Lost art…

What a sad day. It seems that the opening of Muni’s new Third Street light rail line has triggered a cleanup around the route and surrounding neighborhoods. The most visible casualty? Nearly all of the lovely, colorful Bayshore graffiti has been painted over with a safe neutral palette. Surely, there is more a compromise between banality and filth.

Nah, I don’t mind that all the nasty trash has been removed, but check out these after and before shots from my regular photo route. I suppose the good news is that my prints are now unique forever!

Otherwise, this was a pretty low-key weekend. We caught The Simpsons Movie on Friday night. Saturday, we test drove a couple of cars to replace Jeff’s aging beast of a vehicle. And Sunday, we drove north to Napa to pick up a wine club shipment.

[Note on the Simpsons Movie. Like most Simpsons adventures, there were moments that made me laugh out loud, lines that we have been quoting since Friday, and long stretches that just made me sit back and smile. I am certain that upon repeated viewing I will discover the hidden gems and those subversive elements that have forever ingrained the Simpsons in my subconscious. And yet, with all the build-up of expectations, you can’t help but come away with a wish list of could-have-beens. But to be fair, we don’t see many films on the big screen any more, and my aversion to theatres and strangers couldn’t help but sedate me a bit. Sooooo, thumbs up…with an eager eye to the DVD, when I can soak it all in on MY terms.]