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Feature

Building the Perfect Beast

As the movie industry contemplates a new age of computer-generated features, Berkeley's Phil Tippett fights to keep the art of special effects honest, messy, and true

By Michael Sragow

Published: November 19, 1997

1. "I'm Extinct" Movie special-effects maestro Phil Tippett has won billowing praise for the jaw-dropping digital transformations that turned models of alien bugs into the fearsome insect...

Feature

Gearing Up for the New Star Wars

A conversation with the head of Industrial Light & Magic

By Michael Sragow

Published: November 19, 1997

There's something karmically correct about San Francisco carrying the creative heartbeat for the new age of digital special effects. In 1967, the psychedelic scene had everyone from rock musicians...

Letters

Letters

Published: November 19, 1997

Checchi the Savior Re David Pasztor's article ("Checchi's Checkered Record," Nov. 5): I would like to provide a different perspective. As a Northwest Airlines (NWA) frequent flyer and former...

News

Dog Bites

By J. M, Matt Smith

Published: November 19, 1997

Kissing Banana Could the San Francisco Examiner actually have bested the Chronicle in a race to suck up to a large advertiser, specifically Bay Area clothing giant the Gap Inc.? It certainly...

News

Wired Frays

An editor is not hired; three key players flit away; layoffs begin

By Steve Boland

Published: November 19, 1997

The Voice of the Digital Revolution has been sounding muffled lately -- unless you listen to its friendly translators, who say its troops are reorganized and finally ready to conquer the world....

Music

Hear This

By Robert Arriaga

Published: November 19, 1997

Old Grandad With groups like Whitesnake struggling to land gigs at places like Uncle Fucker's Chuckle Hut, you might actually believe all the crap about metal being dead. Truth told, metal...

Music

Night Crawler

By Silke Tudor

Published: November 19, 1997

In the gathering dark outside the Justice League, two lines stretch down the block, patiently awaiting entrance into Sam Shepard's Suicide in Bb, a mystery play about a missing jazzman that...

Music

Riff Raff

By Robert Arriaga, Johnny DiPaola, Karl D. Esturbense, Jeff Stark, Silke Tudor, Heather Wisner, Bill Wyman

Published: November 19, 1997

Two Words for All Gen-Xers Attending This Weekend's Jane's Addiction Concert Who Might Think This Reunion Is Somehow Less Embarrassing Than Boomer Revival Pap Like the Eagles or Fleetwood Mac It's...

Music

Learning From Scratch

The history of reggae, dub, soul, and "meggae," as told by Lee "Scratch" Perry

By Joshua Green

Published: November 19, 1997

It's 3:30 a.m. in Paris, and Lee "Scratch" Perry is living up to his reputation as one of reggae's most colorful, and least stable, characters. "My real name is Death Before Dishonor," he announces...

Music

Hear This

By Jill Stauffer

Published: November 19, 1997

Mouse on Mars Stereolab without vocals. Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma -- the two DYsseldorfers behind Mouse on Mars -- probably wouldn't mind the diminutive charge; the members of the two bands...

Music

The House of Tudor

By Silke Tudor

Published: November 19, 1997

When examining Moby's discography, dismiss the guitar-primed Animal Rights, which the roguish dance prince admits was a spit in the eye of close-minded clubbers. Instead, focus on the peerless...

Eat

Kiss Me, Deadly!

By Naomi Wise

Published: November 19, 1997

Ruby's Nightshade 2101 Sutter (at Steiner), 541-0795. Open daily 5:30 to 10 p.m., until 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The restaurant is wheelchair accessible. Street parking not too bad; paid...

Film

Second Time

By Gregg Rickman

Published: November 19, 1997

"The Exquisite Cinema of Bill Morrison" Anyone who's seen experimental moviemaking in this town is aware of the vogue for "found footage" cinema, new movies assembled from the rubble of old --...

Film

Court, No Spark

By Michael Sragow

Published: November 19, 1997

John Grisham's The Rainmaker Directed and written by Francis Ford Coppola, from John Grisham's novel. Starring Matt Damon, Claire Danes, Jon Voight, Mary Kay Place, Mickey Rourke, and Danny...

Film

Zoom Lens

By Gary Morris

Published: November 19, 1997

Tranny Fest The most shocking thing about Tranny Fest, the "Transgender and Transgenre Cinema" daylong program of videos and films, is that it's the first such event in San Francisco rather...

Film

Zoom Lens

By Joe Mader

Published: November 19, 1997

One night at the Kabuki ... At a recent 10:50 p.m. Saturday screening of Boogie Nights at the Kabuki Theater, the audience got something less than the Full Monty. For two hours and 15 minutes...

Film

Zoom Lens

By Tod Booth

Published: November 19, 1997

Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist OK, so the guy nails his penis to a 2-by-4, and he's pale and scarred and has a cough that sounds like an effect from an Italian horror...

Night&Day;

Night+Day

By Heather Wisner

Published: November 19, 1997

wednesday november 19 Night Light Reading Walt Curtis' book Mala Noche & Other "Illegal" Adventures is like peeking at someone's diary: Its candid narrative is so fascinating you can't put...

Halloween

Savage Love

Published: November 19, 1997

Hey, Faggot: AIDS was a crisis because thousands of people were getting sick and dying and nobody knew why, they couldn't do anything about it, and didn't know how to prevent it. That constitutes a...

Halloween

Slap Shots

By Jack Boulware

Published: November 19, 1997

Dancin' With Mr. D Halloween night in the city, 1997. George Michalski, Cypress Club pianist and musical director of the TV show Nash Bridges, was driving through the streets on the way to play...