- Video of the Week: Clean It Up
- Published: Nov 19, 2009
Every Thursday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to help you forget that it isn't Friday yet. Chicago-based street artist Goons uses paper and stop-motion to create a one minute clip for all the clean-freaks and germaphobes out there.
- Video of the Week: Ready, Able
- Published: Nov 12, 2009
Every Thursday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to help you forget that it isn't Friday yet. Artist Allison Schulnik uses stop-motion claymation to make the most amazingly bizarre Grizzly Bear music video to date.
- IN YOUR FACE: Contemporary Brazilian Art at YBCA
- Published: Nov 12, 2009
The tables have turned: instead of telling you what we think about art shows, we're hitting the streets to find out what the beautiful people think. This month, we headed to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to revel in the Brazilian spirit of their latest exhibition, When Lives Become Form.
- Video Interview with Jonathan Safran Foer
- Published: Nov 10, 2009
In this video interview, Jonathan Safran Foer shares his personal eating preferences, his thoughts about food ethics, and ideas he's kicking around for his next book.
- Tiny Kushner at the Berkeley Rep
- Published: Nov 07, 2009
I am not a theater-goer. And, judging by the predominantly silver-haired audience at the Berkeley Rep last week, neither are a lot of younger folk. But there is hope in plays like Tony Kushner's Tiny Kushner.
- Video of the Week: Bloody Belly Comb Jelly
- Published: Oct 29, 2009
Every Thursday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to help you forget that it isn't Friday yet. The bloody belly comb jelly proves it can be scarier than a cemetery and a haunted house combined.
- Tegan and Sara: Sainthood
- Published: Oct 27, 2009
Twin sister act Tegan and Sara are back with their sixth studio album, Sainthood. But don't be fooled by the album title; you won't find any songs about the good Lord here.
- Video of the Week: 1950s Motorcycle Formations
- Published: Oct 22, 2009
Every Thursday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to help you forget that it isn't Friday yet. In a clip from the 1950s, Italian police officers wow crowds with coordinated motorcycle formations.
- IN YOUR FACE: SoEx is Here (And Staying Put)
- Published: Oct 21, 2009
We headed to Southern Exposure to help celebrate their new space, their thirty-five-year anniversary, and their inaugural exhibition, Bellwether.
- Video of the Week: 4-Year-Old Finnish Rappers
- Published: Oct 08, 2009
Every Thursday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to help you forget that it isn't Friday yet. Four-year-old Finnish rappers bust a rhyme about riding the train and the wonders of flushing the toilet.
- Fever Ray Update
- Published: Oct 06, 2009
What happened at Fever Ray's show at the Regency Ballroom last night was more art performance in a haunted house (with lasers!) than concert. Check out pictures from my trip to the underworld inside.
- Video of the Week: A Glorious Dawn
- Published: Oct 01, 2009
Every Thursday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to help you forget that it isn't Friday yet. Your inner geek will want to check out A Glorious Dawn, Carl Sagan's hot new single feauturing Stephen Hawking. I smell Grammy.
- Fever Ray at the Regency Ballroom
- Published: Oct 01, 2009
If Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was set to music, the score might sound something like Fever Ray, the solo project of Karin Dreijer Andersson (one half of the brother-sister duo, the Knife).
- Video of the Week: Drunk Vervet Monkeys
- Published: Sep 24, 2009
Every Thursday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to help you forget that it isn't Friday yet. A BBC report adds another similarity between monkeys and humans to the list: both species like to get their drink on!
- Girls: Album
- Published: Sep 22, 2009
Summer is over for most of America, but not for San Francisco. And who to better understand this than SF natives Girls? With Album, the band puts music to tales of drinking, smoking, sleeping late, growing out your hair, good times in Dolores Park, and bad times in heartbreak.
- IN YOUR FACE: Beautiful Dirty Dirty Rich
- Published: Sep 15, 2009
The tables have turned: instead of telling you what we think about art shows, we're heading out to gallery openings to get In Your Face and find out what the beautiful people think. We headed to Marx and Zavattero to find out what all this David Hevel monkey business was about.
- Video of the Week: Meet the Elements
- Published: Sep 10, 2009
Video of the Week has moved its bad self to Thursdays to help you forget that it isn't Friday yet. Boing Boing pairs up with They Might Be Giants on Meet the Elements, a cutesy educational video about the elements of the periodic table.
- The Beautiful Person
- Published: Sep 05, 2009
Classic literature brims with unrequited love, back-stabbing, melodrama and showy suicides, all of which seamlessly lends itself to the halls of high school, where teenagers gather to act out their crazy mood swings and exaggerated rebellion.
- Video of the Week: Chimps > Humans
- Published: Aug 31, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. A parody from a Japanese comedy show recasts a chimp in a wig as the demonic girl from The Ring.
- Sally Shapiro: My Guilty Pleasure
- Published: Aug 25, 2009
Sally Shapiro says My Guilty Pleasure "will hopefully make you fall in love with the person sitting next to you on the bus." Your next boyfriend could very well be that combatant crackhead one seat over on the 38 Geary! Lucky you.
- Video of the Week: Fan-Made
- Published: Aug 24, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. A fan of Grizzly Bear outdoes the band with his own CGI-heavy music video of their song, "Two Weeks."
- Video of the Week: Chalk Animation
- Published: Aug 17, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Lucinda Schreiber and Yanni Kronenberg direct a chalk animation music video full of steamboats that turn into eyes, teeth that turn into houses, and diamonds that turn into trees.
- Video of the Week: Creepy Farm Yoga
- Published: Aug 10, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. A wrinkly hippie, a sedated lady cow, and a rastafarian rooster teach children in leotards the basics of yoga. It's as weird as it sounds.
- IN YOUR FACE: Annual Biennial Opening
- Published: Aug 04, 2009
The tables have turned: instead of telling you what we think about art shows, we're heading out to gallery openings to get In Your Face and find out what the beautiful people think. We headed to Michael Rosenthal Gallery to find out what exactly is an Annual Biennial.
- Video of the Week: Casper the Commuter Cat
- Published: Aug 03, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Casper the cat leaves his house every day for one hour. BBC finds out what he's been up to: riding the bus!
- (500) Days of Summer
- Published: Jul 31, 2009
Does it get more indie than a romantic comedy starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel that's packed with Smiths references galore and moves to the music of Regina Spektor?
- Video of the Week: Harry Potter Mania
- Published: Jul 27, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Kana Matsuda beat out 10,000 contestants for the chance to visit the Harry Potter set in the UK. A surprise meet-and-greet with Daniel Radcliffe elicits some animal birthing noises, inappropriate face touching, and general hilarity.
- Women on the Verge: Charmaine Champagne
- Published: Jul 24, 2009
This week, instead of one notable Video of the Week, we'll be sharing one per day. Each clip will be a music video featuring an over-the-top, campy female singer. The Fiery Furnaces know how hard they make it for listeners to like them so they're throwing a bone with this super zany video, illustrated by Mike Reddy.
- Women on the Verge: Paparazzi
- Published: Jul 23, 2009
This week, instead of one notable Video of the Week, we'll be sharing one music video per day featuring an over-the-top, campy female singer. Lady Gaga's latest music video proves that she has a brain and a few weird fetishes too.
- Women on the Verge: Annie Lennox Mash-Up
- Published: Jul 22, 2009
This week, instead of one notable Video of the Week, we'll be sharing one per day. Each clip will be a music video featuring an over-the-top, campy female singer. SF based mash up artist DJ Earworm uses Annie Lennox's entire solo catalogue to create one supremely gay music video.
- The Fiery Furnaces: I'm Going Away
- Published: Jul 21, 2009
The band's past efforts have been inaccessible to say the least. But much like hard alcohol, if you keep sipping, it tastes better and better. In a nutshell, I'm Going Away is a grower.
- Women on the Verge: Centipede
- Published: Jul 21, 2009
This week, instead of one notable Video of the Week, we'll be sharing one per day. Each clip will be a music video featuring an over-the-top, campy female singer. In "Centipede," Rebbie Jackson becomes possessed by a spirit from a painting (naturally) and turns into a centipede-loving, lightning-shooting lecherous woman.
- Women on the Verge: Total Eclipse of the Heart
- Published: Jul 20, 2009
This week, instead of one notable Video of the Week, we'll be sharing one music video per day featuring an over-the-top, campy female singer. The literal version of Bonnie Tyler's 1983 music video for "Total Eclipse of the Heart" ventures to explain a random army of Fonzies, blind possessed choir boys, and more.
- Video of the Week: Lego Arcade
- Published: Jul 13, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Michael Hickox revives the arcade games of yore with the help of Legos.
- Video of the Week: Cheeto Elvis
- Published: Jul 06, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Colorado Springs artist Jason Baalman resurrects Elvis using Cheeto cheese residue and velvet.
- Video of the Week: Civilization
- Published: Jun 29, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Avoid that whole death thing and see what hell, purgatory, and heaven look like through the eyes of video artist, Marco Brambilla.
- Video of the Week: Deadline
- Published: Jun 22, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Bang-yao Liu uses stop-motion animation and an army of colorful post-its to make stressing out about work almost look fun.
- Frameline Festival Preview
- Published: Jun 18, 2009
If the ubiquitous rainbow flags didn't tip you off, it's officially the month of the gays. And with that comes Frameline, San Francisco's international LGBT film festival.
- Video of the Week: Guess Who
- Published: Jun 15, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. If you want to trounce your little sister in Guess Who, the popular game from the '80s, just ask: Is your person from an underrepresented minority? When latent racism is at play, everybody wins!
- Perfect Storm: Bat for Lashes, Neko Case & Camera Obscura
- Published: Jun 07, 2009
There is a perfect storm of the category 5 variety heading our way. But, worry not: you'll enjoy being blown away by three of my favorite bands, Bat for Lashes, Neko Case, and Camera Obscura, as they breeze through San Francisco in the span of five days.
- Video of the Week: Bach on a Giant Piano
- Published: Jun 01, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. In this week's clip, two girls run up and down the keys of a giant piano to rock out a rendition of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor.
- The Future Is So Bright at 666 Gallery
- Published: May 29, 2009
The Future Is So Bright, a group show of up-and-coming artists from Portland and the Bay Area, recently opened at 666 Gallery. The opening was a packed, rowdy affair: plenty of booze and just enough attitude.
- Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest
- Published: May 26, 2009
Veckatimest, the third LP from Grizzly Bear, is quite possibly the most-anticipated music release of 2009. Music bloggers have been exclaiming from the rooftops of its impending grandeur for months. And this album turns out to be everything the music critics said it would be. Maybe even more.
- Video of the Week: Life Lessons with Mr. T
- Published: May 25, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Mr. T has some advice for you so listen up: don't brag, eat good to look good, and don't ever go through his stuff.
- Video of the Week: Wig Purifier
- Published: May 18, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Does your weave smell like the beer someone poured over your head at the club last night? Fear not, the Wig Purifier is here!
- Video of the Week: Buttons
- Published: May 11, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Australian pop singer Sia parades her inner freak in the music video for her song, Buttons.
- Outrage
- Published: May 09, 2009
Take refuge! Gay marriage is upon us! And the sky's not falling -- how strange! With closed minds creaking open, more and more gay-friendly young adults reaching voting age, and legislators finally standing up for equal rights, the perfect stage is set for the release of Outrage.
- Video of the Week: A Wolf Loves Pork
- Published: May 04, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. In A Wolf Loves Pork, Takeuchi Taijin uses 1,300 photographs and his apartment space to create a stop-motion animation chase scene between a man in a wolf costume and a pink pig.
- Video of the Week: Insipired Bicycles
- Published: Apr 27, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Inspired Bicycles follows pro biker Danny MacAskill as he rides on fences, flies off bridges and roofs, and flips off trees in Edinburgh.
- Video of the Week: Op zoek naar Maria
- Published: Apr 20, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. 200 happy people dance to Julie Andrews' "Do Re Mi" and bring cheer to weary travelers at a Antwerp train station.
- Grey Gardens
- Published: Apr 16, 2009
The Grey Gardens phenomenon just won't quit. The 1975 Albert and David Maysles documentary about "Big" and "Little" Edie Bouvier Beale (aunt and first cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy) was the spark, spawning a legion of cult followers. Then came the 2006 musical starring Christine Ebersole and now HBO has gotten into the game.
- Video of the Week: Dwarfed Punk
- Published: Apr 13, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Snow White and her favorite little people cut up the rug to Daft Punk in Dwarfed Punk.
- Video of the Week: The Seed
- Published: Apr 06, 2009
Every Monday, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. Take a journey through Nature's life cycle with a humble apple seed in The Seed.
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It's Blitz!
- Published: Mar 31, 2009
It's Blitz!, the third full-length LP by the art-punk iconoclasts the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, is quite the departure from the raucous, whiskey-laced freak-outs that put them on the map.
- Video of the Week: Extreme Sheepherding
- Published: Mar 30, 2009
Starting today, the KQED Arts blog features a new Video of the Week to start the work week off right. The herd, sheepdogs, and some well placed LED Lights come together to form many a visual wonder in Extreme Sheepherding.
- Susan Sontag: Reborn
- Published: Mar 24, 2009
Reading Reborn feels akin to breaking into someone's home and rummaging through their personal effects. The reader is an intruder inside Sontag's mind.
- Neko Case: Middle Cyclone
- Published: Mar 03, 2009
After three years, Neko Case has reemerged to seduce listeners once more with those big lungs of hers. If the cover art for Middle Cyclone is any indication (she is pictured perched on the hood of a car with a rapier at the ready), she has returned with a vengeance.
- Eleven Minutes
- Published: Feb 19, 2009
Imagine an episode of Project Runway without the manufactured drama, the shameless product placements, and Heidi Klum's blind stab at acting.
- Monster in the Dark
- Published: Mar 15, 2008
We just can't get enough of the apocalypse. The imminent demise of civilization strikes a chord with the public and fuels many of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters (Last Night, Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow).
- 2 Days in Paris
- Published: Feb 10, 2008
Julie Delpy has walked through the streets of Paris with an American suitor before, but this is a different kind of promenade entirely. Far from a remake of Richard Linklater's Before Sunset, 2 Days in Paris (Deux Jours à Paris), Delpy's full-length directional debut) is an updated, off-beat examination of relationships in the city of lights -- in a post-romantic era. Where Linklater prefers a heightened sentimentality in his films, Delpy eschews this sugar-coated idealism for a raunchier bare bones view of love.
- The Golden Compass
- Published: Dec 07, 2007
I've never been the kid humming the Star Wars theme or brandishing Tolkien, but, for one summer, I was the kid with his nose perpetually stuck in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. The three books hooked me, mostly because of the way they tackle such a gigantic, taboo subject under the guise of a fantastical children's page-turner. The Golden Compass, the first of the books, is the story of a world parallel to ours (think 19th century England with technological improvements) where bears speak, witches are good, and one's soul is mirrored in an animal counterpart. A precocious girl named Lyra is on a mission to stop the sinister Magisterium from cutting away the souls of children. I was ambivalent, upon hearing that this story was being adapted into a film; overjoyed that such great work was to be given the attention it deserves and wary that those behind the project might desecrate it. Would that beloved world become another victim of book-to-movie disappointment?
- Chromatics: Night Drive
- Published: Oct 27, 2007
Disco is not dead. On the contrary, it is alive and well all over Night Drive, the newly released and hotly anticipated album from Portland's Chromatics (you might know them from their contributions to the After Dark compilation earlier this year or through their overlap with another great band, Glass Candy). This batch of songs is a departure from the band's prior noisy punk efforts. Usually, a band or artist changing his stripes and musical direction amounts to lackluster results (think Gwen Stefani, who gave up her reign as ska prom queen for a harem of mute Japanese girls), but that couldn't be farther from the truth here. The refocus from punk to a sleek Italo-disco aesthetic has revitalized the band.
