Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure 1985, PG, 90 min. D: Tim Burton; with Paul Reubens. This is the movie that, rightfully, catapulted both Tim Burton and Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman) into the superstar arena. A shambling adventure, this movie is more a strung-together series of skits than a sustained narrative, but the perversely comic charms of…
Apartment Zero
Apartment Zero R, 124 min. Directed by Martin Donovan, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Colin Firth, Hart Bochner, Dora Bryan, Liz Smith, Fabrizio Bentivoglio. Set in Buenos Aires and co-written by the director and David Koepp, Apartment Zero is a psychological drama that is part black comedy and part erotic thriller. The story…
It’s a Wonderful Life
It’s a Wonderful Life 1946, NR, 129 min. D: Frank Capra; with James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore. This sentimental perennial is a holiday chestnut. A man learns that he’s made a difference in the lives of others, and an angel gets its wings.
Postscripts
Upcoming literary events in Austin and ideas about entering nationwide writing contests.
Naked City
Free Radio Austin, the East Austin microradio station, shuts down for good.
Letters at 3AM
It falls to me to write this on the night of Gore’s concession speech (“Our disappointment must be overcome by our love of country”), the night of George W. Bush’s victory address (“I believe things happen for a reason”) … a night the world watches in bafflement and begrudged admiration, wondering what it means that…
Potluck at the Pedernales
Grandma Hudson’s Dream Cake Serves 8-10 This recipe comes from my mother’s grandmother, my great-grandmother Hudson, who passed it down to my grandmother, my mother, and now me. This old-fashioned trifle, or “ice-box cake” as my mother calls it, is very similar to a tiramisu, or a chocolate Charlotte. It was always the favorite dessert…
Record Reviews
Sleighed: The Other Side of Christmas (Hip-O/Universal) It’s possible, believe it or not, to do a contemporary Christmas album without sounding clichéd. Last year’s gorgeous Christmas by Low was one of the finest Yuletide offerings in years, but alas, most stumble down the treacherous path of Hanson’s ill-fated Snowed In. The producers of Sleighed prefer…
Book Reviews
Stella by Marc Parent ipso facto, 192 pp., $44.95 Stella is a photographic portfolio recording the years 1952-55 in the life of a haute couture model during couture’s heyday in Paris, “a reminder of an era when, for a brief, blissful time, clothing design raised worship of classic female beauty to unprecedented heights.” Most accurately,…
Naked City
Vignette’s incentive package to move downtown wins easy approval; East Cesar Chavez Neighborhood Plan moves forward despite loud and lengthy protests.
Mr. Smarty Pants
Of the approximately 500,000 earthquakes per year, only about 100 cause any damage.According to Brown University, the original poem, “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” by Clement C. Moore, names one of the reindeer “Donder,” not “Donner.”Jervis Tetch was the real name of the Mad Hatter, Batman’s enemy.Want to help feed birds this winter? Use deciduous…
Food-o-File
Considering the date, it’s likely all your Christmas shopping is already done, but Cuisines Editor Virginia B. Wood has some ideas for gifts that keep giving long after the wrapping paper has been thrown away.
Record Reviews
Christina AguileraMy Kind of Christmas (RCA) As the closest thing to a teen-pop apologist currently employed by the Chronicle, guess on whose shoulders it falls on to explain exactly what Christina Aguilera is attempting to add to the Yuletide canon on “Xtina’s Xmas”? No wonder people freak out during the holidays: Somewhere, somebody thinks having…
Book Reviews
Coca-Cola Girls: An Advertising Art History by Chris H. Beyer Collectors Press, 282 pp., $60 The history of Coca-Cola dates back over 100 years to the birth of modern industrialism. In Coca-Cola Girls, Chris H. Beyer mines the many facets of this history with winning results. From the earliest traces of the popular soda in…
Naked City
Changes are afoot at the Statesman now that little George is going to Washington.
After a Fashion
It’s perfect outside for staying in with a good book … especially one loaded with lots of pretty pictures … of semi-nude men …
On the Santa Trail
Ace reporter Jordan Smith is hot on the trail of Austin’s own Santa.
Record Reviews
Lara & ReyesNavidad (Higher Octave) The new release from San Antonio-based acoustic duo Lara & Reyes would seem to offer an enticing new take on the standard set of Christmastime classics. The two are known for their rousing live shows, where they conjure fast and fiery Latin jazz from a pair of acoustic flamenco guitars.…
Book Reviews
Licks of Love: Short Stories and a Sequel, ‘Rabbit Remembered’ by John Updike Knopf, 359 pp., $25 I do not know why I was allowed to read Rabbit, Run when I was 15 years old. Originally published in 1960, it was America’s first glimpse into the life of Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, a former basketball hero…
The Hightower Lowdown
Hightower on clean elections, corporate genetic research, and living wage legislation
Coach’s Corner
Why does a nice Jewish boy have to put up a Christmas tree?
The Little Station That Could
Austin’s AAA station KGSR and its market ascendance.
Record Reviews
Cuba L.A.Navidad Cubana (Narada) The Cuban musical invasion is still going strong; witness this release of Christmas songs done Cuban-style. More than any other standards, holiday songs have been done to death, but on their third full-length release, Cuba L.A. instrumentally interprets 12 such seasonal classics. In doing so, the Los Angeles-based, mostly Cuban, 10-piece…
Book Reviews
The Way of All Flesh: The Romance of Ruins by Midas Dekkers, translated by Sherry Marx-Macdonald Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 276 pp., $25 If ever a book had a misleading title, this is it. The Romance of Ruins? Romance? Last I checked this book was far more concerned with an in-your-face attitude about decay than…
Capitol Chronicle
As Gov. Bush moves to D.C. in a wave of acclamation, the Legislature prepares to meet over redistricting and new legislation.
Day Trips
Texas Old-Time Restaurants and Cafes is one guidebook that should be in every glove compartment that travels outside of the city limits. Better still, they should hand this book out at the state’s borders to everyone who is driving more than 100 miles into the state. This book is so valuable because you can’t drive…
Nourishment for the Soul
Perhaps the best way to talk about Correo Aereo is to talk about love. Love, it seems, has been a central part of their lives and work. Not the superficial, “We Are the World” kind of love, or the commercialized, romantic love of Valentine’s Day hearts and flowers, but a love that transcends language. Love…
Cast Away
Cast Away 2000, PG-13, 143 min. D: Robert Zemeckis; with Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis, whose pairing on Forrest Gump scored a high-flying home run, reteam for this new effort, Cast Away, a bravura reworking of the Robinson Crusoe idea about a man stranded by himself for four years on a South…
Off the Bookshelf
The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip by George Saunders illustrated by Lane Smith Villard, 84 pp., $23.95 George Saunders possesses one of the most fertile and twisted imaginations in American letters, so it should come as no surprise that, with his latest book, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, he has turned his talents to…
Crimes of Passion and Prose
With Quills, Philip Kaufman (Henry & June, The Unbearable Lightness of Being) has made another film about the startling fusion between literature and sex.
About AIDS
At the Christmas season, gifts are typically thought of as coming from one person or family to another. But in Brazil, the government has launched a program to give what amounts to a Christmas gift of life itself for 90,000 HIV-infected people: free medications. Brazil has authorized production of generic versions of 12 anti-HIV drugs…
Dancing About Architecture
Somehow George W. Bush becomes president and takes Jimmie Vaughan with him. Swine.
Dude, Where’s My Car?
Dude, Where’s My Car? 2000, PG-13, 84 min. Directed by Danny Leiner, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ashton Kutcher, Seann William Scott, Marla Sokoloff, Jennifer Garner, Kristy Swanson, Ryan Christian, Andy Dick. Not since Scott Baio used his wacky telekinetic powers to disrobe a chesty Heather Thomas in the 1982 teen sex comedy…
Record Reviews
Yolanda AdamsChristmas With Yolanda Adams (Elektra) There’s no disputing Yolanda Adams has the voice of an angel. It’s just too bad her Christmas album’s arrangements got run over by a Mannheim Steamroller. “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” is what you hear on hold with your favorite mail-order catalog; waiting-room keyboards, antiseptic drums, and bass…
Short Cuts
To the eyes of Austin animator Bob Sabiston, those ubiquitous Earthlink.com commercials by Klasky Csupo Inc. (the creators of Rugrats) look an awful lot like the work created by his proprietary software, which is being used in the new Richard Linklater feature Waking Life.
Potluck at the Pedernales
Cuisines editor Virginia B. Wood asked each of the writers who contribute to the Cuisines section to prepare one or two dishes for a potluck dinner. Here’s what they came up with.
Record Reviews
Dale WatsonChristmas Time in Texas (CSC) How good is Dale Watson? Good enough to have cut a classic Christmas album — in July, at Sun Studios in Memphis no less. Granted, with the music business being what it is in these desperate times — not to mention country music being what it’s been for the…
Record Reviews
Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Interscope) Not since MC Hammer manhandled The Addams Family has a soundtrack suffered from so much artist misplacement. Granted, Busta Rhymes’ opening “Grinch 2000” (with Jim Carrey chiming in at every turn) has a lot to live up to. It’s an update of the Grinch theme from the…
TV Eye
Don’t know what gift to get your couch potato? Well, why not buy your spud-butt a book? Yes, a book.
Potluck at the Pedernales
Gourges (Cheese Puffs) Makes approximately 4 dozen I started making gourges in the Eighties, first doing the traditional tart version, then moving to individual puffs. I’ve used milk instead of butter and various ratios of butter and flour, but this version (adapted from Joel Robuchon) is the definitive one. They are my favorite remedy when…
Record Reviews
Blue Christmas(Dialtone) Austin’s Dialtone Records offers up this slab of rough-hewn Christmas blues from such locals as James Kuykendall, the Bells of Joy, and Clarence Pierce. Richard Earl kicks things off with “I Hear Jingle Bells,” a warm houserocker featuring Ray Ybarra’s Yuletide guitar break, followed by Ernestine Fuller’s “How I Hate to See Christmas,”…
Commuter Rail: Stuck in the Station Again
The attempt to salvage commuter rail in the San Antonio-Dallas Corridor
Video Reviews
A Christmas Story strikes a balance between being sentimental and irreverent, with Peter Billingsley putting in one of the better performances ever from a child actor and the rest of the cast clearly having a good time.
Potluck at the Pedernales
Harira (Moroccan Ramadan Soup of Lamb, Chickpeas, and Lentils) Serves 8 Moroccan Moslems celebrate the ninth month of the lunar calendar, or the “month of fasting,” by refraining from the consumption of any food or water between sunup and sundown. At sunset a cannon salvo is fired, or there is an announcement by the muezzin…
Record Reviews
Tina Marsh & CreOp MuseCircle of Light (CreOp Muse) In attempting to link the musical traditions of secular and religious winter holidays — Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukah, and Diwali — Tina Marsh and CreOp Muse’s latest project Circle of Light succeeds beyond any reasonable expectation. Drawing on a pool of local talent not limited to Marsh’s…
Second Helpings: Creole/Cajun
Beauxdacious po-boys, muffalettas, étoufée, and jambalaya in this week’s Cajun / Creole-themed “Second Helpings.”
The Really Big Picture: Commuter Rail From Space
When discussing commuter rail, it’s important to have perspective. That’s why this image, taken by the Landsat 7 satellite, is helpful. It shows that the Union Pacific rail line (dotted black line) runs directly through the centers of San Antonio, New Braunfels, San Marcos, and Austin. The rail line currently carries about 30 freight trains…
Video Reviews
This Santa might actually frighten a small child, chortling uncontrollably through the whole movie and leering at the camera. More than likely, however, a kid above the age of four would probably find it unbearably hokey and dumb.
Potluck at the Pedernales
Mannok Kelaguen (Chicken, Coconut, Chile, and Onion Salad) Serves 8 This dish involves several stages, but the total preparation time is brief, and it can all be done ahead. First, the chicken is marinated in a finidini, or a mix of soy, chiles, onion, and lemon. The chicken is then grilled and shredded, and mixed…
Record Reviews
Caroline PeytonCeltic Christmas Spirit (Green Hill) If it’s true that “singing is a beautiful way of saying ‘please listen,'” then all ears on Caroline Peyton. Her name’s not as well-known as her lush voice, featured in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but it’s eminently suited for this…
The Family Man
The Family Man 2000, R, 125 min. Directed by Brett Ratner, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Nicolas Cage, Téa Leoni, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Piven, Saul Rubinek, Josef Sommer, Harve Presnell, Mary Beth Hurt. Hollywood sure loves to teach magnificent bastards the true meaning of Christmas, and The Family Man is this week’s lesson,…
Professors of Pleasure
Their name may suggest a lack of intelligence, but make no mistake, the Flaming Idiots are wise men when it comes to comedy.
Mystery Train
Light Rail’s narrow defeat at the polls has probably spared Capital Metro an assault by legislators in January. But the agency is trying to figure out how to keep rail on track while satisfying Republican legislators who want sales tax returned.
Video Reviews
If Ed Wood had ever made a Christmas movie, it would probably have turned out a lot like this.
Potluck at the Pedernales
Fennel and Garlic Confit With Orange Dressing Serves 6 This recipe makes a wonderful accompaniment to roasted meats. The delicate anise flavor of the fennel pairs well with the roasted garlic and orange dressing. Garnish this with orange slices for more citrus flavor. Fennel Confit: 3 bulbs fennel 1 1/2 heads garlic, peeled 1 tbsp…
Record Reviews
Martha Stewart Living: Home For the Holidays (Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia/Rhino)Rosie O’Donnell & FriendsAnother Rosie Christmas (Sony) If there’s a single word that best describes morning person/richest woman in the world Martha Stewart, that word is most likely “shrewd.” She takes simple ideas and items and turns them into something interesting, as though anyone could…
Chocolat
This English-language movie is set in a provincial French village in 1959 and deals with the pressing question of whether the seductive and mysterious powers of chocolate can soothe the priggish tendencies of the local townsfolk – and during Lent, no less.
The Flaming Idiots Reviewed
THE FLAMING IDIOTS: Gravity’s Brain Beaux Zachary Scott Theatre Center Kleberg Stage, through January 14 Running Time: 2 hrs. A screaming comes across the stage. It’s the Flaming Idiots, running madcap to the edge of the audience, hopping and capering and doing terribly rhythmic and beautiful things with burning sticks. In the midst of the…
In Training
Austinites are usually so proud that we’re not like Dallas or Houston. And because of light rail’s defeat Nov. 7, we still aren’t. Is that embarrassing or what? While we adjust to the post-rail climate, here’s what’s up with our ugly stepsisters. Dallas You may remember that back in August, Dallas voters — well, a…
Off the Bookshelf
A Massive Swelling Celebrity Reexamined as a Grotesque, Crippling Disease and Other Cultural Revelations by Cintra Wilson Viking, 229 pp., $23.95 Ever found yourself chiding the famous just because, well, they’re famous? If you’ve ever yearned to be noticed on the street or at your local deli, or to have a group of 400 strangers…
Potluck at the Pedernales
Winter Squash and Roasted Garlic Pudding With Apricot Sage Sauce Serves 10 The sweet/savory flavor medley of squash, nutty roasted garlic, sage, and apricots is about my favorite cold-weather vegetable combination. This pairs particularly well with pork dishes. 2 cups cooked, seeded, and peeled winter squash, any variety (acorn or butternut work well) 10 cloves…
Record Reviews
Bing Crosby & the Andrews SistersA Merry Christmas With Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters (Decca) Here are 20 grueling Christmas chestnuts, packed in heavy syrup from Der Bingle (Der Führer to his kids) and the Andrews Sisters. Together they take on traditional Christmas fare like “The Twelve Days of Christmas” along with more offbeat…
What Women Want
What Women Want 2000, PG-13, 123 min. Directed by Nancy Meyers, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt, Mark Feuerstein, Lauren Holly, Bette Midler, Marisa Tomei, Alan Alda, Valerie Perrine. What women really want is for their men to act more like women. At least, that’s the theory espoused by toothsome…
The Leafblower Routine
1 The routine begins with Pyro, Gyro, and Walter all standing very stoically in three spotlights while a large fenced enclosure is brought out behind them. Forward
Cap Met’s Five Year Bus Plan: More, Faster, Better
Capital Metro spent a generation gearing up for rail, but the agency is also trying to move the bus system into modern times. Hence the Five Year Plan (from fiscal 2001-2006), which doesn’t quite start from scratch but which shows that Cap Met has thought about how a bus system should work. That’s a nice…
Off the Bookshelf
Winter Range A Novel by Claire Davis Picador, 272 pp., $23 The characters in Claire Davis’ debut novel occupy a town on the Montana hi-line. To say that the land plays a major role in the story of Ike Parsons, the town sheriff, his wife Pattiann, and her old lover, Chad Stubblefield, would be an…
Potluck at the Pedernales
Mixed Mushroom Stew Serves 6 Mushrooms have become a holiday tradition for me since a long-ago Thanksgiving dinner in Barcelona. This rich and flavorful dish works well as a side for pork roast, steak, or roast chicken. Use any combination of mushrooms. 2 tbsp olive oil 1/2 cup shallots, peeled and finely minced 1 tbsp…
Record Reviews
Mark MothersbaughJoyeux Mutato (Rhino) The first of Rhino Handmade’s series of limited-interest CDs to be re-released in a more easily purchasable form (the original, limited edition with extra tracks and fancier packaging can still be obtained via the label’s Web site), Joyeux Mutato finds Rugrats composer/Devo humanoid Mark Mothersbaugh alone in the studio cranking out…
You Can Count On Me
You Can Count On Me 2000, R, 111 min. Directed by Kenneth Lonergan, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Mark Ruffalo, Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick, Rory Culkin, Jon Tenney, J. Smith-Cameron, Amy Ryan, Adam Lefevre, Michael Countryman. Just about everybody has a ne’er-do-well in his life. That one person who can’t seem to make…
Articulations
Dispatches from New York: Playwright Aaron Mack Schloff on the reading of his work In Galicia and artist Michael A. Arthur on creating drawings for American Ballet Theatre.
Naked City
Cheney and Bush interview prospective hires. Which Texans go to Washington as Bush takes office and the economy cools down?
Local Bestsellers
Local bestsellers are based on recent sales at Austin bookstores selected to reflect varied reading interests.
Potluck at the Pedernales
Golden Creamed Onions Serves 8-10 How long has creamed onions been on the menu in our household? For as long as I can remember. For a while they were a somewhat glutinous mess made with a traditional cream and flour sauce, but this simpler version is far tastier and easier. 3 lbs pearl onions, blanched…
Record Reviews
Lynyrd SkynyrdChristmas Time Again (CMC International) No, this isn’t a joke, and yes, most of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd members are still dead. But then not too many folks would notice an album titled Christmas Time Again by something called the Gary Rossington and Billy Powell Experience (isn’t Leon Wilkeson still around?). Talk about diluting…
In Search of Marcel Proust
Once UT’s Dr. Seth Wolitz discovered Proust, he didn’t turn back, but it took a real beating for him to get to that point.
Naked City
Esquire prints a “Dubious Achievement” issue that contains some dubious humor.
Page Two
Over the last few weeks, I have been besieged with e-mails on the presidential election. Almost all have been decidedly partisan and overwhelmingly anti-Gore. To call these pro-Bush would be to miss their obvious intent. A passionate hatred of Democrats and liberals, with a thick coat of self-righteousness, drives these missives. In a way, this…
Potluck at the Pedernales
Swiss Chard Gratin Serves 6 This is a dressed-up version of a French cold-weather comfort food classic that combines my mother-in-law’s standard recipe with a recipe by New York celebrity chef Daniel Boulud that appeared in Gourmet. It is hearty, stick-to-your-ribs fare. 4 tbsp unsalted butter 1 cup bread crumbs 5 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated…
Record Reviews
The LovemongersThe Last Noel (B2) The rule for making worthwhile Christmas music is simple: Sing something different, write something new, play something better, and do anything to avoid yet another by-the-book version of “The Christmas Song” or “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” The Lovemongers (Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson) play by all the rules, and…
Proust Biographies
Marcel Proust: A Life by William C. Carter Yale University Press, 948 pp., $35 Marcel Proust: A Life by Jean-Yves Tadié Viking, 988 pp., $40 When Marcel Proust was a young sprout in the mid-1880s, it was trendy to own a keepsake album in which one’s friends would respond to a set of questions that…
Naked City
280 law professors, including some 13 at UT Law, sign a petition protesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to halt the recounting of votes in Florida.
Public Notice
Gather ’round the Yule log and the figgy pudding, get out a paper and pen, and jot down some of these items form our Annual Holiday Wish List 2000. Local organizations need you!
Potluck at the Pedernales
Pork Loin Stuffed With Cranberry Chipotle Relish Serves 8-10 The inspiration for this dish came from two female chefs whose work I admire greatly. Several weeks ago, Alma Thomas-Alcocer prepared a rack of lamb with cranberry chipotle sauce for our photo essay issue (www.auschron.com/issues/dispatch/2000-11-17/portfolio18.html ), and ever since I saw the picture of her dish,…
Record Reviews
Steve VaiThe 7th Song (Epic) The gist of The 7th Song is that all tracks appeared as track number seven on a previous album, except “Melissa’s Garden,” which is the seventh song on this record, and bonus tracks “The Wall of Light” and “Boston Rain Melody,” which are songs No. 7 nowhere. It’s only the…
