Who likes terrible covers?
No one.
So why do bands release them?
They need filler for singles.
Here is a terrible cover of Road to Nowhere by the Editors that manages to suck the life and energy out of the original.
Cover: Editors – Road to Nowhere
Original: Talking Heads – Road to Nowhere
The next Playlist Challenge – create a playlist containing music you listened to during high school.
Easy
I don’t know about you, but my shit stinks.
I always assumed that bathroom exhaust fans were standard. You wouldn’t build a bathroom without a sink – you wouldn’t build a bathroom without a vent.
But, in the past few weeks I’ve been shown that my expectation about bathrooms is apparently unreasonable.
On my trip to San Francisco, I stayed at the Hotel 480. There were 2 switches in the bathroom – one controlled the lights above the mirror, and one controlled the lights in the shower. There was no switch to control the fan because there was no fan to control.
Surren recently moved into a new apartment. Again, no blower. Now if it was me, having a vent over the toilet is one of the things I would look at when apartment hunting. It’s up there with location in relation to emergency services and access to highways.
What’s the deal? I thought I lived in the United States of America. How can you relax in a bathroom without ventilation?
Are you a tourist and planning to go to San Francisco?
Be prepared to stand in lines.
Lines everywhere.
Lines.
No kidding.
Lines for food.
Lines for museums.
Lines for hot chocolate.
Lines for the rainforest.
Lines.
But the lines are there for a reason. San Francisco is a pretty neat city.
I was there for a week and I didn’t get a chance to do everything. And I think attempting to do everything would’ve ruined the vacation. I’m on vacation to have fun (by following a general outline of things to do).
My favorite attraction by far was Amoeba Music. I easily could’ve bought half the store. I ended up grabbing
On the smarter side of things, I also went to the SF MOMA and The California Academy of Sciences. In the SF MOMA, they had this interactive exhibit – where you connect your phone/camera/memory card to a computer, and it randomly grabs an image from your device. In the future it’ll be used in an exhibit – in the year 2030, if I remember correctly. From me it took a screenshot of the Obama iPhone app that was on my phone, and a picture of Jenny, Nadine, and Surren on the bus from my camera.
Bus That Steals Your Photos
Also at the SF MOMA, they had the iPhone locked up behind plexiglass. Not behind plexiglass, the T-mobile G1. Just saying.
The SF MOMA was sort of a consolation prize. On the Monday we went to CalAcademy, the lines were just way too long.
Lines!
We went back to CalAcademy on New Years Day – minus Nikko, Surren, and Vishant (they were recovering from NYE). CalAcademy was pretty neat. It was a mish-mash of every sort of “educational” intuition – aquarium, planetarium, history museum – under one living roof.
Now coming from Texas, what really impressed me about SF was the fact that everything is so close together. We stayed right on Union Square. I probably could’ve had a full (but less fulfilling) vacation by just walking around the area. In fact, getting a car while visiting SF is one of the worst things you can do – especially if you happen to have a Jenny who lives in the area. When I was back in Texas, driving home from DFW, everything seemed so empty. It just impresses on you the fact that Dallas – Fort Worth are fake cities.
The one downside to SF, the public transportation system. In San Francisco, you have to deal with MUNI, BART, and CalTrain. All systems are incompatible. Your MUNI pass will only work on MUNI. Your BART ticket will only work on BART. It just seems a waste – and a situation where you could easily improve things to make life easier in general. Like here, your TollTag will work with TxTag. And this is why California will be out of money by February.
… along with my stomach
Part of any good trip that goes along with what you did, is what you ate.
So the best thing in San Francisco that I stuffed in my face – Wings from Coco Bang. Yep, chicken wings from Coco Bang. I’ve never had wings so good. And they were meaty. And tasty. And had just the right amount of kick. Plus, I love the name – Coco Bang. I also had soju there for the first time. Turns out, I love soju. We ate there twice.
Another place I visited twice was Specialty’s. The first time, it was just a place to meet Jenny for lunch. The second time – I needed something easy to eat. I drank way too much the night before, and my stomach was telling me I needed something easy to digest. And both times the sandwiches were top notch. I really wish they had a location in Dallas, preferably by my office. Cheap and delicious – what more could you want from a sandwich shop?
So you know how I mentioned I needed something easy to eat – my cousins instead went to Naan N Curry that morning. I don’t know why they would do that, and as a result – Vishant threw up in the hotel. Nice.
The reason for the nausea – Johnny Foley’s Irish House. The best bar I went to in San Francisco. It’s right by Union Square and is probably considered a “tourist” bar. But still, it was great fun. The location had a friendly atmosphere, conducive to drinking Guinness and Newcastle, and a guy with a guitar – playing Oasis.
The official cocktail of the trip – the Vodka Madras. This guy Ernie we met late at night at this bar called Rye (don’t go to Rye, it was dead on a Saturday night), introduced it to us.
Did you know that Ghirardelli, the chocolate company, was started in San Francisco? Me neither. And frankly, I don’t really care for their chocolates. But at Ghirardelli Square, I had the best hot chocolate ever. Before sipping, I didn’t know hot chocolate could be something memorable.
Ghirardelli Square
And probably the food-related highlight of the trip was Sears Fine Food. I had a delicious crab salad sandwich on a croissant. But sitting in the dining room, 3 tables away was Jason Sudekis, Josh Meyers, this one guy who I can’t place, but I know I know him from somewhere, and probably some other comedians who I don’t know. It was a pretty fun moment, since Vishant spotted them first. And he kept on going on about how the people at the table looked famous. My back was to the table, but after turning around I spotted Jason Sudekis. And after a quick google image search on my iPhone, I confirmed it. Famous people eating food in a restaurant where I was eating food, at the same time!
This New Year’s Eve – I decided to do something different. Instead of not doing anything, I would go to San Francisco.
Yes, the one in California.
Backstory: Last year Surren was complaining that he never goes on vacation. So I jokingly suggested we go to Australia for New Year’s. But he didn’t know it was just a joke – and then later he followed up on it. So we were going to Australia. But the thing is, getting to Australia is expensive. Getting to Australia during peak travel, is shockingly expensive. We needed another destination. Los Angeles was thrown in as an alternative, but I figured if I’ll be in the state of California, let’s go to San Francisco. I’d get a chance to see Jenny as well. It’ll be a “2 for 1″ special.
So the day after Christmas, my cousins – Nikko, Surren, Vishant, and I – took off for SF. Nadine had gotten there on Christmas night. Disappointingly, Long wasn’t going to be there.
The trip was from Friday 12/26 to Friday 1/2. 1 week to experience San Francisco, could it be done?
The answer is no. There’s just too much to do.
Twitter: raishad