“Seinfeld” whiners are an irksome lot
What is it with “Seinfeld” anyway? You have four grousing, self-absorbed New Yorkers who cheat on their friends, lie to their parents, act rude to strangers and try every urban scam known to man and people can’t get enough of them. I just don’t get it. Just look at the…
OFF THE COUCH You name it, some in-line skater will do it: The skates’ popularity has exploded and with it, a number of imaginative new uses for its wearers
YOUR FEET? Clumsy, bulbous blobs. Why not reduce the surface area of your feet to a narrow line? Much better. Now attach wheels. It’s been nearly 20 years since Rollerblade gave into the irresistible urge to reinvent the wheel or the usage of it, anyway. The International In-line Skating Association…
ROAD WARRIORS With a driver’s license comes independence; the challenge is finding a way to share the streets with drivers of limited skill
JUST BECAUSE you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. Few bumper stickers better define the sweaty-palmed, white-knuckled state of learning to drive. Driver’s education classrooms heighten pavement phobias: Students listen to gruesome statistics. They watch blood-spattered videos depicting collisions so grotesque, even the most wooden actors didn’t…
Spring coming home
Sunbeam-wrapped days tied with ribbons of wind, Bright drowsy petals awaiting bees to drop in, Burly brown trunks cradling little green sprouts, “Spring has come visiting!” echoed chirps and shouts. So one little rabbit decided he would roam, Thinking, “If Spring can visit, Spring must have a home.” He…
’80s + trivia = pop quiz: Don’t totally freak: This book is all about, like, catch phrases, celebs and — gag me! clothes
WHY IS IT MOST people born between the years 1960 and 1970 can’t recite the Constitution, but can sing the theme song to “The Jeffersons”? The answer, of course, is the pop culture paradox. For the generation weaned on the boob tube and MTV videos, it’s not useful facts but…
Spoof targets “Star Wars” and “Cops”
IMAGINE an Imperial storm-trooper with a homespun Minnesota accent steeped in the routine of daily outpost life: droid-stealing Jawas, domestic abuse calls and a runaway kid named Luke Skywalker. Imagine a derivative confluence of “Star Wars” and “Cops” with a “Fargo” soundtrack and you have “Troops, ” a 10-minute independent…
“Beakman & Jax” amuses as it teaches
Childhood can be a trying experience. While kids try to cope with the rushing flood of hormones, adults insist on leveling unjust charges of short attention spans and resistance to learning. Such unfairness sorely rankles. After all, even the vilest, slimiest, most repugnant subjects will enthrall and captivate kids for…
THE PERFECT GUEST When to stand? What to wear? Know the rules to make weddings a joy for all
March sweeps in with lions and out with lambs, April overflows with showers and May blossoms with flowers. Then comes June in an ivory chiffon gauze and polished-silverware glow. The wedding season and all its fripperies loom less than a scant three months away and you secretly congratulate yourself. As…
Staffs help you stick to a hike during outdoor life
The staff wields mythical and religious symbolism. Snakes usually become entwined in its folklore, from legends that recount how one reptile literally was scared stiff and became a young Indian’s staff to biblical accounts of how Moses’ rod changed into a serpent as proof of his encounter with God. In…
Festival spans spectrum of Asian cultures
Eclecticism defines this year’s San Francisco Asian-American International Film Festival. No one region dominates the cinematic collage of 81 films, although Japanese themes make a strong showing with a look at disappearing village lifestyles and underground films from American internment camps. Local filmmakers, the core of the National Asian-American Telecommunications…