guest post by Doctor Popular

Stan Heller combines photography with anaglyph art to create his illustrations and comics (Anaglyphs are sterographic images that use special glasses with red and cyan lenses to create the illusion of dept). In 3D, a retrospective of Stan’s art, opens this Saturday, November 14th at Mission Comics and Art in San Francisco and runs through December 17th. The show collects 5 years of his experiments with 3D including images from his most recent book “Not Quite Here”.

Stan was also one of the few brave souls who attempted to create a 24 page comic during the recent 24hr Comic Book Day challenge at Mission Comics last month. You can read his 3D comic from that challenge here. Stan also collaborated with me on a this anaglyph to promote my 24hr comic BOOF!, which was created at the same event.

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AUTOMATIC, a benefit art show for RoboGames 2010 takes place on Thursday, November 19th at the Lowerdeck Gallery in San Francisco.

Do sentient machines dwell on the existential circuit
that leads to the spiritual 404 error?

Does being a machine mean just being a device:
literarily, artistically and literally?

Or does everything just boil down to everyone’s deep-seated need to crush all humans and plot eventual total world domination?

Find out at Automatic!

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photo by Scott Beale

The next Dorkbot SF takes place on Wednesday, November 18th at Noisbridge in San Francisco and features presentations by Anselm Hook (Augmentia – Scratching the surface of Augmented Reality), David Gessel (Stalking Slanderizing Trolls), Shelly Farnham (Steve the Robot H.E.Ai.D.: a Large Scale Generative Music and Laser Play Space) and Gian Pablo Villamil (360 Degree Panoramic Video Without the Megabucks).

See the Dorkbot SF #48 event listing for more info.

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A beautifully haunting video of Dia De Los Muertos in San Francisco by documentdocument set to the soundtrack of “Hellhole Ratrace” by Girls.

via Spots Unknown

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photos by Scott Beale

I recently had a chance to check out Her Majesty’s Secret Beekeeper, a beautiful beekeeping supply store and honey shop run by Cameo Wood, located in The Mission District of San Francisco next door to Mission: Comics and Art.

While there are a few photos I shot of HMS Beekeeper.

See Previously: Her Majesty’s Secret Beekeeper, A Beekeeping Supply & Honey Shop in San Francisco

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photo by Jason DeFillippo

Supernova 2009, a conference on change in the Network Age organized by Kevin Werbach, takes place in San Francisco on December 1st at the Mission Bay Conference Center and December 2nd & 3rd at Wharton West.

The Supernova conference explores the transformation of computing, communications, business, and society in the Network Age. Now in its eighth year, Supernova brings together approximately 500 leading executives, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, government officials, and business practitioners to make connections, discuss emerging trends, and discover innovative new ideas and companies.

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guest post by Aaron Muszalski

photo by Audrey Penven

Talk about subcultural mashups!

Newly-opened SOMA coffeeshop Wicked Grounds has created a unique space for itself at the intersection of two highly-fetishized San Francisco lifestyles, coffee drinking and BDSM. Calling itself a “Kinky Café and Boutique” Wicked Grounds offers gourmet food and drinks – including coffee from the acclaimed Ritual Roasters – alongside a selection of fetish toys and accessories. The café also serves as a gallery space, displaying fine erotic photography and painting, and hosts a diverse variety of special events. They even hosted a live Kink.com porn shoot. Keeping the café open the whole time, of course.

Located at the corner of 8th and Folsom (home to the infamous Folsom Street Fair, in the heart of SF’s leather and fetish scene) and open until 2am on Friday and Saturday, Wicked Grounds has quickly become a favored haunt for kinky and kink-curious coffee lovers alike. With a clientele that runs the gamut from Daddies and Dommes to bloggers and Web entrepreneurs, Wicked Grounds is a uniquely San Franciscan third place; sort of a Perpignan Railway Station for the black leather and laptop set.

photo by Audrey Penven

Despite their growing popularity, Wicked Grounds is currently in need of community support to offset unexpected expenses that they incurred trying to open, San Francisco being an often ridiculously bureaucratic city when it comes to permitting and licensing. You can help by making a donation, dropping in for a latte or spreading the word on twitter, Google or Yelp. All donors will receive a gift package, including a limited edition coloring book signed by noted fetish artist Suzanne Rachel Forbes.

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guest post by Josh Ellingson

Statistically speaking, you are probably already aware of the “Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School” phenomenon. The caberet informed, rock ‘n roll figure drawing event is now in over fifty cities worldwide and gaining momentum frenetically. It’s so popular that the Los Angeles chapter has recently decided to take the show on the road. Dr. Sketchy’s Roadshow is currently traversing California, spreading glitter and pencil shavings from Sacramento to Alhambra.

The sketch-curious of San Francisco can get their Anti-Art School fix monthly at 111 Minna Gallery. Host Alice Stribling taps into the Bay Area’s wealth of unique performers and original characters for models unlike anyone you’ll find at the local art college. The friendly staff at 111 Minna keep the bar open and if you’re lucky, the model might perform a strip-tease at intermission. It’s easy to see how this thing catches on. The next Dr. Sketchy’s SF features punker/burlesque icon, Eva Von Slut. Here’s the info:

Tuesday, Nov. 24th 2009
7pm – 10pm
111 Minna Gallery,San Francisco CA
21+
$10 General admission
$7 students/teachers with ID
FREE for barflies, so bring your non-sketchy friends!

http://drsketchyssf.blogspot.com/

Visit founder Molly Crabapple’s home base at http://www.drsketchy.com to find out more. Here’s my Dr. Sketchy’s Twitter list for those inclined to follow a chapter near you: http://twitter.com/ellingson/drsketchys/

Big thanks to Alice Stribling for providing photos for this post. There are lots more photos and sketches at the Dr. Sketchy’s SF Flickr Group Pool.

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photo by Scott Beale

Yes, in San Francisco even dog poop can be appreciated as art, represented here in stencil form on a Valencia Street sidewalk.

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After 13 years of near continuous broadcasting, San Francisco micro radio station Pirate Cat Radio (87.9 FM), operating out of Pirate Cat Café, has been ordered off the air and fined $10,000 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

In a notice dated August 31, 2009 the FCC asserted that Monkey, the founder of Pirate Cat Radio, “willfully and repeatedly violated Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934” and proposed to fine him $10,000 for the infraction.

By bringing to bear the full weight of the Federal government against continued broadcast operations, the FCC’s order effectively ends Pirate Cat Radio’s thirteen-year run as one of the Bay Area’s most consistent voices of protest against corporate-run media monopolies and monocultural programming.

Here’s the full statement from Pirate Cat Radio founder Monkey.

SF Gate’s “Off The Record” and SFAppeal have more on the story.

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photo by Plomo Media

San Francisco Citizen directs our attention to Plomo Media’s awesome photo of a raccoons queuing up for a bus on the MUNI #18 46 Ave line at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.

via Troy Holden

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Wonderfest 2009, The San Francisco Bay Area Festival of Science, takes place on November 7th at Stanford’s Hewlett Teaching Center and on November 8th at UC Berkeley’s Stanley Hall. Admission is free, here’s how to register.

Through public discourse about provocative scientific questions, Wonderfest aspires to stimulate curiosity, promote careful reasoning, challenge unexamined beliefs, and encourage life-long learning. Wonderfest achieves these ends by presenting series of scientific events to the general public. At most of these events, pairs of articulate and accomplished researchers discuss and debate compelling questions at the edge of scientific understanding.

via Susie

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City Arts & Lectures presents John Hodgman in conversation with Merlin Mann on Saturday, November 7th at Herbst Theater in San Francisco. Here’s more info.

American author and humorist John Hodgman has appeared as the Resident Expert on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” “PC” on Apple’s “Get a Mac” TV ads, and was the headline speaker at the 2009 Radio and Television Correspondents dinner in Washington D.C. After graduating from Yale in 1994, he toiled in the trenches of the publishing industry. The experience led Hodgman to write an ironic advice column for McSweeney’s entitled, “Ask a Former Literary Agent.” In his first book, The Areas of My Expertise, Hodgman explores topics from the idiosyncrasies of famous detectives to Colonial jobs involving eels. In his role as Resident Expert on “The Daily Show,” Hodgman has offered insight and commentary on art authentication, presidential candidate style, hurricane season, and mixed martial arts. Hodgman’s latest book, More Information Than You Require, deals with more of the esoteric, charming and just plain eccentric topics that catch the author’s fancy. From tips on buying a computer from a street vendor to get-rich-slow schemes, John Hodgman’s humor revels in a culture saturated with experts of every stripe.

Creator of the website 43folders, Merlin Mann seeks to help ordinary people find “the time and attention to do your best creative work.” Mann’s forthcoming book Inbox Zero, will be published by HarperStudio in 2010.

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Chris Carlsson and Hugh D’Andrade recently launched sfcriticalmass.org, a new blog documenting the history of San Francisco’s Critical Mass bike ride that happens on the last Friday of each month. Starting in 1992, San Francisco Critical Mass was the first Critical Mass bike event, spawning hundreds of Critical Mass rides around the world. Check out the SF Critical Mass FAQ for more info on the event.

What is Critical Mass?

Critical Mass is a mass bicycle ride that takes place on the last Friday of each month in cities around the world. Everyone is invited! No one is in charge! Bring your bike!

You can also follow San Francisco Critical Mass on Twitter: sfcriticalmass

photo by Steve Rhodes

Their most recent post documents last Friday’s October Halloween Critical Mass. Here are more photos of the Halloween ride by Steve Rhodes.

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An awesome tribute to Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes, the Cantina Band from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, doing a street corner serenade in San Francisco.

“Alderaan Road EP” photo by occlupanid

UPDATE: Steve Rhodes shot some photos of the Cantina Band playing around San Francisco on Halloween.

photo by Steve Rhodes

via SF Slim

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photo by Bill Hall

Bill Hall of the Caltrans District 4 Photography Department has a great series of photos documenting the repair of the Bay Bridge eyebar.

See Previously: Detailed Analysis of The Bay Bridge Crack

via Lenore Edman

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Tony Alfrey of Sci-Experiments gives a detailed analysis of what caused The Famous Bay Bridge Crack, along with some close-up photos of the damage.

See Also: Bay Bridge Eyebar Repair Photos

via Eddie Codel

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SF Weekly’s The Snitch presents the “Bay Bridge Fail Whale” by Audrey Fukuman.

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photo by Troy Holden

San Jose Mercury News is reporting that that the San Francisco Bay Area graffiti artist GIRAFA has been arrested.

Steven Free, 30, of San Francisco was arrested Tuesday on a $100,000 warrant, charging him in 10 felony cases in San Jose involving $40,000 in damages.

Fellow photographer Troy Holden has been hunting GIRAFA art for years.

via Caliber & Spots Unknown

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photos by Scott Beale

Our friends at Zendesk recently moved their headquarters to San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood. Here are a few photos from last night’s Zendesk HQ Office Warming Party. Welcome to the hood!

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