As if it were Honest Movie Trailers: The Movie, the second installment in the Deadpool franchise leavens the hit-making Marvel mix of fight scenes, flashbacks and explosions with dick jokes. Our protagonist, Wade (the ultra-bro, Ryan Reynolds), was a mercenary. He was left with a complexion like a Costco cheese pizza after a forcible gene-scrambling experiment intended to cure his stage 4 cancer. Now he's the killer Deadpool: hooded, cross-sworded, armed and ludicrous. His superpower is bouncing back after extreme dismemberment and preposterous mayhem--Deadpool is the most cartoony of cartoon heroes, the one who owes the most to Chuck Jones and Tex Avery. He clowns before a long-gone fourth wall. At one point he describes a clue as "a huge » Read More

She told the 86-year-old Mineta: "There are a lot of producers out there who are going to want to do your story, and they might be better and more powerful than me." Forewarned, Mineta sat in a series of interviews at his home in Silver Springs, Maryland. Mineta was born and raised in San Jose, the son of immigrants. World War II hysteria about Japanese espionage led to the rounding up of Japanese-Americans and the seizing of their property. Mineta and his family were put behind barbed wire at Heart Mountain in Wyoming, as were some 14,000 other internees. » Read More

The latest exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles begins at the box office. Upon purchase of a ticket, guests are not only offered a copy of their receipt, but prior to entering, they are also asked to pick out an empty bullet casing from a glass dish brimming with spent shells. The weight of a bullet casing seemed insignificant at first, but by the end of viewing "Guns: Loaded Conversations," I found myself turning the shell over and over in my hand as if it were carrying the weight of the nearly 35,000 gun deaths that happen annually in the United States. And that's exactly the point. While the gun debate takes center stage in the national arena, "Guns: Loaded Conversations" brings the discussion to the local level by » Read More

The varnish on a dozen of her recent paintings has finished drying. They're lined up on the studio floor leaning against every wall. Some, but not all, of them will make it into her upcoming show at the Triton Museum but the curator hasn't made the final selections. Kolb might be revealing a favorite when she picks up a white plastic bottle cap. She approaches the canvas to demonstrate the way she created the circular pattern and texture of the figure's dress. Like many of Kolb's paintings in this series, "Nadia" stands in the middle of the frame, solitary and hairless with her hands tucked inside her dress pockets. Patches of her forearms hang closely at her side. » Read More

Fifty years ago, a single photograph changed the history of human consciousness. It was called "Earthrise" and it was a full-color shot of the Earth taken on Christmas Eve by an astronaut on the Apollo 8 lunar mission, soon to be widely published around the world. It marked the first time the human species had gazed at the one and only life-sustaining planet in the known universe. On Friday, composer and filmmaker Kenji Williams is looking to push the sense of wonder first sparked by "Earthrise" into a new dimension with his live performance/multimedia show called "Bella Gaia." The show, to take place at that Hammer Theatre Center in San Jose blends together the high tech of bleeding-edge data visualization with the low tech of live dance » Read More

It's hard to believe 2018 is approaching the halfway mark. It's been nearly five months since the holidays, the days are long, the nights are warm and people are itching to cut loose and have a good time. That's what this guide is for. Consider it a manual for summer fun--a cheat sheet for all the thought-provoking performances, inspiring art, fantastic food and live music that are worth checking out this season. There are up-and-coming bilingual rappers--San Jose-born Snow Tha Product is on the cover--classic and cutting edge plays, outdoor food festivals and celebrations of wine and culture. So, break out the date books, raise a glass and dig in. It's going to be fun. » Read More

Last week, the city of San Jose announced the route for this year's annual Viva CalleSJ open streets initiative, which will expose tens of thousands of residents to the best and worst of San Jo, all in one afternoon. On Sept. 23, the route will start at South First and William streets in downtown San Jose, right smack in the middle of the SoFA Street Fair, where 100 bands will already be gigging throughout the afternoon. Then the route proceeds all the way down Monterey Road, the Champs-Elysees of San Jose's underbelly, before briefly veering down Branham to Martial Cottle Park. As always, various nodes of activity will erupt at specific parts of the route. » Read More

It is more taboo than ever to make cracks about a woman's weight--that is, unless she doesn't have a whole lot of it. Then it's open season: "Wow, what happened to you? Forget where the supermarket is?" However, it probably is not "people" but "people who are female" who are thin-shaming you. Welcome to female intrasexual competition--competition between women--which is covert and sneaky (and thus poisonous) in a way male-on-male competition is not. Men, who evolved to be the warriors and protectors of the species, tend to be openly aggressive. A guy will give another guy a beat-down or publicly dis him: "Yeah, bro, sure you can get a chick to go home with you--if you've got five grand for a sex robot." » Read More

One of the most popular brands of candy in North America is Milk Duds. They're irregularly shaped globs of chocolate caramel. When they were first invented in 1926, the manufacturer's plan was to make them perfect little spheres. But with the rather primitive technology available at that time, this proved impossible. The finished products were blobs, not globes. They tasted good, though. Workers jokingly suggested that the new confection's name include "dud," a word meaning "failure" or "flop." Having sold well now for more than 90 years, Milk Duds have proved that success doesn't necessarily require perfection. Who knows? Maybe their dud-ness has been an essential part of their charm. I suspect there's a metaphorical version of Milk Duds » Read More

By now, many are familiar with an ao dai, the traditional Vietnamese gown, a colorful garment worn mostly by women and usually over trousers. This stylish dress has been the muse for many poets and at least one newspaper columnist for years. However, thanks to the efforts of Jenny Do, a longtime San Jose attorney and Viet arts leader, the dress is now elevated far beyond clothing or fashion. It symbolizes multiple dimensions of female empowerment, liberation, struggle, pride and obstacles overcome. So much, that the fifth Ao Dai Festival erupts this Saturday, including several new components. First, a procession of at least 200 people wearing the ao dai will begin at City Hall and conclude at the San Jose Museum of Art, where a grand-scale » Read More