Pixar

Last year I flew in to play SF Sketchfest and I was going to stay with some friends in Berkeley.  The night before I flew out I looked at the Bart map to figure out how I was going to get from the airport out to Berkeley when I saw that Emeryville was smack dab in the middle of the two.  I called Pixar and they told me that they don't offer open tours.  I sighed and reluctantly accepted my fate.

After I told them about my disappointment my friends took me to a diner (owned by Mike Dirnt of Green Day) which was right across the street from the Pixar HQ.  Seeing the gate was pretty cool and you could see the ball and the lamp but the coolest thing was the giant seagulls perched around the building.  Seeing those seagulls made me change my plans and wake up early the next day because if nothing else I'd get a sweet shot of them.

I had heard about the store that was only open to employees and had shirts that weren't available for sale anywhere else.  On the Bart I formulated a plan to go to the security gate and ask the guard if he knew of any employees who might be cool enough to do me the favor of buying any shirt from the store for me.  I sprung my plan into action and the security guard very nicely told me that since it was a little after 10 am, most of the cool people had already come in and anyone coming in now would most likely be an executive who may or may not have security on autodial.  I stood by the gate peeking into the next few cars that came up and I felt like an infamous NYC street window washer waiting to pounce on someone who didn't want to be bothered.  So I quickly gave up and convinced myself that the trip was still worth it since I'd get better pictures of all the cool stuff in the daylight.

I was a little disappointed as I walked around the campus since I was expecting more cool, easter eggs around the building but the seagulls seemed to be it.  I got a little past half way around the campus when I passed two guys smoking.  After about 10 steps past them something clicked.  People don't stand and smoke outside of buildings unless they work there.  I stopped on a dime and pulled a 180.  I started the conversation by saying, "Hey guys can I ask you a weird question?" They said, "sure."  "If I give you money will go into the company store and buy me a shirt?"  They started asking me where I was from and why I was in the Bay area.  It turned out that one of the guys had taught right by where I live and lived not too far from where I grew up and went to high school.  They very politely said that they'd do it but they'd like to finish their cigarettes.  I said absolutely, please take your time and handed them a $20 and a business card, hoping that the card would humanize me a bit more, and continued to walk the rest of the campus.

After an excruciating 10 minutes of walking and waiting I doubled back to the smoking spot feeling a little disappointed by the lack of more easter eggs.  My heart sank as I saw the two guys who looked like they hadn't budged an inch since I left.  Not wanting to feel like I was hurrying them along since they were doing me a massive favor I slowed down my pace until I made out something in one of the guy's hands.  I picked up the pace and was greeted with the sentence, "Oh hey man, bad news, the company store doesn't open until 11."  It was about 10:30.  "But you can have my shirt that they gave everyone who worked on the sets for Brave, there are only 12 or 13 in the world."  There are a handful of times at best that I've been speechless in my life.  "Oh and here's your money too."  I ineffectively tried to convince them to keep the $20 and to use it for lunch but they insisted.   "it took Bravery (the capital B is an editor's choice) for you to go up to strangers and ask for something." That day even further cemented my unbridled love of Pixar.

Here are some pictures, http://i.imgur.com/36UsA63

Sneakers

Lately, I’ve been on a big sneaker kick, big enough to corrupt and/or taint my morals.  My newfound interest in footwear has sparked a lot of questions from friends and loved ones.   How much did this pair cost?  Did you really wait in line for those?  Why?   The first two answers are a lot and yes respectively but the third is more complicated and I’ve been giving it plenty of thought. 

A few years back after I quit my full time job to start my own company I was working from home most days and with that I needed background noise while I was working.  I plowed through the sitcoms and comedies in my collection until I hit upon on the few Pixar movies I had.  I watched all of them in succession, all the special features, and the commentaries.  During the early run of Toy Story, A Bug’s Life and Toy Story 2, I was at the theater opening day and buying the DVDs the first day of release but at some point before Monsters Inc. I either lost interest or something changed.  This thing that I was truly passionate about fell by the waste side.  Which got me thinking about things that defined us as individuals and how &why those things change or disappear from our lives. 

Growing up in Astoria, on the weekends and most certainly during the summers we’d walk up to Steinway Street starting from 30^th Avenue we’d hit ever sneaker store until Broadway.  There were five or six different shops, some were Army & Navy stores, other dedicated shoe stores.  Looking back on it now, they were all mom & pop shops.  In this weekly pilgrimage we’d ogle ever pair of new Nikes and Reeboks.  Keep in mind this was in the late 80’s to ear 90’s; and with no way of getting any information about release dates or even models, you had to continually go to each and every shop to see what was out.  Sneakers were making huge strides (sorry for the terrible pun) at that point with Michael Jordan and even Run DMC drawing fans to brands. 

Nike was definitely the true brand of choice for our neighborhood.  I can’t pin point the day but I can definitely pin point the year and more importantly the shoe that started me on this path.  It was 1988 and it was the first pair of Air Max 1s in red.  Others share my belief in the wow factor of this particular show, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1111890347/max100-the-book-project I don’t know if it was the shape, the use of red and grey or a combination of everything but I was floored.  If I remember correctly a pair cost between $80-$90, which given the time was a significant amount of money, somewhere around $170 in today’s dollars when adjusted for inflation.  I think our monthly rent on a two bedroom apartment in Astoria was about $500-$600 a month for some better perspective on how expensive they were.  I begged and begged for a pair and ended up getting a pair for my birthday.  I distinctly remember my mom’s unhappiness about the price when she gave them to me and recited an anecdote about overhearing another mother telling a son that the $35 pair was too expensive and to put them back.  The thing that both of these moms didn’t get was that sneakers weren’t just shoes.  They were everything.  Everything!  Sneakers were to the street as suits were to Wall Street.  With the burgeoning ad dollars and cultural significance, what you were wearing had a direct correlation with your coolness.  The latest pair of sneakers garnered immediate attention from friends and even strangers.  The peer pressure and jealously lead to the “game” of stepping on someone’s new shoes in an effort to dirty them up.  Given the low to middle class neighborhood that we grew up in, that pair had to last you a year, so getting the latest and greatest was imperative or you’d left behind.  Another aspect of it was that certain shoes’ desirability were enhanced not by those who were marketing them but the people who would wear them around the neighborhood. 

I think when we all reach a certain point, we spend our disposable income on the things that we wanted so desperately as kids but couldn’t afford at the time.  Reliving our childhoods one pair at a time, least in my case.