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Twisted misters

From Australian serial killers to flighty Spanish ghosts, IndieFest 2012 explores the darker side of life (and the lighter side of the afterlife)

This Week's Paper

Local stars storm the "Oscars of porn," cheap dates for V-Week, IndieFest must-sees, Irish whiskey from Livermore, Ice-T's rap flick, D5's Olague, more. Read this week's digital issue.

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From the Blogs

video

Here is your extra special Valentine's Week fairy

02.09.12 - 8:45 am | Marke B. |
(0)
See video

Somehow, Valentine's Day has grown into an entire week -- and come hell or high Hallmark, we may just get away with avoiding it altogether (despite all the actually cool stuff going on). What we will not avoid, however, is enjoying this special Cupid of the Castro, caught on tape way back in 2006. Heart u, SF! 

New year

Singer-songwriter Ezra Furman of the Harpoons made the leap to San Francisco and didn't look back

02.09.12 - 8:06 am | Frances Capell |
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MUSIC Waiting for his coffee at Cafe Divis, Ezra Furman (who performs Sat/11 at Hotel Utah) flips through the latest issue of the Guardian. "I've been meaning to do more drugs," he says, pointing to the cannabis column, Herbwise. The wheels in Furman's head seem to always be in motion; there's a constant mischievous look in his eyes. We've met here to discuss the most recent product of his overactive imagination — his solo debut, The Year of No Returning, released on Tuesday through Furman's own Kinetic Family Records.Read more »

politics

WTF, Debra Saunders?

02.08.12 - 5:03 pm | Tim Redmond |
(10)

I really, really can't figure out what the Chron's only local editorial page columnist, the conservative Debra Saunders, is trying to say. If I read her Feb. 8 column right, she's opposing the Appeals Court ruling on same-sex marriage -- and she seems to be saying that Mayor Gavin Newsom was wrong to allow gay marriages and that the whole matter ought to be decided by a statewide vote:Read more »

bruce

Calvin Trillin: Explaining the resurrection of Newt Gingrich

02.08.12 - 5:00 pm |
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Two attempts to explain the resurrection of Newt Gingrich

1

Yes, Newt appeared  dead at least twice. 

If Mitt's guys were playing it smart,

They would have made certain of that

By driving a stake through his heart.

II

But Newt might have said if they had,

Proceed, Mitt. You'll see I won't mind it.

You're free to drive stakes through my heart,

Except that you'll first have to find it.

Calvin Trillin, The Nation, 2/13/2012

 

politics

Campaign to regulate health insurance premiums launched in SF

02.08.12 - 4:38 pm | Steven T. Jones |
(11)

Representatives from Consumer Watchdog and other groups today launched a ballot measure campaign to regulate health insurance rates in California with an event outside the San Francisco headquarters of Blue Shield of California, which is in the process of substantially increasing health premiums for a second consecutive year despite sitting on billions of dollars in cash reserves.Read more »

sexsf

Upset pornographers and the definition of scissoring: "Queer and Boning" controversy

02.08.12 - 3:49 pm | Caitlin Donohue |
(6)

Brouhaha! That would be the word I'd use to describe the reaction to today's cover story, "Queer and Boning in Las Vegas," about Courtney Trouble and her posse's adventures at the AVN Awards in Vegas. The crux of the matter revolves around my interview with lesbian pornographer Jincey Lumpkin, whose oeuvre falls into a more conventional mode of pornmaking than Trouble and the other queer pornsters profiled. Read more »

pixel_vision

Sundance Diary, volume eight: the final countdown

02.08.12 - 2:08 pm | Jesse Hawthorne Ficks |
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In a series of posts, Midnites for Maniacs curator-host and Academy of Art film-history teacher Jesse Hawthorne Ficks reports on the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Check out his first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh entries.
 
No film at this year's festival encountered as much controversy as Craig Zobel's Compliance. At the first public screening, an all-out shouting match erupted, with an audience member yelling "Sundance can do better!" You can't buy that kind of publicity. Every screening (public and press) that followed was jam-packed with people hoping to experience the most shocking film at Sundance, and the film does not disappoint. (Beware: every review I have happened upon has unnecessarily spoiled major plots in the film, which is based on true events.)

What is so impressive about Zobel's film is how it builds up a sense of ever-impending terror. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the film steps into Psycho (1960) terrain, specifically in the final act of the film. Compliance aim to confront a society filled with people who are trained to follow rules without questioning them. Magnolia Pictures, which previously collaborated with Zobel on his debut film Great World of Sound (which premiered at Sundance in 2007), picked up the film for theatrical release; if you dare to check it out, prepare to be traumatized. You'll be screaming about one of the most audacious movies of 2012 — and that's exactly why the film is so brilliant.

Read more »

politics

Bay Citizen and CIR announce merger of their newsrooms

02.08.12 - 1:22 pm | Steven T. Jones |
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The Bay Citizen and Center for Investigative Journalism have formally announced their intent to merge under the leadership of Phil Bronstein, who plans to cut almost $2 million from the combined newsrooms. As I wrote last week: How can this possibly be good for local journalism? It will take 30 days to seal the deal and we'll have more reporting and analysis in the coming weeks.

noise

Unintelligible genius: looking back at all four shows of the Reggidency

02.08.12 - 12:30 pm | Ryan Prendiville |
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When Reggie Watts first came to my attention, through a series of appearances on Conan O’Brien’s show a few years back, I didn’t know where to place him. My first instinct was to lump him in with the trend in music – particularly indie rock –  around the looping pedal where solo artists including Owen Pallett and tUnE-YaRds could layer mic samples atop one another during a live performance to get a larger, simulated band sound. Read more »

politics

Catholic hospitals and birth control

02.08.12 - 12:29 pm | Tim Redmond |
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I'm glad Sen. Barbara Boxer, along with Sens. Patty Murray and Jeanne Shaheen, are supporting the Obama administration's decision to mandate contraceptive coverage at Catholic hospitals. Read more »

pixel_vision

Making history: Joanne Griffith's 'Redefining Black Power' project comes to the Bay

02.08.12 - 8:38 am | Caitlin Donohue |
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"Joanne [Griffith]'s work is centered on one theme: not to offer information as a point of journalistic fact, but to act as a conduit for debate and conversation, especially around issues relating to the African diaspora experience." So writes Brian Shazor, director of the Pacifica Radio Archives, in the foreward to Griffith's new book Redefining Black Power: Reflections on the State of Black America (City Lights Books, 206pp, $16.95). Griffith will be presenting her work, part of an interactive project to archive the state of African Americans in the United States in the Bay Area this week -- starting tonight (Wed/8) at the Museum of the African Diaspora. Read more »

Right about now

Custom Made Theatre's Little Brother adapts Cory Doctorow's SF-based teen terrorism tale -- and it's probably the most exciting thing on stage right now

02.08.12 - 7:15 am | Robert Avila |
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THEATER It's a rare thing, really too rare, to find an audience eagerly erupting into political discussions between acts of a play. But that's what Little Brother inspires, and in an unaffected way, without pretension or unwelcome goading. It's too cool, confident, and contemporary for that. Read more »

politics

Plastic bags banned from all SF stores

02.07.12 - 7:49 pm | Yael Chanoff |
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The Board of Supervisors voted to expand a 2007 ban on plastic checkout bags to cover all retail and food establishments.

The law bans all businesses from providing plastic bags to customers. It also requires a ten cent fee for paper bags, to be pocketed by the store. With the ban, only paper bags, compostable bags, and reusable bags will be permitted at checkout. The city hopes to encourage shoppers to carry reusable bags.

Supervisors acknowledged that this ordinance could create confusion and inconvenience for business owners. Read more »

pixel_vision

Will theme camps get the remaining Burning Man tickets?

02.07.12 - 5:36 pm | Steven T. Jones |
(54)

Organizers of Burning Man are working on a plan to deal with the fact that most longtime burners were denied tickets to this year's event – the result of a new lottery system that seems to have been gamed by ticket scalpers and agencies – and sources tell us it could involve distributing tickets through established theme camps and art collectives.Read more »

politics

The marriage decision, for better and for worse

02.07.12 - 4:35 pm | Tim Redmond |
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The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judges cited both Groucho Marx ("marriage is a great institution, but who wants to live in an institution?") and Marilyn Monroe (what if the movie was called "Who Wants to Enter Into a Domestic Partnership With a Millionaire?") in discussing the importance of the word "marriage." Justice Stephen Reinhardt's ruling made clear that the only purpose of Proposition 8 was to "lessen the status and dignity of gays and lesbians in California." T Read more »