Bruce Bratton hosts University Grapevine, linking local and campus issues, every Tuesday 7:30-8:30 p.m. on KZSC 88.1 fm.
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DON'T GO WEST. So now Lowe's is out of the Westside development picture. Fairly substantial rumors have it that George Ow will try to bring in Orchard Supply Hardware (aka Sears) along with a large version of New Leaf Market into the old Wrigley building. While those two tenants would be way more preferable to Lowe's and certainly Home Depot, why can't we do some intelligent and proactive planning first? The new or revised County General Plan is in various states of development at this moment. Why can't we put a moratorium on all development until we all get a chance to help plan the growth of our city? A moratorium wouldn't hurt anybody and it would give us all a break from Home Depot's rush to build. The Westside Wrigley area is zoned for Industrial technology, UCSC is developing technology why; not take some time to plan before selling out to retail? (Full disclosure; I was a clerk in the industrial department at Orchard Supply Hardware out on 41st. That was back in the mid '70's when Al Smith and his brother Orville owned it. They sold it to Grace Hardware who sold it to Sears. That was after I was a clerk at Eastside Hardware on Soquel and after I opened General Feed and Seed with two partners then called General Hardware and Feed. I was the General).
THE LADY KILLERS. It's easy to say that this is the worst Coen Brothers film I've ever seen. It's nearly the worst Tom Hanks film I've ever seen. And I am not comparing this film to the Alec Guinness original; it simply doesn't compare and shouldn't even be allowed to have the same title. Every character, every line, every scene is overworked, over stated and stupid. You can see each situation 5 minutes before it happens. Everyone involved should be ashamed. Let's hope the Coen Brothers, who have produced some wonderful films haven't lost their touch. If you do go anyway, then stay all the way through the closing credits, that's when they tacked on the best musical performance in the entire film.
POLICE INFO CLARIFICATION. Santa Cruz Police Community Services Officer Jim Howes emailed to say I didn't get it quite right when I said that there aren't any compassion sessions or therapy available for officers who are dealing with on the job stress. I did state that incorrectly in that column. Jim told us that night (at my Citizen Police Academy class) that there WAS therapy time available IF an officer had been involved in a life threatening situation, murder, shooting or matters like that. I'm glad to correct that, no problem. I do however believe that considering the pressure any police officer works under that there should be much more counseling time available, for almost any tension situation on or off the job. Sure, sure, budget crunch etc. but why not volunteer time from our huge army of therapists, counselors, and psychiatrists? The police deal with this stuff ok and seem like nice folks but a little compassion counseling wouldn't hurt. I'd be happy to report on the Citizen Police Academy classes I've been going to but so far they're just presentations from the DA's office, and various police departments. They are the same presentations every Elks Club and Neighborhood Association has heard hundreds of times. We will get a tour of The Dispatch Center up at DeLaveaga this week and hear about computer crimes.
THAT DARNED PRIMACK. What a guy! The latest news on the streets is that Santa Cruz City Councilperson Mark Primack is applying to the state to be allowed to vote on those Westside developments. Of course he stands to make money from all that Home Depot development both from the properties he owns and from his architectural design contracts.
DAWN OF THE DEAD. Just to make matters perfectly clear here are two reviews of Dawn of The Dead. 1) If you do not like movies about walking dead, you know with blood, gore and people doing absolutely stupid things to stay alive, don't go. 2) If you like movies like the original George Romero's Night of the Living Dead from back in 1979 then don't miss this film. The Dead can now walk and run faster and the tension and stupidity are just as great as they ever were. I loved most of it except for a calm party scene in the middle which seemed to be directed by some other director, which was embarrassing.
WOODS COVE ANYONE?? Remember the few little glitches that the developers faced when they bulldozed the meadows between Graham Hill Road and Henry Cowell State Park? I hope you saw that full page color ad in last Saturday's San Francisco Chronicle for Woods Cove Santa Cruz. That's the group of "60 stunning residences" just "10 minutes from the Pacific in cathedral-like redwood groves". These homes have either 4 or 5 bedrooms, are 3,300 to 5,200 square feet and are "from the low millions." It goes on to say "Like Nowhere Else On Earth". The ad line that got me was the headline, the top sight grabber of the entire ad it said "FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN LIVE ANYWHERE THEY WANT." It's all operated by Standard Pacific Homes, who brought us such miracles as The Haciendas and The Villas at The Seaview Ranch in Watsonville. It's difficult to determine our priorities in Santa Cruz County. We talk about the environment, we argue about affordable housing, and we allow developers to create millionaire homes for people who can live anywhere they want. How'd that development get through anyway?
SANTACRUZCOPWATCH.ORG. Here's an interesting concept, some folks have an idea to watch our Santa Cruz City Police in action. They aren't going to stop or harass or annoy they are just going to videotape our police when they do things. There are Copwatch groups all over the USA, the organizer told me and this is "nothing personal against the Santa Cruz Police Department. The first meeting of Copwatch will be at the Resource Center for Non Violence Wednesday April 7th at 7pm. Go online at www.santacruzcopwatch.org to find out more.
THE RECKONING. Willem Dafoe has such an interesting face he's fascinating to watch in any role. Paul Bettany has the same facial qualities and he's just as fascinating. The Reckoning is a Middle Ages who-dunnit. Unfortunately it all takes place in a village that some evil doer spray painted white to look like snow. Everything was spray painted white; I guess they missed snow in the middle ages and painted trees, castles and even the ground white. But don't pay any attention to that. The plot moves along on slow wooden wheels and you can guess the ending but go see it anyway. Especially if you want to think about life and play acting before Shakespeare's time.
CULTURAL TYPE CLOSING. Local glass artist Jonathan Schmuck will be giving a brief talk at Larry Selman's The Glass Gallery at 123 Locust Street at 7p.m. this Friday night. The lecture is titled "Being John Schmuck". He's worked in glass for 15 years and has been working in the "roll up" technique which produces an almost stone type surface. I've seen his work, it is beautiful and not what you think of when you think of glass creations... The Santa Cruz Symphony is playing this Saturday at The Civic and Sunday at the Mello Center. Barbara Nissman is guest pianist and they'll play Rossini's Barber of Seville Overture, Ives "The Camp Meeting", which is a foot stomper, and Brahms Piano Concerto #2 with Ms.Nissman. Call 462-0553 for tickets or go to www.santacruzsymphony.org
DANGED QUOTES. "Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing." -Werner Von Braun. "The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense." -Tom Clancy. And one for my favorite Santa Cruz city councilperson... "He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." -Abraham Lincoln.
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
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BUSH'S BLACKMAIL. When President Bush caused Iraq to be so heavily bombed, several businesses of a special category were destroyed. A close and trustworthy friend of mine is part owner of a company that makes a special machine that those destroyed businesses use daily and need. My friend's company was recently offered not just the contract to replace those machines but it was suggested that a higher than normal price be quoted. Then comes the kicker!! It was made very clear that to get the contract my friend's company would have to contribute to President Bush's campaign. They would have to state the amount in the next communication. For some reason that doesn't surprise me. Politics are like that nowadays. It does make you realize that in addition to the oil there are enormous profits being made from the war on Iraq. My friend's company is small but when you think how many giant industries are being offered the same deal, it's almost depressing.
DAVID MAMETS NEW PLAY, DR. FAUSTUS. If you've enjoyed the carefully crafted plays and films by David Mamet such as Spartan and Glengarry Glen Ross, Dr. Faustus will be a masterpiece for you. It is the culmination of many workings on the meaning of life that Mamet has given us before. This Dr. Faustus is a mixture of Marlowe, Goethe, and even Thomas Mann's Dr. Faustus. This play is an important addition to contemporary theatre. Compared to Shepard, Pinter, Miller and other contemporaries Mamet is in a completely different arena. Mamet deals with what drives the earth, what drives the human soul, what is truth, do we need love, what is God, and magic. Dr. Faustus plays now through April 18 at the Magic Theatre at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Go to www.magictheatre.org and take any tickets you can get. This play will only become more famous and noteworthy as time goes by.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. Do check out Dan Haifley's letter re Cuba, and other later letters such as Judi G. letter about Home Town Advantage and Rotkin's reaction to the fact that Home Depot is a big time Bush supporter. And thanks for writing. Keep 'em coming.
THE SECRET DOOR. Johnny Depp and John Turturro have so many acting tics and gimmicks that they could read those property notices in The Sentinel and keep you entranced. Secret Door has only moments of suspense and mystery and those are not masterful bits. It is odd and probably one of those real Hollywood mysteries why Stephen King's name isn't in the advertising, he wrote the original story. This would be a perfect dvd rental.
HORSE MEAT MARKET. My mention last week of the horse meat market on Portola brought several emails. Patton Browne thought it was a horsemeat restaurant and Judi G. wanted me to know she loves horses. (see letters to the editor.) I should have added last week that it was a horse meat market not restaurant. Yes, it was where Cole's BBQ is now. My friends Joe and Nancy Giallo owned and operated the market. Another friend Jerry Predika who wrote the world's greatest book on making sausages and I had begun writing a horsemeat cookbook to sell in the Giallo's market. We had such tasty recipes as Fillet of Flicka, Soup of Seabiscuit, Caballo Tartare, Tournedos du Trigger, and Filly Mignon. But then the Giallo's got a bad delivery of horse meat and lacking sufficient funds they had to close shop. Yes, horse meat is every bit as tasty as cow meat. Matter of fact we served horsemeat several times at friend's homes without identifying it and received many compliments.
SAD NEWS. Long time Santa Cruzan and recent resident of Paradise, California, Paul Dragavon has myeloma cancer in his blood stream. Look it up on Google or Vivisimo, which I like better, it's a terrible disease. He was in Stanford Hospital for the first of four chemotherapy treatments. If you know about white lights, or secret chants or exorcising such demons, send them Paul's way. So much for living in Paradise. Paul just told me about two recent cold blooded shootings in Paradise. They should change the name.
CHRIST'S REAL PASSION. I have seen no mention anywhere of Christ's real passion as shown in the film. Jesus was a carpenter don't forget. So according to Reverend Gibson we see that Jesus made tall tables. I assume that back in those good old days folks sat on the ground so Jesus builds a table with long legs. He shows his mom his knock off of what we now call The Mission Style table (how did he know') Mom laughs, so Jesus throws some water in her face. Nobody talks about that part. Imagine if we had a table hand made by Jesus. It'd be more famous than the Shroud of Turin for Christ's sakes. The other miracle I could never figure out is why those Jews at the last supper all sat on the same side of the table. I don't think they do that any more, at least most of my best friends don't. Speaking of which, I hope you didn't miss Morton Marcus?excellent and probing review of Passion of What's His Name in the Sentinel. A different point of view and Mort focused on the film aspect, not all the religious hype.
RICO MALATESTA AND THE S.C. HOTEL. In last week's online column I printed a photo of the chef and crew from the Santa Cruz Hotel circa 1948 and asked for any information. Marie Rohrer emailed to say that the guy standing on the left was Rico Malatesta. The Malatestas were friends of her mother who was a waitress at the Mountain View Hotel (now St. Claire's Retreat.) She also waitressed at the Garibaldi Hotel on Front Street for years and Garbinis in Soquel. Her mom who now lives in Vacaville knows the name of the littlest waitress in the photo. We'll hear from her soon. Jeff Dunn also emailed to say that Rico was his oldest daughter's great grandfather and was head chef when the Righetti's owned the hotel.
TAKING LIVES. Angelina Jolie has made a bunch of stinky films lately. Taking Lives isn't a great film but it does remind us that she can act. It's another serial killer mystery and if you need to see another one go for this one. It has suspense, and a plot that holds your attention for a while. The city of Montreal must have paid big bucks to get that many mentions in the film, and there was no reason to mention Montreal. You could wait and rent it or go just to see how beautiful Angelina is other than that, don't bother.
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND. Many people in the audience at the Riverfront Theatre this weekend kept trying to laugh during this Jim Carrey film. It's not a funny film; Carrey doesn't try to be funny. It's a Charlie Kaufman film. Kaufman did Being John Malkovich for example. Carrey, Kate Winslet and Kirsten Dunst all willingly undergo a bizarre and impossible mind erasing treatment that goes wrong. It causes much out of sequence plot shifts. You'll walk away thinking about what love is, and whether or not you would really want to erase your memory of a bad relationship, if you could. It's a think piece film; go if you're so inclined.
THE ARTIS QUARTET. This Austrian string ensemble will play works by Mozart, Karl Weigel and Felix Mendelssohn. The concert will be this Wednesday the 24 at 8pm in UCSC Music Recital Hall. They'll play these musics on violins, violas and a cello that date from 1573 to 1784. There'll be a discussion afterwards. The quartet began in Vienna and has been together since 1980. They've won too many awards to mention. UCSC Arts& Lectures is presenting them. Tickets at 831 459-2159. String quartets are very popular in Santa Cruz and this is an important quartet so don't muck around about getting your tickets.
CUTE QUOTES. Constant contributor Scott MacClelland who never sleeps sent these gems. "A modest little person, with much to be modest about." -Winston Churchill. "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." -Clarence Darrow. And be sure to memorize this one. "I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having you here." -Stephen Bishop.
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
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LOWE'S, HOME DEPOT AND WALMART. Because it is so obvious that traffic will have us in permanent gridlock if Lowe's, Home Depot, and Walmart open on the west side of town there are many traffic studies being done even as we read. Traffic studies are often taken at the most beneficial times for developers to prove there's no problem. Any sane person would know that adding an additional 8000 cars to Mission Street would stop life itself. Imagine The Rotkin-Kennedy conference hotel expansion on West Cliff. Not many conference attendees will be flying in as you can imagine. Not many more will be taking the train either. Nope, they'll be driving cars, cars that will come down Mission and turn at Mission and Bay. Even the traffic "mitigations" that are being planned for Mission Street wouldn't help. Right now we've got to put pressure on the City Council, (those that may still be responsive to the folks who elected them) to stop this unnecessary and unwanted growth. Where is the Master Transportation Study, where is the revision of the General Plan? There's a Planning Commission meeting March 18. That's the time to show support for common sense growth. We also need to find candidates for the City Council who will take a stand against all these proposed West Side developments. By now if you run into any elected official or wannabe elected official who has the gall to say they need more information or haven't made up their mind you know they'll be just more Kennedy-Rotkin-Walmart supporters. Forget them entirely. Before I forget, you can sign or better yet pick up petitions to stop George Ow's Lowe's, and Barry Swenson's Home Depot and Satan's own Walmart from opening on the Westside at The Whale City Bakery, Bar & Grill in Davenport and The Garden Company on Mission across from Safeway.
HIDALGO. One of the classic Hollywood type films (so's Seabiscuit.) All pretty, fun, cute, nice happy ending. Viggo Mortensen is the lead; he's a fine actor and he's nice too. So's Buffalo Bill, who's also in the film. B. Bill is played by that queen of sadism and queerism in the now defunct "Oz" series on HBO. Go see Hidalgo, it's a big screen fun film and exactly the kind of film if "I just want to be entertained" is your movie mission motto. Even the horse is cute and I hate horses. Anyone remember the horsemeat market over on Portola Drive in the 70's? Now there was a great idea...
CONCERNING CUBA AND THE FREE PRESS. Paul Rogers of the San Jose Mercury, a long time friend, emailed last week to question some pro Cuba material he found in BrattonOnline. (See the February 6, 2004 column, go to Health Care in Cuba.) Being far from informed on why, how, or what is behind the story of Castro's jailing journalists or "so called journalists" I asked another long time friend Nancy Abbey for her reactions to Paul's questions. Read both Paul's and Nancy's letters to the editor. Paul's been a mass media journalist for Knight Ridder's S.J. Mercury for years, and asks the same questions many main stream corporate American media ask. On the other hand Nancy has studied Cuba and USA relations since the mid 50's. She is also national treasurer for the U.S-Cuba Sister City Association and co-founder of the Alliance of Guama Cuba and Santa Cruz County. Paul may have forgotten that those so called "journalists" weren't jailed on any free speech issue, but because they were working for a foreign government.
SPARTAN. By now movie goers should know that any film or play by David Mamet makes demands on the audience. It is my opinion (well, not just mine) that Mamet is working extra hard to use the English language in a new way. Shakespeare used to create new words, completely reverse sentences, and repeat phrases all for dramatic effect. Mamet does that too. In Spartan he takes a well used plot of the kidnapping of someone who may be the daughter of the US President (it's never stated) and makes an impressionist drama out of it. Val Kilmer does an excellent job of handling Mamet language. William H. Macy who's an old buddy of Mamet's does a new interpretation of his usual character. See this film as an experiment in acting. Jackson Pollack changed painting and Igor Stravinsky changed music, they were not easily understood at first. Mamet's in the same category.
DR. FAUSTUS. Dr. Faustus as previously mentioned, is David Mamet's new play, world premiering at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. Through the kindness of a friend I now have a script and have spent hours trying to figure out what Mamet's trying to do with this ancient Faust legend. I'm seeing it on Wednesday night. It stars, by the way (and I've seen no mention of this anywhere), a UCSC graduate Dominic Hoffman as "The Magus". Dominic has earned many acting awards and also does a one man show that's playing at the Magic Theatre. No he wasn't a theatre major; I think it was biology or something like that.
HELL IN HAITI? If you want to make sense of what's happening in Haiti go to an evening created to give us all some context on this chaos. UCSC's Paul Ortiz will talk about brutal slavery and the revolts in Haiti, Sue Terence who used to live in Haiti will talk about the racism, the class structure and revenge that drives the turmoil since Aristide was elected. There will also be a screening of the film Haiti: Harvest of Hope by journalist Kevin Pino, who reports on KPFA's Flashpoints. It's happening Thursday, March 18 at 7pm at the Live Oak Grange, 1900 17th Avenue. The evening is sponsored by the Cuba Study Group of Santa Cruz.
PACIFIC COOKIE COMPANIES' CRUMBLED CREATIONS. This is something to never tell tourists about. For years I'd heard that the Pacific Cookie Company factory over at the Sash Mill was selling cracked cookies or day old's for way less than the normal price. I found out it is true two weeks ago. Go there, don't bother the employees, just bag your cookies and pay whoever is closest. What a deal.
THE STATEMENT. Fans of Michael Caine know that any film he is in is worth going to. The Statement is certainly worth going to. Tilda Swinton has done better roles and so has Charlotte Rampling and the late great Alan Bates but this film moves along nicely and you'll be pleasantly puzzled through most if not all of it. Go just for Michael Caine and the scenery.
RUMOR DEPARTMENT. Tea and crepes shoppe going into that gallery space between Bead It and TOGO's on Pacific?? And was that correct that Trader Joe's is planning on entering Zanotto's place? I'll check into both of these rumors. Remember that they're rumors and as somebody once said, I hate spreading rumors but what else can you do with them?
TWISTED. This film looks like Ashley Judd took a lot of her money and made the film around her and her looks. Well, she probably wanted to prove she can act too. She is a good actor but this film is just another "who's the mysterious serial killer" hack job. It is filmed in the dark parts of San Francisco and it does also feature Samuel L. Jackson, but there's no reason except "I just want to be entertained" to see this cookie cutter Hollywood film.
COFFEE CUPPING. We all know that there are some folk who care enough about wine that they take the time to learn how to taste it. Well I care enough about coffee and went to Colleen Crosby's Coffee Cupping Class last Saturday at her Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company right there at 1330 Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz. We tasted Yirgacheffee coffee from Ethiopia, some beans from Guatemala and some from Sumatra. Of course the water was exactly boiling, the coffee beans were ground in a burr mill, and we learned to slurp properly. Then we rated such things as aftertaste, acidity, fragrance, and body. It was a genuine learning experience. Colleen will probably be giving more such classes, get in touch by going to www.santacruzcoffee.com.
STARSKY AND HUTCH. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson aren't very convincing as a couple of defective detectives in this lame remake of a lame 1970s TV series. I never saw the original series and am not sorry. I'm only sorry that I wasted my time on this uncunning tripe. But I got to say that Snoop Dog does a brilliant job of stealing the film. He is an amazing presence on the screen.
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. This is the film that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film this year...and it deserved it. Denys Arcand directed it and did a masterful job. It's about a dying history professor and his family, his mistresses, his relationship with his son and leaving life in what seems to be a wonderful solution to self imposed death or suicide I guess it's called. It's a funny film, it's painful, you'll cry too. It also won the Cannes Film Festival screenplay prize. If you saw Arcand's The Decline of the American Empire you'll love this film even more. It is not a Hollywood film, it's a deserved part of cinema history instead.
POLICE ACADEMY PART 1. I mentioned that I'm attending the 12 week class titled the Citizen Police Academy sponsored by the Santa Cruz Police Department. I learned that the police Chief Howard Skerry reports to Dick Wilson the city manager. I knew that, but somehow lately with such renewed interest in what the City manager does and doesn't do it seems ominous somehow. The police don't have any budget for compassion sessions or therapy if dealing with on the job stress, that not just sad but also ominous. The hiring and training of a police officer is much more serious than I thought. Next week we hear about drug awareness and dealing with the homeless. That will be absorbing, I'm sure.
QUOTES TO CLOSE BY. "The Graveyards are full of indispensable men." -Charles de Gaulle. "It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating." -Oscar Wilde. "Everything has been figured out, except how to live." -Jean-Paul Sartre. "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names." -John F. Kennedy
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
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THE WESTSIDE IS BURNING. The many, many projects being proposed to develop the Westside are being worked at day and night. Between Home Depot working furiously to get their traffic study finished and submitted and hearing the plots and plans of George Ow and Barry Swenson being discussed and debated in meetings all over the Westside, you can tell there's all the makings of the most major land use battle on the Westside since the Wilder Ranch proposal for 10,000 homes and the convention center on Lighthouse Field. We can only wait now until Swenson and Ow start their relentless and expensive campaigns to convince us that destroying the Westside just so they can make millions is really in our community's best interest. Already rumors and innuendoes are flying about as to the connection between Barry Swenson Developers and Scott Kennedy's Resource Center for Non Violence. How much has Swenson given in one way or the other to the Resource Center? How will Kennedy vote on letting Lowe's and Home Depot develop their mega stores? Watch and see, and I'll make you a bet right now on Kennedy's vote. A major problem is that Ow seems to be letting the Home Depot proposal and application take all the early hits in this development scheme. He's probably figuring that we'll turn down Home Depot and let his little Lowe's sneak by and get approval. We must never forget that Lowe's and Home Depot develop together on most of their recent developments. If Lowe's and Home Depot have their way with us you can also bet that Wal Mart will be close behind and who will stop them? If we don't take arms against this sea of troubles and stop this accursed plan we've lost not just the Westside but the long miles of the North Coast as well.
WHAT TO DO? There are groups such as the Santa Cruzans for Responsible Planning or SCRAP as in Scrap the Big Boxes. Meetings are being held, and petitions are being signed. You can go to The Garden Company nursery at 2218 Mission Street and get petitions there. Businesses all over the west side will be wiped out by Lowe's and Home Depot. Now they too are seeing the endangered future they face IF Home Depot, Ow and Swenson and Lowe's can fool most of the people most of the time. Get in touch, drop me a note and I'll let you know where and when the neighborhood meetings are going to be held to oppose this development. For example there's a public meeting at the Garfield Park Christian Church, 111 Errett Circle on Monday, March 22 at 7pm. Lowe's and Home Depot people are supposed to be there to answer questions. We need to give them plenty of questions. Next week I'll tell you where to send donations to stop these millionaires from destroying our Westside Village. Do we need Lowe's? Do we need Home Depot? Do we need the low paying second income level jobs as Home Depot promises to pay? No! We need to encourage more high-tech and low impact businesses out there. Lowe's and Home Depot being there will stop any future expansion of such projects as UCSC's use of the TI building or adding projects to the Marine Lab. If you want to see how other communities have been successful in stopping unwanted growth go to www.homedepotsucks.com. We're not inventing the wheel here. These monsters can be and have been stopped. WE stopped Home Depot in Soquel and they're still tied up in Watsonville, we can do it on our Westside.
THE PASSION OF CHRIST. We gotta keep this movie in perspective folks, it's only a movie. One woman at the 1:20 matinee I went to cried all the way through it. Yes, we heard that somebody had a heart attack during a showing in LA. It's about blood, suffering, pain and the nailing on the cross. The acting is ok; I'll bet it gets no Academy Award nominations next year. Did you ever wonder about the last supper? I mean why did everybody sit on just one side of the table? Probably some kind of miracle. This film is more of a tribute to religious fanaticism than to cinema history. Go see it, the gore makeup is great.
RUY BLAS. This is a little known play written by Victor Hugo back in 1838. I found virtually nothing on the internet about the original play. The way Danny Scheie stages it at UCSC makes it all glamour and glitter plus sex and more glitter. So you sit there visually stunned trying to figure what Victor Hugo was really writing about. I suspect that it's about the ruling class, power, the roles we assume in life, and love. But just go for the fun of seeing what Danny can do to even a Victor Hugo play. We need to get a Danny Scheie version of the Passion of Christ...now there would be some real controversy and a lot more fun.
CUBA AND GEORGE BUSH? Nancy Abbey forwarded this faux proclamation from Rachel Bruhnke of the SF Bay Area Cuba Alliance. Go to the letters to the editor heading and click there to read this piece. It's funny and details the absurdity of Bush's fear of citizens traveling to Cuba.
TOUCHING THE VOID. A mountain climbing film opening this weekend. You need to realize that this is a recreation of the true adventure that happened in the Peruvian Andes in 1985 based on the book by one of the climbers. Mountain climbing must bring out your essence. Just about every five minutes in this film you sit there trying to figure out what you'd do in this miserable situation. The film puts you through minutes of sheer hell. It is a fine film. You will think and rethink it several times. Go see it. Sit close to the screen so you'll experience it before anybody else does.
FULL POLICE DEPARTMENT DISCLOSURE. I have been accepted to attend the Santa Cruz Police Department's Citizen Police Academy (CPA). For the next 12 Thursday nights in three hour classes the 17 of us Citizens will learn how our Santa Cruz police department really works. For too long I've had a very mixed reaction to police departments. It's mixed because I don't know or understand the relationship of the police to the City Council. Who rules? Who makes the rules? Who checks up and enforces the rules? I'll keep you informed if I find any answers.
JAPANESE STORY. An Australian love story. A REAL Australian love story as only Australians would create. Touching, tender, twisted, beautifully acted, nicely photographed. Not quite a sequel to Lost in Translation, this one is inter-racial love. You'll also see scenes at some strip mining on a scale that'll remind you of what will happen to our Westside if we allow Lowe's and Home Depot in there. Well that may be a mite exaggerated, but you get the point. Go see it.
THE OSCARS??? Forget the Oscars, which you probably have already. The truth is I picked 18 out of 20 categories. But the real fun was the Academy Award Special at the Del Mar last Saturday. About 60 film enthusiasts showed up as Lisa Jensen, Wallace Baine, yours truly, and the estimable Morton Marcus discussed who we thought would win. The audience took an active part in the fun. Actually there was much more agreement then you'd think. Except that Lisa Jensen liked Seabiscuit and didn't love Gerry, aside from that we got along fine and we're going to do it again...according to Mort.
LOCAL PERSPECTIVE. Back in the 60's I was surprised by how many locals (as in born there) up in Bodega Bay wanted the nuclear power plant. I was equally surprised in the 70's to find so many Davenport natives wanting a nuclear power plant in their back yard. That's the difference between locals and folks who move in later. Locals have never lived anywhere else and don't appreciate what they have. They want change and development because it's different and maybe they can make money from it. Newer residents have seen devastation in other communities and have chosen to live in and protect Santa Cruz because it is more unique and special than many locals will ever know. Watch for the parade or charade of locals in ads and neighborhood flyers who line up thinking Lowe's and Home Depot and Wal Mart will magically transform their lives into something better. Developers make billions from such thinking.
CLOSING QUOTES. Once again we turn to the not just estimable but venerable Scott MacClelland, who sent in these winners. "She is a peacock in everything but beauty." -Oscar Wilde. "He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." -Paul Keating. "Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." -Moses Hadas.
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
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