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.
Comedy and horror are notoriously difficult to get right. That’s case when they’re separate genres, and moreso when they’re combined. For every Evil Dead 2, there’s a dozen Transylvania 6-5000s. (Okay, that ratio may be off a skosh, but you get the point.) And in spite of all-too-cleverly beginning with a character saying they’re from Haddonsfield, the town from John Carpenter’s Halloween, James Roday’s horror-comedy Gravy, which Shout! Factory just released on Blu-ray, gets it right.
The setup is simple enough: A group of psychopathic cannibals takes a disparate group of people hostage in a Mexican cantina on Halloween night. Their plan is to eat their hostages, and there is some long pig consumed through the film, but they also fuck with their victims first, including several rounds of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.
Speaking of long pig, one of the main scenes of it being nommed upon is set to a bouncy 1980s song that shouldn’t work in this context because the veneer of “ha ha we’re being ironic!” is so glaringly obvious. And yet, it kinda does.
True story: My library coworkers were a little distressed recently by the fact that I knew that human flesh intended for consumption is called “long pig,” and they were not reassured when I told them that it was mentioned by Charles Laughton in the 1932 film Island of Lost Souls.
Though it does not reference Island of Lost Souls (or any other version of The Island of Dr. Moreau), Gravy is steeped in pop-culture references, almost to the extent of a Kevin Smith film, but not as annoyingly as that may sound. And unlike a Kevin Smith film, Gravy is buoyed by a very strong script, one which gives everyone in the cast plenty to do and actually delves quite a lot into the motivations of the characters.
Granted, the film starts with a title card which disabuses any notion of character motivation:
Sometimes, a fried noodle — with a side of long pig, of course — is just what you want from your horror movies. And a few good jokes, 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.'"
