Category: Romantic Comedy (Page 1 of 6)

Must-See! Aziz Ansari’s New Show on Netflix

November 11, 2015 / Claire / 0 Comments

Aziz Ansari first hit my radar in the under-seen and under-appreciated black comedy Observe and Report. He plays a mall kiosk salesman who gets into a “fuck you” battle with a lame-ass cop played by Seth Rogen. It’s a ridiculous and funny sequence. Rather than his expletives exploding in volume and aggressiveness, Ansari’s “fuck you’s” evolve into silent mouth contortions.

Since then he’s blown up everywhere. And now he’s got a new show on Netflix called Master of None. I love this show! He plays a version of himself (his real-life parents play his parents) as a New York actor who attempts to negotiate the modern world and its many challenges: sex, marriage, parenting, and racism. Topics he delves into in his stand-up act, too. His take is incisive, poignant, and hilarious.

In the second episode, “Parents,” he and his Taiwanese-American buddy Brian, learn about their parents’ hardships and struggles while growing up and immigrating to America. He handles the subject matter with keen wit and tenderness. While I’m tempted to binge-watch, all episodes are online now, I’m refraining, so I can savor this great new show, one day at a time.

Rules of the Flyer

February 6, 2015 / Claire

Old school marketing for music shows and events is alive and well in the Mission District. Many flyers and posters are typically glossy and slick, but the hand-drawn ones have a low-fi, punk charm. Come upon a vertical surface— telephone poles, construction barriers, boarded-up storefronts—it’ll likely be covered with notices. During my political activist Berkeley days, groups of us would go “sniping.” We’d affix campaign posters and rally flyers everywhere with a staple gun. We had an efficient system: one would hold up the flyer the other would staple it with the gun. We’d arrange them in grids for maximum visual effect.

There was this unwritten rule that you’d never tear down other people’s stuff—that’d be uncool (unless they were Republican campaign posters—we rationalized they were doing it to us Dems). So we’d only cover up the ones that were out-of-date. Now that practice seems so quaint and idealistic given that these days competition for consumers’ attention is so fierce. But that’s not what’s happening as evidenced by the layers upon layers of flyers in these photos. It’s nice to know that the “rules of the flyer” still apply.

Penny rounded up a crew of skateboard rats and bike messengers and enlisted them to plaster every telephone pole and construction site barrier with Hayden Korr Band posters.

Foodie Lovers Paradise

January 23, 2015 / Claire / 0 Comments

San Francisco is purported to have over 7,000 restaurants, making it the highest number per capita. This means you’re either in foodie heaven or foodie hell. There’s a sublime macaron, artisanal ice creamery or roasted, cheesy, buttery something or other lurking around every corner to tempt, taunt and turn your resolve to eat healthfully into mush.

For Love Match’s Jessica Durrell, restaurants are an essential part of her matchmaking business. Putting her clients in the proper environment is most conducive to romantic success. A restaurant’s lighting, décor and especially the food all help to heighten the palate and the senses—thus setting the mood for love.

Here are a few foodie destinations that inspired Love Match’s romantic hot spots and references.

new & improved Tosca on Columbus

“Mars … was just the sort of person to book restaurants, limo pick-ups, and stylist appointments, so clients could focus on the task at hand—falling effortlessly in love.”

Financial District eatery

The Original Cold Day Restaurant, est. 1849

“… Penny grabbed her arm and tugged her inside the Mariposa Grill—a classic San Francisco restaurant of snotty career-waiters and artery-clogging steaks and chops.”