My Best of the Bay Area

Please check out the embedded links in the article below too. :) Above: Photo I took in San Francisco back when I was in the Mandarin Congregation there for two years.

When planning a trip to New York, many may like to research great films that take place there.
There are many great films to choose from!

When planning a trip to San Francisco there is only one that you need to see,
and it is the greatest film ever made -- Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo.

Note: In the link above, my personal favorite film is listed as number six. Maybe if Jimmy Stewart's character wasn't such a supposed wife-stealer (spoiler alert but not really) I would have liked Vertigo even more than I did.

In Vertigo, you can see the comparatively smaller, less famous, city by the bay in a cinematographic style that many say is unmatched.  It's a good introduction to what TripAdvisor considers the best city in the United States after New York.

Yes, of course, I roll my eyes at the second place ranking; but if one incorporates the greater SF bay area into the mix, I think it's a clear winner. And yes, of course I'm biased.

It's been over four years since I've been to my home of the San Francisco Bay Area. If all goes well, I hope to break that streak with a trip to California in the summer of 2014.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share some of the places I want to go to and my favorite food spots in the bay area for those that would like to visit.

Food:

Although, ranked second overall, San Francisco is easily ranked first in the US when it comes to food. Right? What?! Darn you New Orleans!

This is my checklist of only some of the places I want to go to when back in the Bay Area.
They're all pretty cheap too.

(Restaurant Name) - (Get what?)

In San Francisco
Plutos - Steak Sandwich and Garlic Curly Fries
Pizza Orgasmica - Many say North Beach pizza is the best, but I love Orgasmica. And yes, sorry about the name. Didn't choose it. Get the Latin Lover, Doggie Style...or pretty much just about anything on the menu.

In Berkeley 
Gordo - Carnitas Burrito (with added Sour Cream and Guacamole)
Cancun - Carne Asada Crunchy Taco (with added Sour Cream and Guacamole)
Brazil Fresh Squeeze Cafe - Tri-Tip Sandwich
Zachary's Chicago Style Pizza - Deep Dish or Thin Crust...I like all the pizza here. Be sure to make sure you order something with their excellent sausages.

In Emeryville
Emeryville Public Market - the best Gyro and best Philly Cheesesteak I've ever had, Turkey and Philadelphia included, can both be found in this building of affordable culinary heaven. Stop by the movie theater next door or Borders bookstore afterward.

In El Cerrito/Albany
The Junket - The Liverwurst sandwich is the best here. And yes that pun was definitely intended. There are so many German delights from beers to cheeses here to choose from in case Liverwurst isn't your style.
Al's Burgers - I've thought long about it and the conclusion I've come to is that the best burgers I've ever had in my life were from my hometown of El Cerrito at Al's. The burgers are grilled right in front of you here. Yes, they are amazing.

To drink:
If you think America has terrible beer--you're probably thinking of it's mainstream supermarket beers. And you're right. (And you're also right about the fact that I've been starting a lot of fragmented sentences in this article with 'and')
On the other hand, their microbreweries are amazing. There are many to choose from but my favorites are in the college town of Berkeley.
(Btw, Berkeley is a great city to visit. The Haight Ashbury in San Francisco and Berkeley were where the hippie/counterculture movement in the sixties was essentially born)

Pyramid Brewery - Get whatever you like. You can sample!
Triple Rock - Get the Monkey Head on Tuesday

Places:
In the links above there are tons of great suggestions for places to see, but here are a few personal favorites.

Solano Ave in Albany
University Ave in Berkeley
Indian Rock in Berkeley
Twin Peaks in San Francisco
Sutro Bath Ruins and the old Arcade in San Francisco (As seen in the film 'The Princess Diaries' and 'Harold and Maude').

That's all for now; don't want to make this an exhaustively long post.
Did I leave out any good spots? Agree or strongly disagree with some of my choices? Let me know in comments--preferably on my Instagram.
Hope it piked your interest in visiting the Bay Area...perhaps at the same time I'm out there!
Take care. :)

Sweet Tangerines (A New Acoustic Song)

Here's a simple new original song...well...a song that's new to you (I wrote it back in Shanghai).
I normally strum instead of fingerpick, and this song is an example why. ;)

Hope you enjoy it. As always, thanks for listening.

Below are the links to my other original acoustic songs from earlier blog posts. The bandcamp.com mp3's are coming soon Shanna! :)

Girl in the Picture
Can You Feel the Beat of My Heart
Asthma
God is Not a Trinity
I am a Robot

The Beatles - Everyday Chemistry (The 'Recently Discovered' Complete Beatles Album)

My new thing of the day: The faux Beatles album "Everyday Chemistry."
Check out the album here at thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com.

This album is presented as an undiscovered completed eleven-song Beatles album, only now surfacing. The reality, of course, is by the use of 'magical' computer technology and clever splicing, a certain 'James Richards' has made an album that contains quite a few tracks with Paul McCartney + John Lennon singing to mashed up old Beatles clips pieced together to form new, listenable, and even semi-believable tunes.

I think it's worth a listen.

I liked 'Soldier Boy,' and really liked the piano-y sad spirited 'Over the Ocean,' which kinda...for lack of better description...makes me feel nostalgic about a time that never really happened; When listening to this song, I'm left wondering what direction the Beatles would have gone if they were resurrected back as youths and started making new songs.* I also passively wonder what they would think of modern electronic music, the mark they have left on pop music and where popular music 'is' now.

I personally am a big Beatles fan.

My favorite albums are the stereotypical choices 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club' and 'The White Album.'

My favorite less-popular real Beatles songs are: Don't Let Me Down, Good Night, Cry Baby Cry, Mother Nature's Son, Real Love, Here There Everywhere, Julia, amongst many others.

*many people may say the answer to this question is "Tame Impala," a band that created the critically acclaimed album "Lonerism" which sounds a little like this album. (Favorite song on this album is "Feel Like We Only Go Backwards")

All Things New (The Novel)

All Things New is a completed novel containing fictional interviews and experiences from the New World. It is currently being serialized online @ allthingsnewnovel.blogspot.com.

When one is making some sort of art with a spiritual theme, there are some inevitable problems. One of these is making sure the material isn't cheesy or of poor quality; Jehovah's Witnesses are usually not professional artists and should devote the meat of their time and energy to other more important concerns. Another concern is sharing one's art without compromising the need to be an example in humility. Making art for the sake of fame or personal glory is a trait inseparable from the spirit often shown in this world. Also, there is the issue of not offending or making it seem as if one is presenting presumptuous ideas or something beyond that which is written in the fictional text.  

To quote the writer of All Things New:

"The idea behind this novel first occurred to me in 2010... I assumed that some would be offended by my portrayal of post-Armageddon society. Perhaps they would feel that my book was a transgression in over-speculation. At the very least, there would be a flood of those who disagreed strongly with my depictions...then 2013 came along...that year’s District Convention featured two dramas set in the future–one at the start of the Great Tribulation, the other after the Resurrection. 

"A myriad of questions begged answers in my head that I wanted desperately to explore on paper: How would the U.N. attack false religion? How would the Witnesses later be targeted? How would Jehovah protect his people? What would Armageddon be like? What (and who) would be left? How would we reorganize? Communicate? Travel? Rebuild? What would return to perfection be like? How would a perfect child think? And, perhaps the most intriguing question of them all: What would the Resurrection be like? 

"Thus, in August of 2013, I returned to my novel. I wrote at a swift pace, with a loose quota of 2,000 words a day and an ultimate goal of 100,000 words, the length of an average paperback. As you might imagine, writing a novel takes determination, and writing is just half the effort. It involves hours upon hours of research, editing, and–in the case of a story with spiritual themes–lots of meditation.

"Of course, the stories here are fictional. The events and characters are nothing more than my imaginative renderings of what could be. Still, I’ve done my upmost to align the details of the stories with our current understanding of Bible prophecy. Where that understanding is unclear or incomplete, I have bridged the gaps with reasonable hypothesis. Where some aspect of a story resembles a Biblical account, I’ve tried to conclude the likeliest outcome based on precedent. After all, Divine destruction is nothing new; neither are Divinely-backed construction projects. Does this mean that I believe future events will play out as the stories describe? Not necessarily. They might, but I expect it’ll be much more surprising (and more miraculous) than anything I could invent or write. So please, as you read through the novel in your hands, remember: I’m not making predictions. I’m merely exploring one stream of possibilities. But one thing I am certain of–as are you, I'm sure–is that whatever happens in the end, each one of us will have a story to tell..."

The writer of the blog series wishes to remain anonymous, but hope you get a chance to check All Things New out. Enjoy! :)