Parasite
Parasite 1982, R, 85 min. Directed by Charles Band, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Robert Glaudini, Demi Moore, Luca Bercovici, James Davidson. Back before she herself was a 3D invention, an unknown Demi Moore starred in this Aliens-style knockoff, whose stomach-attaching parasites were all the more revolting in 3D. The creature effects are…
Law and Order
Law and Order 1969, NR, 81 min. Directed by Frederick Wiseman, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Trained as a lawyer, Frederick Wiseman aims his documentary camera on social institutions and uses its lens as a tool for muckraking. One of America’s most acclaimed documentarians, Wiseman employs a cinema vérité style so observe…
High School
One of America’s most acclaimed documentarians, Wiseman employs a cinema vérité style to observe the relationships between human beings and the bureaucracies that serve them. High School is a stark observation of social conditioning at a large urban school.
Companeros!
Companeros! 1971, R, 117 min. Directed by Sergio Corbucci, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Fernando Rey, Jack Palance, Tomas Milian, Franco Nero. The Alamo’s all-you-can-eat pasta, focaccia, and Caesar salad Spaghetti Western Spaghetti Feast returns with this violent Italian Western about gunrunners during the Mexican Revolution. Corbucci joins Leone as the other great…
Teenage U.f.O. Psycho Sex Monster Show
Teenage U.f.O. Psycho Sex Monster Show NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Andy Kaufman cohort and rockabilly great Johnny Legend presents a two-hour compilation of trailers including all genres from beach party movies to sex roughies, and all sorts of vintage sleaze and gore. Among the included trailers are…
Night of the Comet
Night of the Comet 1984, PG-13, 95 min. Directed by Thom Eberhardt, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Kelly Maroney, Catherine Mary Stewart, Robert Beltran, Mary Woronov. In this Eighties froth, a comet strikes Earth and only zombies, scientists, and Valley Girls are left standing.
Naufragio (Shipwreck)
Naufragio (Shipwreck) 1977, NR, 101 min. Directed by Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ana Ofelia Murguía, Maria Rojo, José Alonso. This last film in the Hermosillo series is loosely based on Joseph Conrad’s Tomorrow. It tells the story of a woman’s obsession with the hoped-for return of her seafaring son…
La Tarea Prohibida (Forbidden Homework)
La Tarea Prohibida (Forbidden Homework) 1992, NR, 77 min. Directed by Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Maria Rojo, Esteban Soberanes. Expanding on his previous film La Tarea, Hermosillo again uses the structure of a student completing an assignment for a film class, in which the rehearsal of a sex scene…
The Time Machine
Pal’s film version of the H.G. Wells time-travel classic is a solid effort that features Oscar-winning special effects.
Revolution OS
Revolution OS 2002, NR, 85 min. Directed by J.T.S. Moore, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . The most remarkable thing about Moore’s documentary on the birth of the open source software movement isn’t all the internecine warfare involved in the early years of personal computing (although certainly that’s not nearly as dull as…
Exhibitionism
The Tongue and Groove Theatre gang have some serious fun with the disconnect between dreaming and waking life in their world premiere production of Seven Wonders of the World (Plus One), a 1940s-era suite of songs linked by spoken text, follows a dreamer across time and space to various landmarks of both the ancient world…
Southern Rock Opera
Drive-By TruckersAntone’s, Thursday 14 Last year during SXSW, Athens’ Drive-By Truckers played an acoustic set in someone’s living room. This year, they cranked it up to full volume electric in front of a packed house at Antone’s. Out in support of their recent tour de force, the 2-CD Southern Rock Opera, a three-guitar homage to…
Southern Rock Opera
Prefuse 73La Zona Rosa, Saturday 16 The unwritten rule of party fouls is never bump the turntable, but when Prefuse 73 is re-creating unorthodox renditions of cut hip-hop, snippets, snaps, and skips become elements of his compositions. Making it look simple, DJ Herren moved back from board to board, trying to get the audience to…
Naked City
News from around Austin
Exhibitionism
Yankee Doodle is an ensemble piece full of verve and a punster’s quick wit, with moments that are deeply thoughtful alternating with plenty of songs to present a pastiche history of our land, from the ride of Paul Revere through Charles Lindbergh’s famous flight.
Southern Rock Opera
The Jerry Lee PhantomMercury, Friday 15 It’s a rare band that confounds initial expectations to the degree of Tokyo’s Jerry Lee Phantom. When the quartet began its Friday night headline slot at Japan Nite No. 1, their intensity level was somewhere in the range of Stereolab without all the space-age accouterments. The JLP boasted an…
Southern Rock Opera
Harvey Sid FisherEmpanada Parlour, Saturday 16 For cultural fringe dwellers like L.A.’s Harvey Sid Fisher, it’s all about playing the angles. After building a career out of bit TV and movie parts, modeling gigs, and open mike nights, Fisher attained his greatest notoriety from an oft-dubbed, no-budget public access video of his astrology songs. Today,…
Naked City
Battle O’er the Villas, Part 90 In a press release sent out Wednesday, March 20, representatives of the North University and Heritage Neighborhood Associations claim to have “uncovered a scheme” by the developers of the Villas on Guadalupe upscale student housing complex to “buy off” parties who had originally opposed a ultra-dense zoning designation for…
Paula Kamen’s New ‘Strain’ of Female
Back in December, possessing a sense of entitlement new to even third wave feminists, U.S. Air Force Pilot Lt. Col. Martha McSally told Fresh Air listeners she was flat-out suing the Secretary of Defense. Her beef with Donald Rumsfeld pertained to a federal mandate instructing her to wear a head-to-toe Islamic abayah robe when leaving…
Southern Rock Opera
Rye CoalitionBuffalo Billiards, Friday 15 Walking into Buffalo Billiards at the end of a very long day, foggy-headed and bleary-eyed, to the sudden burst of thunder that was the Rye Coalition, provoked one thought: flee. Run away now before it’s too late. Go see some nice singer-songwriter. What about some nice jazz? That’s when a…
Southern Rock Opera
Big Jack Johnson & Kim WilsonAntone’s, Saturday 16 After several days of ear-shattering rock & roll and jarring hip-hop beats, it was an aural palette cleansing of sorts to hear a down-home set by Clarksdale, Miss., singer/guitarist Big Jack Johnson and former Fab T-Bird harmonica ace Kim Wilson. Johnson, affectionately referred to as the Oilman…
Naked City
Lands’ Plans for AISD On behalf of the Eastside Social Action Coalition, Rev. Sterling Lands penned another letter to the Austin Independent School District’s Board of Trustees on March 11, this time asking the board to take specific action to increase academic rigor throughout the district’s curriculum. As in other letters they’ve written since October…
New In Paperback
Oscar Fever: The History and Politics of the Academy AwardsBy Emanuel Levy Continuum, 370 pp., $19.95 (paper) Film scholar Emanuel Levy’s Oscar Fever: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards is stuffed with the same strange facts as other Oscar histories. In 1936, for example, Claudette Colbert became the highest-paid person in the United…
Southern Rock Opera
D-Madness/ArctectonicsMercury/the Vibe, Thursday 14 Composition was key, as two local musicians offered very diverse renditions of intricate sound. D-Madness and Arctectonics’ Glitch set up their respective showcases with innovative techniques that entailed numerous tasks on a multitude of machines. Even without vision, D-Madness is a musical organism capable of creating an entire rhythm section of…
Dancing About Architecture
SXSW 02 is over — finally
Naked City
Walking and Rolling for Democracy “The mission is everything,” Doris “Granny D” Haddock told reporters in 1999 as she trekked through Weatherford, Texas, en route to Washington, D.C. Haddock’s mission would have been a rare feat for anyone, but the then-90-year-old woman logged 3,200 miles on foot as she walked from Los Angeles to Washington,…
Page Two
The agony and the ecstasy of SXSW 2002
Southern Rock Opera
AtmosphereEmo’s, Friday 15 What was a hip-hop act doing rocking a non-hip-hop showcase at Emo’s? Actually, it’s a common occurrence for Minneapolis’ Atmosphere. Over the years, Slug, Dibbs, Crescent, and Nate have held their ground in Austin, waging battles with local MCs in open mikes at their shows. This time, they chose to introduce their…
SXSW 02 Picks & Sleepers
Our resident Marshmallow Peep relates the news and hearsay in and around the Live Music Capital…
Naked City
Music and Arrests at Metro Just before Kansas’ own Split Lip Rayfield was set to take the stage at a SXSW showcase March 15 at the Metro on Sixth Street, a line of Austin police, led by a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent, quietly wound its way through the accumulating crowd and arrested the club’s…
Mr. Smarty Pants
Women who have sex with men who recently consumed the ciguatera toxin (found in some fish in the South Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian Ocean) may themselves suffer from urinary problems and pelvic discomfort.In Walt Disney’s Snow White, her first word upon wakening from her sleeping death is “goodbye.”University of Wisconsin researchers have developed a mechanical…
Southern Rock Opera
Tom House, Palaxy Tracks, Shearwater & CindersMercury Hall, Friday 15 For one afternoon, this small, historic chapel off South First was the most special place in the world. Rows of faces were lined up in folding chairs, absolutely enthralled by a middle-aged man with a guitar confessing his sins, lamenting his regrets, and trying his…
‘If Not Edison — What?’
Austin Interfaith’s Alliance programs represent one alternative to failing AISD schools.
Naked City
Landfills De-Odorized? Efforts to resolve pollution and odor problems at two solid waste landfills operated by Browning-Ferris Industries and Waste Management Inc. in Northeast Austin are under way, though the outcome may not be to neighbors’ complete satisfaction. After residents complained to city, county, and state officials that the stench and threat of pollution from…
Day Trips
Discovery’s From the Past in Gonzales recycles old buildings one piece at a time. The architectural antiques store gives new life to building components that might otherwise be destined for the city landfill. “We do the same as [some other architectural salvage businesses], only we have more of it,” says Suzanne Kittel, who owns the…
Southern Rock Opera
Patty GriffinJovita’s, Friday 15 To hear total silence fall over any crowd during SXSW is unusual at the very least and amazing at best. To hush a packed room during a free day show where people are eating is downright spectacular. Patty Griffin is one of those artists who commands that kind of attention, and…
AISD vs. ESAC: “We’ll Do It Ourselves’
The East Side Social Action Coalition remains unimpressed by the school district’s promise to reform itself.
Naked City
Funding Farms Seventeen Texas conservation groups pleaded last week with two key Texas lawmakers on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee to boost funding for habitat preservation. In a March 12 letter to Reps. Larry Combest, R-Lubbock, and Charles Stenholm, D-Abilene, the groups requested the House’s version of this year’s Farm Bill to increase conservation funding…
After a Fashion
Phew! We’re glad that’s over. SXSW is gone and things are beginning to get back to normal. Your Style Avatar has some parting thoughts about Courtney Love and looks (fashion) forward to some upcoming events.
Southern Rock Opera
Neil Finn & Friends Antone’s, Saturday 16 Neil Finn’s brief, sparkling set at Antone’s New Times party Saturday served a tiny slice of what this former Split Enz/Crowded House-er is up to these days. Within mere months, Finn has released his second solo album, One Nil, put together a live collection of songs old and…
What Is the Alliance?
A Sketch of the Alliance, Austin Interfaith, and the Industrial Areas Foundation
Don’t Lose Your Day Job
Texas unemployment insurance paints a dismal picture.
To Your Health
I’m working hard to limit sugar for my family and for me. There are several new artificial sweeteners, and I don’t want to be surprised with unexpected health concerns as I was with aspartame. Is there any good news on the horizon?
Southern Rock Opera
Pine Valley CosmonautsMother Egan’s, Saturday 16 If you think it’s difficult putting together a cameo-laden benefit album about murder and capital punishment, try pulling it off onstage. This was the challenge assumed by the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, a mostly Chicago collective spearheaded by Mekon/Waco Brother Jon Langford, and successfully accomplished in their edifying and engaging…
AISD’s Haves and Have Nots
“L” Low-Performing Schools According to ratings by the Texas Education Agency, there are five low-performing schools in Austin; all are east of I-35. Johnston High School Reagan High School Dobie Middle School Blackshear Elementary Oak Springs Elementary”E” Exemplary Schools All 14 of the schools that the TEA recognizes as “exemplary” are west of I-35; eight…
Austin @ Large: Austin at Large: W.W.P.D.?
The curious semantics of “progressive” politics
Scratch
Scratch 2001, R, 102 min. Directed by Doug Pray, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Doug Pray’s previous music doc — 1996’s Hype! — chronicled the rise and fall of the Seattle grunge scene; by film’s end you realized for all the crazy beauty in front of you, what you were really witnessing…
About AIDS
College Students Still Avoiding Condoms A sizable minority of college students attempt to talk their sex partners out of using a condom, according to a recent survey of more than 900 undergraduates. The most popular arguments against condoms are that sex feels better without one and that going without a rubber won’t increase the chance…
Southern Rock Opera
The YayhoosMother Egan’s, Saturday 16 After bands like Blind Faith and Asia, the term “supergroup” has long carried a stink of hype and self-indulgence. Then, there’s the Yayhoos, bringing together producer/ex-Blackheart Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, Georgia Satellites Dan Baird and Terry Anderson, and Shaver bassist Keith Christopher. Saturday night the crowd at Mother Egan’s was likkered…
Candidate Wrap-up
City Council Members Beverly Griffith and Daryl Slusher and Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Goodman all turned in their signatures to bust the two-term limit by Wednesday, March 20 — the deadline for getting onto the May 4 election ballot. Vying for Slusher’s Place One are Jennifer Gale, Craig Barrett, Vincent Aldridge, and Kirk Mitchell; for…
The Hightower Lowdown
Republicans and Democrats march off to the money wars; Dick Cheney does business with Iraq; and baseball speeds up — to its own detriment.
Blade II
Blade II 2002, R, 110 min. D: Guillermo Del Toro; with Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Norman Reedus. Blade II delivers the goods better than any new action film released in the last several years. The story is pure comic-book material emphasizing blood and mayhem over character development and plot nuance; nevertheless, the movie…
Coach’s Corner
You might not guess it, but Coach is a rabid UT basketball fan. He’s also one of the world’s foremost pessimists.
Southern Rock Opera
SupersuckersStubb’s, Saturday 16 Just ending up at the Supersuckers show was an accident. Slamm, the San Diego-based music magazine, was hosting a party, and Kevin Salem was scheduled to play. Being a dumb rock critic, I showed up two hours late to see him, but since there was free beer and none at the KVRX…
Primary Numbers Crunched Here
A breakdown of the voting in the March 12 primary election
The Long Goodbye: SXSW Film
Snapshots from the fest
Letters at 3AM
In setting up a “shadow” government, the Bush administration has flouted its obligation to obey and enforce the Constitution. September 11 may be the best thing to happen to Bush totalitarians.
Southern Rock Opera
HadacolOpal Divine’s, Saturday 16 Comes a time when you get sick and tired of irony and all its forms. No-thank-you to bands that are too smart-alecky about what they’re doing, as if to constantly say, “Oh my, aren’t we the clever ones?” Enough already with overweening earnestness, too. Kansas City, Mo.’s Hadacol — named after…
Party On
The local Green and Libertarian parties held their respective Travis County conventions last weekend, nominating a field of candidates to run in the general election. On the Green ticket, nominees include: Jennifer Fox, county clerk; Rae Petersen, Pct. 3 county commissioner; Austin Dullnig, Dist. 14, state senate; Sarah Dubose, Dist. 47, state representative, and Darren…
Video 101
Hanu Brejchovou is a marvel as a romantically frustrated factory worker in this Milos Forman film that heralded in the Czech New Wave.
Curtain Call
SXSW Film saves the (next to) last dance for Robbie Robertson, with the Friday night Paramount screening of The Last Waltz; also, more SXSW film reviews.
Fish Tales
When you walk in the door at Eaves Bros. Quality Seafood, the first thing you notice is that it smells like the ocean. Your second thought might be that you’ve stumbled into some surreal fish-figured cartoon, where life-sized dolphins and sharks swim in the air above your head, and every available surface is painted with…
Southern Rock Opera
South by South AustinSouth Congress Avenue, Saturday 16 For many people, the daytime events up and down South Congress on the Saturday during SXSW is as good as it gets. With the traffic jams, people watching, classic car show, free beer, lots of food, and of course, an incredible array of free music, the party…
Election Items
Given that incumbent state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio (or “I-35 Sprawl Corridor”), was attacked from the right by John Shields, one might think that Travis County voters newly thrust into the realigned Dist. 25 might have been his salvation. But apparently, Travis Republicans don’t veer to the left like their Democratic counterparts — they…
Short Cuts
Buy local! Go see Guillermo del Toro’s Blade 2! While you’re at it, check out his other film in theatres, The Devil’s Backbone!
Showtime
Showtime 2002, PG-13, 92 min. Directed by Tom Dey, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Frankie R. Faison, William Shatner, Mos Def, Rene Russo, Eddie Murphy, Robert De Niro. It’s a double-edged sword: The collective charisma of Robert De Niro, Eddie Murphy, and Rene Russo is the only reason to slap down eight bucks…
The New Sobriety
SXSW Interactive Conference photos and panel reviews
Food-o-File
Three local businesses are promoting products with brand-new flavors this month, and Austin’s latest culinary news.
Southern Rock Opera
Those PeabodysRitz Upstairs, Saturday 16 Last year about this time, Those Peabodys were AC/DC. Of course, now everybody is. Judging from the last sliver of their Thursday day-show gig at Emo’s, it sounded like this year the local fourpiece wanted instead to be Fugazi. Those comparisons are largely obvious and accurate, but after catching the…
Party Loyalties
In the Pct. 2 County Commissioner race, Jeff Heckler learned that a Democratic primary is different from a City Council race.
TV Eye
Push versus pull, a standardized infrastructure, the death knell of prime time … do you even want to interact with your TV?
No Man’s Land
This bleak antiwar comedy won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film of 2001.
Our Bodies, Our Selves
An unusual convergence of dramas dealing with women and disabilities prompts a conversation among four actors about what playwrights are trying to say through characters who are disabled, and how actors approach playing a disability.
Liquid Assets
The old adage about “white wine with fish” was rightfully debunked years ago. But like most maxims, there’s a seed of truth there. So, though we can point you to some superb Pinot Noirs that will mate perfectly with fish (Siduri is the first that comes to mind), we’re going to stick with whites today.…
Southern Rock Opera
Alabama ThunderpussyEmo’s, Saturday 16 SXSW bands can approach set lists by either performing their most accessible material, in the hopes of simultaneously pleasing their fans while appealing to a general conference crowd, or by playing whatever the hell they want, including rare and unreleased material. Alabama Thunderpussy, Richmond, Va.’s masters of moonshine metal, opted for…
More Sidewalks for Cyclists?
This week’s meeting of the city-appointed Urban Transportation Commission included three proposals from the Bicycle-Pedestrian Subcommittee, but only one passed: A recommendation to amend the city code prohibiting bicycling on sidewalks in business districts. A request for new bicycle and pedestrian facilities for U.S. 183 was sent back to subcommittee for further refinement, and will…
Sorority Boys
Sorority Boys 2002, R, 94 min. Directed by Wally Wolodarsky, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Kathryn Stockwood, Brad Beyer, Heather Matarazzo, Tony Denman, Melissa Sagemiller, Harland Williams, Michael Rosenbaum, Barry Watson. The filmmakers would have us believe that their new cross-dressing comedy Sorority Boys is Some Like It Hot by way of Animal…
Articulations
The passing of celebrated actress Irene Worth touches Central Texas, Austin Cabaret Theatre lights its birthday cake with Charo, and Hedwig bumps bee at Zach.
Southern Rock Opera
Lift to ExperienceRed Eyed Fly, Saturday 16 For half an hour the congregation waited patiently for the church of sound to commence, and for half an hour they were denied. The silence was deafening, and the anticipation palpable as the crowd watched the two big bearded fellows in Lift to Experience amble across the stage,…
Trading Places at City Hall
Musical chairs at City Hall
