There is something about the cartoon series Avatar: The Last Airbender, almost twenty years old now, that was always unusual. Aside from being coined the first American Anime, it was nothing like any other cartoon on Nickelodeon or any other station for that matter. Taking place in a completely fictional world made up of societies and lands corresponding to the four main elements: Earth, Fire, Air, and Water, the story was a continuous adventure full of growth that built to a huge climax at the end of three seasons. But the most startling aspect of this story, for something supposedly targeted at kids, was that it was rampant with extremely adult themes, such as war, genocide, loss, and conflict. But at no point was the plot relegated to hopelessness. There was an idea of balance woven into the fabric of the story’s DNA. Countering all the negative hardships the characters have to live through, there was a cornucopia of warm moments popping up and bursting in the episodes, full of love, hope, friendship, laughter, caring for your fellow person, and fighting for what is right. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Bracing The Elements: Avatar The Last Airbender Podcast Live at The Great Star Theater, 1/28/24”
SF Sketchfest Review: The Bechdel Cast at Club Fugazi, 2/1/24
I’m not a movie person. I have seen maybe five movies in the last five years. Yes, that included the two years or so of complete pandemic lockdown and not leaving the house. I like The Bechdel Cast because I’m a fan of Jamie Loftus and Caitlin Durante more than movies. But I haven’t spent much time listening to the podcast for that reason. However, with the two of them doing a tour to discuss Barbie, the 2023 monster hit film AND the only movie I’ve seen in theaters this decade, I was glad to have some connection to the movie the two were discussing. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: The Bechdel Cast at Club Fugazi, 2/1/24”
SF Sketchfest Review: Red Room Orchestra plays The Lost Boys at Great American Music Hall, 1/19/24
It is apparent as we arrive that The Lost Boys is a seminal coming-of-age film to more goths and their familiars than those —ahem — of a certain age. Though not sold out, The Great American is full of stylish vampires of all ages, my partner and myself included. The 1987 Schumacher Peter Pan/Anne Rice mashup maintains a certain cultural currency as evinced by a thirty year reunion back in 2019 featuring the full living cast.
Tonight features a more modest guest list — a fit Alex Winter and a near manic Timmy Capello, second-string vampire and scene-stealing shirtless saxman — the Red Room Orchestra lineup is fire. This is a blessing because when we dust off the Lost Boys Soundtrack CD, we find an abbreviated list of ten tracks representing not a post-punk goth masterpiece but a schizophrenic mash-up of late eighties pop distractions, from INXS regrettably twice-dipping into Aussie pub-rock, to late-career solo forays by Foreigner’s Lou Grahm and the Who’s Roger Daltrey, to the residual 50’s rock n’ roll hangover that plagued that decade. The unauthorized list containing all the film’s tracks is just as bewildering, including the Run DMC/Aerosmith hip-hop crossover, “Walk This Way.” We rightly remember the high points: Echo and the Bunnymen covering “People Are Strange,” Gerard McMann’s standout “Cry Little Sister,” and, of course, Tim Capello’s sweaty and inexplicable cover of Christian rock band The Fall’s “I Still Believe.” Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Red Room Orchestra plays The Lost Boys at Great American Music Hall, 1/19/24”
Film Review: “Suncoast”
Linney anchors solid feature debut
In the early 2000s, filmmaker Laura Chinn was a teenager living with her mother in Clearwater, Florida. Chinn’s older brother Max, terminally ill with brain cancer, spent the last few days of his life in a hospice center with an internationally famous resident: Terri Schiavo. Schiavo’s right-to-die legal case spanned fifteen years, from 1998 until 2005, when the courts finally allowed her husband to remove her feeding tube. In Chinn’s feature film debut, she turns this grim early experience into Suncoast, a fictional, semi-autobiographical tear-jerker of a movie with a few tonal problems, but also much to recommend it.
Single of the Week: “head” by claire rousay
The first few notes of “head” caused a difficult reaction. The extreme autotune over folksy guitars had me on edge- waiting for it to devolve into the worst of what we experienced in the 00’s. But I caught the lyrics, and that made me stay. And the song didn’t turn into what I expected it to. Instead, it’s something beautiful, anxious, and a little weird. The deeply processed vocals were balanced out with lush, acoustic guitar and strings washing the singing. Don’t understand what I mean? Just listen. This one is a masterpiece.
“head” is the first single off rousay’s debut album “sentiment,” due out April 19th. Yes, the same day as the new Taylor Swift. Anyways, you can preorder it here from Bandcamp! Tour dates below, as I can’t begin to imagine how she pulls this off live:
Film Review: “The Teachers’ Lounge”
The Teachers’ Lounge is a riveting microcosm of society’s clashing principles
The Teachers’ Lounge (original German title Das Lehrerzimmer) comes from director Ilker Çatak (I Was, I Am, I Will Be), and though you may not have heard of this German arthouse film, it earned numerous end-of-year accolades and is now nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming 96th Academy Awards. The Teachers’ Lounge is a surprisingly gripping allegorical narrative about how seemingly trivial instances, under the right circumstances and involving certain types of individuals, can build up to damaging consequences.
SF Sketchfest Review: Kids In The Hall “Unplugged” at Palace Of Fine Arts, 1/23/24
Photos by Jakub Mosur
I’m not sure what the “unplugged” in Kids In The Hall Unplugged is referring to. Non-electric comedians? Acoustic comedians? The first thing that happened was a sound issue with one of the mics running foul and each member of the cast hopping up and down and tapping and teasing each other to figure out whose it was. They were wireless mics, so there’s that. As will likely become apparent, I am not a comedy reviewer. I’m not even much of a live comedy consumer. Perhaps “unplugged” is vernacularly smuggled in from live music that has assumed its own valence. At any rate, the mic problem, rather than hindering the performance, seemed to loosen everybody up and give them a chance to stretch their ad-lib muscles in these predefined but still vigorous skits.
SF Sketchfest Review: Doug Loves Movies Podcast at The Gateway Theater, 1/21/24
It’s SF Sketchfest time! I may have a schedule full of shows, but I am still here to give you this review/guide to Doug Loves Movies (DLM), comedian Doug Benson’s podcast that has been making us laugh since 2006. On the show he has celebrity guests (usually comedians or actors) and along with fun banter, tests their knowledge of movies with a variety of trivia games. For this episode (available here or on your favorite podcast streaming platform) his guests were Amy Schneider a writer of Jeopardy! fame; Geoff Tate: comedian and DLM regular: Chad Opitz: another comedian and regular; Anna Roisman: comedian, host, writer, actress; and Ardin Myrin: actress, comedian, and podcaster. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Doug Loves Movies Podcast at The Gateway Theater, 1/21/24”
Film Review: “Sometimes I Think About Dying”
Ridley shines in poignant character study
Released today in the middle of what seems like unending gray Bay Area winter weather, Sometimes I Think About Dying is the perfect film to watch given our collective dreary mood.
Continue reading “Film Review: “Sometimes I Think About Dying””
MOSSWOOD MELTDOWN 2024 LINE UP IS LIVE
It’s pouring rain here in Oakland, which is perfect for getting your hopes up about Summer! And by that, it’s time for us to start pouring over Summer festival lineups, and this morning, we were blessed with the Mosswood Meltdown artist list! Headlining is probably the biggest band to ever grace the stage at Mosswood Park, The B-52’s!!!! And, somehow, there’s another act with a top 40 hit on the bill- Gibby Haynes will be doing a set of Butthole Surfers songs backed by the Paul Green Rock Academy (!). Oh- if you are looking for acts that haven’t played in forever? We’ve got first-generation PA Punks Pure Hell, New York No Wave legends Bush Tetras (with Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley on drums), twee supergroup (and a part of my own live band bucket list) Go Sailor, and outsider art and synth legend The Space Lady. This whole lineup is bonkers. Hunx & His Punx, Big Freedia, Redd Kross, Egyptian Lover, Die Spitz, Pansy Division, Wifey, Sheastie Boys, Diesel Dudes, Trap Girl, Non Plus Temps, Gumby’s Junk, Baus, Hot Laundry, and more to come! Like every year, John Waters is hosting, and Peaches Christ will be presiding over a Drag Contest!
Tickets are on sale NOW!! Prices will be going up, so buy fast!
