NEW YORK — The latest iteration of the Fab Five has a fresh new face on board.

Roughly three months after the news that “Queer Eye” design expert Bobby Berk would be leaving the series after Season 8, Netflix has announced that Jeremiah Brent will be stepping in to replace him.

The new interior designer will join long-time castmates Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness for Season 9 of the Emmy Award-winning series, which is set to be filmed in Las Vegas.

But who is Jeremiah Brent and where might you have seen him before?

Who is Jeremiah Brent?

Brent, whose birth name is Jeremy Clevenger Johnson, is a design industry superstar hailing from Modesto, California.

The self-taught interior decorator first made a splash in the world of reality TV as a styling associate on Season 4 of Bravo’s “The Rachel Zoe Project.” Years later, he hosted the Emmy Award-winning “Home Made Simple” for two seasons on the Oprah Winfrey Network and starred in TLC’s “Nate & Jeremiah by Design” alongside his husband, fellow interior designer Nate Berkus.

Berkus and Brent — the first same-sex couple to be featured in ads for Banana Republic — were married in 2014 and are the parents of 8-year-old daughter Poppy and 5-year-old son Oskar, both of whom were born via egg donors and surrogates.

In 2011 — the same year he appeared on “The Rachel Zoe Project” — Brent founded design firm Jeremiah Brent Design (JBD), with offices in Manhattan and Los Angeles.

“My personal design aesthetic is monastic, but obviously, we don’t do just that with the firm,” he told Architectural Digest in 2022.

Why did Bobby Berk leave “Queer Eye”?

Following the premiere of “Queer Eye” in 2018, Berk quickly became a fan favorite thanks to his stunning home makeovers and compassionate conversations. So it came as a surprise to fans when the 42-year-old Houston native announced in November that he was departing the show after Season 8, which dropped Jan. 24 on Netflix.

“It’s with a heavy heart that I announce that Season 8 will be my final season on ‘Queer Eye,’” Berk wrote on social media. “It’s not been an easy decision to be at peace with, but a necessary one. Although my journey with ‘Queer Eye’ is over, my journey with you is not. You will be seeing more of me very soon.”

Berk elaborated on his departure in a recent profile for Vanity Fair, saying he thought the show had come to an end after they had completed the contract they initially signed.

“We thought we were done [after September 2022],” he said. “Mentally and emotionally, I thought we all moved on. I know I did, and I started planning other things.”

“We just assumed that the show wouldn’t come back if we all didn’t come back,” he said.

Berk also confirmed rumors of a rift with fashion expert Tan France.

“Tan and I had a moment. There was a situation, and that’s between Tan and I, and it has nothing to do with the show,” he told Vanity Fair. “It was something personal that had been brewing — and nothing romantic, just to clarify that.”

How to watch “Queer Eye”?

All six episodes of the current season of “Queer Eye” — filmed in New Orleans — are streaming now on Netflix, along with all previous seasons of the series. There’s no word yet on when Season 9 will premiere.

©2024 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

They feature a few guilty chuckles, many from the grumpy yet affable host who interjects his awkward perspective into the proceedings constantly. Then there are feather-fisted members of the security team that tries to break up the angry subjects and their physical battles, a motley crew of bad behavior.

Sadly, the security staff has all the effectiveness of a mouse guarding the door at a nightclub, but hey, anything that gets the purveyors of this brand of trash television to chant the host’s name is a supposed win.

All of which raises a question that probably no one in their right mind would even stumble upon: How in the world does “The Jerry Springer Show” connect to the primal nature of opera?

The answer is “Jerry Springer: the Opera,” a show born in London’s West End 20 years ago and now playing at San Jose Playhouse. It is not for the faint of heart. While the television show functioned highly as a prude-free zone, the production led by the talented cast is solid, even though creators Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee’s concoction isn’t exactly high culture.

The premise is predictable, based on the infamous host whose name blares inside the play’s title. The guests have lots of range — there are serial cheaters, all types of scuzzy folks and even a man who likes to dress as a baby and act out everything, down to the boom boom in his diaper. Oh, and there are also appearances from Angel Gabriel, Jesus and Satan, because hey, why would they miss out on this nonsense?

Any great opera has a brutal death, and Springer’s offing at the hands of someone who was probably actually gunning for a Klan member in Act 1’s finale is brutal indeed. That ending is complete with tap dancing leading to the tighter Act 2, aided by yet another Steve Wilkos (Fred Isozaki) security fail. As a result, Jerry’s infamous final thoughts have transitioned to his new address in Hell.

One of the challenges of the show is finding the line between gratuitous shlock and something genuinely edgy, which is blurred too often. Irreverent humor is the hallmark of many a great production, but here, that irreverence does not have nearly enough sharp satire for it to effectively sustain over the course of the show’s two hours.

That said, many moments are delightfully funny, with terrific production values — some of the best the Playhouse has produced in recent memory. The trio of creatives who make up the bulk of the Playhouse’s productions in downtown San Jose take turns showcasing the mastery of the spectacle.

That spectacle is led with Scott Evan Guggenheim’s deft direction of his talented cast, with Ric Iverson’s turn as Springer achieving a nice balance of the television host’s befuddlement and sketchy inquiry of his oddball guests. Vocal director Stephen Guggenheim consistently receives a pleasing sound from the 11-member cast that serves up tight harmonies and solos. And Shannon Guggenheim’s choreography parallels the freneticism of the original source material, the play mostly moving at breakneck speed. In addition, Shannon Guggenheim’s stellar video designs along with Jon Gourdine’s terrific set creates an environment where television hell (literally) is about to be unleashed.

What works well is the constant tension housed under the studio roof, with the basest and most offensive humor imaginable paired with the pleasing sounds of opera. Many Playhouse regulars make appearances in the production. Nina Edwards is a stellar Mary, with a buttery smooth register making fantastic runs constantly. Beautifully-presenced B Noel Thomas understands deeply the nature of tongue-in-cheek within her multiple roles. Krista Wigle showcases both a solid voice and impeccable comic timing, and Joseph Meyers is especially funny throughout, namely as the narrative comes to a close with his donning a skin-tight Elvis costume.

“Jerry Springer: the Opera” is one wild ride that isn’t going to be for everyone. I can’t really say it was even for me, and I love irreverence. But if it wasn’t wild, it wouldn’t be Jerry Springer. Or opera. After all, people who want their mamas to spank them while dancing on poles are still just, well, people.

David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics Association and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (‘22-‘23); @davidjchavez.

‘JERRY SPRINGER: THE OPERA’

Created by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, presented by San Jose Playhouse

Through: March 17

Where: 3Below Theaters, 288 S. Second St., San Jose

Running time: Two hours with an intermission

Tickets: $45-$65; sanjoseplayhouse.org

But Cooper has a different view of nudity when it comes to the privacy of his own home. In an interview on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the “Maestro” actor and director said he grew up with a father who was “always nude” in their house, according to the Daily Mail.

So, Cooper said, he has a very relaxed approach when it comes to shedding his clothes behind closed doors, including around his 6-year-old daughter.

When Shepard revealed that he and his wife, actor Kristen Bell, are pretty relaxed about nudity at home, saying he and his family are “naked all the time,” Cooper agreed, “Me too.”

“I was like that. Not with my mom but with my dad,” Cooper told Shepard, according to the Daily Mail. “My dad was always nude, always took showers with him.”

“And you’re quite comfortable nude?” Shepard asked.

“Totally,” Cooper said.

Cooper revealed that he and his daughter Lea — whom he co-parents with ex-girlfriend Irina Shayk — regularly chat while he is on the toilet. For his part, Shepard said that his daughters, Lincoln, 10, and Delta, 9, regularly “file in” to the bathroom to talk during his “poopy time.”

In response, Cooper laughed: “My bedroom — the bathtub and toilet and bed are all in the same room.”

“It’s 24/7, dude! There are no doors,” Cooper said, according to the Daily Mail. “The stairs go up and it’s all one floor.”

When Shepard asked, “Do you find that your daughter doesn’t care at all?’

Cooper replied, “Yeah, no, no. We talk where I’m on the toilet, she’s in the bathtub; that’s sort of the go-to.”

The Swedish actor, who is best known for the “Dune” and “Mission: Impossible” franchises, touched off this internet guessing game when she recently recounted her heated exchange with a co-star during an appearance on the “Reign With Josh Smith” podcast Tuesday, the New York Post and other outlets reported.

“I did a film with an absolute idiot of a co-star and it doesn’t matter who it was,” Ferguson began.

“I remember there was a moment when this human being was being so insecure and angry because this person couldn’t get the scenes out,” Ferguson shared. “And I think I was so vulnerable and uncomfortable that I got screamed at.

“But because this person was No. 1 on a call sheet, there was no safety net for me,” Ferguson added. “So no one had my back. And I would cry walking off set.”

But Ferguson said she rallied by the next day and stood up for herself. She told her co-star, “You get off my set. You can (expletive) off. I’m gonna work towards a tennis ball. I never want to see you again.” While producers told her, “You can’t do this to No. 1. We have to let this person be on set,’” she replied that “the person can turn around and I can act to the back of the head.”

Ferguson added that this happened “within my last 10 or 12 years.”

Everyone pretty much agrees that it’s wrong that Ferguson had to deal with such a big, raging, fragile ego, though. Hollywood has long been filled with big, raging, fragile egos. But her story still raises the question of who yelled at her.

As Decider writer Liz Kocan wrote, Ferguson provided few clues. She was careful not to use gender pronouns. The only thing she said is that the A-list actor or actress was no. 1 on the call sheet, the project was a movie and that the incident occurred 10 or 12 years ago.

The New York Post and Decider listed many of of Ferguson’s major co-stars. They include Tom Cruise, Hugh Jackman, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Grant, Michael Fassbender, Chris Hemsworth, Ewan McGregor, Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt.

It should be noted that, in her interview, Ferguson clarified that her screaming co-star was not Cruise or Jackman, her co-star in “The Greatest Showman.”

With that, here is a breakdown of the leading contenders to be Ferguson’s unnamed screaming co-star based on reports and social media speculation.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson 

The Hayward native, Ferguson’s co-star in the 2014 film “Hercules,” actually rushed to distance himself from her accusations. In a post on X, Johnson wrote, “Hate seeing this but love seeing her stand up to (expletive). Rebecca was my guardian angel sent from heaven on our set. I love that woman. I’d like to find out who did this.”

Unfortunately, Johnson may not have done himself any favors with this post, as Decider’s Kocan pointed out. On one hand, it’s “great that Johnson was quick to jump in with his support,” Kocan said. On the other hand, Johnson’s post may be an example of a self-serving actor “trying to get ahead of the story,” cynics said. Kocan also said that he’s “had his share of ego moments on movie sets, including his notorious rivalry with Vin Diesel, and the role he played in tanking the success of “Shazam‘s” sequel and his own Black Adam franchise.

Jake Gyllenhaal

For Decider’s Kocan, Gyllenhaal is a top contender, even though Gyllenhaal’s collaboration with Ferguson is more recent than 10 or 12 years ago. They co-starred in the 2017 film “Life” with Ryan Reynolds, who isn’t among the top contenders for the screamer.

Nonetheless, Kocan wrote how Gyllenhaal recently made news for his alleged demanding behavior in pre-production for the film “Suddenly.” That film’s director, Thomas Bidegain, told a French magazine about a “humiliating” situation involving Gyllenhaal, according to Variety. The magazine story also described how Gyllenhaal demanded multiple rewrites and rehearsed scenes in a mocking “Pepe Le Pew-like accent.”

During the press tour for “Life,” Gyllenhaal also made some arrogant comments about the art of acting, which may echo what Ferguson’s screaming co-star said to her: “You call yourself an actor?” Gyllenhaal told The Guardian in 2017 that it “seems to me that anybody feels they can be an actor nowadays.”

Hugh Grant

Ferguson was in the 2016 movie “Florence Foster Jenkins” with both Grant and Meryl Streep. Many social media sleuths are pointing the finger at the “Notting Hill” star who has developed a reputation for being curmudgeonly, the New York Post said.

When another person argued that Streep was the star of the film, still another pointed out that Grant could have been No. 1 on the call sheet the day that he filmed scenes that involved Ferguson.

Someone else wrote: “I’ll bet it was Hugh Grant, I’ve read stuff about him being really rude and hard to work with. He’s even said himself that his female costars probably hate him.”

Michael Fassbender 

Fassbender and Ferguson co-starred in the poorly reviewed 2017 serial killer thriller, “The Snowman.” According to The Post, many movie fans believe that Fassbender, famous for his intense roles, was the screamer.

“It’s Michael Fassbender y’all,” one person declared.  “This was definitely Fassbender,” another said. 

But others defended Fassbender, based on the way that he and Ferguson appeared to get along well while doing publicity together for “The Snowman.” Still, one person pointed out: “People posting interviews with them together doesn’t prove a damn thing. Publicity tours are part of the job and they’re ACTORS.”

The seven-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter has lined up five California dates on her 2024 Deeper Well World Tour.

Musgraves performs Sept. 23 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Sept. 24 at Chase Center in San Francisco, Oct. 1 at Pechanga Arena San Diego in San Diego and Oct. 3-4 at the KIA Forum in Inglewood.

Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. March 8, kaceymusgraves.com/tour. American Express cardholders have access to presales in some markets, from 10 a.m. March 5 to 10 p.m. March 7.

Support acts for the tour include Madi Diaz, Father John Misty, Lord Huron and Nickel Creek.

Musgraves is set to release her fifth studio album, “Deeper Well,” out March 15.

KACEY MUSGRAVES DEEPER WELL WORLD TOUR DATES

+Madi Diaz supporting

*Father John Misty/ Nickel Creek supporting

#Lord Huron/ Nickel Creek supporting

Sunday, April 28, 2024- Dublin, IE @ 3Olympia Theatre +

Wednesday, May 1, 2024- Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso +

Friday, May 3, 2024- Brussels, BE@ Ancienne Belgique +

Sunday, May 5, 2024- Cologne, DE @ Carlswerk Victoria +

Monday, May 6, 2024- Hamburg, DE @ DOCKS +

Thursday, May 9, 2024- Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy +

Saturday, May 11, 2024- Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo+

Monday, May 13, 2024- Wolverhampton, UK @ The Civic at The Halls +

Tuesday, May 14, 2024- London, UK @ Roundhouse +

Wednesday, September 4, 2024- State College, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center *

Friday, September 6, 2024- Boston, MA @ TD Garden *

Saturday, September 7, 2024- Boston, MA @ TD Garden *

Monday, September 9, 2024- Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center *

Wednesday, September 11, 2024- Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena *

Thursday, September 12, 2024- Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena *

Sunday, September 15, 2024- Greenwood Village, CO @ Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre *

Thursday, September 19, 2024- Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena *

Friday, September 20, 2024- Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena *

Monday, September 23, 2024- Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center *

Tuesday, September 24, 2024- San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center *

Friday, September 27, 2024- Glendale, AZ @ Desert Diamond Arena *

Saturday, September 28, 2024- Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena *

Tuesday, October 1, 2024- San Diego, CA @ Pechanga Arena San Diego *

Thursday, October 3, 2024- Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum *

Friday, October 4, 2024- Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum *

Wednesday, November 6, 2024- Laval, QC @ Place Bell #

Thursday, November 7, 2024- Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena #

Saturday, November 9, 2024- Baltimore, MD @ CFG Bank Arena #

Sunday, November 10, 2024- Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena #

Tuesday, November 12, 2024- Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center #

Wednesday, November 13, 2024- Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center #

Friday, November 15, 2024- Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center #

Saturday, November 16, 2024- Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center #

Thursday, November 21, 2024- Houston, TX @ Toyota Center #

Friday, November 22, 2024- Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center #

Saturday, November 23, 2024- Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center #

Tuesday, November 26, 2024- Austin, TX @ Moody Center #

Wednesday, November 27, 2024- Austin, TX @ Moody Center #

Friday, November 29, 2024- Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena #

Saturday, November 30, 2024- Hollywood, FL @ Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood #

Monday, December 2, 2024- Orlando, FL @ Kia Center #

Thursday, December 5, 2024- Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center #

Friday, December 6, 2024- Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena #

Saturday, December 7, 2024- Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena #

No, this isn’t a documentary. HBO’s “The Regime” may have a bland title, but the fictional series, which premieres March 3, is a wild ride, a dark and absurdist satire of authoritarianism, that finds the funny in the sinister and the brutality in the outlandish. 

Set in a fictional Central European country, it centers on the chancellor, Elena Vernham (a mesmerizing, deeply weird Kate Winslet) who rules according to her whims and her paranoia. (She fears her dead father’s disapproval, visiting his glass coffin to pathetically plead her case.)

When she brings in the violent, possibly unhinged army corporal Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts) as an aide, sparks fly. He becomes her advisor on everything from his awful country diet to foreign policy, creating new layers of chaos in the palace and the country.   

The show’s creator, Will Tracy, honed his political comedy chops writing for “The Onion News Network” and “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” and refined his skills writing about power and wealth (and tantrums) on “Succession” and his film, “The Menu.”

He spoke recently by video about the central relationship and the geopolitics, the laughs and the fears. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Q. This is obviously a political show, but it also feels like you were creating the most toxic version of the Sam and Diane dynamic from “Cheers.” 

Herbert originally was a narrative device for the audience to enter this world – a simple country guy who asks, “What is all this?” and “Who are these people? – and he meets everybody, but around page 15 in the pilot, he just faded into the ensemble. 

But I was having trouble making Elena emotionally accessible and the story felt mainly bureaucratic and political. Then I realized he was interesting and had the idea that he might actually have something to say and what he says makes her feel very powerful. 

So just going back to old precepts of how watchable television works, it became a kind of love story like Sam and Diane. There’s a way in which they make themselves feel for little glimpses like the best version of themselves even though it is an incredibly non-traditional and toxic love story.

Q. Elena has a ruthlessness when it comes to holding onto power; she will sacrifice everyone and everything. There are obviously real-life parallels but how do you make the point without making it too on the nose?

We were interested in making a show that had something to say and felt relevant to our world without feeling like a polemic or didactic in any way. Obviously, humor helps with that. And the characters are not emotionally expressive; they’re very presentational and masked, which helps because they would not get on a soapbox and say what they’re thinking about politics because that would not be in their best interest to do so. 

Q. Keplinger, the imprisoned former chancellor, says of Elena that her behavior is born of pain and “you turn their pain to anger and then use it as a cudgel.” But he also says of her, Herbert and their followers that “Broken people love broken people,” which is not so far from Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” perspective. 

Exactly. Keplinger is a representation of the leftist exasperation, “Why do you people love her and not me?” We were being careful to remember that about the left – he’s certainly the preferable option but he is quite craven and needy and narcissistic in his own specific way. 

Q. Do you feel any empathy for Elena’s cabinet members as they accommodate and appease in ways we’ve seen in real life? 

It’s hard for me to feel that. There’s a story that they tell themselves that they’re doing this for virtuous reasons. But there’s opportunism baked into that feeling of, “I’m going to be the steady hand in there” and sometimes what that means is “I can be that in case this guy gets booted.” They all want to be in pole position. It happens until the moment in which it becomes impossible. And then they’ll do anything to protect themselves. They’ll throw anyone or any idea under the bus to survive. 

I was also inspired a bit by reading about Hitler’s big four cabinet and how even when the Soviets were just days from the bunker and all was lost, there was still a sense they were kind of still positioning themselves, they wanted Papa H to like them the best. 

Q. What did you learn from your days writing for The Onion News and “Last Week Tonight”? Obviously, “Succession” feels like a natural bridge from there to here. 

I think it still stems from The Onion in a way. We were writing these insane, impossible comic stories, but remembering all throughout, even down to the editorial voice style, that it had to have this veneer of verisimilitude. It had to look, sound and feel real, even if what you’re describing is insanity. 

Practically speaking, you also have to do your research to give it the flavor and the structure of how these real-world processes work. And on “Succession” as we’ve seen so many times recently, what would never happen has happened in politics and media and business, so we felt emboldened by that. 

Q. How did you balance the humor with everyone’s outlandish but often brutal behavior and the realism of the geopolitics?

One thing I learned just in my research is just when you think you’ve written something ridiculous and over the top about an authoritarian leader, you read about real-life figures and think, “Boy, maybe we didn’t push it enough.”

The world of the show is so extreme because the character is so extreme and so powerful and has access to unlimited kinds of material resources – Elena can create her own reality, and then everyone around her has to pretend as though it is reality. To me, that is an inherently funny, absurd, dark situation. 

The comedy is ingrained in the subject matter and the challenge is remembering that there’s real fear and cruelty and pain that comes out of the world that she creates. We have to remember that she’s a dangerous figure and we owe it to ourselves, especially in the world we live in now, to try to make the geopolitics and the consequences of all that feel real and not like a joke. 

The mini golf venture could help spur downtown San Jose’s recovery from the economic woes the coronavirus unleashed.

The open house allowed Steve Fox, the creator and owner of Urban Putt, to work out the bugs in the operation as patrons played 18 holes with themes that recall the Santa Clara Valley’s historic roots and its high-tech present and future.

“We had a wonderful party,” Fox said in an interview near the end of the open house on Feb. 27. “We stress-tested a lot of the holes. We found some things we’re going to be fixing, which we knew would happen. But basically, it’s a very good response.”

The course includes holes that feature downtown San Jose, complete with part of the city’s skyline and the historic Bank of Italy tower, the Winchester Mystery House, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Lick Observatory, the San Jose Electric Light Tower, Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean, a printed circuit board, and even a UFO that crashed-landed at an undisclosed site.

“This is the kind of unique venue that we need in downtown San Jose,” said developer Gary Dillabough, a real estate entrepreneur and Urban Community principal executive who attended the open house.

Visitors were able to play the course and mingle, drink and dine at various spots on the two levels of the venue. The levels consist of a main ground floor with mini golf holes and a mezzanine above.

“Downtown San Jose needs this kind of retail that’s an experience,” said Joshua Burroughs, chief operating officer and partner with Urban Catalyst, also an attendee.

Urban Catalyst has redeveloped the long-shuttered Camera 12 site in a project to transform the former movie complex into a mixed-use restaurant, retail and office project at 201 South Second Street that’s called Paseo.

Paseo totals 100,000 square feet, including 25,000 square feet of ground-floor restaurant and retail spaces and 75,000 square feet of office space on the second and third floors.

Eos & Nyx, a new restaurant and drinks site from the entrepreneurs who launched Paper Plane and the MINIBOSS bar and arcade venues in downtown San Jose, is slated to open during the first half of this year.

Unofficial Logging, an ax-throwing and restaurant venture, is also due to open in the first six months of 2024.

The combination of the three entertainment, dining and drinking establishments can coalesce to create what Erik Hayden, founder and managing partner of Urban Catalyst, has called a “restaurant row” in downtown San Jose.

“We think that name will catch on and make that area a real destination,” Hayden said.

Urban Putt scheduled its official opening for Thursday evening.

The mini golf venue in San Jose is expected to create 55 jobs.

Fox, who created Urban Putt venues in San Francisco and Denver, later selling them to another mini golf operator, is seeing plenty of good signs with the early stages of his San Jose venture.

“It’s a very good response,” Fox said of the crowds Tuesday night during the open house as he checked on issues with various holes. “We have a short time to get everything completely ready, but we will get it done. It’s exciting to see all of this in action and to get started.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Crowds lined up in San Francisco on Wednesday to see — and smell — the blooming of an endangered tropical flower that releases a pungent odor when it opens once every several years.

An Amorphophallus titanum, also known as a corpse flower, began blooming Tuesday afternoon at the California Academy of Sciences, a research institution and museum.

The plant blooms for one to three days once every seven to 10 years. During the bloom, it releases a powerful smell described by some as rotting food or sweaty socks.

“It’s kind of imitating the smell of kind of a dead carcass to kind of get all the flies to come and interact with it, pick up pollen, and then take that pollen to another flower that it might investigate due to its smell,” said Lauren Greig, a horticulturist, California Academy of Sciences.

It was the first bloom for the corpse flower named Mirage, which was donated to the California Academy of Sciences in 2017. It’s been housed in the museum’s rainforest exhibit since 2020.

Bri Lister, a data scientist who lives in San Francisco, moved some meetings and waited in line for about an hour to catch a whiff of the plant.

“In certain directions, I definitely picked up on the sweaty socks, sweaty gym clothes, but probably luckily not full-on rotting meat, but definitely a smellier plant than average,” Lister said.

Monica Becker took her child out of school to see the flower in person after watching it on the academy’s livestream.

“When we heard it bloomed, we were like, we got it, we got to go, first thing in the morning when they open. So here we are,” Becker said.

The Amorphophallus titanum is native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with only less than 1,000 individual plants left in the wild.

1 WATCH : The ‘Dune’ we deserve

“Dune: Part 2” is finally in theaters and all we can say is, wow!

2 PLAY: Magic mustard season

It’s that time of the year in Napa when mustard blooms cast those rolling hills in a beautiful golden glow — but that’s not the only reason to visit the wine country these days.

3 DINE: Check out an exciting new seafood restaurant

Newly opened Hurrica Restaurant in Redwood City welcomes visitors by land or sea with first-rate seafood and a flashy jellyfish aquarium. We checked it out recently and here are our thoughts.

4 MAKE & SCARF: Umami bombs away

These crispy, healthy and utterly addictive lettuce wraps are so easy and quick to make, you won’t believe your tastebuds.

5 SEE & HEAR: Great shows are all over

From Smuin Ballet reviving two of its greatest hits to a “Magic Flute” in Livermore and free tunes at a beloved old bandshell, there are a lot of great shows and concerts to catch this weekend.

6 WATCH: A ‘Shogun’ for a new generation

James Clavell’s epic and compelling novel has been adapted for TV again, and this version is even better than the classic 1980 one.

7 PLAY: A hot, hot, hot new game

“Helldivers 2” is taking the video game world by storm — here’s why.

Players will have a chance to see what “ASKA” is all about in an upcoming closed beta, running from April 15 to April 21. In the project, players take on the role of a shipwreck survivor who lands on a mysterious island. They’ll have to survive and tame the land, building a Viking empire.

That means collecting resources, establishing a settlement and fending off attackers. What makes “ASKA” different from other efforts is that the artificial intelligence plays a big role as players have to summon intelligent NPC villagers that will help them avoid some of the repetitive pitfalls of the genre.

Players will “work alongside lively AI villagers that are almost indistinguishable from players,” Diaconescu stated. That sounds as though it will help “ASKA” transition from a survival game into more of a city builder-like economy system.

Players who are interested can try to sign up for the closed beta can go onthe “ASKA” Discord here. The “ASKA” beta is coming out on Steam.