London based animator Simon Tofield from Tandem film studio made a series of hilarious cartoons. More cool stuff here.

I have to admit that if it wasn’t announced that most of our State Parks are to be closed, I wouldn’t have gone to the Angel Island for the first time since I moved to San Francisco 8 years ago. I have always loved hiking, but always tried to avoid the tourist spots. Today, I had such a wonderful time there, that I regret I didn’t go there earlier or more often. The US immigration station was reopened to the public on February 15, 2009 after a three and a half year, $15 million restoration. I highly recommend the guided tour ($7, about 1 hours 15 minutes)of the immigration station where you can walk through the history of the station, and walls carved with poems.  Now with the closure of the State Parks, who knows when it will be open again.

If you are like me, love going up north and spend a few days in the Redwood parks, driving down the coast and spend a night in the Big Sur state parks, or simply do a day hike in Mount Tamalpais over the weekend, please email our governor to stop the closure of our state parks. Log on to www.calparks.org/stopclosures and send a letter right from the website.

Warning: it is ridiculously difficult to find out on line about the ferry schedule for Angel Island(you’d think this is one of the most popular tourist spots here). It also took my friend and I 20 minutes to figure out where to board the ferry in Ferry building (gate B), and where exactly to buy tickets(on ferry, cash only $15 return tickets). No signs, schedules, contradictory information. We felt sorry for the tourists.

Oh by the way, the last ferry leaves at 3:25pm on weekdays. We spent so much time checking out places at the beginning of the 5 mile trail that we had to race back to the dock 5 minutes before the ferry took off!

wow! I didn’t know about Norman Mclaren till recently. This genius film maker is known for his experiments with image and sound as he developed a number of groundbreaking techniques for combining and synchronizing animation with music. He came to New York before the WWII and moved to Canada to work for the National Film Board, to open an animation studio and to train Canadian animators. Look at his great works! (made before computers were born)

7th Annual Cole Valley Fair will be held on September 20th, 2009. Here is the vendor’s application, musician’s application, cars on cole antique car show application. Application deadline is July 1st. More information can be obtained at Cole Valley Improvment Association’s website.

See you all at the fair!

Look for your missing cat? Want to connect with other cat moms and dads? Have questions or concerns, problems or praise about local cats? Wow, cole valley now even has its own official cat blog, check it out! Who’s gonna start a Cole Valley dog blog?

It is said that Paul Madonna will do a poster for Cole Valley Fair this year. Most of us know him through his beautiful drawings of different neighborhoods in the San Francisco Chronicle. I am sure the 2009 Cole Valley Fair poster will be really popular. Can’t wait to see it!

If you are into comics, love to draw, check out the comic book jam group meeting at the Church Street Cafe between Market and 15th street. The group meets on the 2nd and the last Thursday of the month from 6 to 10pm, and they d r a w.

You don’t have to be a pro to participate, but seriously, those people mean business:) A friend took me there last month for the first time, and they were doing some impressive collaborate projects. Don’t be intimidated by their fancy works, they love the idea of having different styles of drawing in one project. Normally an artist starts a theme, and the project is passed around. The story is quite unpredictable until the last artist finishes the last panel. I didn’t get to participate when I was there because my friend spilled coffee on his Tshirt, and I end up drawing on people’s Tshirt the whole night :)

They also have this 24 hour comic jam event. Gosh, you must be a comic nut to do this. After paying $5 to secure your seat at the comic outpost on 2381 Ocean Ave. San Francisco, you will have the chance to draw continuously for 24 hours with people just like you. Oct. 18th 11am - Oct. 19th, 11am.

Check out their website: www.cartoonistconspiracy.com about this SF event

wow wow wow. The multimedia performance I saw at the SF International Film Festival last night was amazing! I mean, I don’t even know how to call this type of art… Three “Cloud Eye Control” artists from LA combined animation, experimental theater, pop music and puppetry all together, and surprised everyone by their creativity and imagination.

Out of the four performances, I liked Miwa Matreyek’s “Dreaming of Lucid Living” the most. You have to see the video of her performance. There are many other cool similar type of performance/illustration/ at her website. The other performances can be seen at the Cloud Eye Control’s website. Again, the way they merge the live action moment with animated component is fascinating. Here are some pictures of their performances.

Cole Valley Fair (formally the Heart of Cole Festival) will be back again for the sixth year on Sunday, September 21, 2008, from 10am to 5pm. (the closing time is one hour earlier than previous years.) The location is on Cole street between Carl and Grattan street, right where N judah drops you off at Carl & Cole stop. Booth space priority will be given to original artists and applicants from the neighborhood. The number of the jewelery vendors will be limited this year. Volunteers and booth-sitters are needed. Musicians from all genres and styles are welcomed to apply for one-hour performance slots. Only limited amplification is allowed.

The application form for Food / Art and Craft booth can be downloaded here. Submission deadline for is July 1st.

There is also a Cole Valley Fair poster contest. Artist are encouraged to submit their application form no later than June 6th.

Application form for musicians can be downloaded here.

Please visit cviasf.org or contact Joan Downey at colevalleyfair(at)gmail(dot)com for more information.