kiehl's

people have mentioned i have good complexion and smooth facial skin. the one and only time i've had a facial, the beautician remarked i probably didn't need to be in there, except to extract junk from my nose, which has much larger pores. thanks lady. anyway, while some of it may be due to good genes, i believe in keeping what i have as intact as possible.

for the past 8 years i've used the same facial products introduced to me by the one and only danna. kiehl's. below is my kiehl's regimen. what do you use to keep your face baby smooth and clear?

foaming non-detergent washable cleanser for combination or oily skin. daily.

multi-purpose facial formula for men with refreshing eucalyptus extract. daily.

abyssine eye cream with survival molecules and vitamin e. daily.

pineapple papaya facial scrub with real fruit. weekly.

rare earth facial cleansing mask. monthly.

soothing gel masque. monthly.

i'm not sure how well it does these days with all the competition, but kiehl's seems to be held in high regard for its face and body lines. heck, it works for me. my only slight gripe is that it's inconvenient to purchase on the fly, since products are only sold in company-owned storefronts and select merchants like neiman marcus. fortunately kiehl's has an excellent website with detailed descriptions and easy purchasing. oh, and a kiehl's store will be opening this fall in the westfield nordstrom center downtown right next to AE on the first floor. woo hoo!

happy birthday melissa!

the bamboo hut in north beach. tiki kitsch. or tongue-in-cheek. whichever you prefer.

the flaming volcano aka a half bottle of rum blended with ice and more alcohol. (my flash washed out the alcohol-lit blue flame in the volcano, sorry)

melissa gettin' down.

happy birthday melissa!! hope it was a great 3-0!

harlot

harlot is a new hot spot that recently opened in the soma-financial district area on natoma between 1st and 2nd street.

danna and i attended an event at harlot last month hosted by french tuesdays, a guest list only private party that has LA pretentiousness written all over it. strict dress code, very european, and you can smell money in the air (or monopoly money perhaps).

harlot's interior is quite interesting: dark and gothic with a taboo twist. excellent attention to detail i must say. the bar is well stocked and carries a lot of top shelf bottles, ones that you don't see in your typical sf dive bar. the bartenders, in keeping with the theme, all wear corsets. nice touch.

the 2nd floor boasts a small lounge and secondary bar swathed in glowing white fabrics and plastics, a breathtaking break from the dark, cavernous dancefloor visible from its gleaming balcony rails. as hokey as it sounds, it reminded me of a heaven and hell play on design. unfortunately i didn't get a picture here. perhaps this helped inspired french tuesday's theme for the nite, black and white.

guests were encouraged to wear all black, white, or both.

yes we obliged.

while i can't say this was the best time i've had at a bar -- people were rude, traffic flow was poor, and they stopped serving the laurent perrier champagne at midnite -- i did feel somewhat exclusive having gained vip access to harlot before it was open to the public. i think we all like feeling "above the know" sometimes, don't we?

sf pride this weekend

one of san francisco's most well known city-wide celebrations is right around the corner: sf pride. among the many festivities are an eclectic parade down market street, a huge street festival at the civic center, and the infamous pink party in castro.

to get you all in the mood and "gay," here are some pics i snapped of last year's parade...





happy pride people. don't discriminate and enjoy life.

happy birthday paul!

28 birthday wishes and toasts to the chef...

hope you had a blast.

feliz treintanera andrea!

let the party begin. tequilla at dada's...

turnin' the big three o with a lil glossy throwback style...

as only andrea can. happy birthday!!

mister mak's equipment

as many of you may know, i am a house dj. i've been spinning vinyl since 2000 and am into house music that moves the soul, making your feet ache. i have an eclectic set of musical influences that shape my sound.

developmentally, i come from 10 years of classical piano, 3 years of jazz, 2 years of percussion and marching band sound, and 2 decades of r&b, hip hop, rock, pop, and punk.

stylistically, i've revered the likes of dj dan, donald gluade, paul van dyke, dj irene, derrick carter, abstract, dieselboy, dj dara, fred everything, mark farina, miguel migs, and dj colette.

these influences meld together to form my hand-picked collection of records where you'll hear funk, deep, latin, and soul -- anything with a funky bass line, jazzy riffs, brass and saxophones, latin percussion and beats, topped with deep, soulful voices.

over the years i've had the opportunity to spin in hollywood clubs, santa monica bars, underground raves, house parties and a wedding, even a west la stripbar.

and if the opportunity ever arises again, you'll most likely hear these all-time favorite tracks somehow mixed in:

michael jackson's "wannabe" just4fun remix
arnold jarvis & alix alvarez's "rising into joy" jay-j's remix
"where da party at" white label
adam collins & sloth present the hustlers "with love"
colette's "what will she do for love" kaskade's more love remix

this stuff moves me. it gives me a high unlike no other. my dj handle? mister mak.

weezer

oldie but a goodie...



from one of my favorite albums of all time. weezer's most recent release (2 years ago) was good, but just didn't capture me as much as the blue and green albums did. that was over 10 years ago. amazing that they're still around and still get radio play.

nude cyclists

this past sunday, 6/10, around 11:45 am, riding down market st from the ferry building.

what the heck?? the only thing i could think of was gay pride month.

contrary to what some may believe, this was not a pretty sight.

wax job

what is it about the summer sun and long days that motivates one to attempt the usually impossible on a work nite?

i decided to wash my car. easy enough. 1 hour. but the sun was still out by the time i finished and i decided to wax my car too.

what was i thinking?

i finished everything by 1030pm. she is purty now though... hopefully the daly city fog holds off long enough for me to enioy a joy ride on a twisty road this weekend.

the wonderful weather has allowed the one plant outside my front door to blossom. a rare sight in foggy city.

anyway, at least i worked off that ginormous triple chocolate mini bundt cake from specialty's bakery i had after lunch today.

chocolate cake. chocolate filling. chocolate glaze. with sprinkles. it was damn good.

dna lounge. what a nite...

this past friday nite ndu and i headed to dna lounge to get our groove on to djs mark farina and miguel migs at the remedy summer kick-off party. this was literally an all-nite party with doors opening at 9pm and a kick-out time of 8am. we got there before 11pm.

miguel migs didn't spin, but played bass in a live performance with his new band, petalpushers. house vocalist favorites, lisa shaw and tim fuller, did a good job and the band was solid overall. i think i might pick up their new album, those things.

mark farina came on around 3am or something. one word. relentless. the man doesn't let you take a break. literally. he times and selects tracks so that the beats rarely break. and all his tracks are amazing. how does he do it? think i need to dig up some older records and experiment myself.

i also got to experience the crepe truck for the first time. nothing like a hot crepe with nutella at 4am.

yeah, it was a good nite. this pretty much summed it up...

we left at 6am. during exit we walked through a dark corridor and upon pushing the black door out, pale blue sky spilled down onto us and assaulted our eyes.

the sun was about to rise. we skidaddled home before our exhausted bodies melted in the sunrays like a frightened vampire.

memories

listen without prejudice.



a place in time still belongs to us...

smashing pumpkins

gawd i love this song.



i heard a new release last week on live 105 and while it sounded similar to the good ole stuff, it seemed to lack that certain melancholic, epic quality smashing pumpkins possessed back in the 90's.

billy corgan and drummer chamberlain return with a new guitarist and bassist. i wonder if they'll be able to win over the new and older generations.

big red balloon in dolores park

dolores park reminds me of a miniture central park. probably due to 2 associations: 1) it's in the center of the city; 2) people convene en masse in the park on gorgeous days, sunbathing, bday partying, and lounging amongst a thousand dogs sniffing the grass and each other.

winds were whipping the the palm trees like mad on an otherwise beautiful, sunny day in the bay.

a young darth vader was also in attendance, running amok with his helmet at his hip.

danna and i sunbathed. and dozed.

until these people showed up with a giant red balloon.

it was ginormous! the group brought it over to the playground and a minute later a mob of boisterous little kids were chasing the balloon through the park, hitting it up into the blue sky this way and that.

until one little girl popped it with a pinata stick from a birthday party nearby to a collective and acutely audible "awwwww" from literally everyone in the park.

balloons. guess we're all kids at heart at any age.

and mirrors are fun.

cafe lo cubano

cafe lo cubano is a comfortable cafe at the corner of california and laurel streets in laurel heights.

it serves cuban coffee drinks and cuban cafe fare in an ethno-centric environment that utilizes varying woods, wicker, cuban photographs, paintings and decor with a pale yellow wall paint that wouldn't work anywhere else.

the ceiling has a great angled build that plays off of light and shadow and cleverly conceals vents and spot lights.

cozy spot. free wifi. and the iced chai latte is strong, if not overly sweet. in the background you'll see cafe cubano's signature red mug. apparently the dulce de leche is the thing to get, but i'm not much a coffee drinker.

i think i'll find myself here more often. it's a nice neighborhood too. more on that later.

inaugural post

i've been wanting to blog about things other than food and restaurants for a while. my old xanga allowed me to do this, but i've "graduated" from that.

so i present dimension.verve. just a fancy way of saying, here's my take on life, seen through and experienced through my camera. music. photography. night life. random shit. and thanks goes to cameron and tawny for inspiring the name.

and now, how i frame verve. or how i dimension life. or whatever. enjoy.