Chances are good you're on your phone standing next to the dragon going "What the heck is this sign?" If so, take a picture of it and leave a comment on this blog when you can! Feel free to put something in the dragon's mouth, play with what's in there, pose with it, anything you think is cool or funny or interesting. We'll watch for it and write it into the evolving dragon drop story. Have fun!
If you're not right outside, please visit the dragon drop at 915 Guerrero and 21st street in the Mission, San Francisco.
AND WHEREVER YOU ARE CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
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It’s been quiet at the dragon drop this past week. Just beautiful skies:
Slow little moments:
And a few people stopping to take pictures:
Which is nice. But remember, should any of y’all want to take it up a notch, the dragon loves it and:
Have fun! :)
A wise man once said, “If you don’t grind, you don’t shine.” And oh is it so true.
Our world record toothbrush collection, as seen on the Universal Record Database and (however briefly) CNN is no longer a world record. We’ve been ousted by brushrats from London, Kentucky:
Most Toothbrushes On Bathroom Counter
Matthew, Joe, Justin and Mawnie Belcher plus their friends Josh and Ronnie each placed two toothbrushes on a bathroom counter for a combined total of 12 toothbrushes, a new world record.
The record was documented on June 27, 2009 in London, Kentucky.
The eye of the dragon is now upon you, London, Kentucky:
And shame on you Matthew, Joe, Justin, Mawnie, Josh, and Ronnie for hurting the dragon’s feelings like that! The least you can do now is send an awesome toothbrush and whatever else you think will make him feel better to
The Dragon Drop
915 Guerrero St
San Francisco, CA 94110
Just kidding on the shame part. Congratulations on your new record and what we imagine must be your many shiny, happy teeth! :)
But wait, this was not a single ousting week, but a double ousting week. For while I’ve been away in New York and Detroit, Jason has been in my room, and he’s been busy checking into The Dragon Drop more times than me on Foursquare.
Medium-long story short, Foursquare is a mobile phone app that lets you check in from places around the city, sharing your location with your friends and giving you points and badges for going places. The person who checks in the most from a certain place becomes the Mayor of that place.
Well, until mere moments ago I was the Mayor of The Dragon Drop. And then I get this email:
You’ve just been ousted as the mayor of The Dragon Drop!
Hey there -
Sorry for the bad news, but Jason K. has just replaced you as mayor of The Dragon Drop!
http://playfoursquare.com/venue/49656
Don’t take it too hard - a few more checkins and you could be back on top…
-foursquare
Dang you to the depths, Jason! Guess who’s rent just went up! :p Even as I sleep your grinning visage will taunt me:
hehe Fair play and game on! You are all invited to check in early to The Dragon Drop, and to check in often. It remains, after all, The Most Photographed Dragon Statue In San Francisco. Keep grinding and shining, you crazy diamonds.
Thanks to whoever left the dragon this swell jeweled cane! I’ve been out of town in New York and Detroit, but Pierce took some pics and has been rocking it around the house. Well played! We, and the dragon, loves it!
I also did an image search for “dragon with cane” and found some interesting words of wisdom from a venerable wyrm:
This may be the first piece of elderly dragon humor I’ve ever seen. :)
There’s a new website called the Universal Record Database, or URDB, that’s like an open Wikipedia-style version of the Guiness World Records. Basically you can submit whatever record you like as long as it’s evidenced, quantifiable and breakable, and they bestow upon you the honor of an official world record.
I’m happy to announce that the Dragon Drop has earned a world record for “Most Photographed Dragon Statue In San Francisco”. Every time someone takes a picture and makes us aware of it, that score goes up, so let us know, or tag it on Flickr with “thedragondrop”.
So congratulations, dragon! :) Those China Town dragons are in a lot of pics, I’m sure, but they’re not as quantified as you. Oh no they’re not. And with a little love one day you just might be The Most Photographed Dragon Statue In The World.
Now, not for humans to be outdone by dragons, there was also a world record set in the house when, after some bathroom organizing, we discovered we had 11, count ‘em, 11 toothbrushes in the bathroom, giving us the world record for “Most Toothbrushes On Bathroom Counter”.
And, crazily, Dan Rollman from the URDB was on CNN for a whopping 9-minute segment which you can see here. The website pops up at 2:26 displaying our toothbrushes in all their glory, along with a link to this very blog (or a picture of a link to this blog, so no extra traffic :)). What’s up, cable TV!
Anderson Cooper, let us know when you want the dragon on for an interview!
Sweet! We received a few drops for the dragon over the last few days, some tied to tantalizing mystery.
First, thank you to whoever left the awesome dragon book! Dragons: A Natural History by Dr. Karl Shuker is a great illustrated tour of dragons throughout history. We love it and are learning all sorts of stuff about dragons.
Check out the sweet dedication to the dragon drop:
Chomp chomp
Gnaw gnaw.
We love you
Dragon Face!
xoxo,
your pals
The dragon says xoxo back atcha! :)
Someone put pennies in the dragon’s mouth. We appreciate the support! This is a nonprofit operation, but we do accept such donations. ;)
Our friend Erin brought this crowned bear back from her trip to Berlin, Germany, and a former employer of mine, The Electric Sheep Company, sent this little sheep. Both were gifts for the dragon. Thanks, guys! (Yes, that’s one of those crazy moving picture scenes you can buy on Mission Street behind them. <3)
Now, it turns out there’s some real mystery surrounding the package from Electric Sheep. I got an email from my friend Jessie who works there saying there was a piece of mail they wanted to forward on to me. It turns out someone had sent them an envelope from Sweden, addressed to me (even though it’s been over 2 years since I worked there), with no sender name or return address. Inside was a book called Being or Nothingness by Joe K.
Here’s the spread with the sheep and the book:
I googled the book and found that over the last two years a small number of people connected to the fields of brain science, artificial intelligence, and philosophy have received the book. Check out this Ask Metafilter post which describes what I got, too. This discussion thread is also of interest in trying to unravel what’s going on.
Interestingly, I wrote to a couple of people who also received the book and we now seem to share the bond of some secret book club, like a mysterious extended family. Double interestingly, my good friend Reuben Steiger, who lives in the Bay Area and runs a company called Millions of Us which is in a similar field as Electric Sheep, also received a copy. Triple interestingly, the book bears his birthdate on the back, but so does my copy, so it’s probably a 1 in 365 coincidence.
He and I met up in North Beach to discuss the book and compare copies. The mystery continues…
And hopefully so do the drops! Keep ‘em coming, the dragon likes ‘em. rawr :)
***PS thanks also to Kristen AKA Kroosh who *tried* to send the dragon a drop from Brooklyn, but it got smooshed and returned in the mail! Conspiracy!! The dragon still says thank you, because at the end of the day, the thoughts, they count!***
Speaking of which, if you want to send the dragon a drop you can do so at
The Dragon Drop
915 Guerrero St
San Francisco, CA 94110
dun dun DUN! After the dragon’s sign was tooken I made a new one on a mirror I found on 21st and Valencia. It reads:
SEE YOURSELF ON THEDRAGONDROP.COM
TAKE PICTURES! LEAVE THINGS! CREATE STORIES!
Watch scenes from The Making Of:
Come onnn. You know you wanna hop through the looking glass into the dragon’s mirror world… :)
(PS Thanks to whoever put the pennies in the dragon’s mouth today. You truly gave your two cents worth. ;))
We were remiss in not reporting this sooner, but it was almost too shocking. ;)
I returned from Detroit a little over a week ago to find the Dragon Drop sign gone. Everyone in the house was baffled. We’ve since received a couple more gifts for the dragon which we’ll post soon, but I wanted to offer a reward for anyone returning the sign or offering information related to its actual whereabouts. Right now I’m thinking I’ll take you out for a cup of coffee, but maybe we can negotiate if you really do want more, or you can have some Dragon Drop art or something. :)
Who do you think did it? Street thugs? Art collectors? Passive aggressive Dragon Drop haters? Space aliens? The dragon’s biggest fans?
I’ve put a MISSING sign up outside. We’ll see what we uncover…
On the streets of Detroit, the universal symbol for dragon bling is spied:
As seen on DD:
We totally need to get Auto-Tune for the dragon to speak through. Whatchu think?
Neat! I just read about this map tool called Wild Style City that lets you draw graffiti on top of street view-style maps of San Francisco. Check it out. I took the “bus” to 21st and Mission and then clicked up hill to the dragon drop. The door is open and you can see the imagery is recent because the sign is up.
Too bad you can’t graffiti everywhere. I headed back down to Mission and 21st and made a dragon drop sign above the Bonita Trading Company.
Gotsta get up!
