Elephant Dung Paper

I received a picture frame today from a friend in Italy, and it’s made from elephant dung!  Seriously.  Check out the label:

 

Here’s the frame, with a favorite Robert Fuller portrait:

It’s too much fun to say “elephant dung paper.”  You can bet I’ll be working it into a lot of conversations…

Armistice Day 2012

Today is Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I in 1918.  Also known as Poppy Day and Remembrance Day in commonwealth countries.  WWI began with bravado and confidence—most people believed it would last only a few months.  Four long, bloody years later, the world had irrevocably changed.

This point was brought home to me over the summer.  I attended a special screening of the silent documentary South, featuring the footage shot by Frank Hurley on Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition with the ship Endurance.   The screening was accompanied by live music and narrated with excerpts from Shackleton’s journal, read by actor Paul McGann.  The expedition began the week war broke out in Europe, on August 8, 1914.  Shackleton and his men were isolated from the world and its news when the Endurance was trapped and destroyed by ice.  When Shackleton finally made it to a whaling station in South Georgia two years later, the first question he asked was, “When did the war in Europe end?”  He was told the war was still dragging on, with no end in sight.  Many of his men, after surviving the hardships of the Antarctic, returned home to fight in the trenches of France.

They ask me where I’ve been,
And what I’ve done and seen.
But what can I reply
Who know it wasn’t I,
But someone just like me,
Who went across the sea
And with my head and hands
Killed men in foreign lands…
Though I must bear the blame,
Because he bore my name.

— Wilfred Gibson

Today is also Veterans Day in the United States.  To those who have served in the armed forces, we thank you for your service.

Troops recite the oath of allegiance during a naturalization ceremony on an aircraft elevator on board the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, Nov. 6, 2012. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sponsored the ceremony during which 41 service members from 19 countries became U.S. citizens.

Photo credit for Becoming Citizens: US Department of Defense.   Special thanks to Shay for the World War I images.  The poem by Wilfred Gibson is “Back.”

San Francisco Halloween 2012

Every year, I take my camera to the Halloween block party off Central Avenue on Grove.  This year, I got there before the light left and the rain began.  What a great bunch of kiddies and doggies this year!  My thanks to the parents and dog owners who do such a great job with the costumes.

(Click on any photo to scroll through larger versions.)

An Argo/Tout Sweet Birthday

Today is my birthday, and I celebrated by going to see Argo with a friend.  Sometimes the movies that have a lot of Oscar buzz leave me cold.  I recognize their excellence but I feel disconnected, without an emotional involvement in the characters and story.  Not the case with Argo.  I was totally engrossed from the beginning, which gives a brief but helpful overview to the events leading up to the Iran hostage crisis.  I was a junior in high school when it began, and while I was aware of the overall situation during those years, I was also busy living my teenage life.  The movie made me realize how little attention I’ve paid to the major historical events in my lifetime.  Anyway, I recommend Argo, even though the hair and fashions will make you cringe.  Believe me, I was cringing then, too.

After the movie, my friend and I headed to Tout Sweet Patisserie, Yigit Pura’s new dessert shop in Union Square.  It’s a lovely space, with a delightful staff and a great view of the Square.  I had the Petit Tout Sweet cake and my friend had the sous-vide poached egg sandwich.  I met Yigit Pura a couple of years ago at the GLAAD Media Awards, and again last October at the Meals on Wheels calendar signing at Macys.  I’ve been following the progress of Tout Sweet through facebook and twitter, and today was the perfect day to visit.  Yum!

Happy Easter 2012

There are many ways to celebrate this weekend.  I’m always torn between the drama of the evening Easter Vigil and the morning service with all the children in their adorable Easter outfits.  Here I am with my brother, all dressed up for Easter in 1966.  No matter how you spend your Easter, or Passover, may it be filled with joy.  (A little chocolate isn’t such a bad thing, either!)

Easter 1966

Spring in Devon, England

My friend John took this photo in Devon.  These two have spring fever and can’t get enough of each other!

 

Happy Birthday, Cowboys!

Today, The Ugly Bug Ball celebrates two birthdays.

My grandfather was born on this day in 1909.  He wasn’t actually a cowboy.  He was a National Park ranger.   Still, I love this photo of him in a jaunty cowboy hat.

My grandfather in the early 1960s

It’s also Johnny Crawford’s 66th birthday.

Johnny Crawford

He’s best known for playing young Mark McCain on The Rifleman, which everybody knows is my favorite western.  Mark was never seen celebrating his birthday on the show, so I got silly in photoshop to change that.

A Birthday Party at the McCain Ranch (click to see larger, sharper version)

Happy Birthday,  Grandpa John and Johnny!

Taqueria “Art”

San Francisco has a lot of great taquerias, and I love a big vegetarian burrito with lots of sour cream and guacamole.  While the food is great, the art on the walls is sometimes…questionable.  This masterpiece is above the salsa bar at a place on Haight Street.  I often eat my burrito and study it, wondering what happened to this woman’s other breast.

I did wonder if this image was too “mature” to post, but honestly, it’s on the wall in a public place!

A Menu Goof

Menus are great for finding amusing typos.  Here’s a new favorite, from a Burmese/Thai restaurant.

(click to read sharper version)

(Darn it, now I’m hungry!)

Kony 2012

Some things are far more important than being entertained.  I just spent 30 minutes watching the Kony 2012 documentary on YouTube.  I’m sharing it here, to help spread the word about an important cause. (This video is better seen on YouTube in a higher resolution.)

This is a powerful film that works on an emotional level.  There are critics of Invisible Children’s support of military intervention who are also hard at work on the internet.  I trust people will look at what both sides are saying and make up their own minds about how best to get involved.

An Aztec Prayer

(These horses were near Clifden in Galway, Ireland.)

Celebrity Encounters at Borders Books

I worked at the largest Borders Books in San Francisco from 2002 to 2006.  I started as a Christmas temp, hoping to be offered a permanent bookseller position.  I moved into store security instead, and I was simply the worst.  I never caught a single shoplifter.  Fortunately, before my self-esteem was completely shot, a bookseller position opened up.  I was assigned to the children and teen section, my favorite, and I was finally where I belonged.

Through the course of a working shift, we would be rotated around the store every hour.  The store took up four floors, so we did an awful lot of running up and down the escalators.  We’d staff the cash registers, the various information desks, and then organize our own sections.  There were frequent book signings and special in-store performances, and I was often recruited to assist the special events coordinator.   Because the store was located in Union Square, surrounded by big hotels and expensive department stores, we often had celebrity shoppers.  Word would spread quickly through the store when one arrived, especially in my last year, when we wore radio headsets.  Authors would come in to sign their books, even if they had no scheduled book event at the store.  When we were at an information desk and somebody walked up, we’d never know if they were a reader or a writer.  It kept us on our toes!

The first big celebrity store event I experienced was a visit from Eddie Izzard, who came to sign his Dress to Kill DVD.  I was very excited to meet him.  All the employees on break or starting their shifts got to spend a little time with him in the basement employee area, before he went upstairs to do his signing.  He was very cool, and I got an autographed DVD.  Just before I left Borders four years later, Eddie Izzard came back for another signing.  He was obviously more tired this time, probably at the end of a long public appearance tour.  He was just as cool, though, and even more famous.  I enjoyed meeting singers Dar Williams and Joan Baez.  When Jane Fonda came for a book signing, I helped mind her dog.  There were a few times when the events coordinator was busy at another store, so I was put in charge of events with author Laurell K. Hamilton and Blue Dog artist George Rodrigue.

It was fine for us to get autographs when a celebrity came in for a signing, but it was not cool to ask for one from a customer.  Too bad, because my collection would be awesome.  I was still working store security when Alex Rodriguez came in to browse.  I was at my usual position by the door, where he stopped and looked outside, clearly annoyed at the rabid baseball fans who were waiting with their binders full of memorabilia to sign.  I only knew who he was because of the store grapevine, and I’m no baseball fan.  Still, I nodded at him and tried to appear sympathetic.  He was handsome, he seemed a little arrogant, and I could tell his watch was very expensive.  That’s really all I had time to observe before he walked out to be mobbed.

One of the nicest people I helped as a bookseller was actor F. Murray Abraham.  He was energetic and friendly, and I was determined to find something for him.  I took him to three different floors, trying to find a book in stock that he’d find interesting.  It was one of those days when we seemed to be sold out of every title I looked up.  Still, he was full of good humor, and I may have surprised him when I said I enjoyed his performance in the miniseries Dead Man’s Walk.  Maybe he gets tired of hearing about Amadeus.  I had good luck with actors.  I was delighted to find Bill Irwin in the children’s section one day, and we had a quick chat.  I’d worked with him in 1985 at the La Jolla Playhouse, and I’d recently met him again at the stage door after a performance of his stage show Fool Moon.  He’s got to be one of the sweetest people in show business.

The Pursuit of Happyness was filmed in San Francisco, and lots of locals had encounters with the Smith family.  Will Smith came in one evening with an entourage and bodyguards.  I walked right up and asked him if I could help him find a book.  We wandered around two floors, where I made some recommendations and he asked to see some titles.  In the end, he chose The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene as a gift for a relative.  Will Smith was very extroverted, and I could tell he was used to being the center of his universe.  That’s not criticism, just an observation.  A few days later, Jada Pinkett Smith came in to shop, and I brought a book down to the ground floor for her.  Our contact was very brief.  I didn’t get to meet Jaden Smith, but my brother watched him film a scene for the movie.  The author of the book, Chris Gardner, dropped by the store more than once, and I have an autographed copy of his book.  I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I still haven’t read the book or seen the movie!

Simon Cowell was in San Francisco for American Idol auditions, and when I heard he was in the store, I rushed to the ground floor to say hello.  I told him I enjoyed his book I Don’t Mean To Be Rude, But…  He thanked me politely, and I repeated myself, saying I really enjoyed it.  Then he really smiled and told me I’d made his day.  Standing next to him felt strange, until I realized it was because we’re used to seeing him seated behind a table or desk.

British actor Damian Lewis came to the information desk, and I mentioned his miniseries Warriors.  I went on to gush about his co-star, Ioan Gruffudd.  I don’t think that impressed him very much.  Of course, he’s got a wry face, so it was hard to tell.  When David Sedaris was at the desk signing a stack of his books, I told him I was sorry I couldn’t make it to the event he was doing at a local theatre.  He just smirked and said the event was sold out.  At least his personality matches his writing style!  Then there was the author of new-age spirituality books who refused to ride the elevator with us lowly store employees, so she’s now banned permanently from my reading list.

I often ate lunch at a fifties diner across the street from the store, and one time at the counter I sat next to actor Chad Lowe.  I tried not to stare, but once I finished my meal, I said hello.  He was another genuinely nice guy.  Of course, I had to tell him how great he was in Life Goes On, and he told me he was in San Francisco to option a story from author Ethan Canin.  I told him I worked at Borders and encouraged him to drop by.  He said he would try.  Of course, I warned everyone back at work to watch for him, and he came in later, after I’d gone home.

Many of our celebrity sightings were just that.  We’d see them in passing, but that was all.  This was the case for me with Matthew Perry, Nicole Richie, and Rachael Ray.  I walked up and said hello to actor Paul Dooley and he shook my hand, but that’s all there is to tell.  I met Darren Hayes of Savage Garden a second time, as he passed me on his way to the music floor.  (My first encounter with Hayes is included in my last post.)

Some of the authors I met include Neil Gaiman, Chuck Palahniuk, Temple Grandin, Bret Easton Ellis, Walter Mosely, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Phillipa Gregory, Robin Cook, Cara Black, James Patterson, Tom Wolfe, Gregory Maguire, Peter Robinson, Lawrence Block, Nuala O’Faolain, and Yann Martel.  Martel was there to sign his book, but also to insert a small strip of paper at page 317, containing some sentences that had been left out of the first edition paperback.  I’m sure he was relieved when his book went into another printing!  We discussed the different ways Life of Pi could be interpreted, and he wrote in my book, “May you always believe the better story.”

I left Borders when I could no longer cope with the physical demands of the job, and now the store is closed.  It’s sad that the big bookstores killed the small independents, and now the big stores are mostly gone.  Kindles and ipods are great, but I can’t help wondering, how do you get a kindle edition or an mp3 download autographed?  I guess you just take a photo with your cell phone.

Update: Wow, ask the universe a question, and sometimes you get an answer.  Now there is the kindlegraph, modern technology’s answer to the autograph.

Celebrities in the Workplace

I’ve been doing a series of posts about my “stage door encounters,” describing some of the actors I’ve met after seeing them perform.  There’s another kind of celebrity encounter that I haven’t touched on.  Sometimes famous people have come to me.  Well, really to the places where I’ve worked.

My autographed tour tag

I spent two years working at Sea World in San Diego as a tour guide.  It was a great job for a college student, because we got to be around the animals every day, plus we got lots of exercise and sunshine.  Of course, the park was open in every kind of weather, so there were some miserable days, too.  A regular question asked by park guests: What happens at Sea World when it rains?  My standard reply: The marine mammals get wet.  So do the employees.  One of the perks of being a tour guide was the occasional “VIP tour,” when a famous visitor requested a private tour.  I never got to give one of these, but one of my co-workers escorted Steven Spielberg, Richard Dreyfuss and both their families.  I got to see Mikhail Baryshnikov from a distance when he came to swim with the pilot whales, but I had already seen him close up backstage earlier that week with the American Ballet Theatre (a story for another post).  Some of the famous people who came to Sea World didn’t want special treatment.  One day I was staffing the Tour Guide Desk, where we signed people up for our 90 minute tours.  Only a small fraction of park guests were willing to pay extra for a behind-the-scenes educational tour, and it was our job to describe the tour in appealing terms and schedule the guests to allow them to see all the shows and still fit in the tour.  A woman walked up to the desk to ask whether her young daughter would enjoy a tour.  She wasn’t wearing any makeup, and she looked quite ordinary, but she had a slight accent and seemed familiar.  It slowly dawned on me that she was Isabella Rossellini.  I asked her if she was an actress, and she said yes, but then she continued asking about the tour, letting me know that she didn’t want to be fussed over.  I signed her up on my next tour, and then I spent the 90 minutes trying not to stare or give away that she was a Somebody.  Just as we got to the best area, the Animal Care Department, she whispered that she was going to drop off.  Her daughter was a little too young and getting restless.  I convinced her that Animal Care was the last and best part, so she stuck it out.  At the end of the tour, everybody dashed off to see the Shamu show, but Ms. Rossellini was kind enough to autograph my tour tag.

I spent 10 years working in one-hour photos labs, getting out just before digital cameras and computers killed the industry.  I was subbing at a lab on posh Union Street, here in San Francisco, when a pleasant woman came in to pick up her film.  I gave her the pictures, rang her up, and then watched as she left in a big SUV.  When I turned to my co-workers, they were looking at me funny.  They asked me, what did you think?  I didn’t know what they were talking about.  They said, didn’t you notice the name on the order?  We usually only wrote last names, so I was still lost.  Anyway, I’d just helped Linda Blair.  That was when I learned to look at the customers as closely as I looked at their photographs.  We had a few other celebrity sightings on Union Street, including Kirstie Alley pushing a baby stroller.

My next job was working in various departments at a large San Francisco Virgin Megastore.  We had a number of special events with musicians, including a memorable one with The Cure. A certain number of wristbands were given out, and these guaranteed that folks would get to meet the band.  I was given the assignment of guarding the ground floor escalator from folks trying to slip past the line and get up to where the band was signing autographs.  I’m not big or tough, so I make a pretty bad bouncer.  A desperate young woman came up to me pleading, saying “I just have to get Robert Smith to bless my unborn baby!”  I pointed to the long line of people with wristbands, explaining that there were others who needed their babies blessed, too.  Later, the staff got to interact with the band members, but I couldn’t even name a song by The Cure.  I did take some photos.

The Cure (on right) with a Virgin store employee (far left)

The nicest musicians I met at Virgin were members of the Scottish band Travis.  They were just taking off in the States, and they were just so friendly and enthusiastic about everything.  Completely adorable, too.  You could tell they were having a great time, although Andy Dunlop was really quiet and might not have been feeling well that day.  I also enjoyed meeting Darren Hayes of Savage Garden, who came in as a customer when he was living in San Francisco.  I bumped into him outside the store and had a quick chat with him.  He was perfectly nice, but he had that wariness famous people get, looking around, hoping that others won’t recognize them.   It’s always best to act cool when this happens, like you’ve just met an old acquaintance.  If you jump up and down and start screaming, you’re not going to score any points.  I kept my cool, pretty much!

Travis: Dougie Payne, Neil Primrose, & Fran Healy

My next job was “interpretive naturalist” at a local aquarium.  That’s just a fancy term for a tour guide, really.  I staffed different areas of the aquarium, providing information and answering questions about the fish and sharks, helping guests to find the octopus.  One day, I got to point out the octopus to Scott Thompson of Kids in The Hall, visiting San Francisco with their touring stage show.  He was alone, so I didn’t get to meet the other guys.  One of our aquarium technicians came up to Thompson while I was still pointing out interesting fish, asking him if he worked at the aquarium.  The tech recognized him but didn’t know why.  I was desperately trying to signal that he was making a big blunder, but the guy was clueless.  Fortunately, Scott Thompson seemed more amused than offended.

It was at the aquarium that I had my most unpleasant celebrity encounter.  I won’t name names, but this famous actress was married to a local writer for several years.  She brought her young son to the aquarium, and I was staffing the elevator when they went down to the underwater tunnel area.  I was concerned about how serious the boy looked, so I told him he’d really enjoy the upcoming tunnels.  When I picked them up on the other side, I asked him if he was having fun yet.  His mother said, “He’s NOT here to entertain.”  Well, there’s nothing you can say to that!  I just shut up and dropped them off at the tide pools.  Soon after, I was chatting with one of my favorite actors from the 70s.  I asked him, who was the worst person you ever worked with?  He named this actress!  (I’m keeping back his name, too, since we were having a private conversation, not an interview.)

Next up: a whole bunch of actors, authors and musicians at Borders Books.