This week’s Curator: Annalee Newitz of Our Opinions Are Correct
I am officially declaring 2019 the year of adventures. And this week, you can go on many adventures (or at least hear about them!) right here in the Bay Area. Visit the SF Sketchfest to mingle with comedy and improv fans, go on a bookstore and chocolate crawl to learn more about local booksellers while chomping sugary treats, roast SF drag diva (and Anglerfish contributor!) Peaches Christ, listen to tales from Antarctic explorers, and take a walk among the blooming magnolias in the San Francisco Botanical Garden. Go forth and discover something new! Or bring along a friend who will help you experience your favorite things through fresh eyes.
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COMING UP THIS WEEK:
Ars Technica Live: Farewell Show with Ashkan Soltani
It’s 2019–do you know where your personal data is? Find out in this conversation with digital privacy researcher and former FTC technologist Askhan Soltani. Soltani is also the author of a new California law that puts restrictions any large company that makes over half their revenue from selling California consumers’ personal data. Anglerfish editor Annalee Newitz has been co-hosting this monthly conversation series with Ars Technica editor Cyrus Farivar for over two years, but now it’s coming to an end. We’re going out just as we came in: with an in-depth conversation that’s geeky, wonky, vaguely paranoid, but ultimately hopeful.
WEDS JAN 9, Doors at 7 PM, show 7:30-8:30. Eli’s Mile High Club, Oakland. FREE
The Match Book: Tenderloin Historical Ephemera Project
We’re suckers for material culture-based storytelling and history, and this seems like a cool lens. This new exhibit at the incredible Tenderloin Museum features historical Tenderloin ephemera from the 1920’s-1950’s including glassware, postcards, menus, matchbooks, and more. Collector Glenn Koch will be on hand to talk about the collection and answer your questions.
THURS. JAN 10., 6-9 PM, Tenderloin Museum, San Francisco, FREE.
Shit Arcade
Comedians play bad old video games. Need we say more? Hosted by Mike Drucker, who is one of our fave smart comedy writers.
SAT., JAN 12, 10-11:30PM, Piano Fight (main stage), San Francisco. $25.
Bookstore & Chocolate Crawl
In this installment of the semi-regular Bookstore & Chocolate crawl, book and sugar lovers will explore the Valencia Street corridor. Meet at Dog Eared Books at 1PM, or download the map route and catch up along the way. You’re sure to make new friends, find incredible books, and have a good adventure.
SUN, JAN 13, 1-6PM, starting at Dog Eared Books in the Castro, San Francisco. FREE
Story Pirates with Dave Foley as guest
A highlight of the Sketchfest, this show features musical sketch comedy based on stories written by actual kids. Anglerfish editor Kishore says, “I took my son to this last year – it was pretty weird and fun. Not often that the kiddos get to go to a comedy show.”
SUN, JAN 13, 11AM. Marine’s Memorial Theater, SF. $25
Roast of Peaches Christ
Not only is Peaches Christ a future guest editor at Anglerfish, and one of San Francisco’s most beloved drag queens who has hosted countless incredible shows, but it is her 45th birthday! Join drag celebs Clea DuVall, Heklina, Jinkx Monsoon, Mink Stole, and Roast Mistress Coco Peru (plus special guests!) in an incredible birthday roast for one of our city’s great homegrown comedy talents.
SUN, JAN 13, 8PM, Castro Theater, SF. $30-70.
Antarctica as a Time Machine: Our Portal to Snowball Earth and Faraway Worlds
The SETI Institute is devoted to learning more about alien worlds, and one of the most intriguing is here on Earth. Antarctica is a rich resource for scientists who want to explore the planet’s deep past, but also the fragile ecosystem of a once-tropical continent that has been covered in ice for millions of years. At this talk, you’ll hear from Peter Roopnarine, curator of the Invertebrate Zoology and Geology Department at the California Academy of Sciences, who has studied ecosystems in extreme environments and how a planet emerges from a snowball to become a diverse biosphere. Tyler Mackey, Postdoctoral Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology focuses his research on habitats of the cryosphere and has dived in the lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica to study records of microbial activity. Ariel Waldman, citizen scientist and artist, just recently came back from an expedition in Antarctica where she filmed microbes living within glaciers, under the sea ice, and in subglacial ponds. While there, she also shadowed various research teams, including a mission testing an autonomous underwater vehicle.
WEDS, JAN 16, 7-8PM, SRI International Institute, Menlo Park. FREE
Magnolias Blooming at the SF Botanical GardensWe don’t exactly have seasons in SF, but that’s not to say we don’t get neat seasonal phenomena, like the magnificient magnolia bloom. You can see it now through March, and you won’t be disappointed. Have a naturalist’s adventure right here in the city!
JAN 15-MARCH 7, daily starting at 7:30AM. Botanical Gardens, SF. Adults $9, Kids and seniors $6.