Exhibitionism
Irish mythology is littered with conflicts more dramatic than the material for Holy Well, Sacred Flame. Still, writer-director Bonnie Cullum makes a unique rite from sincerity, sensuousness, and outlandish vision.
Naked City
News briefs from Austin, Central Texas, and elsewhere.
Hearing Voices
An institution unto itself, the DVD commentary track can provide insider dish, impressions of mommy, and the startling depths of one movie star’s know-how (or lack thereof).
Exhibitionism
The celebrated 19th-century actress Fanny Kemble possessed the courage both to stand on a stage and speak as someone else and to stand on principle and speak up for someone else, as we learn with admiration and delight in the Pollyanna Theatre Company’s production of Shame the Devil.
Naked City
In a rare show of unity, the City Council, city staff, boards and commissions, environmentalists, and neighbors all support Austin’s proposed pipeline safety ordinance that would limit construction next to the lines. The only folks not on board are local developers, who — citing property-rights concerns — have turned to the Legislature to try to…
Short Cuts
In a move that’s certain to anger nonexistent film critics both in Austin and the world over, the Federal Trade Commission announced last week they’ll be undertaking a review of how endorsement blurbs can be used in promoting films.
Page Two
Next Tuesday’s Creating a Liveable 6th and Lamar: Community Forum, meant to address the proposed Borders store at Sixth and Lamar, raises the complexity of issues involving economic choices, and the lack of a clear right or wrong.
Naked City
Proclaiming that its job was done, Gov. Rick Perry last week abolished the Governor’s Task Force on Homeland Security along with several other ad hoc boards. However, Perry apparently neglected to inform his new sidekick, Lt. Gov.-elect David Dewhurst, who chaired the task force and campaigned hard on his role in defending Texas from evildoers.…
TV Eye
TiVo takes the stand in the last of “TV Eye”‘s recent examination of new TV-watching and -recording technology.
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
The Negro leagues had the first night baseball under the lights five years before the major leagues tried to do it.James A. Garfield assassin Charles Guiteau purportedly bought the biggest revolver he could find because, “it would look good in a museum.”A male’s index finger is longer than his ring finger, and a women’s ring…
Naked City
Opponents of the mad fetish for high-stakes standardized testing will rally on the south steps of the Capitol on Saturday, 3-5pm. Texans for Quality Assessment will bring education professionals and parents from around the state to denounce the fixation on standardized tests and to support House bills 2570 and 2118, which would authorize multiple criteria…
Video Reviews
Not long after starring in two of the wildest blaxploitation films of all time — Coffy and Foxy Brown — Grier’s career went in a much tamer direction.
Day Trips
Old Rip, the “horny toad,” put Eastland County and the county seat of the same name on the map back in 1928. Folks are still amazed and amused by the critter’s tale. The story began in 1897, when a horned lizard, the animal’s proper designation, was placed in the cornerstone of the county’s third courthouse.…
Naked City
The Save Our Springs Alliance has filed a second lawsuit to invalidate the controversial development agreement between the city of Austin and Stratus Properties. The latest petition, filed Monday in Travis County district court, claims the city violated state laws by engaging in contract zoning — that is, by incorporating 14 separate zoning ordinances into…
Kangaroo Jack
Kangaroo Jack 2003, PG, 89 min. Directed by David McNally, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jerry O’Connell, Anthony Anderson, Estella Warren, Christopher Walken, Michael Shannon, Marton Csokas, David Ngoombujarra. While on a panel at the 2002 Austin Film Festival, Kangaroo Jack co-writer Scott Rosenberg recounted with glee how he pitched the idea of…
After a Fashion
The Style Avatar goes JetSet and koo-koo for Christmas trees! See within …
Naked City
Gary Bradley’s efforts to turn a swath of ranch property into the land of milk and honey are starting to show signs of fruition. Plans are underway for a massive, mixed-use development that would straddle the Travis/Hays County line near Buda. The proposed development, spanning more than 2,400 acres, would be the next big thing…
A Guy Thing
A Guy Thing 2003, PG-13, 101 min. Directed by Chris Koch, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jason Lee, Julia Stiles, Selma Blair, James Brolin, Shawn Hatosy, Julie Hagerty, Diana Scarwid. Into the January dumping grounds of films not quite good enough to merit a holiday release comes this flaccid romantic comedy which poses…
To Your Health
Sometimes when I take my vitamins late at night I have trouble getting to sleep. Why is that, and which ones are most likely to do this?
Naked City
As the House voting board steadily filled up Tuesday with 149 green “Ayes,” only a single red “No” denied Midland’s Tom Craddick the honor of being elected by acclamation as the first Republican speaker of the Texas House since 1870. That red light belonged to Fort Worth Democrat Lon Burnam, and it certainly stood out…
National Security
National Security 2003, PG-13, 90 min. Directed by Dennis Dugan, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Martin Lawrence, Steve Zahn, Robinne Lee, Timothy Busfield, Eric Roberts, Colm Feore, Bill Duke, Joe Flaherty, Jeffrey Ross. At this particular moment in American history it might seem a dubious proposition to release, of all things, a film…
About AIDS
Truth Campaign: “HIV Is No Picnic” The STOP AIDS Project in San Francisco has launched a cutting-edge HIV-prevention campaign in the Bay Area Reporter and on bus stop shelters that has citizens of the city abuzz. “HIV Is No Picnic” is a stark, hard-hitting series of four ads that shows the more typical reality of…
Naked City
The Computer TakeBack Campaign released its fourth annual Computer Report Card Thursday, and the image-conscious PC industry might now be thinking “social promotion” isn’t such a bad idea. The report card — largely driven by the activist Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition — grades computer manufacturers on environmental responsibility, public health, and worker safety and how…
In Praise of Love
In Praise of Love 2001, PG, 97 min. Directed by Jean-Luc Godard, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Bruno Putzulu, Cecile Camp, Jean Davy, Françoise Verny, Claude Baignières. It’s been a few years since my high school French courses, but if I remember correctly, a more accurate translation of the en français title (Eloge…
Culinary Evolution
Vespaio has always been good — now, it’s better.
Naked City
On Jan. 8, following dueling press conferences outside Capital Metro’s East Fifth administrative offices, a board subcommittee gave its initial approval for the transit authority to issue a request for proposals for a redevelopment master plan centered on Cap Metro’s rail-yard property along East Fourth and Fifth. The entire area under study includes 12 city…
U.S.A. (Unified System of Accounting) Tour
U.S.A. (Unified System of Accounting) Tour NR. Directed by Kyle Henry, Spencer Parsons, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Local filmmakers Kyle Henry and Spencer Parsons have been tilting at the windmills of the status quo with far more promising results than the Bush administration of late, and it’s no wonder – they’ve…
Second Helpings: For 24-hour Party People
Up all night? Hungry? Literate? Then read on.
Food-o-File
Virginia B. Wood has news from across the land.
Naked City
And now for a bit of irony provided by the Austin Police Dept. According to an APD press release, on Jan. 5 just after 4am, five-year veteran Officer Dewayne Friar heard “suspicious noises” outside his South Austin home. After telling someone else inside the house to call 911, the off-duty Friar went outside to discover…
The Hours
The Hours 2002, PG-13, 110 min. Directed by Stephen Daldry, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Allison Janney, Ed Harris, John C. Reilly, Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Dillane, Jeff Daniels, Jack Rovello. There’s a mesmerizing, almost hypnotic rhythm to The Hours, the exquisite adaptation of…
TCB
More on the Antone’s merger, the noise ordinance, and finally, Abra Moore.
Revolution Rock
At the crossroads of the Clash and the great state of Austin, Texas.
Naked City
It was a busy weekend for outgoing Republican Gov. George Ryan of Illinois. On Jan. 10 he pardoned four death-row inmates, then on Jan. 11 Ryan commuted the death sentences of the remaining 157 inmates. “The facts that I have seen in reviewing each and every one of these cases raised questions not only about…
Live on Paper
When he’s not covering canvas with acrylic-based images of Japanese toys and Italian scooters and good old American action-figures, Tim Doyle dabbles in the art of the comic book, distilling his day-by-day existence into three black-and-white segments each in monthly issues of Amazing Adult Fantasy.
The Lights Are On: Is Anybody Home?
Downtown’s boom has busted, yet developers still build.
Capitol Chronicle
The deficit explodes and the Lege convenes
FronteraFest 2003
It’s time again for that annual performance jamboree FronteraFest, and time to mark its first decade of presenting Austin with adventuresome new theatre, comedy, dance, and spoken word by anyone with the courage or folly to take a stage.
Downtown’s New Year
The year begins like its predecessor, with persistent economic worries, but developers are an intrepid — some might say reckless — lot. There’s caution in the air, but also opportunity on the wind. Most dealmakers seem to be cooling their jets until the storm blows past, but others are bent on raising more roof beams…
Austin @ Large: Jackie Opts Out
Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Goodman declines to run for the job itself.
Dances With Dogs (And Their Masters)
In the Sharir + Bustamante Danceworks program States of Grace, eight Austin choreographers showcase their new work in a program of dance that includes video dancers, classical Indian stories, martial arts, and blind performers and their guide dogs.
Beaten at the Jailhouse?
An Austin woman claims a misdemeanor arrest led to a beating at the hands of Travis Co. jail guards
The Hightower Report
A magazine for the people outside the CEO suite; and drug companies get Bush to help them kill babies.
Articulations
A family of Austin artists facing deportation stays a little longer, and Zachary Scott Theatre Center postpones its Parade.
UT Area Cautious — at Best — Over Planning Effort
Campus-area residents take their turn in the city’s neighborhood-planning spotlight.
Fine China
The latest Austin Film Society free series examines the cinema of China’s Fifth Generation filmmakers.
Exhibitionism
The extraordinary new opera Dead Man Walking takes its audience on a journey from a place of horror and abhorrence to one of comprehension and compassion, a place where we may see the humanity of a murderer, and in Austin Lyric Opera’s potent production we feel each step taken on its long and stony way.
Here Come the Judges — Again: Round Two for Owen, Pickering
Texas progressives mobilize against federal judicial nominees Priscilla Owen and Charles Pickering
The Fifth Generation: Chinese Films of the Past Two Decades
All screenings take place Tuesdays, 7pm. Admission is free. For more info, visit www.austinfilm.org. At the Alamo Drafthouse North (2700 W. Anderson Ln.): Jan. 21: The Story of Qiu Ju (Qiu Ju Da Guan Si) (1992) D: Zhang Yimou, 100 min., Mandarin with English subtitles. Jan. 28: A Mongolian Tale (Hei Jun Ma) (1995) D:…
