Stuart Chase, 31, of San Francisco’s Sugar Lounge, has been bartending at the sumptuously sweet Sugar Lounge in Hayes Valley for four months and has been in the biz since he was 17 years old. Sugar Lounge earns rightful edge over the competition with its sweet selection of flavored sugars that garnish the rims of most of its martini glasses. Balancing out all that sweetness is a very nice assortment of savory Asian edibles that made us less apt to need to rush out to dinner, meaning we could kick backon one of its swank couches and act like a kid in a candy shop.
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In the distinguished 40-year history of the American Conservatory Theater, there have been many splendid productions, but Shakespeare and Ibsen somehow always fared poorly. Unsatisfactory, yes, but seldom as misguided as at Wednesday night’s opening performance of "Hedda Gabler."
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One lives in Kentucky, the other in Denver, but at the celluloid moment, Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb are living the Hollywood dream. In town recently to talk about Disney and Walden Media's fantasy-rich "Bridge to Terabithia," the film's talented young stars happily delve into a myriad issues, from being teenage actors in Tinseltown-he's 14, she's 13-to the movie's emotional undertones. "It's just such a great story," the floppy-haired Hutcherson admits.
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The laughs begin immediately in the Encore Theatre Company/Z Plays production of "American $uicide," as its two main characters repeatedly wake each other up out of a sound sleep, prompting startled screeches, to pour out their frustrations. Sam’s chronically unemployed; Mary’s an exhausted waitress. The laughs keep coming as Sam gets increasingly agitated and locks himself in the bathroom, prompting Mary to conclude that he’s suicidal and run to the next-door neighbor — Albert, an amateur porn videographer — for help.
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As Britney Spears’ hard-partying spree continues to spiral out of control, fans are wondering what those close to Britney are doing to help. Now the troubled "Toxic" singer’s former assistant has spoken out, reportedly saying in a poignant online message that she’s "crushed/saddened/heartsick by the way [Britney’s] life is unfolding."
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One of the many awful products of Soviet-bloc communism was East Germany’s Stasi; the surveillance-obsessed police operation makes for a stellar antagonist in German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s "The Lives of Others." Human goodness, meanwhile, emerges as an even stronger force in this deceptively hard-edged thriller. Regardless of whether you buy that, von Donnersmarck, an impressive newcomer, has you embracing this picture.
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"Breach," directed and co-written by Billy Ray, dramatizes the final spy days of notorious FBI turncoat Robert Hanssen, who sold classified information to Moscow for 22 years before being nabbed. Piously Catholic and described as "diabolically brilliant," Hanssen has been an enigma in life, and intentionally perhaps, but also problematically, Ray makes him an enigma on screen as well. As a spy thriller, the movie’s entertaining, but as a character study — which is what this story demands to be — it’s hollow.
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In today’s highly polarized political climate, news networks and politicians are busier than ever, delivering messages as if preaching to congregations of devoted followers. To Michael Franti, Oakland native and frontman for the outspoken hip-hop act Michael Franti and Spearhead, the goal is less about delivering the message than challenging people to figure things out for themselves.
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Every day brings more shocking revelations in the bizarre Anna Nicole Smith saga. Now the former nanny of her five-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, has come forward with horrifying allegations that the late model not only attempted suicide but underfed her baby girl to make her look "sexy."
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"Let’s get out of this country, I have been so unhappy," Tracyanne Campbell sings on the title track of the third and most recent album by her band, Camera Obscura. If breaking out of its native Scotland was the cure for the malaise, the Glaswegian sextet has cause to celebrate. Since its release in June 2006, "Let’s Get Out of This Country" has been creating major waves in the American indie music scene.
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