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.
Summer camp doesn't need to be in the Sierra foothills — in fact, lifelong companions and a longer-lasting obsession can be found anywhere there's a friendly stretch of San Francisco pavement.
When I worked at the Video Zone in Fresno in the early '90s, one of my coworkers and best friends would always answer the question "What's a good movie?" with the same answer: Robot Jox. He was being facetious to a certain extent, because he just liked the sound of the title and thought the concept was absurd, but it was as good a suggestion as any. (For my first few months, I always recommended Oliver Stone's Talk Radio, which was my favorite movie at the time and still rests high up on my list. After a while, I came to realize that they weren't asking for what I thought was a good movie, but rather they wanted something that they would like, which is fair enough.)
In a dystopian future in which war has been outlawed, nations settle their disputes by having men (and women!) in giant robots duking it out. In the commentary and elsewhere, director Stuart Gordon says he influenced by anime series such as Macross and was also a big fan of the Transformers toys. Let's stop and consider that while he was directing the extreme horror classics Re-Animator and From Beyond, he almost certainly had a Transformer or three back home on his shelf. (I'd like to think he had them on his desk while working on scripts. I have Funko vinyl figures of Rarity and Twilight Sparkle flanking my computer as I'm writing my Pony book.) Mr. Gordon wanted to a see a live-action movie of giant robots punching each other out, so he decided to make it himself — and there is really no better reason to make a movie because you want to see it.
Robot Jox is necessarily pre-CGI, and actually looks damned good in spite of the limited budget. Mr. Gordon was able to shoot inside Dino De Laurentiis's massive studio in Rome (the grounds of which are now home to a movie-themed amusement park), while the stop-motion animation of the robots themselves were filmed out in the Mojave Desert, thus allowing for natural light and backgrounds. There are certainly post-production optical effects in Robot Jox, but much of what's onscreen in the robot battles occurred in front of a camera, and you can't beat that.
Don't get me wrong — I loved Pacific Rim, which Mr. Gordon name-checks in the commentary. It even snuck into my Top 10 list for that year, because it was just so much fun. But for all its primitivism, Robot Jox is an equally worthy giant-robot movie, and when they're done well, we can never have enough of them. Of course, when they're done poorly, we get too many of them.
And hey, the Red Letter Media guys even liked Robot Jox.
And if it sounds like your kind of thing, you'll probably like it too.
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.'"
