Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Friday November 16, 2007

FRIDAY, NOV. 16 -more-


The Theater: Zimmerman’s ‘Argonautika’ at Berkeley Rep

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday November 16, 2007

Awash with the spray of the yet-unconquered sea, the stage at Berkeley Rep (designed by Daniel Ostling) represents the wooden ships and wood palaces of preclassical times, as the cast does the heroes, demigods, goddesses, kings, witches and nymphs from legend that move through. -more-


The Best of Italian Cinema in San Francisco

Friday November 16, 2007

The New Italian Film Festival, playing this week at the Embarcadero Center Cinema in San Francisco through Sunday, offers a rich course on the best new filmmakers in Italian film. After this weekend, most of these films will likely never be shown again with English subtitles or ever be released on DVD in the United States. -more-


Moving Pictures: PFA Examines the Complexities of Chaplin

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday November 16, 2007

Our image of Charlie Chaplin is a simple one: a daft little man in baggy clothes, with bowler hat and wicker cane. He’s just a comedian—a silly clown. -more-


Moving Pictures: Reilly: A Career-Defining Performance

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday November 16, 2007

“Wow.” The word permeates The Life of Reilly, a new film of a one-man show by the late actor Charles Nelson Reilly. And with each utterance of the word, we get the sense that it’s the only time when this consummate entertainer is not totally in control of his performance. The word just seems to seep out, almost reflexively, at quiet moments during the show. It is as though Reilly himself is still marveling at his own past, reliving his memories, experiencing the formative events of his life all over again, but with the wisdom and awe of an older man keenly aware that he was too young to fully appreciate the depth, the pain, the humor and the madness of his life as he was living it. -more-


East Bay Then and Now: A Tale of Two Mystery Houses and One Politician

By Daniella Thompson
Friday November 16, 2007

Mystery is the reverse side of history. Berkeley, a city chock-full of historic houses, naturally has its share of mysteries—interesting structures about whose origin little or nothing is known. -more-


Garden Variety: A Rare Case of Virtue’s Being Fun: Annie’s Annuals

By Ron Sullivan
Friday November 16, 2007

Annie’s Annuals sent me a promo e-mail a week or two back. Not spam; I’ve put my name on Annie’s mail list because I want to know when the Annies do interesting stuff. -more-


About the House: The Brick Chimneys in Our Houses

By Matt Cantor
Friday November 16, 2007

Dash it all! It seems to take so blasted long to get clothed for the office these days, what with button-hooking the boots, those darned gaiters, buttoning those trousers all the way up and then there’s all the layers. My tailoring bill has become absolutely astronomical and my dresser takes a good 45-minutes ironing my shirt, cravat and those endless four-fold handkerchiefs. Perhaps one day, a man will be able to wear only three layers when flagging his Hansom cab to the office, but for now we must plod through, chin high and suffer silently. -more-


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday November 16, 2007

Tectonic Time Bomb -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday November 16, 2007

FRIDAY, NOV. 16 -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday November 13, 2007

TUESDAY, NOV. 13 -more-


The Theater: Aurora Revisits Mae West Blockbuster

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday November 13, 2007

“What do I know about a heart? To me, a man’s an asset!” Mae West’s very intonation is proverbial—though just after the start of Sex, her 1926 Broadway blockbuster now revived at the Aurora, she intones, not too piously: “Don’t give me that church business again; you’ll get me goin’ back to the old homestead.” -more-


Green Neighbors: When Is a Tree Not a Tree? When It’s a Great Big Grass

By Ron Sullivan
Tuesday November 13, 2007

Bamboo is a plant with many faces and many reputations. It’s invasive, except when it’s not; it’s edible, tough, fast-growing. It’s good for scaffolding, houses, roofs, containers (in sizes from spice-bottle to bazooka), musical instruments (the Malagasy valiha tubular harp and sodinha flute, just for example), bows and arrows and the bowstrings too, fishing rods, curtain rods, flooring, paneling, dishes, kitchen and table utensils as well as the table and most of the kitchen itself, including water pipes. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday November 13, 2007

TUESDAY, NOV. 13 -more-