Al’s war
Al Jourgensen A friend of Ministry mastermind Al Jourgensen recently suggested that Jourgensen only tours during Gulf Wars. It’s not a theory that Jourgensen necessarily accepts, but there’s little doubt that the presence of a Bush in the White House tends to stir up the native anger and aggression of this industrial-rock pioneer. You can…
The good earth
A panoramic, and pantheistic, view of the dwindling wild world makes the emotional and spiritual case for preserving what remains of our Sacred Planet, now showing at the Rivercenter IMAX. ‘Sacred Planet’ puts the IMAX screen to work for the environment There are two opposing strategies for recruiting environmentalists: consternation and elation. Alarmed that the…
The banality of evil in a gray flannel suit
Mark Achbar shoots an undercover marketing sequence with Diana Wilson and Richard Kopycinsky. ‘The Corporation’ prosecutes the institution that puts acquisition above all else Conservative businesspeople who think of themselves as sophisticated in the ways of money often like to deride the smelly, unshaven young people who protest global financial organizations and polluting chemical firms,…
Cut ‘n’ paste
Small screen — ‘Dr. 90210’ makes asses out of everyone ” … it’s just society is wrong,” may be the truest words uttered on Episode 8 of Dr. 90210, E! Television’s new reality series about plastic surgery in the land of silicone and celluloid that premiered Sunday, September 5 at 9 p.m. Central. The irony…
New reviews and special screenings
Couples coalesce and fall apart through adultery and alienation. New reviews We Don’t Live Here Anymore Dir. John Curran; writ. Larry Gross, based on stories by Andre Dubus; feat. Mark Ruffalo, Laura Dern, Peter Krause, Naomi Watts (R) Two married couples perform a delicate adulterous quadrille. Jack Linden (Ruffalo), a literature instructor at a rural…
House of cards
Y Tu Mamá También co-star Diego Luna and the amicable John C. Reilly take center stage as con men in Criminal, a remake of the hit Argentinian film Nine Queens. The double-dealing plot of ‘Criminal’ may be shaky, but the acting is solid I don’t know about you, but I like John C. Reilly. I…
Armchair Cinephile
Angels and devils of the cathode ray tube Angels in America arrives on disc next Tuesday, so all of us who don’t have HBO and couldn’t afford to catch it on Broadway in the ’90s can see what all the fuss over Tony Kushner’s Reagan-era AIDS epic is about. The HBO version can’t help but…
A collegiate culture
From left: Architectural students Luis Noriega Jr, Sameh Alathirah, Gonzalo Fraga, instructor Darryl Ohlenbusch, Rene Lemos, and Marinelle Luna work during a third-year design studio course at UTSA Downtown’s design studios. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) With EZ bonds, the City could develop a college district downtown Veronica Torres and Efrain Torres have several things in…
Recent Reviews
The Best Two Years, Bush’s Brain, Collateral, Danny Deckchair, The Door In the Floor, Garden State, Hero, Intimate Strangers, The Manchurian Candidate, Maria Full of Grace, Suspect Zero, Zatoichi, and all the rest… The Best Two Years Dir. & writ. Scott S. Anderson; feat. KC Clyde, Kirby Heyborne, David Nibley, Cameron Hopkin, Scott Christopher, Michael…
A Lone Star state of mind
(Photo by Mark Greenberg) Can you eat well on food stamps? In the late ’80s, due to a Reagan-era recession and my own lack of money management skills, I landed in the food stamp office, where I waited for two hours to see a woman, who in an impatient and disdainful tone, told me that…
What about a roundabout?
A roundabout is being proposed for the intersection of Fulton and Blanco. There are roundabouts in San Antonio: at McCullough and Olmos, and at the entrance to the Alamo Quarry Market. (Photo by Mark Greenberg) Beacon Hill divided over circle on Blanco At a one-on-one “press conference” last Thursday afternoon, Beacon Hill neighborhood activist Martin…
All You Can Eat
News and notes from the San Antonio food scene In the age of meetups and Outfoxed premieres, house parties are an intimate way to organize politically. The Organic Consumers Association is encouraging food activists to host house parties in September to view a new documentary, The Future of Food, by Deborah Koons Garcia. The documentary…
Let your labels hang out
Cheaper store brands are becoming as popular as name-brand food – and often taste as good. (Photo by Julie Barnett) Store brands are rising in popularity and quality If you’re finding your shopping cart increasingly filled with Hill Country Fare and 365 label products as you make your way through the grocery aisles at H-E-B…
All things must pass
Harlandale ISD lands a necessary grant to meet the demands of No Child Left Behind It is the largest grant that Harlandale Independent School District has ever received: $185,000 for “Improving Literacy Through School Libraries,” from the U.S. Department of Education. And it could not have arrived at a more opportune time. At least a…
Vinyl trip
Louie Dollars: learning to cope without his creative partner, Seven-One (Photo by Mark Greenberg) Louie Dollars’ new single is a hip-hop bus tour of San Antonio memories and attractions Louie Dollars thrives on collaboration. Dollars, the husky hip-hop emcee known to his parents as Louis Perez, has spent the last several years performing as part…
Sound and the Fury
A week on the scene Viva max Dallas band Max Cady straddles the fence between traditional hard rock, contemporary alt-rock and the recent garage-rock revival. On their recently released debut CD, Tonight Alive, the quartet betrays the influence of both Weezer and Urge Overkill, two post-modern outfits with a knack for heavy riffs, memorable hooks…
The imperfect eye
Contemporary Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide is the subject of a retrospective at Blue Star Art Space that highlights new large format prints of remote areas in the King Ranch holdings. As technology advances so does our ability to blur the lens News stories reporting that technological advances are being made toward a camera that sees…
Child prodigy
Ben Kweller returns to Texas for a September 19 performance at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Ben Kweller’s maturing talent belies his youthful appearance Ben Kweller is just 22, but he looks even younger. And he’s got the demeanor of a happy kid at a carnival or a flea market, eating funnel cakes, playing…
Artifacts
News and notes from the San Antonio art scene Did you do it for love? Scott Lifshutz, the non-developer offspring and brother of Blue Star developers Bernard and James Lifshutz, respectively, made the pages of The New York Times new fashion magazine, T. In the inaugural issue’s “Luxury Price Index,” which charts the increasing cost…
Reigning men
Compared to Greg Cartwright, most self-proclaimed rock ‘n’ roll rebels seem tame and affected. Cartwright, leader of the Memphis garage-rock trio Reigning Sound, is a positively feral performer with unerring musical instincts. Cartwright first attracted underground attention as a member of Compulsive Gamblers – one of the great unsung bands of the ’90s – and…
