Results tagged “books”

Oh, what joy. Brittney Gilbert at Eye On Blogs brings our attention to this: Green Apple Books, located at 506 Clement, will donate proceeds of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's new book Going Rogue: An American Life to the betterment of animals up in Alaska. Check it:

The annual week-long Litquake festival starts tonight, featuring a daunting line-up of events. Below is a list of our picks featuring one event per day (otherwise this post would take us all weekend). Check out SF Weekly, SF Appeal, and Mercury News for their highlights.

FILM: Filmmaker Ken Jacobs is making a rare Bay Area appearance to present Shocked by Existence, a series of his new works in digital video format, some of which feature animated stereographs of family and friends, as well as improvised performance, experimental narrative, personal documentary, and found footage. The screening will also include Jacobs' small-gauge “chamber works” -- his term for the 8mm and 16mm shorts he made in the '60s.

LIT: The untimely death of David Foster Wallace prompted hundreds of his fans across the world to read Infinite Jest together over the summer, ie. Infinite Summer. Tonight, Bay Area participants will join in an Infinite Summer Celebration. Food and wine will be provided with a suggested $5 donation, and there will be a contest to see whose copy of Infinite Jest has been most abused.

All books for $5 or less -- what a deal! The 45th Annual Big Book Sale, put on by Friends of the SF Public Library, is going on all weekend at Fort Mason Center's Festival Pavilion. The sale, which is the largest book sale on the West Coast, features over 300,000 books in 50 different categories, as well as DVDs, CDs, books on tape, vinyl, and other forms of media. For the big bargain-hunters out there, if you wait out the sale until Sunday, all books will be only $1!

THEATER: Catch the first preview night of the world premiere of The First Day of School, which opens SF Playhouse's seventh season. The play, which was written by Billy Aronson, creator of the original concept for the musical RENT and a writer for MTV’s Beavis and Butthead, is about a group of parents who decide to make their children’s first day of school a “first” of their own. The show's official opening night is September 26, and it runs through November 7.

FOOD: Learn how changing your diet can reduce carbon emissions as effectively as buying a new fuel-efficient car in the new book Cool Cuisine: The Global Warming Diet.. Tonight, Cool Cuisine co-authors Eugene Cordero, Professor of Meteorology, SJSU, will present the latest research on the connection between the energy efficiency of our food systems and global warming, and Laura Stec, Chef, will offer practical advice on putting these ideas into action.

The irreverent David Cross, who captured America's hearts (or at least the smart part of America) as the "never-nude," "analrapist" Tobias Funke and who graced SFist's comments with his controversial presence back in '07, has written his first book, I Drink for a Reason. Cross will be personally promoting the book this Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Union Square Borders (400 Post St) prior his show at the Warfield that night.

ART: SFMOMA is holding a Memorial Service honoring Bay Area sculptor and conceptual artist David Ireland, who passed away in May. Ireland's highly idiosyncratic body of work focused on the creation and function of art within everyday life. There will be a program in the Wattis Theater at 4 p.m. featuring speakers who were close to Ireland and his work, followed by a gathering in the Schwab Room at 5 p.m.

LIT: New York Times food critic Frank Bruni celebrates the release of his new memoir, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater, in which he talks about his rise from a baby bulimic to one of the most influential writers in the food world.

As SF Weekly noted yesterday, Lars Russell, a San Francisco-based writer, starting reading the entirety of 's first sentence, which wraps around the to final sentence, making the magnum opus a circular work, et cetera, et cetera, and so forth :

ART: SF Camerawork celebrates its 35th anniversary with a two-part exhibition. Part 1: San Francisco Plays Itself features the work of artists who have contributed to the cultural make-up of the San Francisco Bay Area in a significant way and explores how they document their lives and the lives of others, address specific events, and engage with the local landscape. The exhibit runs through October 10.

FILM: The documentary Bird's Nest: Herzog & de Meuron in China follows two star Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, who are building bridges between two cultures, two architectural traditions, and two political systems, as they work on two very different projects: the national stadium for the Olympic summer games in Peking 2008 and a city area in the provincial town of Jinhua, China.

ART: It's your last chance to view the current exhibitions at SF Camerawork. The Summer Exhibition Cool-Down Party features Ersatz Group Exhibition, Leaving A Mark: Cutter Photozine, and The 2009 James D. Phelan Art Award in Photography. The publication of the Ersatz exhibition catalog will also be announced.

MUSIC: Japanese cowboy possessing amazing yodeling skills Toshio Hirano will perform his beloved bluegrass favorites for adoring fans as part of Amnesia's free Bluegrass Mondays.

PERFORMANCE: Joe Goode Performance Group presents Traveling Light, an installation combining dance, language, irony and reflection, which will take the audience on a journey through the vaults and chambers of the oldest stone building in San Francisco. Production and lighting design by Jack Carpenter, and music and sonic landscape by Jay Cloidt.

The first 30 attendees are promised nifty canvas book bags, courtesy of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. And even if you don't meet anyone interesting you'll have a great book or two to curl up with that night.

One of San Francisco's favorite writers in residence, Dave Eggers, was on KQED's "Forum" this morning discussing his new book Zeitoun. It's a non-fiction work, just out from McSweeney's press as of last week, about a Syrian-American man named Abdulrahman Zeitoun who stuck around with his American wife and children in his adopted hometown of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina only to be abruptly made to disappear by the U.S. government.

SIDESHOW: Wrestling circus performers compete with wrestlers performing circus stunts in the When Legends Collide Tour: The Jim Rose Circus vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts, with special guests Sinn Bohdi, Bebe the Circus Queen, and The Ferocious Few.

Although some claim to dislike local scribe Dave Eggers -- probably because he is successful, something writers and alleged writers hate like holy hell -- you should read his new book. It's a work of nonfiction. And it's heavy-ish. It's called Zeitoun. What's it about? Well, it involves a Syrian-American man. And hurricane Katrina. And probably some super sad stuff. But why listen to us when Amazon's product description can explain it to you better.

ART: Artist Dennis McNulty of Infectious Art celebrates the '80s aesthetic in his latest exhibition 1981 Pervert by reappropriating the colors, shapes, and layouts of early 1980s men's magazine design, zeroing in on the genre's own re-engagement of the pinup icons of the 1940s and 1950s.

VARIETY: The Rumpus and Kink.com host a Sex, Music, Comedy Night with Jill Sobule, co-sponsored by The Center for Sex and Culture. The evening includes readings and performances from sex worker authors Zak Smith, Kirk Read, Michelle Tea, Lorelei Lee, and Madison Young (NSFW), comedy by Los Angeles based comedian Kyle Kinane, a short film by Wholphin, and music by Sig Hafstrom and special guest Jill Sobule.

LIT: Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, will be on hand to discuss her adventures with raising chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, a beehive, rabbits, and pigs in her Oakland garden (not all at the same time).

COMEDY: SF Sketchfest presents San Francisco-based comedy troupe Kasper Hauser for a special one-night show celebrating the release of their book, Weddings of the Times, a parody of the New York Times wedding announcements, complete with helpful wedding tips and lists, including first aid for guests who have been attacked by a shark. The group will start off the show with a live sketch performance, followed by a reading from the book. There will also be a Q&A and book signing moderated by Beth Lisick.

Wall Street Journal Senior Technology Editor Julia Angwin recently took an investigative look at the back-stories of MySpace founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson, who prior to founding the social networking and glitter-gif bohemoth dabbled in porn, hacking, spam and spyware before stumbling on their mega-million-dollar meal ticket. The book is called Stealing Myspace and you can find it here or at an independent bookseller in your neighborhood.

ART: Greg Gossel will exhibit his new collection of appropriated pop culture imagery ranging from pulp novels, romance comics, political references, and fallen icons of the 20th century. His pieces are large-scale multimedia works involving silkscreen, experimental Xerox copy and transfers, as well as various found billboard scraps and signage. The raw nature of the collection builds upon the surfaces with rich depth, paint, print and collage. Tonight is the opening reception, and the show runs through July 7.

MUSIC: Sugary yet melancholic Scottish indie-poppers Camera Obscura, lead by angelic crooner Tracyanne Campbell, will entrance the Fillmore tonight. Lovely, vintage cabaret-inspired, all-female trio Agent Ribbons opens.

ART: Peruse art and enjoy food and drink specials at dozens of venues (including free dessert at Metro Kathmandu!), as part of the Divisadero Art Walk. 6 p.m. // Divisadero Street (from Haight St to Geary Blvd) // free MUSIC: Another Hole in the Head Film Festival, which starts tomorrow night, is having an arena rock-themed Launch Party extravaganza tonight. Local band Live Evil performs as Spinal Tap! Plus The Godz of Rock and live stage versions of ‘80s hair metal videos.

LECTURE: The Commonwealth Club hosts an enlightening discussion with Michael Eric Dyson: Can You Hear Me Now? Known as the "hip-hop" intellectual, Dyson examines issues of class, race and poverty, and political strife. There will be wine, cheese, and networking before the talk, and a book-signing aftward. Richard Thompson Ford moderates.

The uber- and always-divine Leah Garchik reports on who the wealthiest person in San Francisco is: Larry Page, co-founder and of Google. (Of course, the award for sexiest-wealthiest person in San Francisco, hands down, goes to The Brin. Know Sergey, know beauty; no Sergey, no beauty.) Garchik mentions Page because there's a book coming out this week about the Google kingpin and 99 other fat cats in the U.S. Penned by Randall Jones, it's called The Richest Man In Town. While we plan on giving the book a once-over, we had hoped Page's section would open any top-shelf cans of worms the way Oh the Glory of It All did, which famously shattered the glitzy Aqua-Net veneer of Pacific Height's Dede "French is a faggy language" Wilsey. , it seems, looks more like a living-the-American-dream guide, not a vengeful tell-all. Alas. Anyway, Jones' "smug paean to extreme wealth" is available on Wednesday.