By now many of you have seen the cringe-worthy Gavin Newsom/Hank Plante interview, an experience every bit as unpleasant as watching Ricky Gervais as David Brent pontificate and condescend in the British version of The Office. Most folks will remember Newsom petulantly ripping off his microphone in the aforementioned interview and snapping -- on camera, mind you -- "off the record, I'm amazingly disappointed."
But that's not what did it for us. Despite the sheer unpleasantness of this interview, the takeaway was how, after excoriating Plante for focusing on "the past," when finally asked questions about the city's budget deficit, all Newsom could think to say was "It's a big deficit" and "it's a challenge." Plante had to all but stage-mother Newsom to get anything more than that.
It appears Newsom has been taking his interview etiquette lessons from Crash Davis. It also prompts the question: Which is worse -- for Newsom to sanctimoniously avoid the press or to deign to speak with reporters yet blow off reasonable questions and come off as utterly contemptuous and condescending? Experts we tracked down say it's the latter.
A class action lawsuit filed this week claims that Zynga Game Network, a San Francisco-based company that develops games for Facebook, lured unsuspecting customers into handing over their cell phone and debit card numbers with "special offers" and other irresistible promises. Zynga created games like Mafia Wars, YoVille!, FarmVille, and Poker, which are free to play for social networking site subscribers -- free, that is, until you give away your cell phone and debit card number.
Lead plaintiff Rebecca Swift, from Santa Cruz claims that last April she provided the company with her cell number to receive a text from the company with a code that she could then exchange for "YoCash," which is a kind of virtual currency in the YoVille! game. Swift claims she got her YoCash, but she also got four unexpected charges for $9.99 on her phone bill.
But apparently that wasn't enough to stop Swift from stepping right into another money trap. In June, she clicked on an ad promising more YoCash if she participated in a "risk-free Green Tea Purity Trial." According to the suit, the ad indicated she could cancel the trial within 15 days, so (understandably hungry for more YoCash; who wouldn't be?) she provided the company with her debit card number. But Swift claims that even though she sent an e-mail to the Green Tea manufacturer in China within 15 days, she was charged nearly $200 for two shipments of supplements she says were waaaay not worth that much.
San Francisco's unemployment rate clearly knows nothing about how to keep fans interested.
The California Employment Development Department released their most recent statistics, and let's say they're less than stimulating. The San Francisco/Marin/San Mateo Counties' collective unemployment rate was 9.3 percent in October, and that's what it was in September. Bo-riiiiiiiiiiiing. Snooze-fest. What's the saying? Everything changes but always stays the same? It's like that, except nothing changes.
San Francisco really brought it to the table, though, once you break it down. Marin's unemployment rate? A mere 8.1. San Mateo County? A scanty 9.1. San Francisco's? 9.9. BOO-YAH. The state of California whupped us all, though, with a heady 12.3. Our hat's off to you, Big Guy.
No, we have not sped up or in any way enhanced this footage.
In the world of mind-numbingly boring jobs, swinging a sign to advertise mattress sales or open houses along Bay Area roadways ranks pretty high. The sign dudes usually look completely dejected, drugged, or like they're desperately trying to pretend they're somewhere else. Who wouldn't?
So as I walked down Fourth Street by Moscone Center this morning, you can imagine my excitement to see this dude, who had taken his sign job to a higher realm -- a freakin' signage samurai. Talk about flair! We weren't alone in our amazement. Motorists waiting at the stoplight took him in with their mouths hanging open; commuters passing with iPod buds in their ears smiled at the completely unexpected skills of this maven. Spinning the sign like a basketball on his finger, slashing it around him back like a mad baton twirler, stopping it in mid-air to head-bang for a bit.
Taking his headphones off to talk with us for a second, the sign samurai handed us a card out of his wallet: "Matthew Kermode -- AArrow Sign Spinner, Spinstructor." (Yes, "AArrow.") He said he's been doing this for 10 years now, translating his martial arts work to a more marketable skill. Kermode mostly works in the East Bay for the Martinez-based AArrow, spinning signs for housing developers. As far as who today's client Jigsaw is, "I'm not 100-percent sure."
A. Ran over more people B. Cursed a former staffer out on live television C. Opted not to run for supervisor again D. Failed to pay taxes between 1991 and 2006
SF Weekly has written a little bit about the jaw-dropping recent discovery of a Franciscan Manzanita beneath mounds of overgrown plants abutting the Doyle Drive highway project. While finding a manzanita plant in coastal California is a bit like spotting a rabbit in a rabbit hutch, no one had seen a Franciscan Manzanita in the wild since 1947. This is a once-in-a-lifetime find -- and the plant is right in the path of the highway project. That's irony for you.
The tentative plan for the manzanita we're hearing from those involved in crafting it is to move the plant -- which may be 40 to 70 years old -- to a location where it could become part of a breeding population once again (while previously considered extinct in the wild, a number of Franciscan genotypes descended from clippings made in '47 reside in local botanical gardens). While, theoretically, the botanists and government officials crafting a quick turnaround conservation plant for the lone Franciscan Manzanita could order the billion-dollar highway rebuild to be drastically altered, it doesn't look like that's going to happen.
As a result, some have anticipated that the Center for Biological Diversity will file suit. But Jeff Miller, a local conservation advocate with the CBD, said that's not necessarily so.
Anyone glancing at a television or computer is likely well-aware by now that students have barricaded themselves within a building on the U.C. Berkeley campus. It's a wise move; by this time next year they'll be unable to afford the bike locks, placards, or ASCAP royalties for "What do we want?"-chants.
Glancing at the KTVU Channel 2 news moments ago, an anchorman pulled up the school's campus map, explained where Wheeler Hall is in relation to other campus buildings. That's nice, but it doesn't really tell the whole story.
Well, it's always a pleasure to use the benefits of your college education to further your chosen career -- so let me add quite a bit more. And let me also add a warning. Back when I went to U.C. Berkeley -- not so long ago, but tuition and fees were around 38 percent what yesterday's massive hike stands to make them -- people used to make a point of gathering at Wheeler Hall on moist, rainy days like this. Since the building is located on a small incline, the schadenfreude crowd would wait for someone to, inevitably, slip and fall on the deceptively slick storm drain in front of Wheeler. This kind of thing could certainly ruin some cop or protester's day (but entertain everyone else).
***MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM'S SCHEDULE OF PUBLIC EVENTS FOR Friday, NOVEMBER 20, 2009***
The mayor has no public events scheduled. He will be conducting meetings -- privately -- in City Hall. He will be doing his job. Really. What, you don't believe me? Well, just because the jackals in the press aren't there to see something doesn't mean it's not happening. I may have come out and seen my shadow yesterday, but today I'm staying behind closed doors. You hear me, Matier? If a tree falls in the forest, it doesn't make a sound unless I hold a press conference about it to promote my falling-tree restoration program, which is really doing great things. You write what I tell you to write about and nothing more, understand? Why does only Ken Garcia get that? God, what was I fucking talking about? Oh right -- I'll be busy not talking to you assholes!
Note: Mayor's schedule is subject to change. Oh, and Hank Plante can go fuck himself.
As we've noted before, when your e-mail has the name of a newspaper in it, you get a lot of desperate missives. You'd be amazed at what communications professionals think you the reader are dying to know about; my favorite example is still the guy pitching a story about his stars-and-stripes emblazoned contact paper you could use to make your toilet seat resemble Evel Knievel's jumpsuit.
After a while, they all blend into one another; the terms "Dear Mr. Joe," "AMAZING!" and "Your readers" become one big Evel Knievel toilet. Until now. That's because we've gotten an e-mail -- from a man and a company we're going to do a massive favor to and not name -- offering San Franciscans "fun" suggestions of what to do when waiting in line to hear Sarah Palin speak.
Allow that statement to wash over you as you gargle its ridiculousness. Because if there's one thing San Franciscans need, it's a way to pass the tedious hours as they wait in block-busting lines to hear the dulcet tones of Sarah Palin.
Post a Comment
foam order.com