Post-Thanksgiving Banquet of Short Cinema: The Best of Cinematexas
Post-Thanksgiving Banquet of Short Cinema: The Best of Cinematexas NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Program highlights iclude “Mother and Son” (Matthew Silver, US), “Sharony!” (Jennet Thomas, UK), “Inventario de Natal” (Miguel Gomes, Portugal), “Transmitting Baba” (Miso Suchy, Slovakia), and “Happy End” (Peter Tscherkassky, Austria). Spencer Parsons, Cinemaker board…
The Touchables
The Touchables R, 88 min. Directed by Robert Freeman, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Michael Chow, Harry Baird, David Anthony, Ester Anderson. Pop fantasy set in the swinging Sixties has sex-starved London women dressed as nuns kidnapping a rock star and keeping him captive in a pleasure dome. The director is the photographer…
Letter Never Sent
Letter Never Sent 1960, NR, 97 min. Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Tatyana Samojlova, Innokenti Smoktunovsky. The director of I Am Cuba and The Cranes Are Flying, who is known for his fluid and lengthy camera takes, filmed this fact-based drama about a geological expedition to Siberia.
No Ford in the Fire
No Ford in the Fire 1967, NR, 95 min. Directed by Gleb Paniflov, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Anatoli Solonitsyn, Inna Churikova. Set during the October Revolution, this award-winning drama tells the story of a woman who discovers her talent for painting and chooses political solidarity over escape.
The Green Slime
The Green Slime 1969, G, 99 min. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Robert Horton, Luciana Paluzzi, Richard Jaeckel. A Japanese monster movie, The Green Slime is a camp classic about a slimy substance loose in a space station that thrives on atomic energy and threatens to take over Earth.…
Mr. Smarty Pants
During breaks on the set of the original Planet of the Apes, the gorilla, orangutan, and chimpanzee actors liked to hang out with “their own kind,” rather than mingling.The Pony Express delivered 34,753 pieces of mail.Vermont earns more from bicycle tourism than from maple syrup.Suburban residents’ risk of injury in automobile accidents is four times…
Phases and Stages
RingerPresents for the Present (Animatronic) The nerdy yet mellifluous pop-punk strains of Ringer make a fine soundtrack for young love gone awry. The local quartet’s debut disc plays much like a 10-chapter novella detailing the rise and fall of empty relationships in the voice of every male who bears too much heartfelt longing for his…
Naked City
Pickets gathered this week at the Palmer Auditorium job site on Barton Springs Road, as members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (Local 520) were locked out by the general contractor, MW Builders. According to Rick Zerr, union rep at the site, about 50 electricians directly employed by sub-contractor Guy’s Electric of Marble Falls…
The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition
The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition 2000, NR, 93 min. Directed by Jacques Rivette, Narrated by Liam Neeson, Voices by , Starring Claude Berri, Catherine Rouvel, Bruno Todeschini, Hélène De Fougerolles, Jacques Bonnaffé, Marianne Basler, Sergio Castellitto, Jeanne Balibar. Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914-16 expedition to Antarctica would be a fascinating story in itself, but this…
Second Helpings: Japanese
Mick Vann samples some of Austin’s Japanese restaurants in this week’s “Second Helpings.”
After a Fashion
Guess who your Style Avatar flitted around town with this week? Check out this first installment about international salon god José Eber’s visit to Austin.
Phases and Stages
MasonicNever Stood a Chance (Tight Spot) When they debuted last spring, Austin’s Masonic was almost immediately stamped with the retro tag, which with six months’ worth of hindsight now seems a trifle premature. Yes, there are unmistakable traces of the Eighties in Kevin Mason’s swirling Moog and the churning guitars that form the framework for…
Naked City
Wartime means boom-time for Peace Action, at 85,000 members the country’s largest peace and disarmament organization. Last week, activists from across the country converged at the Holiday Inn South for Peace Action’s annual national congress, which featured speakers, workshops, and training, as well as priority-setting sessions. Newly appointed Executive Director Kevin Martin appeared enthusiastic yet…
Galleries in Bloom
The times being what they are, you don’t exactly expect to see new galleries sprouting across Austin’s cultural landscape, but two just did: Oswald Gallery, showing fine art photography, and Jean-Marc Fray, displaying paintings by French artist Robert Bourasseau.
To Your Health
I’m “paying my dues” taking vitamins, exercising, and sticking to a low-fat and low-cholesterol diet, but my serum cholesterol still hovers around 240, and my HDL cholesterol won’t go over about 40. My triglycerides and LDL cholesterol are OK. What more could I do to improve those other two numbers?
Phases and Stages
Bluegrass Drive-By The Drunkard’s Progress (Magic Frog) The revved-up revisionist bluegrass thing is certainly nothing new at this point, with practitioners like Split Lip Rayfield, the late, lamented Killbilly, and, of course, the Bad Livers having torn it up for ages now. Still, the bluegrass style just seems to lend itself to high-octane playing and…
Naked City
Thursday, Nov. 15: “Down with Isms: Embracing Diversity,” a forum organized by the Minority Group Relations class at Huston-Tillotson College. 6-8pm, AL Auditorium. Huston-Tillotson, 900 Chicon. www.geocities.com/webbcarl/rosaleemartin.html. Panel discussion about sexuality education hosted by Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region. 6-8pm. Trinity United Methodist Church, 600 E. 50th. Free; RSVP at 476-4610. Teach-in on…
Articulations
The Texas Fine Arts Association’s student exhibition “Pop Patriotism” is unexpectedly fascinating and moving, and a long-delayed tribute to operatic legend Jess Walters takes place.
About AIDS
Last week on November 7, an interesting anniversary was observed: 10 years since Magic Johnson announced his HIV-positive status. And believing that he had been given a death sentence, he retired from basketball, despite still feeling perfectly normal and healthy. Today, 42 years old and still doing fine, he devotes himself to his family and…
Phases and Stages
Caroline Herring Twilight (Blue Corn) What Caroline Herring does on Twilight, her debut, is nothing new. Simply put, she’s making good old-fashioned folk music. Herring’s simple melodies and uncomplicated stories, accompanied mostly by acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolin, and dobro come across with so much vitality, charm, and enthusiasm that Twilight takes on an energy that’s…
Capitol Chronicle
Would David Dewhurst really know a terrorist if he saw one?
Exhibitionism
Lanford Wilson’s Burn This is a fierce, realistic drama about art and relationships, and Alchemy Works delivers a very human production, deeply felt and nearly flawless in its presentation.
Coach’s Corner
The gauntlet is thrown: Major League Baseball is discussing “contraction.” It’s the Players vs. the Owners, and guess who’s going to lose? The Fans, of course.
A Colossal Wreck
The Intel Building and its discontents
Austin @ Large: Austin at Large
Can the new Green Council earn a mandate?
Exhibitionism
Ann Hampton Callaway proved a wise choice to inaugurate the new Austin Cabaret Theatre. Her clear enthusiasm for the Great American Songbook and impassioned, intoxicating performances of selections from it made cabaret intimate, immediate, a real event.
Prime Considerations
Chronicle Food writer Rebecca Chastenet de Géry on why 1,000 head of Japenese Wagyu cattle are thriving in Central Texas.
The Best-Laid Plans: Some of Intel’s Unfinished Projects
A list of officially suspended projects
The Hightower Lowdown
Hypocritical corporate “patriotism”; Congress declares war on civil liberties; Congressmen spend for our country.
Exhibitionism
Second Youth Family Theatre’s production of The Hobbit offers much that is magical, but awkward staging and inexperienced actors keep the show from achieving true enchantment.
Game Farming and Ranching in Central Texas
When you eat venison in a restaurant or buy it in a market, you may be surprised to learn that it probably has been raised on a farm or a ranch. Originally developed in New Zealand, farmed venison is now a burgeoning business across this country, and it thrives in Central Texas. Following is a…
AISD De-Magnetized?
A proposal to move AISD’s Liberal Arts Academy to LBJ High School almost certainly means resegregation for Johnston High School, its former home.
E Is for Everything
Actor / director / novelist Ethan Hawke is Richard Linklater’s No. 1 fan.
Amélie
Why not get happy? Why not celebrate love, and little twists of fate, and a sepia-in-Technicolor portrait of Paris? Amélie‘s heart is in the right place – squarely on its sleeve. And what better place for it?
New Fest
Why the Texas Book Festival decided to loosen its criteria this year.
Food-o-File
Virginia B. Wood recounts the Chronicle‘s Eat Drink Watch Movies event for those who couldn’t attend and divulges the latest culinary news in Austin.
David to Goliath-Light: Drop Dead!
The newly formed Save South Congress Association aims to put the brakes on light rail’s return.
Open Wide
“Of all the things a man can lose, the very worst is his teeth.” That’s the personal philosophy of Dr. Frank Sangster, D.D.S., who in David Atkins’ directorial debut, Novocaine, finds that yes, a denuded dentrifice is indeed a sorry state of affairs, but a deluded dentist can be far, far worse. Atkins, whose 1993…
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
From the sets to the story to the whole tone of the film, this first Potter film is an almost literal adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s beloved children’s book.
New Fest
Mark Jude Poirier and His Misfits Almost halfway through Goats, Mark Jude Poirier’s first novel, Johanna, a New Age guru in Tucson, meets a man who owns some goats. Goat Man, whose birth name is Stephen Luke Cagliano (though everyone stopped calling him that long ago), takes his goats on treks through deserted Arizona and…
The Agony of the Ecstasy
Will the federal and local crackdown on ecstasy put raves out of business?
Dawson in Danger?
The Dawson Neighborhood plan was the first out of the gate, but now could be in danger of failing.
Playing With the Big Boys
Teen filmmakers Rusty Kelley and Duncan Knappen land second HBO Family gig with “French Restaurant.”
Blue Velvet
Quintessential Lynch.
New Fest
Andrew Vachss: Man of Many Hats Andrew Vachss wears so many hats you’d think he’d be bald by now. Multi-award-winning crime novelist, non-stop advocate for abused children, graphic novelist, essay and magazine writer, short story writer, lecturer, die-hard lover of the blues, Warrior — the man does more in one day than most of us…
Whip That Crack!
What exactly is the “Crack House Law”? It’s a federal statute that dates back to 1986, originally designed to combat the crack cocaine scourge. Listed under Title 21 of the U.S. Code, Section 856, it makes it unlawful to: 1) Knowingly open or maintain any place for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing, or using any…
Georgetown Recalls — and Recollects
The latest salvos in the Georgetown Smackdown
Short Cuts
Red carpet reportage, and other filmic items
New Fest
Angie Cruz: Fashionably Late Angie Cruz didn’t mean for it to happen this way. She was making money, going to school, living a New York City life that, while not necessarily fulfilling, was certainly better than some of the alternatives for residents of the much maligned Washington Heights neighborhood she grew up in. A student…
Dancing About Architecture
Bad Vibes Say goodbye to another Danny Crooks enterprise. The former Steamboat captain phoned the Chronicle on Monday to announce that effective immediately, he had severed ties with the Vibe, the Sixth Street club he had molded out of Fat Tuesdays into a Steamboat for the new millennium. “I couldn’t get along with the owner,”…
Drag Development Villa-fied
The Villas on Guadalupe goes back to the drawing board.
TV Eye
Fox premieres an extraordinary new series that redefines prime-time network fare.
2001 Texas Book Festival Schedule
All events take place at the State Capitol and are free. Security at the Capitol has been increased for the Festival and all bags will be searched; arrive early. Free parking is available at the state parking lots at 12th & Guadalupe and at 12th & San Jacinto. The Authors Party on Saturday, November 17,…
Weird Revelations
“What a fuckin’ ferryboat ride to Shitsville!” exclaims the always outspoken Gibby Haynes of his recent visit to the set of the Late Late Show. The Butthole Surfers took a few hours’ break from their current tour and performed their new single “Dracula From Houston” on the show last week, leaving Haynes far from happy…
Naked City
Texas Observer co-editor Karen Olsson will leave the venerable biweekly in January to pursue creative writing interests. She and Nate Blakeslee took over the progressive magazine last year, succeeding Lou Dubose and current Chronicle News Editor Michael King. (Dubose also did a Chron-stint and is now writing books full-time.) Pretrial hearings for Michael Scott, one…
Video Reviews
Set in the summer of 1963, this coming-of-age film about four Southern girls is nothing less than enchanting.
Postscripts
Recent news in Austin’s literary scene
Phases and Stages
Waking Life Original Motion Picture Soundtrack(TVT) Don’t let the animation fool you, Waking Life is not for anyone needing “Parental Guidance.” One of two new celluloid splashes from Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater, Waking Life is the Slacker of the digital age, its frame-by-frame painted images animating existential ramblings. Like the soundtracks for Linklater’s Dazed and…
Naked City
The Creedmoor/Maha Water Supply Corp.’s application to quadruple its pumping rights to 617 million gallons of water a year from the increasingly threatened Edwards Aquifer represents the largest single amount ever requested of the agency that regulates aquifer pumping rights. The Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District (BSEACD) has set a public hearing date for…
Va Savoir
Va Savoir 2001, PG-13, 154 min. Directed by Jacques Rivette, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Claude Berri, Catherine Rouvel, Bruno Todeschini, Hélène de Fougerolles, Jacques Bonnaffé, Marianne Basler, Sergio Castellitto, Jeanne Balibar. The romantic comedy Va Savoir (Who Knows?) is a trifle by the great French master Jacques Rivette — a statement which…
Page Two
Austin music clubs are usually one of the first casualties in an economic downturn.
Phases and Stages
Girl RobotsFractured Fairy Tales (Chihuahua Pit Entertainment) Edward Everett Horton, known and loved as narrator of “Fractured Fairy Tales” on The Bullwinkle Show, better watch his happy arse if this local crew ever rolls into the land of make-believe in their Mystery Machine. Although it took six years to emerge from the womb, the Girl…
Naked City
The Austin American-Statesman, which otherwise treats UT faculty and administrators with kid gloves, took yet another cheap shot at journalism professor Robert Jensen on Sunday. In the Insight section under the heading, “The cost of free speech,” the paper quoted a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece by the New Republic’s Gregg Easterbrook, who wrote, “Mr.…
Tape
Tape is a confined microcosm: three characters, one room, and a whole lot of head-trippery. Old high school friends reunite years later in a dingy Michigan motel room for a night of tricky revelations.
Re: Resisting Evildoers
Defense against one’s enemies presents a conflict for individuals who identify themselves as members of a Christian society instructed to turn the other cheek.
Phases and Stages
ChomskyOnward Quirky Soldiers (Idol) And then the army marched south. After solidifying North Texas under a tight, New Wave regime, Chomsky heads down to the capital, armed with the potent ammo of Onward Quirky Soldiers. Unlike Hannibal, there’s no need for elephant-like gimmicks, although quirky generals from the past like XTC and Devo come to…
Naked City
Police accountability activists are crying foul over the two candidates for the city’s brand- new police monitor position, announced Nov. 1 by City Manager Jesus Garza. The police monitor will be charged with coordinating and overseeing the city’s new citizen review board. But according to ACLU attorney Ann Del Llano, who helped design the new…
Punks
Punks 2000, R, 104 min. Directed by Patrik-Ian Polk, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Vanessa Williams, Loretta Devine, Devon Odessa, Rudolf Martin, Renoly Santiago, Rockmond Dunbar, Jazzmun, Dwight Ewell, Seth Gilliam. Can a movie have too many drag scenes? Surprisingly, yes — even if they involve yards of bubble wrap, black vinyl nuns’…
Day Trips
At the Wiseman House in Hico, Kevin Wenzel serves up some of the finest chocolates in Texas.
Phases and Stages
ColorAre You With Me? (Arista)Darin MurphyHaunted Gardenias (Rafgard) More than anything — and no doubt the only good thing it’s wrought — the rise of boy bands and Britney Spears has made pop music fashionable again. Austin’s mid-Nineties power pop boys Seed toned down their grunge guitars for gleaming harmonies, and those same priorities hold…
Naked City
Transit and traffic concerns prompted City Council Members Beverly Griffith and Danny Thomas to vote once again to reject a zoning change for a proposed 30-unit, affordable housing development and childcare center on Dessau Road. On Nov. 8, Thomas voted no and Griffith abstained on the project’s second reading, leaving project developers Community Partnership for…
Novocaine
Novocaine 2001, R, 95 min. Directed by David Atkins, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Steve Martin, Helena Bonham Carter, Kevin Bacon, Elias Koteas, Laura Dern. Novocaine isn’t so much a numbing experience as it is an ambivalent one. A modern-day film noir about a straight-arrow dentist framed for murder, it’s a black comedy…
