Pixel Vision Archives — Page 120 of 133 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Caution, Ang Lee crossing: a roundtable with the “Lust, Caution” director and star

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November 28, 2007

Ang Lee – the future of Hollywood-Chinese cinema? The filmmaker certainly displayed the analytical acuity and actorly touch required for the position, as he was interviewed about his film, Se, jie (Lust, Caution), shortly after its October release, alongside his star, newcomer Wei Tang, at the Ritz-Carlton in SF. Here’s a portion of the roundtable interview with various other journalists, with less shrift given to the questions and more to Lee’s thoughtful, rambling responses. Spoiler alert: major plot points are discussed.

Q: May I start with the obvious question? Why did [Wang Jiazhi, played by Wei Tang] do it? Why did she make this decision to let him go?

Ang Lee: That is the question. [Chuckles]

Barbie hits the skids!

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November 27, 2007

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By Amber Peckham

Do you think that microchips are snacks enjoyed with cheese dip while watching the local monster truck rally?

Do you think that the word Iraq refers to a woman with large breasts?

These are only some of the questions asked at www.trailertrashdoll.com, the Web site of Gibby Novelties LLC. They sell, you guessed it, dolls. Barbie and Ken the way we always knew they should be; crass, uneducated, and parents of a whole mess of kids, spouting nonsense around the cigarette clamped between black and empty gums.

There are three trailer trash dolls currently being manufactured by the company. The first is simply “Trailer Trash Doll”, a blonde, pigtailed girl reminiscent of Daisy Duke on a bad makeup day. Then there’s “Trash Talkin’ Turleen”, a mother of seven (and one more perpetually on the way) with an attitude hotter than those rollers in her hair. Last, but certainly not least, is the newest addition to the trailer park, “Jer Wayne Junior”. This heartthrob of the Heartland sports a gin-u-ine mullet, and even has a tattoo immortalizing his first and only true love, NASCAR. Turleen and Jer Wayne are the dolls that speak, pearls of wisdom like “T’aint nothin’ sadder than a double-wide with no beer!” and “Pour me a double, I’m drinkin’ fer two.”

Company owner Daniel Gibby says “We recognize the need to have a little laugh and be light hearted during these trying times and we hope our dolls fit the bill!”

For the hillbilly in your home, no gift could be more ideal; a piece of talking plastic to stick on the mantelpiece. It’s almost like y’all went to Graceland.

www.trailertrashdoll.com

Lick it legal

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November 27, 2007

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By Justin Juul

Being an American sucks in a lot of different ways — it’s basically impossible to live here and not be fat, you can’t drink in the streets, etc — but perhaps worst of all is the fact that absinthe is illegal. It doesn’t sound so bad on its own, but think about the repercussions of such a pointless ban: we have to drink waaaaay more than most Europeans in order to get drunk, we have to do mushrooms or acid if we want to hallucinate, and to top it all off our art is suffering. Look around you. Where are our Picassos and Van Goghs? Where are our Oscar Wildes and modern-day Hemingways? The answer is as sad as it is obvious. Our creative geniuses are either too strung out to work or rotting in rehab centers because they had to turn to heroin instead of absinthe.

Picasso’s “Absinthe Drinker”

Thank god for loopholes. The people over at Lit have discovered that, although straight-up absinthe may be illegal, there’s nothing in the books that says you can’t make candy out of the stuff.

Suck and spin

Save an artist this Christmas. Order some Absinthe Lollies now.

Absinthe Lollies are available at Miette Confiserie and through Lit’s Web site.

Miette Confiserie
449 Octavia Boulevard, SF
(415) 626-6221
www.miettecackes.com

Play “The Mist” for me

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November 27, 2007

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By Maria Komodore

Warning: this post may contain spoilers — if you haven’t seen The Mist yet, read on with caution.

The Mist, director Frank Darabontʼs third collaboration with writer Stephen King (the other two being 1994ʼs The Shawshank Redemption and 1999ʼs The Green Mile), is a blend of horror cult films such as Them! (1954) and The Fly (1958, 1986) — among many, many others — and John Carpenterʼs The Fog. And thatʼs exactly why itʼs sooo good.

But in the case of The Mist, keeping with the cult extravaganzasʼ marvelously ridiculous plots, the dangerous mystery that the fog holds doesnʼt involve peopleʼs past sins returning to mercilessly haunt them down. That would be way too simple. Rather, the threat engulfed in the thick white cloud is a number of apocalyptic and pre-historic looking creatures that found their way into our world when scientific experiments to open up windows to different dimensions got out of control. In other words, fears about science and the ways it has put us in serious trouble, a subject perhaps more urgent today than ever, make their triumphant return.

Just a guess, but whatever they’re looking at probably ain’t too friendly.

Viral felines: now that they have a platform, they won’t shut up!

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November 27, 2007

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Sorry, but I am being pushed by my own resident fleabag to share: you have to love how a cute, innocuous little clip of mouthy kitties can turn into a Lebowski-like mini-YouTube phenom.

Classic Coke.

Mach II.

The F-word spinoff.

Still Life for your hotness

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November 26, 2007

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By Justin Juul

Kelly Malone, the brains behind the popular Mission Indie Mart events (which we pumped here), will be opening her very first vintage store, called Still Life, at 835 Divisadero, so if you’ve missed her beer soaked backyard/dive bar one-offs you might want to swing by the Panhandle for the grand opening on December 1st. There won’t be any free beer, but music, cupcakes, sweet hipster eye-candy, and other treats will be available from 1am until Malone gets tired.

Ms. Malone brings it!

Still Life is being designed with a “mad scientist” theme by Malone and her kooky DIY entourage and will feature an even distribution of men’s and women’s apparel along with weird knick-knacks and cool accessories like feather earrings and owl clocks. Don’t let all the corporate bourge-tiques swindle you out of your wages this holiday season. Support SF’s up and coming local designers, store owners, and drunkards by making a trip to Still Life. Oh, about the beer thing: don’t tell her I told you, but she’s always holding a case of Tecate for volunteers and friends and she’s a sucker for compliments. Drop a few ooohs and ahhh’s and you just might get a sample.

Still Life Grand Opening
Dec 1, 11am — ??
835 Divisadero, SF

The messengers

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November 15, 2007

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By Sara Schieron

Michael Peña and Andrew Garfield give the illusion of a long association. Funny enough, they never appear together in Robert Redford’s new war drama Lions for Lambs, and yet they get along well enough to finish each other’s sentences. Perhaps we can credit this familiarity with their shared experience working with actor and director Redford, whom they imply, helped them smooth out their respective anxieties. And who wouldn’t be anxious? They’re working with the freakin’ Sundance Kid. Anxious is exactly the right mindset.

Lions for Lambs is split into three storylines in three locales: one takes place in a California university, another in Washington D.C., and the third in Afghanistan. Revolving around the plight of two soldiers (played by Derek Luke and Peña), the story in California (starring Redford and Garfield) relates to the soldier’s decision to enlist, while the story in DC (starring Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise) explains the tragic strategy these two soldiers are en route to execute.

Lions for Lambs director and star “Bob” Redford.

Ultimately, Lions is a message film about America at war, and it’s rare in that no other message films are filling the role of direct criticism. The Kingdom was an action movie with a comment about retribution, The Situation was a suspense film with an observation about truth in war, and In the Valley of Elah was a family drama with a massive overstatement about the nation in peril. Lions, on the other hand, is a straight up message film. But Garfield and Peña would explain it a little differently.

British by birth, Garfield made waves in Toronto with his film debut, Boy A, but before that he had a run playing lead character Billy in a theatrical adaptation of Kes, a lesser-known gem in the oeuvre of the great Ken Loach. Peña, in contrast, is far more seasoned than you’d expect such a young actor to be. He’s worked alongside many American bigwigs, appearing in Crash, World Trade Center, Shooter, and Babel. Both actors toured with the film to answer questions at a myriad of pre-screenings with Q&A devised by Redford to get the word out. Our conversation about acting, conviction and working with Redford follows.

Whisky, women, and throngs

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November 14, 2007

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Cocktail maven Jonathan Beckhardt reports, tipsily, on last month’s First Annual San Francisco Whiskyfest

A ballroom full of whiskies has done little to excite my pen over the course of the last week. I get jazzed up for these type of events, but am always let down when I remember, for example, that Whiskyfest is not so much a fest as it is a trade show.

Ready to whisky you away!

Walking from booth to booth, learning about new whiskies, meeting brand “ambassadors,” it’s like the first day of camp — before every one’s parents have left. You go around, meet the other kids, get an idea for what they are like. But you can’t have any fun with them. At Whiskyfest you stroll around to the whiskies, but just get an idea for what each whisky is about. My notes are full of whiskies I enjoyed and were interesting. But I didn’t leave with a fondness for any the way that I would after a special moment with one of them in a bar.

RIP Cotton Hill, beloved TV curmudgeon and WWII vet

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November 13, 2007

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A meeting of the minds: Hank Hill, from left, Jimmy Carter, and Cotton Hill

By Erik Morse

On Sunday night, Nov. 11, FOX’s King of the Hill committed the ultimate cartoon sin when it saw the demise of cranky septuagenarian and war hero Cotton Lyndal Hill. A cruel gambit by the animators made all the worse as it was committed on Veteran’s Day, Cotton’s death illustrates a rare moment when an animated series has transgressed “Wile E. Coyote” immortality and confronted the loss of a central character. The following obit was released on the television show’s official Web site shortly before the episode’s debut:

“Cotton Hill, age unknown, World War II veteran, died Sunday in a Texas VA hospital. Hill suffered from several injuries ranging from four rusty bullets lodged in his heart from his military service, a broken hip and torn ligaments in his ankle-knees, to an infection in his esophagus and severe burns caused by a freak shrimp accident that occurred earlier this week at Tokyaki’s Japanese restaurant. Hill leaves behind sons Hank Hill and G.H. (short for “Good Hank”); daughter-in-law Peggy Hill; grandson Bobby Hill; ex-wife Tilly; second wife Didi; first love and former Japanese lover Michiko; an illegitimate Japanese son, Junichiro; and nephew Dusty Hill (of band ZZ Top).”

Texas redneck patrician, misogynist, gun lover, American hero, and war amputee, Cotton proved to be one of the most controversial and loveable television characters since the inimitable Archie Bunker. Representing the best and worst qualities of the “Greatest Generation” – its narrowmindedness, prejudices, simplicities as well as its patriotism, courage, and fraternity – Hill was a surrogate grandfather to many of us who had lost our own so many years ago. As a Texan and an obsessive viewer of the series from the beginning, I was startled by the news – Sundays have now lost a bit more of their juvenile innocence.

True grace

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November 13, 2007

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By Rita Felciano

Bay Area Odissi dancer Asako Takami died on November 3, 2007 in San Francisco after a four-year battle with ovarian cancer. She was 47 seven years old. Founder and artistic director of the East Bay-based Pallavi Dance Group, Takami was an exquisite dancer and much-revered teacher of who had lived in the Bay Area for fifteen years. As a sign of their love and affection for this remarkable woman and artist, the Bay Area dance community honored her in a benefit at the Cultural Integration Fellowship in San Francisco on October 27, 2007.

Born in Nigata, Japan, Takami became interested in Odissi, the Indian classical dance style from the state of Orissa, at the age of 20. In 2000, in an interview with Hinduism Today she explained her fascination with the art. “I’d never seen women who were really beautiful and really powerful. That energy I’d never felt in anything — that was my first impression. I could not forget it.” For the next 15 years she studied with Smt. Kumkum Lal and Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra in India and Japan. She gained international attention through her participation in Ralph Lemon’s Tree, part two of “The Geography Trilogy.” The work was performed at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in October 2000.

Mythili Kumar, Artistic Director of Abhinaya Dance Company in San Jose, remembers Takami for her “exquisite grace and perfect technique.” Her death, she said, “is a tremendous loss to the dance world but I feel so fortunate that we got to know such a wonderful, humble and sweet person. We will miss her so much.” Takami is survived by friends and her partner Ralph Lemon. A memorial service will take place Sun/18 at 2 p.m. in the Bolinas Community Center, 14 Wharf Road, Bolinas.

Hummus for the Holidays

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November 9, 2007

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Tired of turkey? Had it with ham? Chucking the…yeah, well, you get the idea.

By Amber Peckham

If the holiday fare for the last few years has become as boring as your relatives, you might want to sign up for the free – yes, free – vegan cooking class being offered by Wellness Central on November 18. The class will be held in the Loughborough Center and will last around 90 minutes. Vegan nutritionist Patricia Allen Koot will present, and nationally syndicated host of Go Vegan Radio, Bob Lynden, also will make an appearance.

Without the Wellness Central class, this is what your meat-free meal will look like.

Collage Party at Creative Growth

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November 9, 2007

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If you’re wondering what to do today, there is surely nothing better than joining The Collage Party at Creative Growth, winners of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Goldie award.
I’ll be there in spirit, because there are few things I love more than collage (I’ve got a dozen unfinished projects at home, so I’ll cut jewels from Sotheby’s catalogues when I get there tonight).

photo of a Collage Party in Berlin

The Collage Party is one part of Creative Growth’s Public Art Making Day, which connects Winnipeg artist Paul Butler’s nomadic collage project (on view at the space’s gallery) with an audio-visual program curated by Jennifer Maerz and the premiere of A Mixed Bag of Trippy Shorts, a new film (or film collection) by the Prince of Calgary, Guy Maddin, whose new feature-length movie gives Detour’s Ann Savage her best film role in over a half-century.
Ladies and gentleman, take out your scissors and start cutting.

Ann Savage in Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg

Holla at Molla

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November 5, 2007

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By Amber Peckham

It’s quickly approaching the most consumerist time of the year, and in my experience, even the most anti-establishment of people finds themselves responsible for at least churning out a macramé plant holder for Grandma or handwoven hemp scarf dyed with natural plant fibers for the office gift exchange. It feels good to give, and the spirit is infectious as we approach December. If you’re looking for quirky, fun gifts to appease even the most individualistic of your mob of friends and family, Molla Space might be a good place to start.

Tear Shape Clock by Yamato Japan

Get Black&Blue with Five&Diamond

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November 4, 2007

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Five and Diamond, the new Mission mecca for all things tribal/wildwest/neuvo-burner, is celebrating its grand opening Monday night. And what better way to do it than with the Black and Blue Burlesque, the world-class dancers known for their performances with the Yard Dogs Roadshow? The event starts with a parade from the store to the Elbo Room, where wacky performances and plenty of happy schmoozing will ensue. See you there! (I’ll be the only one without bone jewelry in my stretched-out earlobes…for now).

9pm, $5
Elbo Room
647 Valencia, SF
www.elbo.com

How do I covet 5&D’s inventory, particularly items made by Wilcard? Let me count the ways…

Fashion! Fun!

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November 1, 2007

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It’s going to be a two-fer fashion Saturday! First there’s House of Diehl’s “Project Runway” meets “8-Mile” Style Wars at 111 Minna. And at the same time, the Black Rock Arts Foundation is hosting their first annual Fall gathering, featuring fab performers like Fou Fou Ha and Vau de Vire Society as well as fashions by Bad Unkl Sista. How ever to decide which to attend? I say try to make it to both. Find out why after the jump.

Designs created by previous Style Wars competitors. What can YOU do in 9 minutes?

The dog days of wine labels

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October 30, 2007

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Intern Chris DeMento likes to keep his pets and his merlots separate.

Some Californians just have too much time on their hands, plain and simple. And soon they will all move to Idaho, and soon I will be riding an eco-friendly Scooby Doo jetpack to CIIS to make a study of the Great White Californian Diaspora. Anyway. . . .

Did you know we have a dog lovers’ wine club out here? Bet you didn’t.Yes, the Dog Lovers’ Wine Club (DLWC), based in California of course, supports dog shelters and rescue operations nationwide. They also get drunk, too, which goes without saying, I guess.

Believe Me or Not

Swap your tomes, homes

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October 30, 2007

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By Justin Juul

If you’re anything like me, you have a few problems related to books, alcohol, and money. In a nutshell: you have too many shitty books, good beer is expensive, and you are broke. Well don’t freak out. Swap SF, the organization that hosts the Hyperbolic Clothing Swaps at Cellspace, is throwing a book swap (also at Cellspace) this Saturday, November 3rd.

There’s going to be extremely cheap diamond-label beer and coffee, beats by Poolboy & D and Maer, and a whole lotta books. The idea behind these swap things is that one man’s shit is another man’s gold, so just bring all the books that don’t make you look smart laying on your coffee table and then spend the day frantically searching for one’s that will. You’re bound to find something, and if you don’t, well, at least you’ll cop a buzz and clear some space right?

Leftovers go to charity, so even if you’re just trying to score some books and beer, you’ll still be clocking mad points on the old karma-meter. Be a hero. Be a freeloader. Be a little bit of both at Swap SF’s book party.

Saturday Nov 3, Noon to 3pm
CellSpace
2050 Bryant St. between 18th & 19th
$5 with books, $10 without.

GCI was the Big Cheese

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October 28, 2007

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You can’t possibly be thinking about how much alcohol you shouldn’t have consumed at the seventeen Halloween parties you went to this weekend, or what kind of witty and ironic costume you’re going to make for the ones you’ll attend on Wednesday (because lord knows you can’t show up in the same thing you wore all weekend). No, I’m sure what you’re really wondering is: how was Oakland’s first Grilled Cheese Invitational?

The answer: badass.

Everyone knows it isn’t really a party until someone dons a horse head.

Bourgie but blameless

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October 28, 2007

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Intrepid intern Soo Oh checks out custom countertops that are going to save the world.

By Soo Oh

Eco-friendly home improvement couldn’t get classier than Vetrazzo. And by “classier,” I mean “glassier.” (I can’t believe I just wrote that. Intern, get me some coffee! Wait. I am the intern. Damn.) Eight-five percent of Vetrazzo’s smooth surfaces are made from recycled glass, the largest source of the company’s sources coming from neighborhood curbside recycling programs. The rest of the surfaces are bound with a special blend of “cement, additives, pigments and other recycled materials such as fly ash — a waste by-product of coal burning power plants,” according to the web site, which also says that manmade stone countertops contain petroleum-based resin (!).

This color is called Glass House. Make up the rich-people joke for yourself…

Speed demons!

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October 28, 2007

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Driving out to Altamont Motorsports Park on the night after a full moon, just a few days before Halloween, even my metal-maimed eardrums could faintly hear the sound of Mick Jagger’s famous plea for peace, uttered from the Altamont concert stage in 1970’s Gimme Shelter: “Who’s fighting, and what for?”

The cars that go boom.

Well, I’ll tell ya, fighting on Oct 27 were some 50 roached-out, jerry-rigged race cars, hellbent less on victory than on the glory of completing 300 laps — or in many cases, somewhat less — at the track’s annual Pumpkin Smash.

What about them pumpkins? The reason for the season, no doubt — hundreds of orange mofos gave their lives valiantly for this event. The asphalt was luridly smeared with pumpkin guts and gallons of soapy water. Facilitating and maximizing smash-ups never looked so festive…nor made onlookers long so much for pumpkin pie.

Burrito will eat you

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October 25, 2007

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Ed Note: We know this is a little late, breaking-news-wise, but we just can’t seem to get over it. Especially while we’re eating canned spinach for lunch.

By Duncan Scott Davidson

Boy, am I glad there are no Hardee’s restaurants in California, or I’d have to eat one of these:

That’s the Country Breakfast Burrito, made, according to www.hardees.com, with “2 loaded omelets, 5 hashrounds, shredded cheddar cheese, and sausage gravy.” Just so you know, a “loaded omelet” has eggs, bacon, and ham in it. Which, in layman’s terms, is 920 calories and 60 grams of delicious, pork-based fat. Which, really, is not a whole lot, compared to eating a whole suckling pig, or a Hardee’s chicken salad, which has 1100 calories and 83 grams of fat. I mean, at least the breakfast burrito won’t dupe you into thinking you’re making the healthy choice by getting the salad. Hell no–there’s no fuckin’ vegetable matter up in this bitch. Lettuce is for suckers. This is the type of thing you order and say, “I’m gonna order that, eat half of it while watching football, get a little comatose, maybe wake up and finish it and/or barf, and/or barf and finish it, then watch some more football, maybe jerk off to porn, and go back to sleep.” It’s not a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, gonna start the day right menu item, here, folks. It’s a plan of your Sunday. It’s a low-cost vacation in a tortilla, friends. Look at the gravy and cheese oozing out of that thing…if that doesn’t scream “relaxation,” I don’t know what does.

All the do-gooder internet nutrition-nazis are decrying this one-way ticket to Slumberland, as you knew they would: CNN, Fitsugar, Foodfacts …

Of course, they’re getting it all wrong.

Give Cheese a chance

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October 24, 2007

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Is there anything better than a grilled cheese sandwich? A cure for cancer would be nice. And I wouldn’t kick World Peace out of bed for eating crackers. But melted cheese and crispy bread? It’s so good, if it ran for President, I bet it’d beat Hillary and Obama (plus, it’s both likable and has experience – at least, as at being a sandwich).

In fact, the only thing better than a grilled cheese sandwich is the Grilled Cheese Invitational, an L.A.-based event dedicated to all things grilled and cheesy. And for the first time, this year the Bay Area’s gonna get its own shot at artery-clogging glory when the good GCI folks bring the competition to Eli’s Mile High Club on October 25.

Bread of dubious nutritional quality + cheese product of dubious dairy origin = sexy

India, brothers, the Kinks, and a train

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October 22, 2007

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Hey, Wes Anderson fan – why haven’t you seen The Darjeeling Limited yet? It’s currently playing in both San Francisco and the East Bay, and while it may not capture the genius promised by Anderson’s “My Life, My Card” American Express commercial, it’s still a thoughtful, impeccably stylish look at what happens when three estranged brothers take a train ride across India, stumbling upon moments of spiritual enlightenment, family bonding, and the inevitable slew of life lessons. Anderson, co-writer Roman Coppola, and co-writer and star Jason Schwartzman were in town recently, so I packed my enormous set of monogrammed luggage with tapes and pencils, and took a wild taxi ride through the streets of San Francisco to their hotel.

Passage to India: Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, and Adrien Brody on the road.

San Francisco Bay Guardian: Wes, I read that you got to know India through the movies. What initially drew you to the idea of setting a film there? When you got there, was the country how you expected it to be?

Wes Anderson: The movie that really made me want to go to India was [Jean Renoir’s 1951] The River, and that’s a different part of India from where we were, and it’s a different time. But I guess we sort of researched it a bit, and I felt like there was a lot that was what I expected, anyway. But then, for as much time as we’ve all spent in India, every day, every hour, we’re learning something new and being surprised by something. It’s just a place where there’s so much, and we’ve only scratched the surface.

My Bloody Visuals

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October 17, 2007

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In response to last week’s Super Ego column about rave visuals and the techno-optical dance floor wizardry of young projectionist 3, I received a very cryptic e-mail from one Woolsey Kitty, that read simply:

i took “lsd” more than 5,000 times.

and then directed me to a mindblowing Flickr account that contained hundreds of lysergically lovely imagery.

Woolsey is an artist in his 50s who claims to have have at one point amassed a 10,000+ drug research library (I don’t really know what that means, but I suspect … ) and to have only officially earned $2,143 in his lifetime. All the incredible details are here. Let’s just drop back and enjoy ….

After the jump: More trippy pics PLUS shoegaze videos!