…(vacation pictures).

Photos from a trip to Hawaii—Oahu, Maui, and The Big Island (Hawaii)—from last November.

^ From behind Matsumoto’s Shave Ice in Haleiwa, cats lazing in the mid-80 degree, November heat.

^ At the Papawai Scenic Lookout along Maui’s Highway 30 you can see Maui’s southeast coastline, the volcanic remains of Molokini, and Lanai.

^ At 10,000 feet on Haleakala, The Big Island’s 80-miles-distant Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa are visible above the clouds.

^ Holei Sea Arch, just off of the Chain of Craters road in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (HAVO).

^ Subaru and Keck telescopes at the top of Mauna Kea as the sun sets below the clouds.

65 more Hawaii photos at maxpixpix on Picasa.

…Comic-Con.

Once again, Miss T and I headed SoCalward to brave the (not-so-)costumed crowds at San Diego Comic-Con International. For 2010 we only bought tickets for Thursday—which really wasn’t enough time to take in the sights—though Miss T finagled her way back in on Sunday for the end of the show.

For our single-day excursion we had to pick up our registration badges (1 1/2-mile walk over 30 minutes), and then attended a panel (stood in line for 45 minutes, sat in panel for 90 minutes), before spending the rest of the time perusing the exhibition floor (crisscrossed the 10 1/2-acre exhibit hall for 6 1/2 hours). By the end of the day my feet and back were screaming bloody murder.

Along the way we saw so many interesting examples of the “popular arts” that my brain glazed over and I forgot to take photos of things. Some items that did jar me out of my Comic-Con stupor:

Next year I’m hoping to spend an entire day in photo mode.

A few days later, Miss T and I finally made it out to the beach where we were confronted by washed-up piles of sea life.

Then, Miss T braved the Comic-Con Exhibition Hall for one more day while I cooled my heels (and the car) at Horton Plaza.

As always, the whole lot is over at maxpixpix on Picasa.

…on a long pier.

In mid-March, when the Bay Area’s weather briefly turned summerlike—it has since returned to late-winter temps—Miss T and I visited Pier 14 along San Francisco’s Embarcadero.

As usual, just click the thumbnails or view 10 Pier 14 photos at maxpixpix on Picasa.

…Miss T and I shared a rare roast beef sandwich at Il Cane Rosso. Later, we headed over to Macworld 2010—sans Apple Inc. but still worth a look-see.

Possibly the most spartan trade show booth I have ever seen.

Microsoft Office, uh, icons were on hand. I might have been able to get a better photo but was afraid to get too close to them.

After Macworld, Japantown for dinner at Tanpopo…

hiyayakko tofu…

wonton chashu ramen…

…and kyushu ramen. It was all delicious (though I overordered—the wonton chashu ramen was about three chashu too many).

There was also a fair bit of shopping in the Japantown malls and the NEW PEOPLE ARTIST VILLAGE Vol. 2 at the NEW PEOPLE building.

The Peace Plaza Pagoda.

The NEW PEOPLE building (with the ARTIST VILLAGE Vol. 2 scattered inside).

And, a snail that Miss T spied outside of Benihana. All in all, a good last Saturday.

…two persimmon, three persimmon, four.

My family has a persimmon tree which has, for reasons unknown, produced a bumper crop of fruit this year. Sadly, I’m not a persimmon consumer. For me, a persimmon tree is something more interesting to look at than to eat fruit from:

Fortunately, Miss T enjoys both viewing and eating persimmons.

…of Yosemite National Park.

Earlier this month Miss T and I took our first trip to Yosemite National Park. Of the nearly 1200 square miles of the park, we spent our 2 days exploring the 7 square miles of Yosemite Valley. We could probably have spent 2 months in Yosemite Valley alone.

As expected, we shot hundreds of photos of rocks and trees and maybe a couple dozen photos of wildlife—deer, squirrels, birds, no bears. I’ve whittled our 850 pictures down to 85 Yosemite photos viewable on Picasa or via the thumbnails below.

Of the 3 million+ visitors that Yosemite receives every year, a little more than 4 percent visit in November. If I could stand the cold, snow, and road closures, I’d go in January when visitors drop to under 3 percent.

…i.e., two weekends ago.

Not too long ago, before fall descended on Northern California, Miss T and I took a jaunt out to San Francisco. It may very well have been the last, nice summer day in the Bay Area. Our stops included the Ferry Building Marketplace, Hayes Valley, and Japantown. As usual, you can see for yourself via the thumbnails below or at 15 S.F. Saturday photos.

Now looking forward to some cold and wet fall weather.

…in Sacramento. In Sacramento?

I don’t know Paris so I can’t attest to its authenticité, but Le Petit Paris in midtown Sac is a comfy neighborhood café that serves up good espresso, tea, pastries, and sandwiches. According to the menu on the wall there’s also beer and wine (which neither Miss T nor I tried) and apparently a monthly singles night—Perfect Strangers (which we also didn’t try).

We stopped in on the weekend—before it got hot, hot, hot—and spent a relaxing hour or so café-ing and reading the paper. You can get an idea of what the boutique/café is like at 5 Le Petit Paris photos or via the thumbnails below.

Ah, comment trés civilisé.

…on the Presidio.

Andy Goldsworthy’s Spire is about a hundred feet tall and made of cypress trees. Miss T and I drove onto the Presidio one afternoon to take a look at the sculpture.

It’s big!

…at 5. (Six people at FIVE Restaurant at 5 p.m.)

FIVE is the new restaurant and bar at the Hotel Shattuck Plaza in Berkeley. Six of us stopped by there yesterday evening to check it out. (It was originally supposed to be “Five at FIVE at 5,” but it seemed mean to leave someone out just for the sake of titling the gathering “Five at FIVE at 5,” especially after the person who was going to get bumped begged and pleaded and cried to be included. Yes, that person was me.)

Back to FIVE—we all liked it. I took some photos, but not many of the space (there are some at FIVE’s own photo page).

Next time maybe we’ll try Five for Five at FIVE at 5. Five drinks each. Maybe not.

…at San Francisco’s Japantown.

S.F.’s Nihonmachi (Japantown) had back-to-back weekend festivals this August: the Nihonmachi Street Fair and the J-POP SUMMIT Festival / NEW PEOPLE grand opening (their CAPS, not mine). Miss T and I trekked out to the Bay Area both weekends to see if a new niche-interest building can make a difference in a retail area that’s been struggling for over a decade. Also, I wanted to eat Japanese food.

This year’s Nihonmachi Street Fair (August 8th and 9th) seemed less attended by both exhibitors and fairgoers—could be that folks were holding off for the larger J-POP SUMMIT event the following weekend, or my perception may have just been off. Whatever the case, Miss T and I had little trouble making our way through the light crowds at the street fair booths and in the Japantown malls. We made our usual fair/shopping circuit, ate at Tanpopo Ramen, and called it a day.

A couple of photos from the Nihonmachi Street Fair:

The J-POP SUMMIT Festival / NEW PEOPLE grand opening (August 15th and 16th) made a much bigger splash, drew larger crowds, and possibly sucked some of the life out of the previous weekend’s festivities. The centerpiece of the event was the opening of the NEW PEOPLE building, a retail/entertainment venture dedicated to Japanese pop culture. The 20,000 square-foot building features an art gallery, apparel boutiques, a book and collectibles store, a cafe, and an underground (literally) IMAX THX theater.

Entry to NEW PEOPLE was limited to 250 people at a time, with a long queue stretched along Post Street hours before the ribbon-cutting. Since I’m well past the years of getting excited about these things… about anything… we spent the morning taking in J-music performances at the Harajuku Kawaii Experience stage, shopping (again) at the good-ole’ Japantown malls, perusing the exhibitor and food stalls, and marveling at how many girls were decked out in Lolita fashion. In the mid-afternoon we finally stood in line to make our way into NEW PEOPLE—by that time a 20-minute or so wait.

The first floor cafe, mezzanine store, and third floor art gallery were well attended, but the second floor Lolita clothing stores were packed. NEW PEOPLE’s draw might be J-pop culture in general, but on opening day Lolita fashion was definitely the focus of attention.

You can see the rest of our J-POP SUMMIT Festival / NEW PEOPLE grand opening photos—including some of the fun “STAIR123″ art and fire safety evidence that NEW PEOPLE was not quite ready to open—via the thumbnails below. (All of the 40 Nihonmachi weekends photos are at maxpixpix on Picasa, as usual.)

Miss T and I will be heading back to NEW PEOPLE to see if demand for the J-pop experience continues past the opening week. (Fingers crossed that it does.)

…wait, wasn’t this a month ago?

Miss T and I forwent the full con experience/ordeal this year and elected to spend only one day in the slightly overpacked San Diego Convention Center. While total attendance for the five-day event was upwards of 125,000, I’d wager there weren’t any more than a scant 60,000 people when we showed up on Friday.

You can imagine the logistical nightmare of managing the physical movement (and frenzied expectations) of tens of thousands of pop culture fans—just think about that for a minute. But, despite the scale of the event, this year’s Comic-Con seemed to run surprisingly smoothly. Picking up our registration badges took about 10 minutes—record time. I believe the longest we had to wait was a half-hour for a Coraline panel. Aside from that, the rest of the day was spent winding through the 400+ vendors in the 12-acre exhibit hall.

Since we were only there for the day I spent most of my time shopping and sightseeing vs. taking pictures. But, we did shoot several photos of Lost props (from the post-finale auction sneak peek), one panel discussion, one celebrity, and one booth babe. You can take a look via the thumbnails below or at 20 Comic-Con 2009 (mostly Lost) photos at maxpixpix on Picasa.

…The Getty. (Yeah, I know. Bad advertising copy.)

If you’ve not been to Getty Center in Los Angeles you should go. Miss T and I went for a day during our SoCal trip last month and had a great time. We arrived shortly before the museum opened at 10 a.m. and left a little after 4 p.m. In that time, we browsed through about a quarter of what the museum has to offer—you could spend years looking at the art, architecture, and gardens in depth.

You can see 50 Getty Museum photos at maxpixpix on Picasa, or via the thumbnails below.

Admission to the Getty is free though there is a $15 charge to park a car (and, it’s totally worth it).

…2009 vs. 2019.

About two weeks ago, Miss T and I spent a hot summer’s afternoon in Downtown Los Angeles at the Bradbury Building, current home of the L.A.P.D. Internal Affairs department and future home of J.F. Sebastian in Blade Runner.

On the day we visited, it was hot, bright, and the Bradbury appeared as spic and span as the day after its 1991 renovation (the building was built in the 1890s). It looked a good deal better than Ridley Scott’s future vision of L.A., but there’re still 10 years until the events in Blade Runner take place, so one can hope.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about (and what kind of film fan are you if you don’t?), here are some Bradbury-related stills from the movie:

The completely mocked-up entrance facade.

Looking across South Broadway to the Million Dollar Theater.

One of the two atrium elevator entrances.

Looking up to the west staircase.

On the third floor, looking into the atrium.

Looking up through the skylight at a passing advertising blimp.

I actually brightened up these stills a bit, so that you can see some resemblance to the photos we shot while we were there. All of the pics are from the ground floor or the stairway first landing—sightseers aren’t allowed on the upper floors.

We also took a walk over to Angels Flight and Grand Central Public Market. All this after a bite to eat at gr/eats, a few miles away on Sawtelle.

Take a look, if you like, via the thumbnails below or at 20 Los Angeles photos at maxpixpix on Picasa.

“It’s too bad she won’t live! But then again, who does?”

…crabs, clams, barnacles, beaches, seagulls (when they’re eating shellfish).

From Miss T’s and my San Diego trip earlier this month: 10 Shellfish and Environs photos.