THE QUICKEST CHICKS IN SEVENTH GRADE
Left to right: Nikki Reed, who co-wrote the script for Thirteen, co-stars in the film with Evan Rachel Wood. Courtesy photo ‘Thirteen’ takes a hard look at the trials of female teens Thirteen-year-old girls were an enigmatic species to me when I was a 13-year-old boy, and they still are. But Thirteen provides as…
MEXICAN OR MEXI-CANT?
Antonio Banderas returns as El Mariachi in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Courtesy photo Bigger doesn’t translate to better in the third installment of Robert Rodriguez’ Mariachi series Robert, take a break. You’ve earned it. You hold the distinction of being the most commercially successful Mexican-American director in the history of cinema -…
SPECIALS, SMALLS, AND SHORTS
SPECIAL SCREENINGS By John Defore Courtesy photo DRACULA: PAGES FROM A VIRGIN’S DIARY Dir. Guy Maddin; writ. Bram Stoker (novel), Mark Godden (ballet); feat. Wei-Qiang Zhang, Tara Birtwhistle, Dave Moroni, CindyMarie Small (NR) Describing the cinema of Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin is like coaching a meat-and-potatoes friend on his first visit to a sushi…
LABORATORIES OF CINEMA
Highlighting the lowlighting at Cinematexas 2003 Most people driving north to Austin this weekend are gearing up for the Austin City Limits festival, oblivious to the fact that darker, more subversive kicks are offered throughout town: The increasingly ambitious Cinematexas festival, which started as a showcase for student work but now has its fingers in…
RECENT REVIEWS
American Splendor Dir. Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini; writ. Berman, Pulcini, Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner; feat. Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, James Urbaniak, Earl Billings, Judah Friedlander, Pekar, Brabner (R) Early on, the filmmakers capture the precise vibe of some of comic illustrator Harvey Pekar’s best-known scenes. But Berman and Pulcini aren’t only interested in…
LANDFILL TO PLAYLAND
Under a proposed bond issue, $27 million would go to upgrading the city’s parks, including Brackenridge Park, which features a train that carries passengers through it. Photo by Mark Greenberg Bonds could give parks much-needed boost Stand on an 80-foot hilltop near Old Pearsall Road and what might you see? In the distance, downtown;…
ARMADILLO REPRISE
Al Green sexes up the stage at 8:45 p.m. on Friday, September 19. Austin City Limits Music Festival, like its namesake city, tries to cap its own growth When Austin City Limits hosted its debut music festival last year at Austin’s Zilker Park, its biggest failure was the scale of its success. While the…
AIR FORCE BRUSHES OFF FISH FUSS
On August 27, the Texas Department of Health issued a fish advisory for Lower Leon Creek after it detected high levels of PCBs in spotted gar and carp. The section pictured here is near New Laredo Highway, downstream of the contaminated area. Photo by Lisa Sorg When high levels of PCBs turned up in…
WOLVES IN SAN ANTONIO
Los Lobos Courtesy photo Los Lobos began as four Chicano teenagers playing traditional Mexican music, as well as estilo garage-band rock ‘n’ roll. After adding a fifth member, an Anglo, on sax, the quintet created a body of music that has crossed borders and charted new directions. True to its roots, Los Lobos records…
WILD REEDS
John Butcher When I enrolled in band class in junior high, our director spent one introductory day talking about the sounds each instrument makes. Talking about the saxophone’s versatility, he played us a number of recordings where saxes sounded like other instruments, forcing us to guess which was a sax and which wasn’t. If…
EVOLUTION: THE NEW BOGEYMAN
Scientific theory takes rap for suicide and road rage Eddie Parker arrived at the State Board of Education hearing room with three books that he had stacked on his metal folding chair: The Holy Bible, The Warren Flew Debate, and Debating the Existence of God. “It gives me no comfort to come before you,” Parker…
SOUND AND THE FURY
a week on the scene LONELY DAZE In 1999, a group of Selma citizens took on the task of raising funds to refurbish the remains of the El Camino de Tejas, a modest structure that was once part of a stage coach line that stretched from Indianola to San Antonio. Their dedication was rewarded with…
ALL EARS
THE MAN IN BLACK, AND WHITE, AND GRAY Johnny Cash’s departure is an emotional event, no matter how long his fans have prepared for it. He was said to be on death’s doorstep so often in the last few years that we got used to looking back fondly, to confirming just how large an icon…
Armchair Cinephile
DOCUMENTARIES STRANGER THAN FICTION Sick, Stevie, and Mr. Death (Lions Gate) Brother’s Keeper (Docurama) Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (Columbia/TriStar) Home Movie (Home Vision Entertainment) I really didn’t think I would make it all the way through Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist. Hours later, my stomach is still clenched. I…
BEAUTY AND SYMMETRY
The Solipsist – a work of colored glass and steel – part of the exhibit The Solipsist and the Other by Jayne Lawence. The artist formed the gown by wrapping a curvaceous friend in flame-retardant material, and welding a steel frame around her. Photo by Mark Greenberg Jayne Lawrence’s exhibits her new work in…
ARTIFACTS
News and notes from the San Antonio art scene This month, the Bower’s main gallery features “Behind the Pedestal,” a collaborative video by LA-based artists Kirsten Stoltmann and Sterling Ruby. The husband-and-wife creative team creates provocative work that explores aspects of their relationship, intertwining love, sex, and art. The couple cleverly elevates the act of…
