MissionMission’s Ariel Tells All: First Kiss, on Muni

When Ariel Dovas casually mentioned that he had a Muni story he might like to tell on stage, I was already excited enough to have almost spilled my drink. But he followed it up by asking, “Well, is it ok if the story is kind of personal? Like, the bad kind of personal? The kind that really goes deep into that awful awkwardness about being a teenager?”

Ariel, you have no idea.

In this video, Ariel opens Muni Diaries Live’s third anniversary show with his very personal and very awesome story that happened his freshman year in high school.

“I never had a girlfriend before; I never kissed a girl before, but somehow I found out that this really pretty girl, this really cool girl who was a flutist, liked me. Like, like me liked me. I was just overwhelmed but somehow we ended up going out…I mean, going together. It wasn’t “going out” yet. I didn’t really know what to do. I mean, I’d never had a girlfriend before. But I knew some of the first steps that I had to do. So I got rid of all my friends, and spent all my lunches with her; I didn’t talk to anybody else, we held hands, and said I love you a lot. And I was like, this is a lot easier than I thought!”

Oh, but teenage love is never that easy. Watch the video for the rest of Ariel’s story.

Shell Game Guys At It Again On Muni

People just won’t quit. Last March we reported about a group of guys scamming Muni passengers with the “three cup shuffle” game, which, as we found out, is almost certainly illegal. A month later a rider even sent us a video of the scammers in action (above). This made it into television news later in the summer. Despite the publicity, the problem hasn’t stopped. Rider Jon S. wrote us yesterday:

I just wanted to note that these guys are at it again. They were on the 38 Bus outbound. They got on while it was on Market Street and jumped off at Union Square when I started mouthing off to one of the heavies and went for my phone to call the police.

Good on you, Jon. Last time we posted about this, a rider told us that this game is one of the oldest tricks in the scammers’ handbook, so don’t fall for it!

Seen something that affects your daily ride? Let us know.

Video Diary: N-Judah Wormhole

Photographer Julie Michelle was experimenting with her video camera and created a fun video she titled, “Through the Wormhole On N-Judah.” I’d like to propose an alternate title: “Brief encounter with handsome bicyclist at 00:34.” The video also features a funny comment from the N-Judah driver around 4:30.

Oh, Julie has a hyperlocal show at Mama Art Cafe that will be up until April 9. Check out the details of her show.

People I See on Muni — from Tales of Mere Existence

People you’ve seen on Muni have made their way into a short animation by Lev Yilmaz of Tales of Mere Existence. In this short clip, he recounts people he’s seen on Muni and the Boston T.

“38 Geary, 6 a.m.: I see this guy on the bus every morning when I used to work at a coffee shop. He’d always sit in the front of the bus, and when I would get on, I would sometimes thumble a bit because I never had an easy time getting my dollar bill to fit into the fare machine. Anyway, this guy would watch me, close his eyes, and shake his head, because clearly I was the biggest moron who everwalked the earth.”

I love his animation and storytelling, so I highly recommend checking out his short clip above. The Rumpus also did an excellent interview with Yilmaz last year.

Hat tip: Milk and Cookies.

Waiting for Muni, playing bus stop videogames

The other day, Tara and I stopped in to test one of the Yahoo Bus Derby touchscreen videogames we reported here last week. We just really want an OK Go show in the Mission, okay?

Well, I won’t give away the ending of the video above. But I will say that my neighborhood is better than yours. Oh, hell yeah! (By the way, I think the last game I played before this was Space Invaders, but I can’t be sure …)

Have you played yet? Here’s a list of all the locations. Send us video or stories of your experiences, and let us know which hood you’re playing for.

Go!

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