Cherry . . .

Saturday April 17th I checked out the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown.

This street fair had stage presentations, cover bands, food and products for sale by artisans.

The below picture is of the SF Sword Society demonstrating their ability to cut bamboo with a quick swing of the blade.

Here is a clip of one of the cover bands performing songs by the Jackson 5.

The Song of The Day - Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go) by Garbage

Whatever You Like . . .

I was so fortunate to be able to spend a couple hours with my niece Megan and Sister in Law Amy on Friday afternoon.

Megan and Amy were on a whirlwind four day class field trip to the Bay Area.

I met Megan and Amy on their "dinner break" Friday at the Stanford Mall.

We even got some power shopping done at The G. A. P!

The Song Of The Day - Whatever You Like by Anya Marina

I Feel So Moved . . .

I was not sure why I took my camera with me to church this morning.

After mass, instead of going home, I started walking in the other direction. As I strolled up the hills of Pacific Heights I began snapping pictures of the beautifully manicured flower beds in front of magnificent homes.

I kept walking through the gates of the Presidio where I happened upon Lucas Film.

On I went until I eventually ended up on the other side of Golden Gate Bridge. The slide show above captures my journey.

You will notice the last frame in the slide show is the bus arriving. I was very happy I didn't have to walk all the way home!

And now, several hours later I am wishing I had put sun screen on before leaving the apartment this morning.

The Song Of The Day - Nothing Fails (Nevins Mix) by Madonna

Wicked . . .

My new favorite person in San Francisco has got to be the manager of the Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf. He or She must have the most wicked sense of humor.

Back in January I shared that the Wax Museum had placed Michael Jackson and Tiger Woods on the lazy susan entrance display.

In what can only be described as an inspired genius move; the museum has updated the display with the following rotation:

Michael Jackson - The late King Of Pop who spent the last decade entangled in allegations of child molestation.

Ricky Martin - The Latin singing sensation who recently came out of the closet. They even added the very tacky touch of draping the gay rainbow flag across his shoulders. So wrong!

But the piece de resistance is the third figure in the rotation...

Yes, that's right Pope Benedict; who is facing his own scandal right now for allegedly not properly handling sex abuse allegations in the church.

Bravo Wax Museum for creating the Holy Trinity of scandal!

The Song Of The Day - Wicked by Jupiter Rising

Because We Can . . .

Lent is over! Dessert is back.

Praise the Lard!

The Song Of The Day - Because We Can by Fatboy Slim

I Love LA . . .

Only in LA!

On the escalator at The Grove Shopping Center, a caution sticker about attending to your children comes after the sticker instructing patrons with vanity dogs to use the elevator!

We Angelinos know our priorities!

The Song Of The Day - I Love LA by Randy Newman

Monkey . . .

Gray sky. Rain. Cold.

That has been the description of the Bay Area this week.

So what better way to chase the winter melancholy away than to just reflect back on this past weekend when the sun was shining and the sky was blue.

My friend Shagun and I enjoyed the day by going to the San Francisco Zoo.

The San Francisco Zoo is probably most famous for the Tiger that escaped its pen a couple of years ago and killed a park guest. From the looks of the Tiger exhibit now they have definitely reinforced the cage.

For a major metropolitan city like San Francisco I was a little surprised by the Zoo. It was not spectacular. For example, in the pachyderm area, the only elephant I could find was a bronze statue.

Here's Shagun striking a pose in front of the fountain.

One nice feature was the peacocks that roamed the grounds freely.

My favorite part of the whole zoo was the gorilla exhibit. Not only was there a huge silver back but also a little baby gorilla named Hasani.

Hasani is being raised by a surrogate mother because his birth mother, who was a first time mom, did not provide proper care.

And if you are having a bad day, just watch this video of Hasani doing somersaults and it will make you smile!

The Song Of The Day - Monkey by George Michael