San Francisco is My Home

17
Mar

Weekend preview

Author: kris, Category: Events, Food, Movies, Weekend preview

Friday, March 21

This is the last weekend of the Asian American Film Festival. Now is the time to catch the last showing of all those shows you were too lazy to go see during the week. There are just a few films playing on Friday, but one of them is The Unseeable, a ghost story from Thailand that I am definitely hauling myself out to Berkeley to see. And if I can do it, why can’t you?

Saturday, March 22

I am pretty excited about this, even though I cannot go: the Falkirk Cultural Center in downtown San Rafael is hosting an Alice in Wonderland Spring Faire. Actors from a local theatre troupe will dress as characters from the books, lead a parade and perform scenes from the musical Alice. There’s also the usual host of musicians, magicians, clowns and puppets, along with fun kid activities like contests and Mad Hatter hat making. It’s $5 per person and you can bring your own picnic lunch if you want to.

Sunday, March 23

Sunday is Easter, and even if you don’t believe in the Bunny or that Son of God business, it can still be a fun holiday. Why? Because unlike, say, Thanksgiving, the central meal of Easter is brunch, which to my mind is the best of all possible meals. Check out a long list of great Bay Area brunch spots here.

10
Mar

Monday roundup

Author: kris, Category: Events, Holiday, Movies, Weekend preview

What ho, fellows. Time for our Monday weekend round-up. I thought I would actually write it on a Monday this week as a special treat, but don’t get used to it or anything.

Friday, March 14

The San Francisco Ballet is performing a tribute to Jerome Robinson (think West Side Story and you’ll have the man in mind). If normal ballet simply isn’t gay enough for you — I know it’s not gay enough for me — then you might enjoy this head-on collision of ballet and musical theater. I myself will be attending this performance, so if you’d care to say hello you can just watch for the girl making anxious faces every time someone leaps in the air. I am a worrier, and constantly on watch for someone to break an ankle at these little athletic trials.

Saturday, March 15

If you like St. Patrick’s Day but don’t like watching frat boys vomit green onto public sidewalks, eschew the drunken day-of celebrations and attend the family-friendly parade on Saturday instead. San Francisco takes its Irish community seriously (alas, we don’t seem to feel the same way about our Welsh), and the parade is an extravaganza of dancers, school bands, floats, bagpipes and Wolfhounds.

Sunday, March 16

The Asian American Film Festival will run from March 13 through March 23. The schedule for any given day is pretty dizzying, packed with stuff to see at several theaters all over town. Your options are extensive, but I like your chances with “I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK.” Check out the synopsis:

“From acclaimed director Park Chan-wook comes I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK, a playful, macabre tale of an existentially insecure cyborg and a kleptomaniac terrified of disappearing into a dot.

“Lim Soo-jung (also starring in Happiness) is Young-goon, a troubled girl who, after a traumatic separation from her grandmother, believes herself to be a cyborg. Committed to a mental institution, Young-goon forgoes food, convinced she must recharge through electrical devices. Ultimately, Young-goon is determined to gain enough strength to reunite with her grandmother—and mercilessly kill anyone who stands in her way. Enter Il-soon, played by pop icon Rain, a sensitive but unstable kleptomaniac with a penchant for stealing people’s characteristics. Through their budding romance, the two keep each other from literally and metaphorically vanishing into nothing.”

Um, yes please.

19
Feb

Monday roundup, still on Tuesday

Author: kris, Category: Celebrities, Events, Movies, Music

Once again, I find myself red-faced on a Tuesday, writing the Monday Weekend Roundup. Can I help it if Monday was a holiday? Ah, well. At any rate, here are some weekend plans you might make:

Friday, February 22

You know how art is great, but really slow? Warhol famously had a problem with that, telling an interviewer that he wished he could make art on an assembly line basis, churning it out double-time. Warhol would have loved the Monster Drawing Rally, a five hour free-for-all where more than 130 artists pack into one room and create art as fast as they can. The art is immediately put up for auction. This only happens once a year, so don’t miss it. I myself would be there except I am planning to be sitting around with friends, watching a movie about Jane Austen. What a gripping life I do lead, eh?

Saturday, February 23

Speaking of staying in, local rockstars The John Francis Imposters will be performing on the radio on KALX Live at 9 pm. The show will be hosted by everybody’s (by which I mean my) favorite KALX Live DJ, Concrete Skyline and will be followed by an interview with the band. Grab some takeout food and curl up with your radio to enjoy the show. (Also note: you can listen online, if you don’t happen to live within signal range of the station. Just click “Listen now” at the top of the page.) Staying in on Saturday night: it’s not just for big nerds anymore.

Here, The John Francis proves he can grow a mountain man beard nearly as well as he can sing.

Sunday, February 24

The Castro Theatre is showing Brokeback Mountain as a memorial tribute to Heath Ledger. If you read the headlines and have half a brain, you’ll probably be feeling horrified by anything Ledger-related at this point, and thinking to yourself, come on, guys, give the kid a break already. However, the Castro tribute promises to be sincere and non-ghoulish, paying respects to an actor whose sensitive portrayal of a gay man helped bring gay issues into the mainstream. If you attend only one memorial tribute to Heath Ledger this year, let this be the memorial tribute to Heath Ledger that you attend.

And another thing…

As you have no doubt noticed, I’m listing just one event for each day. Obviously, there’s a lot more going on in this city. If know of an event, a performance, or just something fun to do, please feel free to share with the class in the comments.

12
Feb

Monday roundup (on a Tuesday)

Author: kris, Category: Events, Movies, Weekend preview

I’d like to start writing a weekend roundup every Monday, which will let you know about stuff you can do for the upcoming weekend. Not all the stuff, just some of the stuff. Monday might seem a little early to begin thinking about your weekend, but my weekends seem to fill up fast so it’s nice to know in advance what my options are.

I present, therefore, the first Monday roundup, which unfortunately is happening on a Tuesday because I forgot to do it yesterday.

Friday, February 15

Attend a showing of the Oscar-nominated live-action and animated shorts for 2007.  Visit the Embarcadero Center Cinema website for details.

Saturday, February 16

SF Indie Fest Big Lebowski Bowling Party. 9pm at Space Gallery, and features bowling, white Russians, Lebowski costumes and Nihilism.

Sunday, February 17

SF Indie Fest wrap party. Starts at 9pm at 12 Galaxies and features live music, food, drinks and sexy movie snobs.

31
Jan

The Parkway

Author: kris, Category: Food, Movies, Oakland

The Parkway is maybe the best thing ever. I’m not sure, because I don’t know everything there is in the world, but I think it’s at least in the top ten.

What makes this movie theater so good? Here is a small primer:

1. It’s independently owned.

2. Rather than showing commercials or previews before movies, you get a video of two of the owners — at least I think they’re both owners; Kyle definitely is, but I’m not sure about Will the Thrill — chatting about upcoming films and events and joking around with each other.

3. There are several two-person (three if you’re cozy) couches at the front of the theater where you can kick off your shoes and snuggle like you’re in your living room.

4. The theater is combined with a full-service restaurant. You can get good beers and excellent thin-crust pizza (now with vegan cheese available, made right on the premises). They deliver it to your table while you watch the movie. There’s a lot of other food available, but for me the Parkway will always be about pizza.

5. They show a fantastic selection, from blockbusters to classics, from cult favorites to little-known monster movies.

6. They have great deals and themes. Wednesday is 2-for-1 night, and the first two shows on Mondays are always Baby Brigade — bring your tots. They also do Superbowl and Oscar nights, Rocky Horror shows, and frequent showings of favorites like Joss Whedon shows (i.e. Buffy, Firefly).

7. When you email Will the Thrill, he always emails you back. Immediately and personally. Can you think of any other movie theater where that is true?

They’ve also opened a second theater, the El Cerrito, but I haven’t been there yet. Thoughts on the new place? I’d love to hear a review.

30
Jan

San Francisco Indiefest

Author: kris, Category: Movies

It’s almost time for the SF Indiefest! This is the independent film festival that claims to be “what Sundance used to be but is no more.”

I love film festivals. They remind me that there are some truly excellent moviehouses in and around this town (the Castro Theatre, the Kabuki, the Roxie and so on). They also open me up to new filmmakers and alternatives to the blockbuster films that I also enjoy. For example, I found Komaneko at the SF Animation Festival in November. It’s one of those films that makes you want to have kids just so you can show it to them. (Other films of this nature, for me, are every film by Miyazaki, and the Back to the Future trilogy.)

The festival runs from February 7 through February 20. Check out the website for schedules and tickets.

19
Dec

Kabuki Theater

Author: kris, Category: Movies

Wow, something wonderful is cooking in Pacific Heights and it’s called the Kabuki Theater.

I’ve always loved the Kabuki cineplex. They show awesome indie films, take part in film festivals, and have always been pleasing to the eye in general. But now they’ve remodeled, I think. Anyway, something excellent has happened, because they seem to have kicked the awesome up several notches. Now when you buy your ticket, the person you buy from is an adult (instead of a minimum wage zombie kid) who talks to you like a human, not in that fake bland customer service tone. You get to pick an assigned seat when you buy your ticket, just like in Europe, and your ticket seller will cheerfully tell you how he feels about the film.

Then you go upstairs, where in addition to having fancy-pants foods at the snackbar, they have a real bar and bistro. Plus a lobby kind of area with wonderful suede couches that I want to own.

Then you see the film, which, because it’s at the Kabuki, will be guaranteed to be 1) superb and 2) commercial-free. You still get previews, but in the part before the previews where most theaters show commercials, the Kabuki displays a weird silent video of cartoony cutouts sitting in a movie theater and fidgeting around.

As if all this weren’t enough, Juno is playing there right now, and it is fantastic. So go. Immediately. Get up from your chair right now and just go, man.

11
Dec

IS everything fine?

Author: kris, Category: Celebrities, Movies

Crispin Glover, whom some of you may know as George McFly, will be appearing for three nights at the Castro Theater this weekend, December 14-16. He’ll do a live presentation of The Big Slide Show, an audience Q&A and a book signing. He’s visiting for the SF premiere of his new film, It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE!

As an added bonus, on Saturday at midnight the theater will run Glover’s directing debut, What Is It? From the Castro program: “Featuring a cast largely comprised of actors with Down’s Syndrome, the film is not about Down’s Syndrome.” From Glover’s description: “Being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are snails, salt, a pipe and how to get home as tormented by a hubristic racist inner psyche.”

This is not the first time Glover has made an appearance at The Castro, and I think that synopsis tells you everything you need to know about why we love him so.

Visit the theater website for details and tickets.

29
Nov

Movie preview at the Metreon

Author: kris, Category: Events, Movies

The Metreon is showing a sneak preview of The Golden Compass this Saturday, December 1, at 7:00 pm.

Now, why do we care about this? After all, we hate the Metreon, with its 10 minutes of commercials before you even get to the previews; we hate it so much that we nicknamed it The Metronome and we call it that in a mean voice even though it isn’t really a mean or even a logical nickname.

And anyway, The Golden Compass is officially being released on December 7. Is a week really so long to wait?

Well yeah, kinda, if you really liked the book even though you are maybe a grownup who should be reading Nabokov or someone. However, some of us have a trapeze show to go to. But if you cannot make it to the show in Oakland, and you cannot wait until December 7, and you cannot be affected by 10 minutes of commercials, then this preview is for you.