Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Friday August 04, 2006

FRIDAY, AUGUST 4 -more-


Moving Pictures: Revisiting Orson Welles’ ‘Mr. Arkadin’

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday August 04, 2006

The Criterion Collection continues to set the standard for classic film on DVD. The company recently released a three-disc set of Orson Welles’ long-neglected 1955 film Mr. Arkadin (also known as Confidential Report) that contains a wealth of material documenting the film’s murky history. Just as Criterion gave the deluxe treatment last year to Welles’ 1972 F For Fake, so this year the company has produced a respectful and informative package for Arkadin that does well to salvage the mystery and reputation of this confounding movie. -more-


Moving Pictures: Impressionistic ‘Brothers of the Head’ Compelling, Flawed

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday August 04, 2006

While it makes sense that Orson Welles’ Mr. Arkadin would bear certain resemblances to Citizen Kane, it seems unlikely that a movie like Brothers of the Head, an independent faux documentary about conjoined twins turned rock stars, would draw on the same film for inspiration. But early on in the movie there is an homage of sorts to Kane, an allusion that sets up an interesting parallel. -more-


Theater: The End of the World Comes to John Hinkle Park

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday August 04, 2006

“You gouge out an eye for keener sight. Is blindness vision?” -more-


About the House: Granite, and Some Other Boring Things

By Matt Cantor
Friday August 04, 2006

I can feel another rant coming on and this one has been coming for some time. I’m definitely involved in the world of real estate, for better AND for worse. Rather than simply sharing construction knowledge with people at their homes, a lot of what I end up doing involves checking over houses that are in the sale process, and this means examining the product of sales preparation, of last-minute, minimally budgeted spin and fluff. Even the term “flipping” a house sounds more like making a crepe than building a home. There’s a vernacular to these things that’s not unlike reality TV or aerobics classes and it’s become so predictable that there are genuinely days in which I can’t remember which flip I’ve been inside of for three or four hours. Yes, one had two baths and three bedrooms and the other was four baths with an in-law downstairs but the “look” of these places is often so similar, due to the vernacular of choices that there isn’t much difference beyond square footage. -more-


Garden Variety: Antiques, Nurseries and a Coffee Break in Alameda

By Ron Sullivan
Friday August 04, 2006

The Alameda Antiques Flea Market happens on the first Sunday of the month. It’s a good show for five bucks, a stroll through the surreal, and, if you’re my age, just a bit unsettling to see so many of your own childhood artifacts labeled “vintage.” -more-


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday August 04, 2006

What About Quake Insurance? -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday August 04, 2006

FRIDAY, AUGUST 4 -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday August 01, 2006

TUESDAY, AUGUST 1 -more-


Actors Ensemble Brings ‘Night of the Iguana’ to Live Oak Theatre

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 01, 2006

An orchestra of marimbas playing “Down in Mexico, Joyous Mexico” ... Drinking Rum Cocos on the verandah of the Hotel Costa Verde, while below, the patrona’s nightswimming with the local boys, and that big lizard’s chafing at the end of his rope, and a hurricane’s brewing up ... -more-


Trees, Plants are Great, But the Real Action is Underground

By Ron Sullivan, Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 01, 2006

In some ways, we humans are educating ourselves about the planet that sustains us the way the owner of a cranky old car educates herself about how cars work: We learn about systems and parts when they break down and we’re forced to figure out why. Partly that’s a matter of perceived urgency that gets grants written and funding done—“pure” research is a delicious notion, but it’s rare that anyone can get the time, facilities, and support to study a matter just because we all get intrigued by it. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday August 01, 2006

TUESDAY, AUGUST 1 -more-