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Insidious: The Red Door Slams Open With Scares, Again

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:50:34 GMT

If you want jolts, you’ve come to the right place, but if you’re looking for human depth or drama, try something else. This is typical of Insidious, the horror franchise that’s essentially a jump-scare machine at this point. With Leigh Whannell once again in the writer’s chair and the film’s star, Patrick Wilson, making his directorial debut,  Insidious: The Red Door  is another conveyor belt of frights that lives up to the original, even if it fails to deliver in storytelling, which this time, concerns a family separated by the ghostly fog of doubt.The movie –which topped the box office this past weekend– doesn’t have much new or interesting to say compared with the first two James Wan-directed movies. Two prequels followed those films so Red Door marks a return to the Lambert family. After a brief recap on how this supernatural stuff works– something about a twilight realm called “The Further”– we pick back up with the murky subplot....

Another dust-like substance leaks from Martinez refinery, prompts hazardous materials response

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:50:34 GMT

PACHECO — Hazardous materials teams in Contra Costa County responded Tuesday after a refining company released dust into the air, health officials said.The dust landed on the ground and was visible in some surrounding neighborhoods into Martinez, according to social media posts from the Contra Costa Health Services. Health officials advised people to avoid breathing the dust or making close contact with it.The first public reports of the leak came from health services officials on social media at 11:14 a.m.The material came from the Martinez Refining Company, the same refinery leaked a sand-like substance on Thanksgiving that prompted a response. The substance that day contained metals including aluminum, barium and chromium. Exposure to heavy metals has been linked with nausea, vomiting, respiratory issues, immune system dysfunction, cancer and even death.According to health officials, the company reported through the county’s Community Warning System that the material ...

Review: Qwerkywriter S is a timeless approach to the mechanical keyboard

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:50:34 GMT

Tom Hanks is famously a fan of typewriters, those relics of the past seen in black-and-white movies and vintage photos of newsrooms. It’s a symbol of writers and reporters back in the day when most people picked up their news from the fish wrap on the driveway.Although typewriters are rare nowadays, part of their legacy lives on through keyboards. The peripherals are essential for computers, and they have become my pandemic obsession. Pleasant Hill-based Qwerkytoys created a mechanical keyboard that’s an ode to the typewriters of the past.It has the layout of a 75% keyboard, meaning that it has all the parts of a ten-keyless board but in a smaller form factor. The arrow and function keys, along with some extraneous ones, are packed in tight to save on desk space. As the name implies, it’s three-fourths the size of full standard keyboard.The Qwerkywriter S mechanical keyboard has elements of a typewriter such as a carriage lever and feed roller but they’ve bee...

Billy Crudup coming to Berkeley Rep to star in hit solo show ‘Harry Clarke’

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:50:34 GMT

Stage and screen star Billy Crudup is coming to Berkeley Repertory Theatre later this year to perform the hit solo show “Harry Clarke,” the stage company announced today.Crudup, whose star power and versatility are reflected in his wide-ranging resume (the film “Almost Famous,” TV’s “Morning Show,” Broadway’s “The Coast of Utopia”) will perform “Harry Clarke” on Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre Nov. 15-Dec. 23.Seats are already guaranteed for season subscribers. Single tickets will go on sale to the general public Sept. 13.In “Harry Clarke,” which earned Crudup Outer Critics Circle, Obie and Drama Desk awards, the actor plays an awkward Midwestern man who concocts a fake persona as a cocky London man. When he moves to New York City, he charms his way into a rich family and things get a little dicey from there.The darkly comedic show, which the New York Times described as a “delicious conceit,&...

Three-bedroom home sells in Oakland for $3.5 million

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:50:34 GMT

5708 Glenbrook Drive – Google Street ViewA 4,347-square-foot house built in 1937 has changed hands. The spacious property located in the 5700 block of Glenbrook Drive in Oakland was sold on June 1, 2023. The $3,450,000 purchase price works out to $794 per square foot. This three-story house has three bedrooms and three baths. In addition, the house includes a two-car garage, ensuring ample room for parking and storage. The lot size of the property measures an impressive 0.3-acre.Additional houses that have recently been purchased close by include:On Acacia Avenue, Oakland, in March 2023, a 2,512-square-foot home was sold for $2,550,000, a price per square foot of $1,015. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.A 4,210-square-foot home on the 100 block of Beechwood Drive in Oakland sold in April 2023, for $3,850,000, a price per square foot of $914. The home has 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.In December 2022, a 4,600-square-foot home on Acacia Avenue in Oakland sold for $2,800,000, a pr...

Jury convicts man of manslaughter, not murder, in 2019 Oakland shooting

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:50:34 GMT

OAKLAND — An Alameda County jury acquitted a 26-year-old man on murder charges but found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter, a charge that can apply when someone uses legally “imperfect” self-defense, court records show.Jevanni Knight was found guilty of manslaughter and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the 2019 killing of El Cerrito resident Michael Sadberry, who had been in a fist fight with one of Knight’s friends. The verdict came back July 6 after a trial that lasted roughly two weeks.During trial, Knight’s attorney argued that the shooting was self-defense, whereas the prosecution contended Knight was guilty of murder for using a gun during a fist fight. Knight has been in jail since his arrest in July 2019, court records show.Sadberry, 41, was shot and killed around 8:48 p.m. June 21 at the intersection of 73rd and Bancroft avenues in East Oakland, not far from the Eastmont police substation. Sadberry was in a car that was involved i...

Hunter Biden ‘informant’ charged with arms trafficking

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:50:34 GMT

By Kara Scannell | CNNUS prosecutors unsealed an indictment Monday charging the co-director of a think tank with illicit arms trafficking, violating US sanctions laws, and other charges, five months after he was arrested in Cyprus and fled from authorities.The US-Israeli citizen, Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, is also someone House Oversight Chairman James Comer, a top Republican, has described as an informant claiming to have incriminating information on Hunter Biden.Luft has tweeted denials of the allegations, saying in February, “I’ve been arrested in Cyprus on a politically motivated extradition request by the US. The US, claiming I’m an arms dealer. It would be funny if it weren’t tragic. I’ve never been an arms dealer. DOJ is trying to bury me to protect Joe, Jim & Hunter Biden.”Robert Henoch, an attorney for Luft, called the indictment “a vicious attempt to silence a witness to corruption.” The attorney said “there was no arms ...

Today, 7/11, is Free Slurpee Day at all 7-Eleven stores

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:50:34 GMT

Today is 7/11, a day revered by all slushy-drink lovers.To celebrate the date and the company’s 96th anniversary, 7-Eleven stores will again hold Free Slurpee Day, giving out small Slurpees from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. (or until the machines run dry).Limited-edition flavors joining the popular regulars Cherry and Coca-Cola this year are Sprite Lymonade Legacy, Summertime Citrus, Fanta Dragon Fruit Zero Sugar and Hibiscus Lemonade, the company said.Related ArticlesRestaurants, Food and Drink | Michelin’s dining deals: 4 Bay Area restaurants join ‘affordable’ Bib Gourmand list Restaurants, Food and Drink | How to get free or cheap fries on National French Fry Day 2023 Restaurants, Food and Drink | Bay Area brewery day trip: Concord’s Side Gate beer garden and more Restaurants, Food and Drink | Basil? Curry? Turkey? Bay Area’s most unconventional ice cream flavors and the stories behind them Rest...

‘Tudors’ exhibit gets behind the era’s camera-ready intrigue

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:50:34 GMT

From Bette Davis to Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I, from Charles Laughton to Jonathan Rhys Meyers as King Henry VIII, from “Fire Over England” to “Wolf Hall,” the Tudor era has kept movies, operas, TV series and books stuffed with drama and intrigue. And beheadings.Now the roots of that drama — in paintings, jewelry, tapestries, sculpture and personal mementos — are on display in “The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England,” at San Francisco’s Legion of Honor Museum through Sept. 24.It’s more scholarly than spectacular, but it includes commanding portraits and everything from a tiny broach depicting Elizabeth (and Noah’s ark) to elaborately engraved armor probably made for Henry VIII, and more than 6 feet tall.There is plenty of intrigue, too, if you trace the social and political moves during the Tudors’ 118-year reign, from 1485 to 1603. Britain was becoming the British Empire. The merchant class was expanding. And though he’s not part of the exhibit, Shak...

HazMat crews responding to release of petroleum coke 'dust' at Martinez refinery

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:50:34 GMT

(KRON) -- HazMat crews are responding to the Martinez Refining Company in Martinez after chemical dust was released into the air on Tuesday. The incident is being investigated by inspectors, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The agency said it is closely monitoring a petroleum coke release at the refinery and responding to complaints. Arsonist who set Vallejo fire detained by ‘trained mixed martial artist,’ arrested The agency is also documenting air quality violations and assisting first responders."Follow instructions from health officials," the agency advised.The Contra Costa Health Department's HazMat team is also responding to the incident, which it described as the "release of dust" from Martinez Refining Company. Material from the release is visible on the ground in the surrounding neighborhoods, according to CCH.The public is advised to avoid breathing or coming into close contact with the material. CCH is collecting samples for lab analysis.What i...