At The Asian 3: New

The Asian Art Museum has such a deep permanent collection that the art is rotated in and out from god knows where with dizzying speed.



In the Monster Japanese Screens rooms on the second floor, the pieces are all "newly on view."



In the Japanese basket section, it's a brand new display from the huge collection...



...and the fabulous, bizarre designs mirror the fashion on the floor below.



Though the core of the permanent collection are antiquities from the Avery Brundage collection, the permanent collection has a large modern art quotient that seems to be growing all the time. Above is a piece by the Japanese artist Shinoda Toka...



...and in the Korean wing...



...there are a number of large paintings of the sacred mountains in North Korea by Park Dae-Sung.



One of the Philippines' greatest 20th century painters, Fernando Amorsolo, is represented by the 1955 piece above...



...and on the third floor, among the Hindi statues...



...there are a pair of wild paintings by the young Sikh artist Caur Sika.



For more info, click here for the museum's website.

Playing Chicken with Muni

Early Monday afternoon all the buses and streetcars stopped in both directions on Market between 4th and 5th Streets.



Large crowds on the sidewalk watched as rescue workers attended to a bicyclist who had been seriously injured.



It seems that his or her bicycle wheels slipped on the wet streetcar tracks and mayhem ensued.



Be careful out there, folks, and not just you bicyclists. I've known plenty of people who have slipped and broken bones while tripping over the tracks, usually while running for a bus.



And here's another maxim: Whether you're a pedestrian, bicyclist, or a car driver, NEVER play chicken with a Muni bus. The odds are not in your favor.

Guide Dogs for Art

The opening party for the "Insights 2007" art show...



...was held last Thursday evening in City Hall's basement.



The nationally juried show of "visually impaired or blind" artists is sponsored by the Lighthouse for the Blind next door on Van Ness and Grove (click here for their site).



There were lovely hors d'oeuvres being passed around to wealthy donors...



...and anybody else who was hungry.



It was fun watching artists such as Lois Ann Burnett (above)...



...posing with their work...



...and checking out the coolest collection of guide dogs ever seen at an art show.

We Invite You to Stand With Us

A group shot was formed to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the peace vigil in front of San Francisco's Federal Building last Thursday.



This mild and noiseless action set off the heckling longhair above, who shouted a stream of profanities for five minutes at the mostly elderly peaceniks on Larkin Street.



The group is handing out a new pamphlet which is worth quoting, as it's essentially an invitation:

"Please vigil with us. We are here on the corner of Larkin Street and Golden Gate Avenue every Thursday from noon until 1:00 (except federal holidays). You are welcome to stand or to sit. You need not be here for the entire vigil -- come and go as your schedule allows."

"Please invite friends, neighbors and co-workers to join us. Work with us to build a nonviolent world based on freedom and justice."

"Last year We the People elected a Congress to end the war and yet the war continues. This is a breakdown of democracy. The war is a failure on every level. Rather than making America safe it sparks the growth of terrorism around the world. One day of the Iraq war costs 720 million dollars. Think of all the unmet human needs in this country and around the world."

"With so much opposition to the war, why do so few people stand against it? What would happen if a small portion of those who oppose the war became active? If only one percent of the American people came forward peacefully that would create a movement of three million people...We believe it is necessary to build this kind of people power. We invite you to stand with us."