Photocosm

It's A Pleo From Ugobe, Not A Yugo From The Pleiades

I was walking through Emeryville today and discovered this baby dinosaur. The name on the tag is Hanibal, and this is a Pleo. That's a new toy made by Ugobe, and it turns out they're in Emeryville. This toy was moving gently around the circular stone bench like a lumbering dinosaur. A woman was eating lunch here and inviting passersby to pet the toy. It responded well when I petted it and tickled it under the chin. It made movements that communicated pleasure, and there was a nice sound from the toy, important feedback to the humanoids. Clearly it's a photogenic creature, with two true blue eyes.

Another view of a Pleo. There were two of the toys, this was named Ralphie. I told the lady Ralphie needed to be careful or it would shoot its eye out. And then there was silence, which meant the lady pretended I never said anything. Oops. She didn't know that was a reference to A Christmas Story, she didn't know I had made a reference to anything except dinosaur robots wielding handguns and shooting up the place. She never even saw the classic movie, I bet, a crying shame. Anyway, you can see Ralphie's ability to make subtle movements.

This dog was unsure how to proceed. It would move closer in, then pull back suddenly when Hanibal moved.  I've seen dogs try to approach geese at Lake Merritt. At least Pleo doesn't snap at dogs and chase them into the lake.

I was impressed by the Pleo. Cuteness will get it far in the marketplace, but there's a fair amount of technology in every ounce of green here. It will be fun to see what the 2nd and 3rd generation can do. Someday, I'll see a Pleo chasing raccoons up trees just for kicks, and I'll say to somebody, "Remember when they didn't have night vision or wings?"

Tiburon International Film Festival

I made an early drive to Tiburon and got to see the beginning of sunrise on the slopes of Mt Tamalpais. Another front was moving through, but this one was bluster mostly, not much rain. From this angle, Mt Tam always reminds me of Diamond Head in Hawaii. The water here is colder, though.

Moments later, we have this view of the Golden Gate Bridge from Tiburon Boulevard. Notice the strong beams of window light in the hills of Sausalito, one of them in particular looks like a lighthouse flash. This sunrise "bounce" also occurs late in the day. If you have a line of sight on the hills of Oakland and Berkeley, you can admire the setting sun in their windows.

And here is the feature presentation, the Tiburon International Film Festival. It's underway, they're showing movies at the various venues -movie theaters, mostly. The TIFF will wrap up this week. Click here for more information.

All The World Is New By The Light Of Day

Today's post title is a line Laura Nyro wrote for her song, Brown Earth, and it applies to a visit to Tiburon. Sunrise came over a corner of Angel Island.

San Francisco is only a few miles away from Tiburon. Alcatraz is just to the right of Angel Island, and just to the left of the old Bank of America headquarters skyscraper.

 

There was a warm light at the top level of a restaurant near the ferry.

 

 

Another view of Tiburon. There are shops and stores near the bridge, plus a restaurant or two by the water. I've never walked that footbridge, guess I'll make that the next achievement. Just doesn't seem right having to pay the two-dollar toll.

A bird was out for a sunrise walk. Later this morning, all the walking birds will relocate to avoid the dogs and tourists. Too many bad experiences. They are personally insulted by visitors who ask, "Are you a duck or a goose?"

A little bit before 8am, the San Francisco ferry backed out of the Tiburon dock and headed for San Francisco. It's a short ride, about twenty minutes.

The Sam Andrew Show

Sam Andrew is having another show of his paintings. This one is at Aroma Cafe in San Rafael. Sam is a fixture at Aroma, where he does much of his painting. Seems a bit strange to me, creating art in such a public space. I know how I feel when people distract me from a photograph I'm shooting. It doesn't feel good. I usually snarl and spit and make disgusting animal noises, but Sam takes it all with good humor. He chats and paints and opens the door for visitors, he answers questions, and then he paints some more.

Many of the regulars at Aroma end up in Sam's paintings. This group portrait is filled with regulars.

Aroma Cafe is an excellent venue for a show, also. The brick walls help frame the photos and add a warm tone to them.  There are spotlights on the ceiling tracks as well, so paintings and photos are well-illuminated.

I happened to be at Aroma one morning when Sam unloaded the car and carried the paintings inside. Here's a painting of Aroma that he had just brought inside. You can see the spotlights in the painting which will shine upon this very painting.

Many of Sam's paintings feature his photogenic wife, Elise, and his friends. He also has a nice touch with the colors. He matches his style to the subject matter, so a painting with bright colors may be followed by something delicate.

I don't think Sam knows Senator Barack Obama, but he managed to find a spot for the Democratic presidential candidate on a recent painting.

The show started recently, so it will probably run for about a month. The address in San Rafael is 1122 4th Street. They're next door to the Rafael Theater.

Fog

Fog isn't a certainty during Bay Area winters, we expect it each day around June near the coast, but March isn't known for a marine layer. That said, it was a pleasure to see the mist hanging in the air a day or two after I moaned about the dangers of direct sunlight.

A virtue of fog is that a little bit goes a long way. It's tough to commute in the early morning without clouds, the direct low sun can be blinding. I recall driving into the sun years ago along California Street in San Francisco. Too intense an experience, trying to spot pedestrians in crosswalks, not being sure if the traffic light in the sun was red or green. On the other hand, we have here a photo of Highway 101 near Novato, with cars moving safely at 65.

Here's a scene of the Marin Civic Center. There are four birds aflutter near the tree on the left. There's a golden spire rising from behind that tree, but you wouldn't know it this morning. The civic center was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, it's beautiful. If you ever visit Marin County, go out of your way to visit. Wright did pretty well for himself through his career. He won a few awards, but most important, Simon & Garfunkel wrote a song about him.

Fog hangs over the hills outside Petaluma and Novato. This isn't Lompoc, with its miles of flower fields, this is wild mustard. They appear during the rainy season in the cattle pastures.

These are not those cow pasture flowers. They might be daffodils, spotted in Nicasio across from the baseball field. Or they could be daffodils spotted near the Eiffel Tower, or maybe just daffodils spotted near Arizona's Meteor Crater.