden Gate Bridge district, to which people who had walked across the span on opening day, in 1937, were invited. Jean was 10 years old when she walked across the bridge with her grandmother and her Aunt Mae.
After lunch, the Mosses were getting ready to leave when an “affable old gent approached,” said Roger, “saying, ‘You were a bridge walker.’ When she said, ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘I knew it, I recognized you. And you haven’t changed a bit.’ ”
P.S.: Emily Duffy, whose art car, Vain Van, was in the automotive timeline at Crissy Field, says it was somehow put into the line in the 1980s, perhaps to make more interesting an era that she describes as kind of “boring, empty.” The car’s decorated with mirrors, cosmetics and the like, and vanity, of course, is a concept that goes on forever. “We were honored to be included and represent a bit of S.F.’s Bohemian side.”
P.S.: Italian Consul General Fabrizio Marcelli and Carol Marcelli hosted a jolly reception on Saturday for Italian National Day, but it was a little bittersweet, too. The Marcellis will return to Rome later this month, and many guests were sad to see them go.
As to what Carol Marcelli will miss most about San Francisco, she named the Crissy Field promenade. “On a sunny day? Its unique combination of colors fills you with peace.”
At Grumpy’s last week, where colleagues of newsman David Louie of KGO gathered to celebrate his 40th year in journalism, the talk was about the John Edwards trial. One media expert suggested, reports Lee Houskeeper, that a new punishment be levied as a sentence on politicians run amok: They’d be forbidden ever to be on television again, a fate far worse than anything else.
“Given the fallout on Facebook’s IPO,” observes Ken Duffy, “I hope on his wedding night that Mark Zuckerberg’s initial private offering was not disappointing.”
First, the end: The winners of $10,000 scholarships in Monday’s Beach Blanket Babylon Scholarship for the Arts 2012, the 10th such event, were actor Nicolas Chuba of Santa Rosa High School, dancer Mariko Ishikawa of Aragon High School in San Mateo and singer Jake Brinskele of Sonoma Academy in Santa Rosa. They were all accomplished; they’ll all go on to become even more so. Between heats of the competition, emcee Don Bleu of 103.7 FM did interviews with prior winners, revealing that most have become theatrical pros.
The event, of course, is about pros reaching out to lend a hand to dreamers. And there they were, seated in the middle of the audience, the judges. They are the Bay Area’s best: San Francisco Symphony maestro Michael Tilson Thomas, composers Gordon Getty and Jake Heggie, mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao, cabaret singer Paula West, KGO’s Don Sanchez, KMEL’s Chuy Gomez, entertainer-entrepreneur MC Hammer, California Shakespeare Theater’s Jon Moscone, ACT’s Carey Perloff, Berkeley Rep’s Tony Taccone and ODC’s Brenda Way.
Did watching the competition bring back memories? “I think it evoked my early audition experiences,” said judge Way, “and I think it made me very generous.” In particular, she recalled auditioning for “Oklahoma” in a summer production in Connecticut. “I did not get it. I remember the whole need to deliver in a small space. My empathy was sky high.”
P.S.: Everyone’s a performer: On a sunny day last week, Peter Drachsler saw a UPS driver “leaning against the bumper of his truck, taking in the sun while blowing cool notes on his trumpet, fitted with a mute. What a great sight and sound on a beautiful day in the city.”