New reviews & Special screenings
Fresh screens and San Antonio film events Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Dir. Mamoru Oshii; writ. Mamoru Oshii, based on the comic book by Masamune Shirow; feat. (voices) Akio Ôtsuka, Atsuko Tanaka, Kôichi Yamadera, Tamio Ôki, Yutaka Nakano, Naoto Takenaka (PG-13) There is a perfect cinematic moment at the end of Ghost in the…
The fastest swimmer doesn’t always win
You don’t have to be gay to see a truckload of male wish-fulfillment going on in She Hate Me, especially in a scene in which a sexy lesbian couple take turns planting passionate kisses on our hero, who has been operating as a private sperm bank. Spike Lee is prolific but his latest release isn’t…
Cheesecloth and chisme
ABC’s ‘The View’ does for working women what Prozac did for Abbie Hoffman Advance press for The View, the Barbara Walters-conceived “chatfest” vehicle that finally arrived on local daytime television earlier this month, promises candor, insight, and some mild shock value that is supposed to ensue when women frankly speak their minds. The show won…
Final exam
What’s in store for the Electoral College’s Class of 2004? In the days between the November 2000 election and the U.S. Supreme Court decision that awarded the presidency to George W. Bush, Loyce McCarter, a member of Texas’ Electoral College, received about 13,000 e-mails regarding her electoral vote. A third of the correspondences told her…
Every (dead) body’s got a hungry heart
No… this isn’t a scene from last year’s Fiesta — when they ran out of turkey legs. It’s Shaun of the Dead. A zombie epic from the land of ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ Poor Shaun has been busted. He’s a lousy boyfriend whose idea of a romantic night out is a trip to the…
Armchair Cinephile
Monument to a maverick Hot on the heels of their wonderful edition of Richard Linklater’s Slacker (“Déjà vu all over again”), the Criterion Collection devotes its largest undertaking yet – surpassing last year’s five-disc Truffaut set – to one of Linklater’s forebears, the legendary John Cassavetes. John Cassavetes: Five Films is an eight-disc box set…
A vexing tax issue
Debating the pros and cons of VIA’s proposed sales tax increase It’s a powerful argument: The city’s population is approaching critical mass, and an $8 billion shortfall looms for streets and highways. Proponents of a permanent 1/4-cent sales tax increase to fund an Advanced Transportation District consider San Antonio’s transportation system to be where Dallas…
Charming and carminative
The traditional Mexican herb epazote adds flavor and subtracts gas Epazote, you’ll be happy to know, is an anthelmintic. Please tell me you had to look this up, too. (It has to do with purging intestinal worms.) It’s also a carminative, which means it allegedly prevents the build-up of intestinal gas caused by eating beans.…
On the road
A pothole and a rough shoulder on North St. Mary’s Street represents common road conditions that local cyclists encounter in San Antonio. A 30-year plan aims to make the City’s transportation infrastructure more friendly and accessible to cyclists and pedestrians. (Photo by Julie Barnett) Bikes included in 30-year transportation plan Many experienced and amateur cyclists…
Middle Eastern fare at home and abroad
Zaki’s falafel sandwich – the middle-eastern veggiterian staple of deep fried garbanzo patties rolled in pita with pickels, tomatos and tahini sauce. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) Eat falafel at Zaki but make your own hummus Over the years I’ve had some truly lousy falafel in San Antonio, most recently last spring when, craving the combination…
What’s in a name?
Chicano, Tejano, Mexicano, Latino, let’s call the whole thing off Blame Richard Nixon. Many individuals of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Central American, or South American heritage living in the United States call themselves Hispanic, a term first imposed during the Nixon administration as a catch-all census category. Others prefer its more pleasant substitute, Latino. Some…
All You Can Eat
News and notes from the San Antonio food scene Recently opened: China Sea Super Buffet has a new location at 9919 Colonial behind Mama Margie’s near I-10 West. Menu items include chicken with broccoli, sweet and sour chicken, Chinese biscuits, crab nuggets, and sesame chicken. For information, call 696-8787. Ajuua Mexican Restaurant is among the…
A private look at public radio
Texas Public Radio’s Joe Gwathmey helped found NPR. At 63, he’s still looking for the next big idea. When Joe Gwathmey tells stories, he often speaks with his eyes closed, as if he doesn’t need to see, but needs only to imagine. Imagine a teenage boy living in Brownwood, Texas in the late 1950s, whose…
Blues royalty
B.B. King poses with the Gibson guitar he calls Lucille. B.B. King can’t stop paying the cost to be the boss B.B. King turned 79 last week, but he didn’t do a whole lot of celebrating. “I rode all the way from Los Angeles to where I am `Phoenix`,” King says, with only the slightest…
Tell me a story
A fleeting moment with raconteur Ira Glass Today’s story is about Ira Glass, the host of This American Life, an award-winning public radio program that attracts 1.6 million listeners each week. This American Life is a program about small moments that illuminate a larger truth: family grudges, rats in New York City, a man who’s…
Sound and the Fury
A week on the scene Gris Gris’ spell While the Gris Gris take their name from a particularly potent form of New Orleans voodoo, this quartet has nothing to do with either the Crescent City or the swampy R&B the name might suggest. An Oakland, California band formed by Texas transplant Greg Ashley, the Gris…
Good and good for you
Diane Rehm gives you a daily dose of high-fiber news and politics The voice is as well-recognized as James Earl Jones’ basso profundo, at least to fans of public radio: A quavering but persistent throaty alto that asks questions with slow precision; solicitous of her guests unless they irk her – as in the case…
Love and death
Mike Ness: a punk-rock warhorse who’s fronted Social D for 25 years Social Distortion rallies from a tragic loss to rediscover its purpose In 1991, at the height of a different Iraqi War, Social Distortion played to their biggest-ever San Antonio audience at the since-demolished HemisFair Arena. At the time, the Orange County punk band…
When your mother’s a muse
The Golddigger by co-founding Toyist Dejo displays the collective’s trademark bold, unblended colors, and a style that reflects a contemporary return to primitive iconography and representation. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) The Dutch Toyists give up control in the name of art Reading art history is not unlike watching West Side Story. For a good hundred…
Border crossing
Fuga’s message breaks free to survive “Puente Negro,” a fast-paced cumbia which opens Desde la Frontera, the debut album from El Paso-based Fuga, makes the band’s purpose clear: “Aquí nuestras verdades cantamos/de los que vivimos nosotros a diario” (“we sing our truths here/about what we live on a daily basis”) lead vocalist Tania intones, before…
Artifacts
News and notes from the San Antonio art scene As we put this issue to bed, City Council is contemplating the Cultural Arts Board’s final recommendations for the current funding cycle, slated to begin October 1. The figures, generated through a hotly contested process of peer panel evaluations, public CAB meetings, and appeals have made…
Sun kings
Reubens Accomplice The best kept secret in Phoenix comes to San Antonio For nearly a decade, the cryptically named Reubens Accomplice has been the best-kept secret of the Phoenix music scene. Routinely namechecked by musicians and clubgoers in the valley of the sun and inevitably asked to open for their compatriots, Jimmy Eat World, they’ve…
Déjà vu all over again
“I remember when we showed `Slacker` at Sundance,” Richard Linklater says of the timing of his breakthrough film’s release. “Desert Storm One has just started, and a lot of those references to terrorism and stuff just weren’t funny.” Richard Linklater discusses Slacker’s eery prescience On the occasion of the superb new DVD of Slacker, Richard…
