Of all the vanished video stores in Austin's storied VHS culture, the one we miss the most has to be Pedazo Chunk, which opened in 2001 in a tiny (and boy do we mean tiny) space 2009 S. First St. across from Sinsations) before moving approximately thirty feet to the left and re-opening in a considerably larger space in June of 2004. Managed and owned throughout its short life span by Dannie Knowles and her beau José "Lobo" Ramirez, Pedazo Chunk was, simply, the shit. With its emphasis on then-obscure, Region-3 Asian DVDs, Spanish-language titles, and featuring a wealth of VHS treasure, Pedazo Chunk was the epitome of the neighborhood video store hangout. They had their own digital screening room, hosted regular parties for local filmmakers (among them a then-twelve-years-old Emily Hagins, of Zombie Girl: The Movie fame) and best of all, the store came complete with an enormous back deck, replete with Tiki torches, the comforting burbling of Bouldin Creek in the background, and plenty of film fans and luminaries -- Quentin Tarantino, Tim McCanlies, Elijah Wood -- lazing about, shooting the breeze, and arguing the merits of CGI vs. stop-motion. (Harryhausen's camp always won, natch.) It's gone now, no more than another in the increasingly lengthy list of Vanished Austin venues that includes Les Amis, Liberty Lunch, and Randy "Biscuit" Turner (whose art opening/wake was held at PD on Fri., August 16, 2005; it was so successful/happy/sad that the APD showed up to mourn and/or harass Big Boys fans). Pedazo Chunk, which ceased operations in 2006, was a major hub in our life as both Austinites and cinéastes. And it was a place where, to a much larger degree than elsewhere in Austin, VHS still ruled the hearts and minds of its clientele. Accordingly, we chatted up Dannie Knowles' older-but-not-cooler brother Harry in conjunction with our recent piece on Netflix vs. indie video stores. As usual, Harry came up with some spot-on observations. Here's a few of them....

Celebrating Ana
Saturday, January 24 at 1pm.

Trinity United Methodist Church
600 E. 50th Street

A small, sweet gathering was held at La Peña to honor Ana Sisnett, the community activist, writer, poet, friend, and leader who passed away Jan. 13 after a three-year battle with ovarian cancer. An altar bearing photos, flowers, copies of Ana's book, Grannie Jus Come! and sweets had been assembled the night before, and those who attended the event gathered before it to share their memories, poetry, and laughter, and yes, tears. "Oh no," Sisnett's daughter Meredith Sisnett told the assembled. "My mother told us, 'Don't give me one of those sad, sad, everybody crying, funerals!'" Everyone recognized the spirit behind those words, and it was the perfect cue to invite musicians Olivia Prendes and Odaymara Cuesta to perform. The two women, new to Austin, who happened to be from Sisnett's native Panama, were found at a chance meeting earlier in the day. Their spirited, heartfelt singing, accompanied only by conga and rhythm sticks, was the perfect way to send the assembled out into the frigid night, a little warmer than when they arrived. Below are a few remembrances of Ana. Others are invited to share their memories by clicking on the link below. The thread will remain on the Austin Chronicle site indefinitely.

Lately I've been having a bit of insomnia, so I've taken to watching the HG network's many addictive home buying, selling, and improving shows. This doesn't make a lick of sense -- I'm frustratingly far from being able to escape from rental land, so it's kinda like a chubster choosing to pass the time with his face pressed to the glass outside a Krispy Kreme – but for whatever reason, I'm hooked. My favorite show is House Hunters, in which a rental agent takes a potential home buyer to three different properties and weighs the pros and cons; each show ends with an offer, and then a six-months-later happy ending in which the new homeowner shows off the place. I've gotten pretty good at armchair quarterbacking – marveling at open floor plans and gleaming marble islands, tut-tut'ing at laminate floor and unfinished basements. I'm an even bigger sucker for House Hunters International, having whiled away plenty of hours imagining my own Parisian garret with windowbox planters... Which is why when Ellie Nielsen's Buying a Piece of Paris: A Memoir (St. Martin's Press, $24.95) crossed my desk, I took it home and tore into it immediately. (Finished it the same night, too -- like I said, insomnia.)

A few months back we were trolling French eBay searching for some trés chic, dans la Metro-sized film posters that they do so well, when we came across the oddity pictured above. It's the French one-sheet for Samuel Fuller's lost masterpiece White Dog. Needless to say, we snagged that sucker for 40 Euros and promptly plastered it to our wall. Co-scripted by future Oscar-winner Curtis Hanson, Fuller's film is an anti-racist cri de coeur revolving around a stray German shepherd trained to attack and kill black people. Paramount Pictures had expected something along the lines of "Jaws on paws," but, Fuller being Fuller, what they got was something altogther different and far more challenging. Nonplussed, Paramount shelved the film prior to its scheduled release in 1982 and that was that until a brief art-house run a decade later. [You can read Marjorie Baumgarten's review here.] Lo and behold, Criterion, always ahead of the pack, has just resurrected the film in a sparkling new DVD edition with a pristine print, a snarly documentary ("Four Legged Time Bomb"), and more. The irony, of course, is that White Dog has finally received the attention it so richly deserved 27 years ago just as the country that birthed it prepares to swear in its first African-American President. We're pretty sure Sam Fuller would've appreciated that. We certainly do.

RED, WHITE, AND BRAVO!
Bravo has decided to celebrate the presidential inauguration by serving up a day of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin's award-winning, progressive-leaning drama that aired from 1999 to 2006. Given the spirit of the present, the series' tagline, "The right place. The right time. The right man," seems downright poetic. The West Wing marathon is Tuesday, Jan. 20 from 9am. to 5pm. Check local listings.

Music
United States Marine Band and the San Francisco Boys and San Francisco Girls Chorus

Call to Order, Welcoming Remarks
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein

Invocation
Dr. Rick Warren, Saddleback Church

Music
Aretha Franklin

Oath of Office
Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Music
Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGill, performing a piece composed and arranged by John Williams

Oath of Office
President-elect Barack H. Obama

Inaugural Address
President Barack H. Obama

Poem
Elizabeth Alexander

Benediction
The Reverand Dr. Joseph Lowery

National Anthem
The United States Navy Band

Toasts across the nation. Let the celebration begin.

January has very little to recommend it – it heralds the season of dogs at the moviehouse (literally and figuratively) – but at least from SXSW Film we get the beginning of what I like to call The Long Tease, a deliciously slow reveal of all the goodies it’ll be showing come March. SXSW kicked it off today with an announcement tantamount to an, ahem, soupçon of skin (no more strip metaphors, I swear). First off, there’s Centerpiece comedy Observe and Report, which stars Seth Rogen as a mall security cop embroiled in a turf war with the (real) boys in blue. It was written and directed by Jody Hill, whose underground hit The Foot Fist Way was enthusiastically proclaimed to be the funniest fucking film ever made by no less than Will Ferrell. Also announced are a slew of panelists, including Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke (who’ll be inducted into this year's Texas Film Hall of Fame), Austin elder statesmen Mike Judge and Robert Rodriguez, SXSW wunderkind Joe Swanberg, and – how cool is this? – trailer-maker Mark Woollen (whose work on Milk electrified me in a way, frustratingly, the film itself never did). Wait, there’s more! SXSW, which has built a reputation as a premiere showcase for top-notch docs, has also leaked the names of a number of documentaries playing this year, including one about homegrown rabble-rouser Alex Jones (New World Order) and a new film from Gary Hustwit, who made the weirdly addictive Helvetica. (Who knew font was so hot?) Press release after the jump…

Frontline examines the personal and political life of Barack Obama, outlining his road to the White House, in Dreams of Obama. The episode airs on PBS, inauguration night, Jan. 20 at 8pm and 10pm, with additional screenings through Jan. 23. Check local listings. Can't wait? Dreams of Obama is available for online viewing now. Click here to view. Austin filmmaker Paul Stekler is among the episode’s producers.