The Fall of the House of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher 1960, NR, 79 min. Directed by Roger Corman, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey, Harry Ellerbe. By far the best of Roger Corman’s Poe-inspired films done for legendary B-movie outfit American International Pictures in the early Sixties, The Fall of the…
Superman: The Movie – Director’s Cut
Superman: The Movie – Director’s Cut 1978, PG, 151 min. Directed by Richard Donner, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Valerie Perrine, Jackie Cooper, Mark Mcclure, Glenn Ford, Ned Beatty. Look, up on the screen! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s the original 1978 film…
My New Partner
My New Partner 1984, R, 106 min. Directed by Claude Zidi, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Philippe Noiret, Thierry Lhermitte. A veteran cop and a rookie team up in winner of several French awards.
Boyfriends and Girlfriends
Boyfriends and Girlfriends 1987, PG, 102 min. Directed by Eric Rohmer, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Marie Riviere, Lisa Heredia. “Love and Morality: The Films of Eric Rohmer” is an eight-film survey of films by the cerebral French master. Summer belongs to Rohmer’s cycle of “Comedies and Proverbs.” The final film in the…
Wolves, Pigs and People Double Bill
Wolves, Pigs and People Double Bill 1964, NR, 95 min. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ken Takakura. Wolves, Pigs, and People belongs to Fukasaku’s early period and focuses on three brothers growing up poor and embittered in the slums of a ruined city.
High Noon for Gangsters
High Noon for Gangsters 1961, NR, 82 min. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ken Takakura, Kinya Kitaoji. One of Fukasaku’s first yakuza films to earn critical praise, High Noon for Gangsters is the unsentimental story of three brothers – one a lone wolf and the other two in gangs…
State Police vs. Organized Crime
State Police vs. Organized Crime 1975, NR, 101 min. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Kiroki Matsukata, Tatsuo Umemiya. An easygoing cop and a yakuza drinking buddy have their friendship destroyed by internecine gang warfare and the intervention of a police chief who is on a crusade against corruption.
Slightly Bent
Slightly Bent NR. Directed by Don Hertzfeldt., Bill Plympton, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Slighty Bent is an aptly named collection of unusual animated films by Don Hertzfeldt and Bill Plympton, who will also be in attendance for Q&As following the screenings. These guys are staples of Spike & Mike’s Sick and…
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974, R, 83 min. Directed by Tobe Hooper, Starring Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, Ed Neal. Seminal horror film, made right in Central Texas by UT grads, about a group of friends beset by a family of cannibals, including the legendary, chainsaw-wielding Leatherface.
Exhibitionism
This Jessen Series of Distinguished Faculty Artists concert by the Cavani String Quartet saw these now-familiar Visiting Artists in Chamber Music at their performing, and pedagogic, peak.
Mr. Smarty Pants
Cheer in a handful of trivia
Phases and Stages
American Analog SetKnow by Heart (Tiger Style) Normally, Austin’s American Analog Set isn’t a band you listen to when you want to get things accomplished. Usually it engenders just sitting around listening to the leaves rustle, maybe shuffling through some papers. That’s why the new AmAnSet offering seemed like an odd choice to listen to…
Spooking the Students
If you thought the days of COINTELPRO were over when Nixon left the White House, think again, says a coalition of UT student groups. The coalition, led by the Undergraduate Students Association (UGSA) and Students for the ACLU, has issued a proposal charging UT with spying on its own student organizations. Last week, the coalition…
A Way of Life, Like Any Other
Darcy O’Brien’s recently reissued, autobiographical Hollywood novel A Way of Life, Like Any Other is part satire, part insightful coming-of-age tale, and entirely funny.
Liam
Liam 2001, R, 90 min. Directed by Stephen Frears, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Megan Burns, Claire Hackett, Anthony Borrows, Ian Hart. Best off to begin with a bias: I am not a fan of Catholic guilt. So it was with a distinct lack of enthusiasm that I approached Liam, Stephen Frears’ new…
Exhibitionism
St. Edward’s University’s lavish production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is, for the most part, an enjoyable, educational — albeit long — night of romance and comedic and dramatic irony, with some intense swashbuckling.
After a Fashion
We had a ball (not a drag at all!) at the Drag Ball … and go, go Gomi! Your Style Avatar went and is here to tell you about it.
Phases and Stages
Beaver NelsonUndisturbed (Black Dog) Beaver Nelson’s first two albums were prime examples of end-of-the-century roots rock, chock-full of well-written tunes performed with heart, grit, and crackling energy. Undisturbed seems to be missing something, but just what is hard to pin down. Nelson again works with producer/ guitarist Scrappy Jud Newcomb and they’ve assembled a fine…
Hemp Hemp No Way
The DEA bans hemp-derived food products.
Web Site to Watch: mumbleboy.com
Internet design elevated to art, post-Atari
Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive 2001, R, 146 min. Directed by David Lynch, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Naomi Watts, Robert Forster, Dan Hedaya, Ann Miller, Laura Elena Harring, Justin Theroux. Robert Forster’s character (who makes a cameo early on in David Lynch’s newest) neatly sums up the film when he arrives. He plays an LAPD…
Exhibitionism
All his life, Marcel Marceau has pushed the invisible envelope of mime with crazy experiments. On October 6, in Bass Concert Hall, he gave a rendition of some of his most successful experiments, his greatest hits.
About AIDS
Drug-resistant strains of HIV
Phases and Stages
Ponty BoneFantasize (Loudhouse) Listening to a Ponty Bone album is like getting an invitation to a get-together that turns into a full-scale party. From the opening lines of “Now’s the Time,” Austin’s premier accordion player creates a funky, syncopated sound echoed throughout his Fantasize on songs like “Ain’t Got No Sweet Thing,” “Just Like Home,”…
Naked City
Due to the fear of potential terrorist attacks, Ninth Street, between San Jacinto and Trinity Streets, will remain closed indefinitely, says city Traffic Engineer Alan Hughes. The feds, by way of the General Services Administration (which oversees federal buildings and personnel), implored the city to close the section of Ninth that runs underneath the Homer…
Short Cuts
SXSW entry rules
Haiku Tunnel
Haiku Tunnel 2001, R, 90 min. Directed by Josh Kornbluth, Jacob Kornbluth, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Josh Kornbluth, Amy Resnick, Brian Thorstenson, Helen Shumaker, Warren Keith, June Lomena, Sarah Overman. A canny paean to clerical temps, Haiku Tunnel hits enough of the right notes to make office slaves of all stripes cheer.…
Susanna Kaysen Lays It on the Line
The Camera My Mother Gave Me, by Girl, Interrupted author Susanna Kaysen, is a memoir that has nothing to do with either the author’s camera or her mother, Marion Winik writes. It is about her vagina. It is the chronicle of a mysterious and intractable medical problem she had with this little-discussed part of the…
To Your Health
I keep hearing about a marker for heart disease called homocysteine. What is homocysteine, and why is it a problem?
Phases and Stages
Texas Eastside Kings(Dialtone) On the front of the Eastside Kings CD is a shot of Dialtone guru Eddie Stout’s aqua-and-white Fifties Ford; the back sports an image of Sam’s BBQ on East 12th Street. The latter is the perfect metaphor for the Eastside Kings’ music; this band of veteran Austin players is as smoky and…
Naked City
While national security and economic troubles dominate current public discussion, mayoral candidate Gus Garcia has been using his campaign stops to focus on education — and has dished out some pretty harsh criticisms of the Austin Independent School District. “Although the mayor doesn’t have any direct power over the school board,” Garcia tells “Naked City,”…
TV Eye
Couldn’t you use a good laugh?
10th Annual ‘Austin Chronicle’ Short Story Contest
When we ask writers to be judges for our short story contest, we tell them to think about which stories they would champion and which they would like to see banished. When we joined this year’s five judges for dinner last week, there was some initial patter about which of the nine stories (out of…
Coach’s Corner
Longhorn Fan is a breed apart — for this we can be thankful.
Phases and Stages
The Weary Boys Were this 1946 instead of 2001, flour companies throughout the South would have beseiged the Weary Boys with offers for radio programs and promotional tours. They might have even helped elect a governor. True, MTV ain’t exactly beating a path to the holler nowadays — certainly not to that Red River holler…
Naked City
On Friday, Travis Co. Sheriff Margo Frasier appeared before the Texas Commission on Jail Standards in Amarillo to present a plan that should get the county’s jails up to code by Jan. 1, 2002. All three of the county’s detention facilities failed their yearly surprise inspection in May. This was the fourth year in a…
Riding in Cars With Boys
Riding in Cars With Boys 2001, PG-13, 122 min. Directed by Penny Marshall, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Rosie Perez, Sara Gilbert, James Woods, Lorraine Bracco, Adam Garcia, Brittany Murphy, Steve Zahn, Drew Barrymore. This rendering of Beverly Donofrio’s autobiographical book about a woman who believes in her literary abilities, and has faith…
The Tenth Annual “Austin Chronicle’ Short Story Contest Results
Winners First PlaceDiane Fleming has published a book of poetry, Trip to Normal. She is currently a technical writer at Vignette. She is grateful to her writing teachers from SWT and Austin Community College, to her writing group friends, and to her once and future therapists.Second PlaceA new and still reluctant Texan, Eileen E. Flynn…
Among Green Pastures Again
Virginia B. Wood on why one of the great Texas cookbooks is being reissued.
Phases and Stages
Wayne HancockA-Town Blues (Bloodshot) Wayne the Train’s at it again, and on Bloodshot Records this time. All the ducks are in a row for the local honky-tonker, with killer backup from Dave Biller (axe), Jeremy Wakefield (steel), Shawn Supra (bass), and producer Lloyd Maines twiddling the knobs at Cedar Creek Studios and even having a…
Naked City
Hyde Park wasn’t the only North Central Austin neighborhood straddling the dusty byways of the city’s Land Development Code at the Oct. 11 council meeting (see “Austin @ Large,” p.12). The North University Neighborhood Association went up against developer Mike McHone and his proposed 163-unit Villas on Guadalupe upscale condo project (four stories and a…
Summer
Summer 1986, R, 98 min. Directed by Eric Rohmer, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Marie Riviere, Lisa Heredia. Summer belongs to Rohmer’s cycle of “Comedies and Proverbs.” Improvised performances are the key to this story of a French secretary’s pout over her ruined vacation.
The Tenth Annual “Austin Chronicle’ Short Story Contest Results
Judges (l-r) Scott Blackwood coordinates the Undergraduate Writing Center at UT; his first collection of short stories, In the Shadow of Our House, was published by SMU Press this summer. Alexander Parsons is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and New Mexico State University’s Fiction Writing Program. He has received the AWP/Thomas Dunne Books…
Food-o-File
If it’s October in Austin, you can bet there are more gala events scheduled than any one person could possibly attend. Food editor Virginia B. Wood provides a rundown of them.
Phases and Stages
Robert Earl KeenGravitational Forces (Lost Highway) Robert Earl Keen may be a new labelmate of Lucinda Williams, and more of a modern-day Lone Star folk hero than ever, but nowadays he’d rather be on the back 40 than the Top 40. That’s what he says on Gravitational Forces’ opener “My Home Ain’t in the Hall…
Naked City
By a 4-3 vote last Thursday, the City Council passed an ordinance that makes sitting or lying on downtown sidewalks “in a manner that would hinder the unobstructed passage of a person” a Class C misdemeanor. Since the ordinance was first debated in May, Council Members Danny Thomas, Beverly Griffith, and Raul Alvarez have consistently…
Graveyard of Honor and Humanity
Graveyard of Honor and Humanity 1975, NR, 94 min. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Noboru Ando, Hajime Hana. A sociopathic loser doesn’t get along with his yakuza pals
The Tenth Annual “Austin Chronicle’ Short Story Contest Results
First Place Winner: Valium by Diane Fleming To get around, I plotted my excursions carefully. I drove everywhere in right lanes only, afraid that to venture into the unprotected left would cause me to separate from my body. To turn left, I turned right, circling in stranger’s driveways. I used my kids as an excuse…
Will Travel for Food
Austin cultural historian Claudia Alarcón, a native of Mexico City, on her annual quest for chiles en nogada.
Phases and Stages
Michael Fracasso Back to Oklahoma (India)Trish MurphyCaptured (Raven) Okay, it’s true that Michael Fracasso and Trish Murphy are very different in the broad category of singer-songwriter. Yet, they’re both beloved artists in the Austin music scene, with dedicated and well-deserved followings. Coincidentally, they’ve both released collections of songs that are very similar in concept and…
Naked City
Georgetown Mayor MaryEllen Kersch, who previously wrote to the Chronicle denouncing our reporters for not interviewing her (“Postmarks,” Sept. 21), has now expressed her deep personal regret for talking to our reporters. On Oct. 12, Kersch responded to Jordan Smith’s Oct. 5 “Naked City” item “Georgetown Follies, Part 345” (which recounts Kersch’s verbal abuse of…
Shogun’s Samurai
Shogun’s Samurai 1978, NR, 130 min. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Sonny Chiba. This big-budget action spectacular stars Sonny Chiba in a film take on the popular Seventies TV show, Yagyu Clan Conspiracy.
The Tenth Annual “Austin Chronicle’ Short Story Contest Results
Second Place: November by Eileen E. Flynn How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was? Or something like that. He’d seen the words — attributed to Satchel Paige — in blue letters on a birthday card. He wasn’t even looking for a birthday card, but somehow those words had jumped…
Back Home in Texas
The return of the reigning Queen of Austin Country Music
Phases and Stages
Wild SeedsI’m Sorry, I Can’t Rock You All Night Long: Wild Seeds 1984-1989 (Aznut) Remember back when the “Austin Music Scene” really was a scene? As in a definable type of not-ready-for-drive-time players with a high concentration of the heart, energy, and (dare I say it) sincerity that rock & roll was supposed to really…
Naked City
As a former U.S. intelligent official, retired Admiral Bobby Inman is accustomed to relying on gut instinct to guide him through uncertain times. Inman drew on similar instincts Tuesday when he stepped up to the podium, glanced over his notes, and offered his “gut” analysis of today’s economy. And if the lunch crowd — an…
An Fear, Panic and Censorship
An Fear, Panic and Censorship 2000, NR. Directed by David Kenny, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Fear, Panic and Censorship is a BBC documentary about the debate surrounding “video nasties” and censoring of the Internet, featuring interviews with such genre heroes as Bill Lustig, Dario Argento, and Herschell Gordon Lewis.
The Tenth Annual “Austin Chronicle’ Short Story Contest Results
Third Place: The Warmth of Snow by Margaret Burns She lives on Central Park South, and I like to visit her to put my life into perspective. Unfortunately, every time we get together I drink so much that I end up sick. We’ll eat a little lunch in the hotel dining room overlooking the Park…
Who’s to Say
Pat Green, the “devil’s spawn”?
From Bethlehem to Austin
A journalist moves from the violence of Palestine to the safety of Austin, and finds herself dazed by the difference.
Naked City
Four years after the Dawson Neighborhood Plan — the city’s first — was begun, and two years after it was adopted, the City Council still hasn’t gotten its act together to approve the plan’s recommended zoning changes. (This implementation phase was expected to take about a month.) Various Dawsonians who weren’t involved in the plan…
Satan’s Cheerleaders
Satan’s Cheerleaders 1977, R, 92 min. Directed by Greydon Clark, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring John Ireland, Yvonne De Carlo, John Carradine. Lots of gore programmed to “offend everybody.” Austin’s own outrageous Flametrick Subs will provide live rock & roll hijinks.
The Tenth Annual “Austin Chronicle’ Short Story Contest Results
Fourth Place: Lies by Joan Burditt The only reason Mrs. Reznik hired me that summer was that she wanted her grandson to become interested in me. Not that I was anything special. She just wanted her little David to become interested in a girl, any girl. I had no experience in retail, but Mrs. R.,…
Dancing About Architecture
More Austin music news
“This Is Palestine Calling’
Excerpts from Refugees in Our Land by Muna Hamzeh
Citizens Not Invited
The Dems and Repubs posture over redistricting, while the rest of us just look on.
Friday the 13th: Part 3
Friday the 13th: Part 3 1982, R, 96 min. Directed by Steve Miner, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Dana Kimmell, Paul Kratka. Jason returns, but this time he’s in 3D. It’s gore, with real depth. Held over for the third week, it seems 3D is finding a whole new dimension in Austin, Texas.…
The Tenth Annual “Austin Chronicle’ Short Story Contest Results
Fifth Place: Thirsty Dog: A Prague Story by Steve White “Close the door, boy,” barked the drunker and rougher of the two burly men sitting closest to the entrance. They were ticket handlers from the metro, dressed in pale green uniforms stretched to the thread’s end by the years of inactivity. Tomas pulled the door…
Throwin’ The D!
Our resident Marshmallow Peep relates the news and hearsay in and around the Live Music Capital…
From Austin to Travis County — With $$$$$$
Travis County’s upcoming bond election asks mostly urban voters to fund suburban sprawl.
Austin @ Large: End Games
The end of the Watson Era, Slusher’s predicament, and corrected Austin demographics
13 Frightened Girls
13 Frightened Girls 1963, NR, 89 min. Directed by William Castle, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Kathy Dunn, Murray Hamilton. Thirteen diplomats’ daughters in a Swiss boarding school play spy.
Corky Romano
Corky Romano 2001, PG-13, 86 min. Directed by Rob Pritts, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Vincent Pastore, Peter Berg, Richard Roundtree, Fred Ward, Chris Penn, Vinessa Shaw, Peter Falk, Chris Kattan. SNL cast member Chris Kattan should have been in silent comedy. He has the Silly Putty face of those old slapstick stars,…
Postscripts
Books editor Clay Smith surveys what the September 11 attacks have done to several local bookstores’ sales.
Phases and Stages
Explosions in the SkyThose Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever (Temporary Residence) “This plane will crash tomorrow” states a now-prophetic blurb on the inside album sleeve. “Help us stay alive,” pleads a slogan on the opposite page, underneath the sketch of an angel. Fear, hope, death, redemption…
The Race Begins — With Race
Former council member and current mayoral candidate Eric Mitchell called a campaign kickoff press conference at City Hall Tuesday night — and for the second time in a week, he didn’t show up. (Last week’s kickoff conference was postponed.) Campaign Manager Nelson Linder, who’s also head of the NAACP’s Austin chapter, said Mitchell could not…
The Hightower Lowdown
Jim waves the flag; George Dubya plays his health-care shell game; the U.S. gets into bed with thugs.
PrizeWhores
PrizeWhores 2001, NR, 78 min. Directed by Jenn Garrison, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Local radio personality Jenn Garrison shot this documentary about three local “prize whores,” individuals who organize their lives around the plethora of free giveaways sponsored by radio stations, music venues, and movie houses. The film has spent the…
The Last Castle
The Last Castle 2001, R, 120 min. Directed by Rod Lurie, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Robert Redford, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo, Delroy Lindo, Steve Burton, George Scott. Some films just leave you puzzled, and The Last Castle is one of them. The movie is the story of a three-star general, Eugene Irwin…
Second Helpings: Community Supported Agriculture Subscription Farms
How to join community supported agriculture subscription farms.
Page Two
An ineffective war and the passing of Dan Del Santo
Phases and Stages
PongKiller Lifestyle (Woodeye) My brother-in-law loaned me this album, and there’s a damn good chance he won’t be getting it back. Topping the psychedelic bottom-wiggling goodness of Pong’s live shows is a tall order, but Killer Lifestyle is a dazzling aural postcard that’ll make you wish you were there. Pong carries on the chunky rhythm…
Rylander’s Prison Plans Not Sewn Up
Comptroller Rylander seeks to aid the war effort with Texas prisoners.
Snapshots From the Fest
Interviews and winners from the Austin Film Festival
A Selection of Short Films and Videos by Austin Filmmakers
A Selection of Short Films and Videos by Austin Filmmakers NR. Directed by Various, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . The screening hosts works by Barna Kantor, Justin Hennard, Am Fejes, Leon Elwood Harris, Gonzalo Gonzalez, Salvatore Botti, Shannon Owens, and Gary Price. Also included is a Swiss film collective’s study of the…
Is Anybody Laughing?
In the midst of economic hard times and a wave of terrorist attacks, the comedy business wonders what’s funny.
Letters at 3AM
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein offered a metaphor for the modern age, one in which the monster is the unacknowledged dark side of the inventor or creator.
Phases and Stages
PushmonkeyEl Bitche (Trespass)Damesviolet(Powerplay) Imagine, just for a second, that a wealthy KLBJ listener decides he wants to donate $10,000 toward video production for two of the most promising homegrown groups in current rotation, Pushmonkey and Damesviolet. What might they look like? Judging by the bands’ recently released albums, Damesviolet would almost certainly head off for…
Holly on Hold
Passage of the Holly Neighborhood Plan gets postponed for lack of neighborhood participation.
Of Church and State
British director Stephen Frears discusses his new film, Liam
Our Lady of the Assassins
Our Lady of the Assassins 2000, R, 100 min. Directed by Barbet Schroeder, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Juan David Restrepo, Anderson Ballesteros, Germán Jaramillo. Barbet Schroeder, the international film director and producer who is most widely known for his American films Reversal of Fortune, Barfly, and Single White Female, returns to Colombia,…
Articulations
Austin Playwrights Dan Dietz and Tom White get produced in L.A., playwright Colin Swanson gets two shows mounted in NYC, and set designer Christopher McCollum and painter Michael Ray Charles show up on PBS.
Day Trips
The Devil’s Rope Museum in McLean chronicles the closing of the Great American Plain with barbed wire.
Phases and Stages
MadcowCattle Prodigy (Borg) If you grew up in the aimless suburban milieu of tallboys, hash pipes, and black-sleeved concert shirts, you probably recall at least a few parties where a few bedraggled hesher dudes set up to play five or six loud, muddy songs before the cops showed up. Despite unbridled enthusiasm and volume, their…
Catching Hell in G’Town
Battle over recall, development, and civility continues in Georgetown.
For the Love of Crap
Local doc PrizeWhores gets cozy with koozie-junkies.
From Hell
From Hell 2001, R, 123 min. Directed by Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ian Richardson, Jason Flemyng, Byron Fear, Katrin Cartlidge, Joanna Page, Paul Rhys, Robbie Coltrane, Ian Holm, Heather Graham, Johnny Depp. If you’re like me you’ve been waiting for the definitive film version of Jack the Ripper’s…
