Last night, I held a meetup of my own at Enoteca Viansa (yes, Kingsley darling, you can totally say it…it’s not like it’s Malayalam or something difficult). Fortunately for me, a few of my closest wessside friends indulged my greedy desire for their Thursday evening– if it wasn’t clear to them before, I now heart Salil/Jay/SJM, MP, Kingsley and of course, mutineer Vinod even more. Viansa makes my favorite non-cab red ever, so I’ve always wanted to check out their somewhat random Napa-esque tasting room in the city; a refined time was had by all and at no point were the words “sodomy”, “that skank who cheated on you”, “dry hump” or “back channel communication” uttered, though there was some mention of “the futility experiment”, which was M’s kind way of characterizing my prospects for reproductive success. We poured some out for my forlorn alleles and then called it a night. Don’t fret, I wasn’t two-timing you…it was a pre-meetup before tomorrow’s hotness, if you will.
Speaking of 20+ hours from now, we will not be swirling or checking out the legs on anything other than shorts/miniskirt-clad mutineers– we’re meeting at Greco, which is good for espresso, not dolcettos.
Just down the street from that obnoxious Pimps of Rome spot, Greco has Razib’s AND my seal of approval. Do explore it for yourselves, so that we may fatten the Sepia Flickr group and make merry in North Beach on a Saturday afternoon. See you at 4pm, you back-channel-loving perverts (I can totally say that, because Salil, Vinod and I are going to be there).
NB: Not to spook or guilt you or anything, but this may be a certain mutineer’s last appearance at a meetup… 😮
When: Saturday, September 4pm
Who: You
Where: 423 Columbus Ave
By unpopular demand, behold, Kingsley’s favorite photo of the night, the “for potential grooms” shot:
Greco! Oh, Cafe, why do you and I have to be so far away from each other. The Africano was cool.
Anna, you’re so f-ing gorgeous.
ANNA,
I believe that’s termed “Getting to fourth-base”.
Punjabi Boy is still on the run and we will endeavour to bring him to justice so that honour can be satisfied.
Er, thirsty camels ?
Refer to “fourth-base”.
Never say Never, Anna. You never know what kind of dashing desi hero with a Latin Lothario, Cosa Nostra supremo, or International Colombian Drug Kingpin persona may be lurking around the corner, waiting just for you.
One does not “retire” from the Mutiny. It’s like The Sopranos.
Here’s one topic for your agenda. 🙂 Please decide on what Sepia Mutiny should be to its older/loyal readers. My (following) view may be an exception, but please do consider it.
I loved Sepia Mutiny when you first began this collablog. It was pleasant reading, it covered issues of interest, it was relatively centrist, and gave adequate focus to culture/art/films. When did SM go all political on us? ANd why so leftist? For example, the coke-pesticide issue was given full coverage, but the rebuttal of the CSE’s claims by the government authority was not. And so on, ad nauseum. [My angst is also at the “new” version of SM making a MSM sort of hype of every tiny bit of news that may have weird rituals in some marginal part of India, or every incident that bloggers pounce on as evidence of discrimination (Northwest)….etc etc] Why cover all this in the first place? SM was all about covering stuff that was not in MSM or other blogs. It was fun to visit this blog and read articles that one would like to forward to friends. Not so much anymore. And I am quite saddened by this transformation.
Please give us back the kinder, gentler, lighter, centrist (leaning towards the libertarian) SM. 🙂
P. S. Please bring the original writers back!
There are so many things which need to be corrected with regards to your perception of how this blog functions, but I do not have time to address everything, so I will focus on the most relevant statement which needs to be made on a post about meetups—
There is NO AGENDA which gets discussed at meetups.
They are not business meeting where we have items which need to be considered and voted on, nor do we sit around and plan the future of this blog. MEETUPS ARE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS, PERIOD. I am sorry that you have such a distorted view of what will go on at a North Beach cafe on a Saturday afternoon.
Meetups are an opportunity to meet, laugh with and get photographed by mutineers and commenters IRL; nothing more, nothing less.
Lord above, why was I not in the US??!?!?
The conjunction of these two sentences is revealing. Translation: it’s not politics that annoy you, it’s the wrong kind of politics.
Because civil rights are important. Getting treated with respect is important. Duh.
“Kinder, gentler” followed by “libertarian” is a non-sequitur. BTW, go back to August 2004 — plenty of politics there.
Hmmmm. Interesting perception, especially in light of this entry about a week before our launch.
Quizman
This blog has been lefto-fascist for a long time. They are a cabal of lefto-fascism. I am planning to infiltrate one of their ‘meet ups’ where they supposedly have ‘fun’ and ‘joke around’, when really they plot their stinking agenda. I can disguise myself as a mixed race, half Abrahamic, they are very popular with these lefto-fascists apparently, as you can see by their promoting of sexuality and things like that. Don’t tell them my plans though.
Hail Mogambo!
Quizman: The answer you seek is in Anna’s second photo.
Anna: That’s hot.
Damn you Spoorlam. You stole my thunder. Damn your saffron balls!
Kobayashi maybe if you love saffron balls, you should grow some and then you can enjoy your own! grow your own balls by your bootstraps!
W…t…f?
No wonder they call this SM.
Anna – yup, my fault in missing the objective of the meetups. Thanks for the correction.
Amardeep – please do not interpret my words in a manner that suits you. I have clearly used the word “centrist” in my sentence before. And my last sentence has a smiley. Perhaps you missed that. My feedback was not about not covering civil rights issues, but about SM covering those issues that are already discussed and debated in MSM and countless blogs ad nauseum. My angst is at SM becoming run-of-the-mill.
I thought I’d give feedback in a respectful fashion. Maybe, feedback (after all a perception) is not what you were looking for. Judging from the responses it has generated, I guess I erred. It is your blog. Whatever pleases you folks.
On a random note, I love Viansa’s winery. The first time we visited Napa, we found the place by chance, and were hooked. Great wine. They make my favorite Chardonnay – the Cento per cento. So good.
Quizman, What if someone said this to you: “You suck! ;-)”
Or try this: “You guys are too political, I mean, too leftist, I mean, not libertarian enough, I mean, too mainstream, I mean, not amusing enough!”
Decide what your main problem is, for starters.
If anyone else wants to discuss my appearance, they are welcome to mewl at me via email– but not here, where it will bore and threadjack. However, I know that defeats the purpose of it all, right? You won’t get as much attention somewhere else, nor will you be as rude when you’re not anonymous. Sack up or shut up.
Quizman: 1. I have to disagree with your perception of this blog as leftist. I am not a big fan of ideaologies or labels. They imply a non-existent uniformity of opinion on issues. There are quite a few rightists, libertarians who agree with this blogs’ so called leftist posts. To me, SMs’ coverage of political stuff seems issue and principle based rather than ideology. I don’t care if that coincides with some script-kiddie rightist, leftist or centrist stance.
Have you considered the possibility that you might have moved rightist, instead of SM moving leftist 😉
You haven’t posted your views on cola issue on your blog either. (http://quizfan.blogspot.com/).
Amardeep – I don’t think your comment deserves a response, since it is so far off the mark from my feedback. Obviously, you don’t even want feedback!
voiceinthehead – Fair enough. I just voiced my perception and you voiced yours. And that is how a discussion should be. Regarding (2), in all fariness, I don’t think so. Regarding (3), I did in 2003 in my older blog, which I had linked to in the SM recent thread on that topic. Clearly, I read SM regularly and do care about it enough to give unsolicited feedback. Seems like it was really unwanted.
Anyway, this is my last comment on this thread.
Amardeep – I don’t think your comment deserves a response, since it is so far off the mark from my feedback. Obviously, you don’t even want feedback!
Agree.
hmmm… how about a caption contest on anna’s photo – the second one?
Saturday, 4th Spet???? I guess its 2nd Sept….
Apologies. The date is correct
Aw, man. I was hoping to make it, but I just got back from sri lanka last night and think I might have to wuss out due to jet lag-induced, uh, wussiness. Have fun (but not too much fun) without me!
that is one handsome man
not sure what your point is Eofia with the “wtf” but I was trying out a SpoorLam imitation there.
Anyway, thanks for the sarcasm!
Quizman, I actually truly appreciate how kindly worded your feedback was, your courtesy was duly noted and I wish I could have answered your initial comment in a way that better satisfied your intentions. I wanted to disambiguate what meetups are about, though…in case anyone was considering attending.
We do like and need feedback, especially when it comes from a sincere place. I’m typing this FROM the meetup, so I hope I can beg you for another extenstion, considering the circumstances. 😉
Anna, what is point in the all those obscenities! Oh, you are being naughty and rebellious, but sweetie that is so yesterday……
You mean, all those “obscenities” I was quoting from my friends, since what I listed was a litany of topics covered over the course of the night?
Did you even read the post or did you just want to say something condescending and vaguely negative to me?
kev, what’s also so yesterday is the saying “its so yesterday”. isn’t that ironic
HELLO AMERICAN INVESTORS!
Oh how I missed you. No not really. Well kinda. But more not really than kinda.
I visited the Viansa winery too (it’s in Sonoma, Sadaf). It’s a lovely little place with a great view (shame about the tacky faux Italian feel). I met half of the Viansa pair (in case you didn’t know, Vicki and Sam = Vi-an-Sa) but I never checked out the San Fran branch even though we were staying fairly close. Hope you guys enjoyed it!
SM is safe now. I’m back.
How come you never meetup in Boston?
Well, I suppose it could also be said that the blog is too right-wing when it comes to coverage of India. I am not a frequent commenter, and I hardly have a right to tell you guys what to do. If you exercise your First Amendment rights to the greatest extent possible, then more power to you. However, my personal opinion is that if there is material support for one party over the other, then that might indicate bias. This is not some sort of veiled comment at anybody. Perhaps you could make that a rule only for the permanent posters. There is no reason to bar quality guest bloggers because of their political affiliation. And for what is worth, speaking as a RINO, I don’t think the blog is biased California-ward or Florida-ward.