The Bold Italic’s Big Gay Birthday, June 28 2013 from The Bold Italic on Vimeo.

The flagship Levi’s store and the ubiquitous sneaker brand Converse will both soon be finding homes near Market and Powell, one of the most famous intersections in all of San Francisco, and the area is about to get a little more cool–cause c’mon Levi’s and Converse are cool brands. And their savvy advertisers are sure to let you know exactly that.

With the two retail behemoths are setting up shop, much to the delight, or at least interest of many in the city, and the continuing influx of tech companies moving to mid-Market, the future of Market Street is about to look like something far different than its past.

But, what exactly does Levi’s and Converse’s past look like, and how did they become two of just a handful of brands to be so loved by a 20-year-old cool kid and a 50-year-old mother of four?

They are iconic American brands, pushing a uniquely American image, and both have over a 100-year-old manufacturing history.

Levi Strauss & Co. was founded in 1853 after Strauss moved to San Francisco from Bavaria. The company patented the rivet in 1873 and starting selling 501’s, arguably the most purchased pair of pants in the world, in the 1890s. And this summer it’s moving its flagship store on Union Square to Market St.

When Levi’s debuted its one-two punch with the Go Forth O Pioneers! video in 2009 and “Legacy” featuring the Charles Bukowski poem “The Laughing Heart” in 2011, urging the world’s youth to change it, I watched both over and over again. It is not out of fondness for the messages, but more like a rubbernecker. I couldn’t look away, no matter how uncomfortable it made me feel. What irked me the most, other than its co-opting of “revolution” and working class self-reliance as something the cool kids are into these days, was that the videos took basically an entire generation of millennials, and homogenized them right down to the clothes they put on their backs. It made me feel like we are becoming more like the product: factory made, with a pride only based in a consistence in quality.

Nobody really messes up in a Levi’s world (the video doesn’t show the morning after the riot, after you have spent the night in jail, with your wrists bruised and your parent’s look of disappointment when they come to bail you out) and everyone is attractive, in a conventional sense. It’s an old story, yes, but one that Levi’s has twisted into this idea of that if you are proud to be young and free, which many millennials are not these days because a lot of us are weighed down by student debt, foreclosures, austerity and the absence of health insurance, then you have got to be in a pair of $50-$100 jeans.

Converse’s new campaign makes me equally uncomfortable in mostly the same ways. You don’t have to look far these days (the 16^th Street BART station, on the side of a bus shelter, plastered on a construction wall) to find Converse’s idea of reaching out to its potential market. “Shoes are boring, wear sneakers” say the ads in every direction your eye may glance. And who is defining the essence of cool in a Converse world? Street artists and a girl band who apparently likes to roll their expensive equipment around town on a skateboard (Hey, ladies! Get your cool mom, who is probably also wearing Converse sneakers, to give you a ride!). [Editor's note: We have previously written about this band, The She's.]

Converse was founded in 1908 and maintained a good market share until competitors such as Reebok moved in. The company was acquisitioned by Nike, Inc. in 2003, so the brand definitely lost some of that indie cool cred it created with skaters in the 90s. However, with its new San Francisco store, one of five in the country, it is trying to win that cred back with the city’s upwardly mobile youth.

But, well, here’s the rub: Despite my protestations, Levi’s are still one of my denim staples and Converse sneakers have been my go-to shoe for the better part of two decades. My own past with these two brands is enduring because of their comfort and versatility. I’m a fan of Jack Purcells, or as my dad likes to call them, my “smileys.” I wear both Levi’s jeans and Converse shoes down to their threadbare, tattered end, and they look cooler the more messed up they get, until they fall apart completely, like a supernova, or rock star about to turn 28.

And this conflict from despising the ads and still buying the products, because of a reticent brand loyalty, is brought straight to the forefront of my mind when I get told I’m boring in my off-brand pants and boots (or god-forbid, Vans) while on my commute.

Will I shop at these two formidable stores when they open their doors? Only time will tell, but I know for one thing for sure, I won’t like myself when I do.

Converse is slated to open June 28 and Levi’s later this summer. 

Flickr: Maura Teague

So you have a crush and you’ve been on a couple of dates and things are going pretty well! Hurray! But don’t pop the bubbly just yet. There’s still one ritual left before you can do cute stuff like bake surprise cakes for each other or go to yoga together: the viewing of the “gauge” film. You know, that lazy afternoon when you make your new love watch something really important to you, partly because you want to share things that you love with them, but mostly because you need to judge whether they’re worth your time by their reaction to it. We asked our writers to share their deal-breaker films. What follows is their answers:

Laura Schadler: Il Deserto Rosso and The Fast and The Furious

The aesthetic sensibilities of potential suitors has always been high on my list when determining compatibility. By no means does someone need to share my exact tastes (I prefer they don’t), but they need to demonstrate a level of coolness, intelligence, obscurity and nuance which leads me to, at times, suspect they might be cooler, smarter or more obscure and nuanced than me. That way talking to them is fun, unexpected and inspiring. I’ve had many a debate about this, with those who suggest that true love doesn’t necessarily have to do with what music/movies/books someone likes. But I kind of think it does. Those things are indicators of how someone sees, interacts with and contemplates the world around them. It’s actually a profound gauge of who they are and what they value, not just a superficial judgment of what they like. That being said, a mix of high/low is most important for me. I don’t want to be with someone who is all artsy snob or all trashy idiocy, but am hopelessly drawn to someone who is an eclectic combo of snobby and trashy. And a middle of the road guy is definitely a deal breaker. My true love is someone who likes both Antonioni’s Il Deserto Rosso and the Fast and the Furious franchise, who wants to talk about Jonas Mekas and Jason Bourne. My dream boy is unpredictable, irreverent, informed and engaged. Bonus points if we both don’t like something that everyone else seems to like a lot (ex: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Beasts of the Southern Wild) because it’s nice to sit on the couch and make fun of things together.

Emmanuel Hapsis: The Sound of Music

Tumblr: Busted Weave

There are areas in your life where compromise is important. Choosing the person you want to kiss up on is not one of them. My deal breakers come in many forms. For example: Is Sporty Spice his favorite? Swoon. Is he a Virgo? Get away from me. You know, rational markers like that. This qualification process extends to movies too. While it’s important for my soul mate to be able to quote lines from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Grey Gardens and Clueless, the movie that really gets to the heart of the matter is The Sound of Music. Several tests lie within. Here are some of them:

• Must know at least 85% of the words.
• Must indulge me in ranking the Von Trapp children in order of preference (Brigitta must be first or second, Louisa must be last).
• Must be offended by the most anti-feminist song to ever exist, “16 Going on 17.”
• Must look up the shooting location and seriously consider taking me there.
• Must consider making tanks and cut-offs out of curtains for at least 30 seconds.
• Must not complain about how long the movie is.
• Must complain about how short the movie is.

Note: one may fail one or two of these tests, if he resembles River Phoenix or Kurt Cobain in any way.

Lizzy Acker: 10 Things I Hate About You

10 Things I Hate About You is not generally considered high art or the kind of thing you would use to judge the quality of a human being. It is, of course, a hilarious and ridiculous comedy based on SHAKESPEARE, set in the Pacific Northwest (my homeland) and starring the man of my dreams, Heath Ledger (RIP), which are all things a person I plan on getting naked with should value but isn’t necessarily required to love. However, there are two reasons any potential partner of mine should appreciate this movie. One: anyone who “doesn’t get it” or pretends to think it’s stupid is either way too serious or way too old for me. Both are deal breakers I might be blind to if a person is cute or complimentary enough, without the help of this movie. Two: at a crucial moment, someone says to Heath, about his true love and what he must do to win her back: “You embarrassed the girl. Sacrifice yourself on the altar of dignity and even the score.”

I have embarrassed myself for love over and over again and I am still waiting for someone to get up on the bleachers and sing me a classic love song and even the score. Anyone who wants to marry me (because, let’s face it, I am too much of a romantic to go on useless dates; it’s either true love or nothing at all) has to be ready to absolutely humiliate themselves to prove they care, at least once and preferably to music.

Gina Scialabba: The Godfather

If you don’t get The Godfather Part I and Part II, you don’t get me. Literally and figuratively. The tale of the rise and fall of the Corleone crime family has mesmerized audiences for years. More importantly, it has mesmerized me. Any potential partner who wants to get past the third date should study up on the history and lore of this crime drama. Expect a pop quiz. The story is classic: the rise of a chosen son to save the family. It’s also addictively quotable: “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.” “Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.” And who can forget, “Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.” Genius. The acting beats out any modern film: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton and James Caan. (Bonus points to any potential date who has actually read the novel by Mario Puzo). It is a bit long at 175 minutes, but, if you can sit through the movie (over and over again), you possess a rare and valuable character trait: concentration (and stellar taste in movies). So, if my potential partner has 1.) never seen The Godfather, 2.) never heard of The Godfather, 3.) or dislikes The Godfather, in the words of Michael Corleone to his brother Fredo in Godfather Part II, “You’re nothing to me now.”

Natalie Grace Sweet: Cry-Baby

What can I say, I’m a sucker for a classic love story, the weirder the better. Therefore, John Waters’ masterpiece Cry-Baby wets my whistle every damn time. While most girls go gaga over Johnny Depp, I prefer to leave my heart with Cry-Baby Walker, the leather-jacket clad bad boy with a heart of gold. This film has everything I need for a rip-roaring good time: ’50s rock ‘n’ roll, young love, vintage cars, threats of Juvenile Delinquency, and Iggy Pop in a washtub. It gets better. It’s also a musical. Cry-Baby delivers a quirky, campy rendition of the “star crossed lover” genre in perfect John Waters fashion. Naturally, it takes place in a romanticized version of the olden days; a time when people still solved their problems through song and flawless choreography, and the bad boy gets the good girl gone bad. I love it when weirdness wins out over squares! Johnny Depp’s Elvis-like appearance and sound certainly don’t hurt, either. It’s all just so romantic. Still not convinced? Traci Lords is in it. So is Rikki Lake, when she’s still fat. And there’s a character called Hatchet Face. It’s awesome. Seriously, it’s awesome. But the point is this, I love this movie. If you don’t at least like it, I’m not sure I’ll ever understand you, nor you me.

Tony Bravo: Boom!

When two boys are dating and they really, really like each other and take all the proper precautions…they should watch Tennessee Williams movies together. For me, the ultimate Tennessee Williams movie is not A Streetcar Named Desire or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: it’s Josey’s Losey’s 1968 art film from beyond Boom! (the exclamation is in the title, seriously) adapted for the screen by Tennessee from his play The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore. The man had a way with a title.

How does one introduce Boom! to the non-initiated? It’s John Waters’ favorite film: so if you’re the kind of guy I like to date, that’s already a ringing endorsement. Boom! tells the story of Flora “Sissy” Goforth (Elizabeth Taylor, at the height of her supernatural beauty and the hysterical peak of her talent), the richest woman in the world with the best name EVER. Sissy lives on her own private island (a modernist setting art directed within an inch of its life) where she’s perpetually drinking champagne from Borgia goblets, getting injections (“Hot sun, cool breeze, white horse on the sea, and a big shot of vitamin B in me!”), dictating her memoirs, bossing around the little person with a whip she keeps on staff (the great Michael Dunn) and wearing untold millions of dollars worth of jewelry. So, basically, she has my life. One day, a visitor arrives on the island, Chris Flanders (golden-voiced Richard Burton, Taylor’s husband at the time), a.k.a. Angelo della Morte. As you may have guessed from his moniker, he may or may not be the Angel of Death; that’s the kind of film we’re talking about. Add to the mix Noel Coward as “The Witch of Capri” (the part was originally offered to Katharine Hepburn who refused so, clearly, if you can’t get her, by all means, the next logical choice is Noel Coward), some truly unbelievable wardrobe choices (exclusively white 1960s haute couture for Taylor, a Samurai robe and sword for Burton), and some of the strangest and most poetic dialogue ever written. Like caviar, Oceanic art and Anne Sexton poetry, Boom! is an acquired taste, but it’s quite possible that so am I. For a man to get me, he has to get Boom! in all its surreal, elegant, vulgar, brilliant, ambitious glory. As Burton says to Taylor, “Boom! The shock of each moment of still being alive!” Coincidentally, more than one man has said that to me, but never before the third date.

Arrested Development/Fox

So you have daddy issues and you hate your mother, which has led you to experiment with different identities and take risks like visiting Oakland. For you, the best way to watch the newest season of Arrested Development is amongst a crowd of people you are DEFINITELY not related to, who don’t know your real name, age or whether you are in fact confined to a wheelchair. Luckily the Parkway is marathoning the season in two sittings and costumes are encouraged. Possible costumes include: Leather Daughter, Studio Executive or Victim of BS Disease

2. Marathon Alone in Your Apartment: George Michael

Bad things are always happening to you. First off, you’re in love with your (maybe) cousin, everyone hates your actual girlfriend (her?), and you spend your days shilling fruit at the beach. Because of these factors and your general goodie two shoes-ness, no one wants to hang out with you and you end up spending a lot of time face down on your carpet…alone. So there’s really only one way you can watch the new season of Arrested Development: in your bed, under the covers, all at once, eating mayoneggs. You’ll be gone for days but don’t worry, no one will call the police.

3. Test Your Relationship by Watching on a Schedule with a Partner: Buster and (either) Lucille

Arrested Development/Netflix

You’re never sure how much your partner (or your mom) really cares about you. Yes, they want you around to zip up their dresses and participate in mother/son beauty pageants but who’s to say they won’t trade you in for a younger model (“Annyong!”)? Who’s to say they won’t murder you when they go off their meds? Here’s a way to find out if they REALLY love you: make them watch the new season of Arrested Development with you on a schedule, one episode a night. That way you will know where they are every night and if they start speaking along with lines at any point, you will know they’ve been cheating!

4. Throw a Theme Party: Lindsay

We know you’re great at throwing a fundraiser, whether it’s to end circumcision or your cause is TBD. Also, you’re a shopaholic (you’ve been looking for the right time to wear your lotion made of diamonds) and you’re an attention whore (because your mother doesn’t love you). All reasons why you should throw a theme party and try to forget that you’ve never seen your husband naked.

5. Watch Alone “When You Get To It”: Michael

Congratulations. You’re SOOOOO practical and responsible. You probably don’t even have Netflix. We would write more about you, but that about covers it. You’ll probably spend the next two weeks acting all superior to your friends and saying you’re too busy riding your bike or saving your family business to watch the new season of Arrested Development. Have fun up there on your boring mountain top of predictability but don’t be surprised when your son finds more entertaining (drunker) relatives to hang out with.

6. On Google Glass, Constantly: GOB

Everyone hates you.

Season four of Arrested Development goes live on Netflix on May 26.

By Emmanuel Hapsis and Lizzy Acker

If you haven’t used at least three different highlighters in your calendar to mark the release of Arrested Development’s fourth season this Sunday, you’ve made a huge mistake. To celebrate, Don and I collaborated on an exclusive, special edition of “Whilst in SF” featuring the Bluth family.

Taste the happy, readers!

WHEN I CHECK THE WEATHER AND REALIZE IT’S GOING TO BE OVER 80 DEGREES

VISITING NORTH BEACH ESTABLISHMENTS

ANYTIME ANYTHING HAPPENS ON MUNI, IT’S JUST LIKE:

WHEN I VISIT A PACKED DOLORES PARK AT 2:00 P.M. ON A WEEKDAY

TRYING TO ORDER A COSMO AT ZEITGEIST

THE FIRST TIME I VISITED FISHERMAN’S WHARF

MOVING TO THE PRESIDIO

Want more? Lucky you! See the rest of the GIFs (including some that aren’t KQED appropriate!) over at The Bold Italic.

Unless you live under a rock with no Internet access, you’ve likely seen dance moves like the Harlem shake and twerking making the rounds through memes and viral videos. We’re fairly certain that KQED Pop readers crush it on the dance floor, and we want to see your moves! Show us your signature dance move (or make one up) and give it a catchy name. Then capture it in a short video and send us the link via Vine, Twitter, or in the comments section below, and be sure to tag #DoNowDance. The most creative dances will be featured here on KQED Pop. Everybody dance now!

UPDATE: check out our dance moves for inspiration!

Video Produced by Kristin Farr and Matt Williams

You know how I know data visualization has gone mainstream? Because it’s only a matter of time before someone starts saying he was into it before it was cool.

No, wait, that happened. In San Francisco, as you’d expect.

“That would be me,” laughs Eric Rodenbeck. He points out that if you’ve looked at a weather map, you’ve used a data visualization. Really, even my dad can check his commute traffic on Apple’s Maps app, and this is a man who until recently dealt with email by dictating to his secretary. Mainstream.

graffiti archaeology

Rodenbeck isn’t posing as a hipster; he really was into it. In 2001, he co-founded and still is the creative director and CEO of Stamen, which has built data visualizations for clients from the ACLU to Yahoo, on topics ranging from Crimespotting to Graffiti Archaeology.

That’s not to say the visual representation of data can’t be data first and science last. ScienceOnline Bay Area holds monthly discussions on using visuals to present science findings online; the pretty pictures that NASA and other astronomers build not only sell space in a sexy way but help uncover real discoveries easy to miss in a data stream of numbers. Want to inspect the Firefox codebase? There’s a visualization for that. But did you understand it? Me neither. There’s a lot of serious cogitating going on.

But independently, in the wider world, data visualization has become data viz which has become #dataviz; the contraction traces the medium’s infiltration into our lives. Driving this is what drives most media: narrative. Narrative is the potent virus embedded in data viz that helps it spread and replicate in pop culture.

Lee Sherman, co-founder of SF-based Visual.ly, has bet heavily that data viz is the next form of storytelling, of narrative. How sure is he? The first line of his professional bio says that that “visual storytelling will save media.” Data visualization, when done well, is a story.

The linking of story and data was something Rodenback was learning in the days before broadband, before mobile, before most kids pitching at Y Combinator were able to ride a bike. When at Quokka Sports, he was trying to “embed the internet” into coverage of the ’97-’98 Whitbread Round the World yacht race. It was new. It pushed the state of technology, and it was cool: you could track racing sailboats automatically by GPS data, with video and images pushed from mast-mounted satellite dishes.

They’re joined in this crusade by Alberto Cairo, who says in his book The Functional Art that good visualizations tell a story, or at least allow us to discover one. “An illustration with a few figures,” he recently tweeted, “… not the same thing.” Or, as Sherman says, “nobody’s going to read a spreadsheet,” but a visualization with color and shapes and maybe motion? “All these things are looking to engage all our human senses.” Data suggest that readers eat up data viz: the Knight Foundation saw that “Data visualizations are 30x as likely to be shared as traditional text articles.”

This is leading major media outlets such as the New York Times to advertise for an “Interactive Storyteller” position; much of the Times’ data viz efforts are powered by hires from the Berkeley-based Center for Investigative Reporting and the SF locals behind D3.js. And recently, the media think tank Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley ran a data viz symposium attended by designers and writers from around the world.

Inequality & Mass Transit in the Bay Area

SF was, and is, definitely a hub of this new medium, say both Rodenbeck and Sherman (and not just because their companies are based here, though you can’t ignore Visual.ly’s Giants visualization). Check the number of data viz Meetups in the Bay Area; look at the mapping of income inequality along local mass transit; see Sha Hwang’s use of local company Trulia’s data to show commute times; read Wired’s Tim Leong’s recounting of Vertigo comics.

And, ultimately, it seems that data viz is becoming what most people think of when they think of visual design. Of course, everyday objects such as street signs and shoes are designed, but as more and more news and entertainment is propagated this way, and the more and more we turn to interactions to find our route, or connect with others, or figure out where to live, it’s going to be an infographic or data viz that pops to mind when people think, “design.” It’s kind of their own damn fault for making data so pretty.

Dimitra Skandali, one of our favorite SFAI grads

Every spring art schools around the Bay have final shows to highlight the work of the year’s graduating Masters of Fine Arts (in visual arts). If you live here, you know there are a LOT of Masters and a lot of art projects. In San Francisco alone there are shows for the San Francisco Art Institute, California College of the Arts and San Francisco State University, not to mention Mills across the Bay in Oakland and don’t forget Stanford and Berkeley.

This means a lot of work, a lot of artist statements and a whole lot of nervous grads entering a pretty competitive job market. KQED Pop had the chance to head to the Old Mint where SFAI’s final show, Currency, is being held from May 15 to 19. While the grads installed their work, we walked around and talked to some of them about why they make art and why we should care. Spoiler: we were impressed and we are hard to impress. Watch the video below and regain a bit of hope for the future of art in America.

Paramount Pictures

Post by contributor Gina Scialabba

I saw Iron Man 3 this weekend. I wasn’t disappointed. Despite my outward journalist appearance, I secretly wish I had a superhero cape. Yes, I love highbrow art house films like the rest of San Francisco. I’ve spent my share of Saturday nights at the Sundance Kabuki viewing foreign language movies and later contemplating the meaning behind Pedro Almodóvar films over a bottle of Napa Valley’s finest red. But I love superhero movies. I always have.

So, what is it about Clark Kent, Peter Parker and Tony Stark that lures armies of audiences to the movie house? Superheroes hold the pantheon of American cultural iconography. Social psychologists study it. Scholars write articles, critical analyses and books on the subject. I am no expert. I can only report what I observe

1. Escapism

Simply put, these films are fun. They’re exciting. It’s 120+ minutes of pure transcendental escapism — a mini-vacation from your life. With so much going on in the world — acts of terrorism home and abroad, immigration reform, wide-spread poverty and global climate change — superhero movies provide a utopian script for life. You can sit back, kick your feet up, eat a $25 small bucket of popcorn and experience a feeling of security, knowing you are in good hands. You can’t control what is going on in the world. Few really can. But, rest assured, Batman can and will.

 2. Reflection of Ourselves

I think deep down, in that little corner of our minds that only we have access to, we all want to be a superhero. The archetypical superhero is symbolic of near-perfection. They are a manifestation of what we wish we had, however unattainable — a perfect body, perfect teeth, never a hair out of place. I believe it was Shakespeare’s Macbeth who said, “Clothes make the man.” Indeed, superheroes are always fashionable. Billionaire Bruce Wayne is a masked vigilante with serious style wearing perfectly tailored Armani suits. Wonder Woman’s outfit was never an ill-fitting Halloween getup. And caped crusaders also have incredible abilities — invisibility, x-ray vision, healing power, memory manipulation. Ever had a day you wish you could simply vanish from your office cubicle? Maybe slip out after lunch to catch a 1:05pm ballgame and then simply erase your boss’s memory of your absence? We all have.

3. Reflection of our Secret Desire to be Saved

Perhaps Bonnie Tyler, 1980s semi-diva, was onto something. As she runs out of a burning building, she cries out, “I need a hero.” At first, we may not want to take ownership of our desire to be saved every once and a while. Me? Be in a subordinate position? Just hear me out. We play so many roles in real life — parent, partner, worker, student, caretaker, bread-winner — wouldn’t it be nice to let someone else steer the automobile called your life? Even for a day? What if Superman could swoop in and pull you out of rush hour traffic when you are late to work? Or, if Bruce Wayne could fight all your petty quarrels with your in-laws?

4. Empowerment

Anyone who feels disenfranchised can look to superheroes for inspiration and hope. Take bullying. It’s been reported that 6 out of 10 American youth witness bullying every day. Superheroes serve as defenders of the less fortunate, vulnerable, innocent, powerless, weak, and oppressed. They defend fair play, truth, justice, law, and order. In a nutshell, superheroes are defenders of right against wrong. We gravitate towards the superhero genre because it gives us hope that things could get better.

5. Hero’s Journey

The myth of the hero’s journey is familiar. It all started with the Greeks and their stories of heroes like Hercules and Achilles. In the Middle Ages, Germanic audiences cheered in the mead halls, pounding their bier steins on the table as Beowulf slayed Grendel. Frodo saved Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Luke Skywalker used the force to battle Darth Vader and the Emperor. These tales are pervasive in our culture. We all love a good hero’s story…over and over again. Watching the good guy win never gets repetitive. We are drawn to a hero who achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization.

The bottom line is that superhero movies serve a purpose. They have much more than mere video game depth. They help us cope with the external world. They provide hope to people of any age, race and gender. They are stories of empowerment.

So, this summer head out to the theater knowing you can reveal your hidden geek. Watch Iron Man save the world. See Superman once again duck into a phone booth in Man of Steel. Marvel at the teeny, tiny leaf people in the animated movie, Epic. Just go and enjoy. You can watch Ingmar Bergman movies another night.