For a woman who’s just written a book about the human digestive system, Mary Roach is surprisingly cheerful.
The acclaimed Bay Area science writer seems perfectly happy to wade into subjects that would make most of us say “ick.”
In her new book, “Gulp: Adventures Along the Alimentary Canal,” Roach delves deeply into how we eat — and what happens after.
Informative and often hilariously funny, the book combines history, weird facts and up-to-the-minute interviews with physicians, researchers and other experts about events no one discusses in polite company.
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The City’s infinite microclimates can make it hard to experience seasons, but a Bay Area gem near Suisun Bay offers the perfect springtime ticket.
Running through April 28 — and possibly later, depending on Mother Nature — are the Western Railway Museum’s 12th annual Spring Wildflower Train Rides.
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Its title and story may stem from “Snow White,” but “Blancanieves” is nothing like the soulless, effects-laden action spectacles that the thought of yet another fairy tale-rooted movie brings to mind.
This Spanish melodrama is a modestly scaled, exquisitely black-and-white, emotionally rewarding take on the Brothers Grimm fable.
It is also a classy, quirky salute to silent-era cinema.
Written and directed by Pablo Berger (“Torremolinos 73”), the film, like “The Artist,” celebrates silent movies and presents itself in the form of a silent movie.
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Many documentaries have been made about the movies, but none of them are quite like “Room 237.”The film is a work of criticism, scholarship, obsession and paranoia — all devoted to one movie: Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.”
Director Rodney Ascher interviews five people — journalist Bill Blakemore, professor Geoffrey Cocks, author and playwright Juli Kearns, performer and musician John Fell Ryan, and hermetic scholar Jay Weidner — who have one thing in common: an unhealthy obsession with “The Shining.”
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This Mission district spot has received a lot of attention for The Hideout, the “bar within a bar” nestled in its backroom, but there is plenty of action up front at the main bar, where Douglas Stephens plies his trade. He got his start as a bar back at Vertigo in the Tenderloin roughly 10 years ago. When he’s not behind the bar, Stephens enjoys working on his 1968 Chevy El Camino, which has a Darth Vader bobblehead figure sitting atop the gearshift.
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Kim Kardashian appears to be handling her pregnancy weight gain just fine, which is sort of shocking when you consider that she generally operates at Vanity Level 10. But there does seem to be one side effect of being with child that she has no time for: excessive hair growth.
“They might want to break out the lawnmower,” says TMZ, because she’s sprouting fur like a big-bootie Chia Pet.
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I’m starting to get used to the idea that baseball games are no longer just about beer, peanuts, hot dogs and, lest I forget, the game itself.
Over the past few seasons, I’ve been sussing out the wine choices that are available and have always found some worthy recommendations. However, probably the most exciting wine venue in professional sports has come to AT&T Park with Vintage 58, a new wine bar located right behind home plate on the promenade level.
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The sign for Kingdom of Dumplings is easily missed. Beneath the large Chinese characters — “Nation of Dumplings,” it proclaims — the English is thin and anemic, like a subtitle. “Kingdom of Dumplings,” it whispers.
Kingdom or nation? No matter. Seekers of soup dumplings, keep your eyes peeled.
There is something about Shanghainese soup dumplings, or xiaolongbao, that make people embark on quests for them, even to the Parkside neighborhood, where there are no decent bars. Xiaolongbao aren’t common, and they’re hard to get right.
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The New York Times ran an in-depth piece on the trials and tribulations of a struggling “Today Show,” outlining the bungled dismissal of Ann Curry as a symptom of a much greater problem on set.
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Celebrity chef Cat Cora used the “N-word” (no, not that one) after she rear-ended someone in Los Angeles, calling them a “nerd.” Cora was subsequently arrested on suspicion of DUI after her blood-alcohol level registered 0.19, according to TMZ. The legal limit in California is 0.08.
People magazine reported Wednesday that she won't be facing charges for the incident, which happened last summer.
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