Armchair Cinephile
Adaptation Certain novels are so reliant on extravagant language and structure or mind-bending imagery that they’re thought to be unfilmable. Last year, the Criterion Collection reissued one famous example, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and now they have given us another: David Cronenberg’s interpretation of William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, which does as…
TALL TALES
Abortion law further defies logic After months of meetings, drafts, and public comment periods, Texas is finally unveiling its controversial Informed Consent brochure that will be given to women considering an abortion. The premise for the brochure is scientifically invalid, since anyone undergoing any form of surgical operation already has to sign a waiver detailing…
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Bonham Exchange 411 Bonham, 271-3811 The L Word. The Bonham premieres the Showtime original series about a group of young lesbian women in LA. 7pm Jan 18. Free. The Esperanza Peace & Justice Center 922 San Pedro, 228-0201 ♦ 20 y 10: El fuego y la palabra. In commemoration of 20 years of Zapatista history,…
Ownership Who owns the Current?
A large, happy Irish family A controversial Federal Communications Commission hearing is a woolly way to start the New Year, but it sure beats staring at Congressional redistricting maps all day. To prepare our readers for the January 28 public hearing in San Antonio, over the next few weeks the Current is devoting a significant…
RECENT REVIEWS
Bad Santa Dir. Terry Zwigoff; writ. John Requa & Glenn Ficarra; feat. Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Bernie Mac, Brett Kelly, Lauren Graham, John Ritter (R) Bad Santa is vile. Snot-dripping and alley-pukey, pants-pissing and rotgut-swilling vile. It does not have redeeming social merit; it will not enrich your soul or teach you the meaning…
Grassroots and conglomerates Cross talk
New media artist George Cisneros in the Vue Ture Art studio at Urban 15’s complex on South Presa. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) New FCC rules take the airwaves from its owners — the public — and places it in the hands of a few broadcasters. George Cisneros has devoted most of his adult life…
FCC Public Hearing Spread the news
An overview of information on the Federal Communication Commission Localism Task Force’s upcoming presentation of a public hearing on proposed media consolidation rules, and how the proposed changes will impact San Antonio. What: The Federal Communication Commission’s Localism Task Force conducts a public hearing on proposed media consolidation rules and how they will impact…
What we’re getting Anatomy of a Newscast
According to the public interest group Common Cause, “in the San Antonio market, the new rules would allow a company to own two TV stations, eight radio stations, and several newspapers.” Dean Baker, co-director of Center for Economic and Policy Research, explains, “It is hard to say too much in favor of the current situation,…
THE HUSTLER
Chingo Bling: from Trinity dropout to hip-hop hero (courtesy photos) Chingo Bling reinvents himself, and Latino hip-hop, with a rasquache self-parody shtick Who is Chingo Bling? Nuevo Tamalero, indie-rap superstar, Trinity University dropout DJ Biz, or Pedro Herrera? Actually, Chingo is all of the above and a lot more. His shtick and charisma owe…
HALF NELSON
Willie Nelson chose not to record his new peace anthem. (courtesy photo) Why did Willie’s war protest stir less anger than the Dixie Chicks’? In his new anti-war anthem, “What Ever Happened to Peace On Earth,” Willie Nelson sings: “You probably won’t hear this on your radio/Probably not on your local TV.” Less than…
A SOUTHERLY DIRECTION
Blue Star executive director Bill FitzGibbons, Mexican curator Santiago Espinosa de los Monteros, and Instituto de México director Enrique Cortazar, are bringing Mexican Report to town, a survey of more than 55 contemporary artists working in a variety of media, including sculpture, photography and video. The exhibit is made possible by a gift from…
LOVE STORY
CD Spotlight THE STORY OF LOVE Monte Montgomery (Harmonic) It speaks well for Monte Montgomery that although he’s best known as a guitar virtuoso, his new album, The Story of Love, is not a wanky soloist’s showcase. In a sense, Montgomery is a musical contradiction, because he’s blessed with the dexterity of a guitar…
Local media ownership Who owns what in SA
Wondering why you can flip the radio station three times, and hear “Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” on every station? It might be because three companies own more than 86 percent of San Antonio’s major radio stations. Here is a list of the biggest conglomerates and their holdings: Behemoth Time Warner: 23 cable stations, 27…
HIP-HOPULATION GROWTH
A few months ago, San Antonio hip-hop collective Assasyn Dynasty put their music to wax and elevated their entity (Culture Sound Records & the Blunt Factory), to new heights. Currently, they reign supreme on UndergroundHip-Hop.com, garnering the most downloads in the history of the website, courtesy of their 12-inch single “Vaccination” and the b-side…
How we got here The beast by the tail
In keeping with the current hankering for all things circa 1920 – a Calvin Coolidge impersonator in the White House; foxes guarding the hen house; equating wealth with virtue – the FCC seems bent on returning media ownership to its hoary past, when a single entity controlled virtually all interstate radio programming in the United…
SOUND AND THE FURY
Dave Biller a week on the scene HOT CLUB The shadow of Django Reinhardt has hung over all jazz guitarists for nearly 70 years. The idea that someone could play with such remarkable fluidity and grace with only two fully functioning fingers on his left hand elevated Reinhardt from the pantheon of great musicians…
Money and politics A confluence of dunces
Lobbyists and a stacked FCC make the rules Michael Powell Although the FCC has existed for 70 years, its rule governing media ownership was fashioned in a narrow, 18-month time frame – and not by happenstance. The machinations that created the lax ownership rules began in February 2001, when President Bush appointed Michael Powell as…
The power-gridCurrying favor
The military-industrial-media complex “Media power is political power,” says Ben Bagdikian, author of forthcoming New Media Monopoly and former dean of the School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. “If you control the mass media, you can control what people read, hear, and view of their country and the world. And that has…
A UNIVERSAL YEN
Baltimore, a three-screen DVD projection by British artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien closes at ArtPace this month. Utilizing an icon of the blaxploitation genre and diverse cultural institutions in Mobtown, Julien up-ends media-driven cultural stereotypes. (courtesy photo) Filmmaker Isaac Julien’s desire transcends identity Paradise Omeros and Baltimore, two recent films directed by preeminent British…
MEET THE REPUBLICANS
Bexar County Republican Party Chair candidate and jewlery store owner Joe Solis stands at the counter of Luxor Fine Jewelry in the Colonnade. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) Local GOPers rush in to fill vacated party chair seat While George W. Bush prepares to vie for reelection and ponders ways to build the first United…
HOW MUCH DOES EDITING WEIGH?
Paul (Sean Penn, left) and Christina (Naomi Watts) are caught in a tragic scene in 21 Grams. (courtesy photo) The very non-linear ’21 Grams’ forces viewers to work to piece the plot together It can be difficult to judge the artistic merit of a film whose form or structure is very unusual. Unconventionality by…
IN VEGAS, LIFE IS CRAPS
Maria Bello (left), Alec Baldwin (center), and William H. Macy (right) co-star in The Cooler. (courtesy photo) The Shangri-La casino wants to keep a limping disaster down and gambling unsanitary Two types of Vegas movie compete for control of The Cooler. One is, like Leaving Las Vegas, a gritty tale of pathetic losers whose…
