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The best thing on the internets.

(Okay, this is pretty good too.)

Birthday week, in a few pictures...

Potrero Hill rooftop view for fireworks















Asia SF




















Carne Asada Tostada Salads at Picante
















Honoring the wonderful Paul Newman at Pizzaiolo's summer movie nights




























Hiking, camping, and hot-springing it with friends in Mendocino








































Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Just when you thought Japan couldn't get any more wackalicious, and just when I thought I had a full plate of things to do when I visit next:

Hibaritei: Japanese Salarymen Dress As Maids













This is the latest spin on the popular Japanese maid cafe where women dress in provocative and/or Lolita maid outfits and welcome customers as "masters" while serving tea and snacks.

Hibaritei features "maids" who are men. In Akihabara, it's common to see men dressed as maids or their favorite anime characters, but this trend has reached new heights with the launch of cross-dressing maid troupe Hibaritei. In a twist, the cross-dressing maids are all weekday salarymen who are straight, most having girlfriends. These men are not financially troubled in any way. Most work in IT companies and come to Akiba often because of work.

Despite having a rather unconventional all-male staff, Hibaritei does not fall short of the usual services one finds in a typical maid cafe. We can hear the usual "Welcome home, master!" greeting, omurice with ketchup writing, cheki service and even a customized gatchapon (capsule toys from vending machines) with original Hibaritei character badges drawn by their in-house illustrator. They also feature a lottery style gatchapon (300 yen) that allows you to win an original photo of the Hibaritei maids. No two are alike.

BTW, I've never seen anyone -- man or woman -- dressed like an anime character or a maid in Akihabara (Harajuku, sure), but maybe I'm not frequenting the right joints. I did see a man dressed as Sailor Moon at 3 am in Shinjuku's gay quarter, but I don't think he was plying tea and curry.

Oh Nihon, while you are still bizarrely homophobic and outrageously rigid in your gender roles, you still sometimes outdo my Bay neighbor, San Francisco, in wacky fabulosity. It's always the quiet ones, isn't it? I'm almost afraid to ask: What will you think of next?

Haha, check out these Star Wars action figures that unintentionally look like celebrities.

Slave Leia/Christian Bale = eerie. I'm slightly uncomfortable.

Just musing: I was driving back from the grocery store and I couldn't help but notice how many 50-something women I encountered today who look like the current incarnation of David Bowie. It was eerie. I know it sounds like I'm joking, but as much as it pains me to say it, Andrea, it's true.

Something I will not miss when this incarnation of indie/emo is gone: boys in girl jeans. Enough already!

Why I still don't have a mobile: I don't want to be associated at all, even remotely, with the lady sitting behind me at Asmara last night, who was ignoring her dining companions while she conducted banking business on her cell at dinner. Trying to whisper her bank/credit card account numbers to the poor customer service representative, she repeatedly said, "I can't speak louder, I'm in public. In a restaurant" while rudely waving off the waitress like she was royalty. When did this become acceptable? Get off your phone!

Gah, it's bad enough we were dining at the same establishment and I grudgingly have to include her as not only a member of my species, but my gender -- no way I want one more thing that, to the untrained eye, binds us.