HOSTEL-HOPPING; THE BAY AREA AND BEYOND IS FRIENDLY HOSTEL TERRITORY FOR ALL AGES
IN THE BAY AREA, where space, time and money are all at a premium, we often plan bite-size vacations: backyard getaways, day trips, weekend escapes. Fortunately for us, the opportunities for natural beauty and urban distractions are never exhausted. Still, living here is expensive, as are the brief respites: For…
PEOPLE
ABC: We’ll rectify our pre-Oscars tedium ABC wants to atone for last year’s much-panned Academy Awards preshow. The network, with exclusive rights to air celebs’ arrivals at the March 26 ceremony, has announced it will have three hosts working the red carpet outside the Shrine Auditorium. One already announced is…
NAPA VALLEY’S SPRINGTIME DELIGHTS REALLY CUT THE MUSTARD
As a teetotaler, I sometimes feel I can never fully appreciate Napa Valley. Yes, there is still much for the abstemious to admire. We can delight in the rustic homeliness of vineyard houses or the newer, bolder architectural grandeur. We can bike through country roads that arc over jewel-green hillsides….
DEEP SPACE; OFF-WORLD TRAVEL TO MARS ESPECIALLY HAS CAPTURED THE IMAGINATION OF EARTHLINGS EVERYWHERE, ESPECIALLY IN HOLLYWOOD
It’s the year 2020, and the first manned mission to Mars has ended in catastrophic disaster, with nothing but a cryptic message to explain what’s happened to the Mars One crew. Four astronauts, including a Mars rescue specialist, are sent to investigate and to see if there are any survivors…
PEOPLE
Radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger is getting some feedback from several quarters on her comments about gays. One comes from Ellen DeGeneres, who took issue with Schlessinger’s depiction of gays as “sexual deviants.” “She has a right to her opinion,” DeGeneres said Monday night at the New York premiere of…
THE WORLD OF INSIDER TRAINING; FAMILIES HEAD TO SPORTS FACILITIES TO GET PHYSICAL AND TO HAVE FUN
JUST THINK: You could kick around a soccer ball, slam dunk a basketball, hit a home run and go for a hole-in-one without ever experiencing the elements. All it would take is a visit to one of the East Bay’s growing number of indoor sports facilities. Indoor sports have existed…
PETALUMA PIECES OLD WITH NEW
Wet weather was made for attic exploration. As a barrage of raindrops thump steadily on the roof, you stumble about the family antiquities. Some are puzzling fragments that you attempt to piece together to re-create a civilization long buried. Some are true treasures, wrapped in layers of cloth and wood…
PEOPLE
“Baywatch” threatens to say “aloha, Hawaii” Associated Press When Animals Attack! Oops, no, this is the wedding portrait of Darva Conger and Rick Rockwell, who found one another on a another Fox special, “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?” Fifty women went to Las Vegas to court multimillionaire Rockwell. More…
MAKING INROADS THROUGH COMEDY; COMPETITION GEARED TOWARD EXPOSING MINORITY TALENT TO BROADER AUDIENCES
When it comes to the Bay Area Black Comedy Competition, laughing is a political act. “It’s comedy affirmative action,” says Tony Spires, a Portland-born talent agent who founded the competition in 1987, after he came to study creative writing and theater at San Francisco State. “I saw great performers,” he…