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.
We're only halfway through the year, and while Inside Out and Clouds of Sils Maria have given it a run for its money, Davida and Nathan Zellner's Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter remains my favorite movie of 2015. It's a bleak tale of a lonely, damaged Japanese woman named Kumiko (executive producer Rinko Kikuchi) who travels to Minnesota to find the money buried in the beginning of Fargo. Based on a since-debunked urban legend, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter played for a week at the Opera Plaza back in March, and has been shown at the Castro at least once (and hopefully will be again many times), and now Anchor Bay released it this week on Blu-Ray, just in time for the Fourth of July!
In addition to getting a cover blurb from Werner Herzog, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter was edited by a woman named Melba Jodorowsky. Co-director David Zellner has confirmed that she is not related to Alejandro Jodorowsky of El Topo, Dance of Reality, and not-quite-Dune fame, but it's an appropriate surname all the same, though while it lacks the overt surrealism of a Jodorowsky film, Kumiko is a similar sort of spiritual quest.
It's entirely Rinko Kikuchi's picture, as Kumiko travels from one alien world to another — she's as isolated in the crowds of her native Japan than she is in the empty spaces of the frozen Midwest — and desperately seeks a sense of meaning that both worlds seem determined to keep from her. (Come to think of it, though they're about different kinds of psychological trauma, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter would make a terrific double feature with next week's Felt.) Kumiko's obsession with a battered VHS tape of Fargo also lends the film a sort of J-Horror feel, at least in the early going.
I was a huge Coen Bros. fan back in the early 1990s. I knew Raising Arizona and Miller's Crossing by heart — we played them constantly at my video store — and my first girlfriend and I drove from Fresno to San Francisco to see Barton Fink and The Hudsucker Proxy. But Fargo, which we saw while visiting Fresno after having already moved to San Francisco (irony!), left me cold. Between this and last year's shockingly good television series, however, it's been inspiring some great art 20 years later.
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter also has an appropriately haunting score by the Octopus Project, which you can listen to right now because the Internet.
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.'"
