Reviews

25 Aug 2023

Beyond the Board: Insights from a Local Chess Grandmaster

Growing up in San Jose, Chess Grandmaster Vinay Bhat achieved the distinction of becoming the youngest National Master at the age of ten. He currently has the esteemed title of Grandmaster, the second highest rank in chess (the top being World Champion which is given to the top player). Recently,

Katy Atchison 0
01 Feb 2023

Why The Gays Love M3GAN

10 min read. This article contains spoilers (duh). M3GAN, a.k.a. Model 3 Generative Android, has rocketed straight to the top of gay iconography. It’s not like the movie’s marketing team targeted us directly. As such, the movie’s success doesn’t hinge on queer approval. M3GAN’s got it nonetheless, but how did

Jake Warren 0
11 Dec 2022

Beloved Liholiho Yacht Club Reopens Original Nob Hill location

Like many other restaurants, Liholiho Yacht Club, shut its doors temporarily at 871 Sutter in response to the pandemic. For the regulars, employees, and long-time fans of Liholiho, it was a time of uncertainty, not 100% knowing if they will be back in their original space or when. To the

Katy Atchison 0
April Dawn Alison poses for a Polaroid.
20 Jul 2022

What Is Queer Pain? Understanding April Dawn Alison

Are we ready to take on queer pain? Throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, Oakland artist and resident April Dawn Alison took a series of self-portraits on Polaroid film in voluminous cocoa wigs and rouge lips, in a PVC skirt and color-matched pumps, in bondage. The massive compilation

Jake Warren 0
20 May 2022

Local Web Series “City Folx” Brings Drag King Laughs

Drag performance may be getting its moment in the pop cultural spotlight thanks to the likes of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”  However, that spotlight’s mainly shining on drag queens, not drag kings.  Instead of waiting for some mainstream media outlet to notice the talent of drag kings, local director Rae Dawn

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08 Dec 2021

YEAR OF THE SPIDER: An Interview with Shannon & the Clams

Although Shannon and the Clams’ new album was completed shortly before COVID-19 seized the globe, it wasn’t forged free of tumult. In 2019, Shannon Shaw, the Clams’ magnetic front woman, was driven from her Oakland apartment by a persistent peeping tom. Later, on the eve of the Clams’ tour with

Lydia Sviatoslavsky 0
25 Jul 2019

How to Join the Robot Dance Army in San Francisco

I like a lot of things that have come from Montreal.  There’s Cirque du Soleil, poutine, Steven Pinker, and now techno robot exoskeletons.   I know what you’re asking yourself right now, “are these the product of a secret Canadian Space Force project, sent here to make Americans more polite?”  The

Alex Mak - Managing Editor 0
18 Jan 2019

Lew the Jew & The Origins of American Tattooing at CJM is Fascinating

Now on display at Contemporary Jewish Museum, Lew The Jew And His Circle: Origins Of American Tattoo looks back upon one of New York’s earliest tattoo artists and his contemporaries. The exhibition will remain up through June 9. Albert Morton Kurzman, aka Lew The Jew, was born in New York

David-Elijah Nahmod 0