The literary scene in the Bay Area is certainly active but how do we rank nationally? Today the annual list from Central Connecticut State University came out, and the results were mixed. Overall, San Francisco placed at #6 on the national list, Oakland scraped by at #37 and San Jose was only #50.5, out of a total of 75 locations. On the plus side, all three cities scored high on ......
Monday brings sad and shocking news from the San Francisco Film Society: its new executive director, Bingham Ray, passed away after suffering a series of strokes while attending the Sundance Film Festival. He was 57. Ray's appointment in November came after the death of longtime director Graham Leggat, who died of cancer. The announcement arrived via email from the SFFS. "The board of directors and staff of the Film Society ......
Monday marks the official start of the Chinese New Year — it's lunar year 4720 — and the zodiac sign is auspicious. It's the year of the dragon, the most powerful symbol on the calendar. Celebrations have already started overseas, as this video of impressive fireworks in Beijing shows: Embed:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBR74YYk0rQ And in SF, the Chinatown event calendar is also showing activities; Peking Acrobats, for instance, were at Zellerbach Hall in ......
On Tuesday night, local blogger Michael Petrelis wrote that the Castro Theater would be ceasing regular film programming as of the new year to become a live event venue and only host film festivals. Social media buzzed; as the blog Joe My God noted, even Roger Ebert got the news, tweeting that it was "a crushing blow." Thankfully, the Castro isn't actually fading to black. A spate of recent personnel ......
Updated, 11:07 a.m., 11/24. On Monday's Jimmy Fallon show, house band The Roots, led by Questlove, played a song by iconic Southern Californian band Fishbone, subjects of a documentary made by San Francisco filmmaker Chris Metzler that was released earlier this year, to introduce Michele Bachmann. No, it wasn't "Ugly," originally written about Ronald Reagan. They chose "Lyin' Ass Bitch," provoking commentary from all over the internet (and Glenn Beck) ......
