When the ancient Polynesians invented surfing, they often used a paddle to help them navigate. Fast-forward a few millennia, and Stand-Up Paddleboarding, or SUP, finds itself trendy again. Part of its increasing popularity is that standing upright allows surfers to spot waves more easily and thus catch more of them, multiplying the fun factor. Paddling back to the wave becomes less of a strain as well. The ability to cruise along on flat inland water, surveying the sights, is another advantage. Finally, it’s a good core workout. If you’re sold on the idea, schedule an intro SUP lesson, free with board and paddle rental, and you may find yourself riding the waves like a Polynesian king.More
Many of us remember coming home from our elementary schools with freshly glazed pinchpots, cups, or whatever else our young imaginations could conjure up. Saturday mornings at the Randall Museum can bring that memory back, or create a new one for the youngsters. Ceramics make great gifts — especially on Mothers' and Fathers' Day. Hop on board for the Randall's once-weekly class, and for $6 and two weeks to have your work fired and glazed, you'll have all the materials you need.More
December is almost over - the New Year is coming up and everyone is busy drying off from the rain or holiday shopping. Let's take a look at what's happened this month.
December is almost over - the New Year is coming up and everyone is busy drying off from the rain or holiday shopping. Let's take a look at what's happened this month.
I'm not as much of a gamer as I used to be (RIP, Festival Game Palace), but I'm trying to become more of a gamer than I currently am. I inherited an Xbox 360 last year, have completed Beatles Rock Band, and am currently making my way through BioShock, mostly because of its similarities to last year's second-best film, Snowpiercer. I even occasionally play games that were made during Obama's second term!
I also like to keep up with gaming culture, which is no less vital than movie or television culture. Indeed, how much more money video games make, it's arguably the most vital of the three. And that's where the terrific YouTube channel Extra Credits is indispensable.
The stated mission of Extra Credits is to "make video game design approachable by exploring concepts like gamification, perfect imbalance, the skinner box, the uncanny valley, and more." As that description suggests, there's an emphasis on design the target audience is arguably budding designers, but it's still very accessible for those who just want to learn more about the field. Written by professional game designer James Portnow, narrated in a pleasantly pitch-shifted voice by Daniel Floyd, and animated by Allison Theus (except for when it's not), it's presented as an annotated cartoon lecture.
I first became interested in Extra Credits while watching PBS Idea Channel, which I will exhort you to subscribe to at a later date. The Extra Credits folks collaborated on an Idea Channel episode about video game mechanics from October 2014, but what really piqued my interest was when Idea Channel host Mike Rugnetta stated in the follow-up episode that some people had written in the comments that they'd refused to watch because Daniel from Extra Creditshad recently spoke out against GamerGate, as most anyone with a brain did at the time.
In other words, their politics are unimpeachable, which is to say they're progressive leftists. (Will I finally get a Ricky Maddow troll in the comments? Fingers crossed!) Extra Credits never actually did a GamerGate episode since they're not a topical / ripped-from-the-headlines show as such, but they did an episode about harassment back in 2012.
Their episode about the Uncanny Valley is an excellent (and necessarily unsettling) introduction to a topic that I find endlessly fascinating.
One of their strengths is making abstract concepts such as Operant Conditioning vis-à-vis the Skinner Box understandable to not-terribly-smart people such as myself.
As the harassment episode suggests, they don't shy away from the worst aspects of their culture and industry, such as calling EA to the carpet for their horrible, horrible marketing.
They also take on the notion that grittiness or hard-boiled-ness makes a game more grown-up, and what it means to be quote-mature-unquote.
Even if you don't play video games — actually, make that especially if you don't play video games — Extra Credits is a great way to keep up with what much of the rest of the population is enjoying, and it's an enjoyable way to do so.
Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'.
Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"
