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Feature

Rings of Fire

The daunting journey of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings to the big screen.

By Gregory Weinkauf

Published: December 12, 2001

Quite a while ago, in a time forgotten by many mortals, a powerful magic ruled the Western lands, emanating from luminous citadels known as movie theaters . Those who still remember this mystical...

Feature

A Moving Experience

Delays and mismanagement endangered a $20 million federal reconstruction grant for North Beach Place. So the Housing Authority tried to speed the project up -- by tricking longtime, elderly residents into leaving.

By Jeremy Mullman

Published: December 12, 2001

Sitting in the midst of her living room, 64-year-old public housing tenant Sally Lee is surrounded by stacks of bags that nearly reach her water-stained ceiling. The pink plastic bags, she explains...

Matt Smith

Death and Access

When police officers and death coincide, the public has a right to the official record of the event

By Matt Smith

Published: December 12, 2001

There was once an excitable man I'll call John who very much wanted a blender. John went to the Mervyn's department store at Geary and Masonic early last week, picked one up, and headed out the...

Night Crawler

Thrill of a Lifetime

The life of Will "The Thrill" Viharo -- the Bay Area's undisputed B-movie lounge king -- would make a good B-movie of its own

By Silke Tudor

Published: December 12, 2001

Maybe life was a movie after all, and when we died we just walked off the set and returned to reality. Maybe we were taking the illusion too seriously. -- Vic Valentine in Love Stories Are...

Letters

Letters to the Editor

Tale of the Whale; Night Crawler: A Cure for the Common Cold

Published: December 12, 2001

Tale of the Whale Falling for the company line: Having spent five years directing the campaign to save Baja's Laguna San Ignacio (LSI) for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), I...

Music

Cold Snap

British duo Zero 7 rode its chill vibe to the top of the U.K. charts. But will its mellow electronica play in America?

By Darren Keast

Published: December 12, 2001

Cynical groups that believe a meteoric rise in the music business is impossible without compromise and video airplay will want to study the career path of British duo Zero 7. If it weren't for...

Pop Philosophy

Ridin' the wheels of steel

Why don't you smile now; A Slim's chance.

By Dan Strachota

Published: December 12, 2001

Last week, my friends and I bought an audio mixer for a pal's birthday, which we presented to him at dinner. We made him open the gift while he was in the restaurant -- remember how much you hated...

House of Tudor

Sound Advice

Classical glaciers, tarnished saints, hellish holidays, and Arab artists.

By Silke Tudor

Published: December 12, 2001

In 1926, while still a child, American composer and spatial-music pioneer Henry Brant traveled across the Atlantic to have an old violin authenticated as a Stradivarius. The visit was a success:...

Hear This

The Week's Can't-Miss Performance

Emergency String Quartet revolutionizes modern chamber music

By Sam Prestianni

Published: December 12, 2001

In the contemporary world of improvisation, string players rule. Avant-garde trailblazers like bassist Dominic Duval, cellist Tomas Ulrich, violinist Mat Maneri, guitarist Joe Morris, and kotoist...

Reviewed

John Hartford

RCA Country Legends (Buddha); Gum Tree Canoe (Rounder); Hamilton Ironworks (Rounder)

By Lawrence Kay

Published: December 12, 2001

It was a sad day last June when country/ bluegrass innovator John Hartford passed away after a long struggle with lymphoma. Hartford was an unreasonably talented singer, songwriter, and...

Reviewed

Hood

Cold House (Aesthetics)

By Philip Sherburne

Published: December 12, 2001

Melancholy is a hybrid emotion: Never fixing upon a single object, it flits between myriad strands of abstract sadness. So perhaps it's fitting that Hood's fifth long-player, Cold House , is not...

Eat

Sweet Spot

If there's a problem with the menu, it's that nearly everything on it looks great.

By Greg Hugunin

Published: December 12, 2001

To dine at Aziza is to experience a rare brand of luxury that leaves no sense untouched. Step inside and you'll encounter dusky cobalt walls, dramatic arches painted with blue and white stripes,...

Side Dish

Esprit de Corps

Hotel Biron is a little bit of Paris in San Francisco

By Harry Coverte

Published: December 12, 2001

Paris Mon Amour Need another reason to liken San Francisco to Paris? Check out Hotel Biron, a discreet new gallery and wine bar behind Zuni Cafe at 45 Rose. The space, named after a Parisian inn...

Film

Eyes Half Open

Cameron Crowe takes Jerry Maguire on a dizzy trip through dreamland

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: December 12, 2001

Beneath the hazy, mystifying layers of Vanilla Sky lies a remarkable Tom Cruise performance -- one that, to a large extent, takes place beneath a makeup artist's piled-on scars and a costumer's...

Reel World

Reel World

Screenwriter Steve Sobel says his latest work, Resin, a look at the horrors of drug laws, could only have been written in San Francisco

By Michael Fox

Published: December 12, 2001

Traffic With his first feature ( Fall and Spring ) making the festival rounds, SoCal native Steve Sobel moved to San Francisco in the mid-'90s. He worked mornings at a South S.F. natural foods...

Reps Etc.

Reps Etc.

Film Reps List for 12-12-2001

Compiled By Gregg Rickman

Published: December 12, 2001

Times compiled from information available Tuesday; it's always advisable to call for confirmation. Price given is standard adult admission; discounts often apply for students, seniors, and members....

Night&Day;

Gory Details

A tribute to the sex and violence of filmmaker Andy Milligan

By Gary Morris

Published: December 12, 2001

The golden age of exploitation, from the '60s through the '80s, was one of cinema's richest, if also most brackish, backwaters. Conventional wisdom portrays its creators as uniformly lecherous,...

Night&Day;

Girl Talk

The perverse, provocative writings of Dodie Bellamy challenge standard notions of both poetry and female sexuality

By Lisa Hom

Published: December 12, 2001

One gets the distinct impression, when reading local writer and essayist Dodie Bellamy 's new collection of surreal prose poems, Cunt-Ups , that she would be adept at talking dirty. Here's an...

Halloween

Hold On a Minute!

Ecologists are still trying to spin their phony save the whale campaign

By Jill Stewart

Published: December 12, 2001

It's my rule not to write columns based on my mail, because I write only 40 columns and a handful of cover stories annually, and within that limitation cannot possibly squeeze in all the bad deeds...

Stuff

Dark Victory

15 years later, Frank Miller once more dons Batman's cape and cowl

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: December 12, 2001

It is December 5, the day AOL Time Warner-owned DC Comics has been anxiously awaiting for almost 15 years--the day writer-illustrator Frank Miller once more dons cape and cowl to resurrect the Dark...