window.__IS_SSR__=true
window.__INITIAL_STATE__={
"attachmentsReducer": {
"audio_0": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_0",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background0.jpg"
}
}
},
"audio_1": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_1",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background1.jpg"
}
}
},
"audio_2": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_2",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background2.jpg"
}
}
},
"audio_3": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_3",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background3.jpg"
}
}
},
"audio_4": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_4",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background4.jpg"
}
}
},
"placeholder": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "placeholder",
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-800x533.jpg",
"width": 800,
"height": 533,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium_large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-768x512.jpg",
"width": 768,
"height": 512,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"fd-lrg": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"fd-med": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"fd-sm": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-800x533.jpg",
"width": 800,
"height": 533,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"xxsmall": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"xsmall": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"small": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"xlarge": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1920x1280.jpg",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1280,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-32": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 32,
"height": 32,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-50": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 50,
"height": 50,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-64": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 64,
"height": 64,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-96": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 96,
"height": 96,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-128": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 128,
"height": 128,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"detail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 160,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
}
}
},
"audioPlayerReducer": {
"postId": "stream_live",
"isPaused": true,
"isPlaying": false,
"pfsActive": false,
"pledgeModalIsOpen": true,
"playerDrawerIsOpen": false,
"liveAudioPlayStartedAt": 0,
"liveAudioPlayContext": ""
},
"authorsReducer": {},
"pagesReducer": {
"arts_category_movies": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "arts_74",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "74",
"score": 12.557161
},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Movies",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Movies Archives | KQED Arts",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 75,
"slug": "movies",
"isLoading": false,
"title": "Movies",
"pageMeta": {
"site": "arts",
"WpPageTemplate": "page-topic-editorial",
"currentPage": 269
},
"blocks": [
{
"blockName": "kqed/post-list",
"attrs": {
"layout": "cardArticle2",
"query": "posts/arts?category=movies",
"seeMore": false,
"paginated": true,
"page": 269
}
},
{
"blockName": "kqed/ad"
}
]
}
},
"pfsSessionReducer": {},
"postsReducer": {
"stream_live": {
"type": "live",
"id": "stream_live",
"audioUrl": "https://streams.kqed.org/kqedradio",
"title": "Live Stream",
"excerpt": "Live Stream information currently unavailable.",
"link": "/radio",
"featImg": "",
"label": {
"name": "KQED Live",
"link": "/"
}
},
"stream_kqedNewscast": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "stream_kqedNewscast",
"audioUrl": "https://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/RDnews/newscast.mp3?_=1",
"title": "KQED Newscast",
"featImg": "",
"label": {
"name": "88.5 FM",
"link": "/"
}
},
"arts_1144": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "arts_1144",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "1144",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1137052800000
]
},
"parent": 0,
"labelTerm": {
"site": "arts"
},
"blocks": [],
"publishDate": 1137052800,
"format": "standard",
"title": "Following Sean",
"headTitle": "Following Sean | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.followingsean.com/\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at followingsean.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most vivid image that arises from \u003cb>Following Sean\u003c/b>, Ralph Arlyck’s documentary covering a thirty-year stretch of American counter-cultural history, is the filmmaker’s description of tourist busses traveling the streets of San Francisco’s Haight/Ashbury district in the late-1960s. They crawl through the crowded neighborhood, taking middle Americans on a guided tour of the hippie “freak show” that had engulfed that part of the city. In response, many of those “freaks” march alongside the tour busses holding up mirrors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watching \u003cb>Following Sean\u003c/b> feels like looking into the filmmaker’s own hand-mirror as he stares pensively at himself. The hybrid documentary/memoir follows two threads. Sean, a “flower child” who the filmmaker first encountered in 1969, when his family lived at Haight and Cole, became the four-year-old subject of a short documentary that Arlyck made while he was a film student at San Francisco State University, during that department’s heyday. The film became a worldwide sensation and jump-started Arlyck’s documentary career. Thirty years later, the filmmaker returned to San Francisco (during the dot com boom) and began filming Sean a second time. The bookends of these interviews with Sean elicit an unexpected response in the filmmaker, causing him to reflect on his own progress during that same period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s brave about this examination is that the two family’s stories don’t reflect well on the filmmaker. Where Sean’s family is made up of activists (his maternal grandparents were radical union organizers and his parents are genuine hippies, their lives devoted to the pursuit of personal freedom and spiritual development), Arlyck’s seems to be made up of observers, folks who support the cause but don’t get caught up in it. Arlyck underlines these differences, cross-cutting between footage of Sean’s grandfather as he is dragged in protest from a HUAC hearing and his own father’s admission that he attended communist camp just to pick up girls. There is a luxury to being an observer, to being present but remaining separate and Arlyck seems to be questioning this position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This reminded me of a passage from the classic documentary \u003cb>Berkeley in the Sixties\u003c/b>, which spent its first half chronicling the work of a number of mavericks in the Free Speech movement, who lived lives based on their convictions and acted forcefully for change. That action caused a counter-culture to arise and that counter-culture was broadcast to the rest of the world, attracting many to the Bay Area to join in. But those people were attracted to an image of a counter-culture and based their lives not on the underlying set of principles that started it, but on the image alone. Is this the great disconnect between the baby boomers’ view of what they stood for and what has actually come to pass during their preeminence?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I guess this is where I come in. Sean is about my age. I grew up in California during the same period. I wanted the film \u003cb>Following Sean\u003c/b> to actually FOLLOW Sean, not to use his life as another opportunity for a baby boomer to reflect on his own. It seems my generation, falling right behind the boomers, has always been observed with little understanding (and an equally small amount of curiosity) by the behemoth that is just a few steps ahead. Sean’s life gets less examination in this film than those of his parents, grandparents, and especially the filmmaker’s. Boomers look at “Generation X” with mystification, which becomes painfully clear when Sean’s father observes that Sean “works all the time” and is “not near as free as he was [in childhood].” Well, folks, the days of renting an apartment on Haight and Cole for $50 a month are long over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is no examination of how Sean’s father’s decision to relinquish his stake in a home that Sean helped build, on property that was bought cheap in the 1970s and is now worth half a million dollars, contrasts with Sean’s current reality of a dot com boom-era housing market. (I had to fill that in for myself.) Though we see Sean struggle to survive in San Francisco in 1999, no time is spent on the reasons why, on how radically the challenges of buying a home and raising a family (or just living a life) in the city had changed since 1969. Instead, the filmmaker shows his own mother playing an expensive Steinway piano that he will inherit and talks about what he would like to do with the money he’ll make from its sale. Is that the difference between generations? One that would inherit the largest amount of money ever passed from generation to generation and the other that will see the rise in use of the reverse mortgage?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sean himself is a wry, funny, generous and kind character. He has developed, in direct opposition to his father, into a responsible and pragmatic man who can still feel compassion for his dad, though Johnny has shirked responsibility at every turn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mark of a truly excellent documentary is the number of questions left swirling in the air after the screen goes dark. \u003cb>Following Sean\u003c/b> opened up issue after issue, by turns funny, exasperating, infuriating and poetic. There is a wonderful line in the film that describes the divide between the liberal left of the late sixties and the activist left that came before it. “Suddenly, people in face paint are telling former union organizers that work is a bourgeois scam.” It highlights the radical swing of a pendulum on the left from street fighting for workers’ rights to identity politics and the exploration of personal freedom. (Now, that’s progress!) Sean’s view is somewhere in the middle. It’s not that dramatic, maybe that’s why it gets short shrift in the narrative of the film. But it does provide the final piece of his family’s generational “argument” — thesis, antithesis and, finally, synthesis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Following Sean\u003c/b> opens January 13, 2006.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and show times\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479916/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
"stats": {
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"hasAudio": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"wordCount": 1083,
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"paragraphCount": 12
},
"modified": 1705053915,
"excerpt": "\u003ca href=\"http://www.followingsean.com/\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at followingsean.com).",
"headData": {
"twImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twDescription": "",
"description": "Watch the trailer (at followingsean.com).",
"title": "Following Sean | KQED",
"ogDescription": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Following Sean",
"datePublished": "2006-01-12T00:00:00-08:00",
"dateModified": "2024-01-12T02:05:15-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "following_sean",
"status": "publish",
"sourceUrl": "http://www.kqed.org/arts/category/movies/movies-review/",
"sticky": false,
"path": "/arts/1144/following_sean",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.followingsean.com/\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at followingsean.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most vivid image that arises from \u003cb>Following Sean\u003c/b>, Ralph Arlyck’s documentary covering a thirty-year stretch of American counter-cultural history, is the filmmaker’s description of tourist busses traveling the streets of San Francisco’s Haight/Ashbury district in the late-1960s. They crawl through the crowded neighborhood, taking middle Americans on a guided tour of the hippie “freak show” that had engulfed that part of the city. In response, many of those “freaks” march alongside the tour busses holding up mirrors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watching \u003cb>Following Sean\u003c/b> feels like looking into the filmmaker’s own hand-mirror as he stares pensively at himself. The hybrid documentary/memoir follows two threads. Sean, a “flower child” who the filmmaker first encountered in 1969, when his family lived at Haight and Cole, became the four-year-old subject of a short documentary that Arlyck made while he was a film student at San Francisco State University, during that department’s heyday. The film became a worldwide sensation and jump-started Arlyck’s documentary career. Thirty years later, the filmmaker returned to San Francisco (during the dot com boom) and began filming Sean a second time. The bookends of these interviews with Sean elicit an unexpected response in the filmmaker, causing him to reflect on his own progress during that same period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s brave about this examination is that the two family’s stories don’t reflect well on the filmmaker. Where Sean’s family is made up of activists (his maternal grandparents were radical union organizers and his parents are genuine hippies, their lives devoted to the pursuit of personal freedom and spiritual development), Arlyck’s seems to be made up of observers, folks who support the cause but don’t get caught up in it. Arlyck underlines these differences, cross-cutting between footage of Sean’s grandfather as he is dragged in protest from a HUAC hearing and his own father’s admission that he attended communist camp just to pick up girls. There is a luxury to being an observer, to being present but remaining separate and Arlyck seems to be questioning this position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This reminded me of a passage from the classic documentary \u003cb>Berkeley in the Sixties\u003c/b>, which spent its first half chronicling the work of a number of mavericks in the Free Speech movement, who lived lives based on their convictions and acted forcefully for change. That action caused a counter-culture to arise and that counter-culture was broadcast to the rest of the world, attracting many to the Bay Area to join in. But those people were attracted to an image of a counter-culture and based their lives not on the underlying set of principles that started it, but on the image alone. Is this the great disconnect between the baby boomers’ view of what they stood for and what has actually come to pass during their preeminence?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I guess this is where I come in. Sean is about my age. I grew up in California during the same period. I wanted the film \u003cb>Following Sean\u003c/b> to actually FOLLOW Sean, not to use his life as another opportunity for a baby boomer to reflect on his own. It seems my generation, falling right behind the boomers, has always been observed with little understanding (and an equally small amount of curiosity) by the behemoth that is just a few steps ahead. Sean’s life gets less examination in this film than those of his parents, grandparents, and especially the filmmaker’s. Boomers look at “Generation X” with mystification, which becomes painfully clear when Sean’s father observes that Sean “works all the time” and is “not near as free as he was [in childhood].” Well, folks, the days of renting an apartment on Haight and Cole for $50 a month are long over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is no examination of how Sean’s father’s decision to relinquish his stake in a home that Sean helped build, on property that was bought cheap in the 1970s and is now worth half a million dollars, contrasts with Sean’s current reality of a dot com boom-era housing market. (I had to fill that in for myself.) Though we see Sean struggle to survive in San Francisco in 1999, no time is spent on the reasons why, on how radically the challenges of buying a home and raising a family (or just living a life) in the city had changed since 1969. Instead, the filmmaker shows his own mother playing an expensive Steinway piano that he will inherit and talks about what he would like to do with the money he’ll make from its sale. Is that the difference between generations? One that would inherit the largest amount of money ever passed from generation to generation and the other that will see the rise in use of the reverse mortgage?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sean himself is a wry, funny, generous and kind character. He has developed, in direct opposition to his father, into a responsible and pragmatic man who can still feel compassion for his dad, though Johnny has shirked responsibility at every turn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mark of a truly excellent documentary is the number of questions left swirling in the air after the screen goes dark. \u003cb>Following Sean\u003c/b> opened up issue after issue, by turns funny, exasperating, infuriating and poetic. There is a wonderful line in the film that describes the divide between the liberal left of the late sixties and the activist left that came before it. “Suddenly, people in face paint are telling former union organizers that work is a bourgeois scam.” It highlights the radical swing of a pendulum on the left from street fighting for workers’ rights to identity politics and the exploration of personal freedom. (Now, that’s progress!) Sean’s view is somewhere in the middle. It’s not that dramatic, maybe that’s why it gets short shrift in the narrative of the film. But it does provide the final piece of his family’s generational “argument” — thesis, antithesis and, finally, synthesis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "floatright"
},
"numeric": [
"floatright"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Following Sean\u003c/b> opens January 13, 2006.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and show times\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479916/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/arts/1144/following_sean",
"authors": [
"109"
],
"categories": [
"arts_74"
],
"label": "arts"
},
"arts_1147": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "arts_1147",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "1147",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1136361600000
]
},
"parent": 0,
"labelTerm": {
"site": "arts"
},
"blocks": [],
"publishDate": 1136361600,
"format": "standard",
"title": "Match Point",
"headTitle": "Match Point | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.apple.com/trailers/dreamworks/match_point\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at apple.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Has Woody Allen finally forsaken Manhattan? In this, his first film to be shot entirely in Britain, he both literally and creatively ventures into new territory (with the same old credits, of course). The last two films of Allen’s I saw — \u003cb>Melinda Melinda\u003c/b> and \u003cb>Anything Else\u003c/b> — were physically tortuous. \u003cb>Match Point\u003c/b>, thankfully, was not. Although the psychological thriller was so suspenseful at times that I did want to get up and leave the theater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two leads, Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, whose collective pouts alone could spark a new trend in cosmetics, are excellent as Nola and Chris, two lovers who enter into an illicit affair; their chemistry is palpable. Chris is an Irish ex-pro tennis player with working class roots who forsakes competition and becomes a tennis instructor at an exclusive club in London. While there he meets Tom Hewitt (Brian Cox) and the two hit it off famously. Tom introduces Chris to his sweet, wide-eyed sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer) and they begin to date. But not before Chris also meets Nola, Tom’s feisty, sexy fiance. She’s the kind of woman that can stop traffic with a single glance, wrap a man around her little finger in a matter of seconds and destroy lives with a kiss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ah, the femme fatale. A favorite figure in many a movie. While watching Nola in \u003cb>Match Point\u003c/b>, I was continually reminded of Glenn Close’s character in \u003cb>Fatal Attraction\u003c/b>. They both possessed the same dangerous allure. The kind that says “stay away from me if you are smart” but to which men, nonetheless, are attracted like moths to a flame. To me the femme fatale character always represents the unknown and/or the unattainable. They are the object little boys are told as three-year olds never to touch, which, in turn, makes them obsessed with doing so. They are the knowledge you are not allowed to taste, which just makes your mouth water for it. And Chris cannot resist. Allen, however, takes the notion of the dangerous female and turns it somewhat on its head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the MOST intriguing aspect of this movie to me was the issue of class. Chris and Nola both come from working class backgrounds while Chloe and Tom come from an extremely wealthy family. They are very nice and not snobby but their privilege practically drips off them. This was most glaringly obvious with Chloe who took on Chris like a pet charity project by asking her “Papa” — the disgustingly puerile term with which she calls her father — to simply get him a job in one of his companies although he lacked any business experience whatsoever and didn’t even want to particularly go into that field. If I worked at one of those companies, I would have been pissed. It was nepotism to the extreme.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Chloe is sweet and all, she has no sense of the working world. For her it’s as simple as asking papa and — voilá — a job magically appears. And whenever Chris cannot afford something, their 10,000-pound a week flat for example, Chloe is always there to quip, “Well, Papa is more than happy to help.” Long before Chris had an affair, he was already emasculated, or rather de-humanized, by Papa. Meanwhile, Chris and Nola have struggled their entire lives just to make rent. Perhaps this class connection was another common denominator between the two. But in this story, as in much of reality, wealth wins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which leads me back to my initial point. Why did Woody Allen decide to leave his beloved New York and go all the way to England to film this movie? It’s certainly not easier to make a movie there, as it’s significantly more expensive to do so. Are British actors (sans Johansson) easier to work with?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The immediate difference between this film and his others really struck me. It didn’t even LOOK like a typical Woody Allen flick; and the director/writer/actor infamous for putting himself into his own work did not even make an appearance here. I guess he’s finally growing up, branching out and changing with the times; it’s something we all have to do at one point or the other, right? No matter how much you try to resist, things always change. In this case, at least, it was for the better.\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>Match Point\u003c/b> opens January 6, 2005.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and show times\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416320/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
"stats": {
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"hasAudio": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"wordCount": 788,
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"paragraphCount": 10
},
"modified": 1705053919,
"excerpt": "\u003ca href=\"http://www.apple.com/trailers/dreamworks/match_point\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at apple.com).",
"headData": {
"twImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twDescription": "",
"description": "Watch the trailer (at apple.com).",
"title": "Match Point | KQED",
"ogDescription": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Match Point",
"datePublished": "2006-01-04T00:00:00-08:00",
"dateModified": "2024-01-12T02:05:19-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "match_point",
"status": "publish",
"sourceUrl": "http://www.kqed.org/arts/category/movies/movies-review/",
"sticky": false,
"path": "/arts/1147/match_point",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.apple.com/trailers/dreamworks/match_point\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at apple.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Has Woody Allen finally forsaken Manhattan? In this, his first film to be shot entirely in Britain, he both literally and creatively ventures into new territory (with the same old credits, of course). The last two films of Allen’s I saw — \u003cb>Melinda Melinda\u003c/b> and \u003cb>Anything Else\u003c/b> — were physically tortuous. \u003cb>Match Point\u003c/b>, thankfully, was not. Although the psychological thriller was so suspenseful at times that I did want to get up and leave the theater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two leads, Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, whose collective pouts alone could spark a new trend in cosmetics, are excellent as Nola and Chris, two lovers who enter into an illicit affair; their chemistry is palpable. Chris is an Irish ex-pro tennis player with working class roots who forsakes competition and becomes a tennis instructor at an exclusive club in London. While there he meets Tom Hewitt (Brian Cox) and the two hit it off famously. Tom introduces Chris to his sweet, wide-eyed sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer) and they begin to date. But not before Chris also meets Nola, Tom’s feisty, sexy fiance. She’s the kind of woman that can stop traffic with a single glance, wrap a man around her little finger in a matter of seconds and destroy lives with a kiss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ah, the femme fatale. A favorite figure in many a movie. While watching Nola in \u003cb>Match Point\u003c/b>, I was continually reminded of Glenn Close’s character in \u003cb>Fatal Attraction\u003c/b>. They both possessed the same dangerous allure. The kind that says “stay away from me if you are smart” but to which men, nonetheless, are attracted like moths to a flame. To me the femme fatale character always represents the unknown and/or the unattainable. They are the object little boys are told as three-year olds never to touch, which, in turn, makes them obsessed with doing so. They are the knowledge you are not allowed to taste, which just makes your mouth water for it. And Chris cannot resist. Allen, however, takes the notion of the dangerous female and turns it somewhat on its head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the MOST intriguing aspect of this movie to me was the issue of class. Chris and Nola both come from working class backgrounds while Chloe and Tom come from an extremely wealthy family. They are very nice and not snobby but their privilege practically drips off them. This was most glaringly obvious with Chloe who took on Chris like a pet charity project by asking her “Papa” — the disgustingly puerile term with which she calls her father — to simply get him a job in one of his companies although he lacked any business experience whatsoever and didn’t even want to particularly go into that field. If I worked at one of those companies, I would have been pissed. It was nepotism to the extreme.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Chloe is sweet and all, she has no sense of the working world. For her it’s as simple as asking papa and — voilá — a job magically appears. And whenever Chris cannot afford something, their 10,000-pound a week flat for example, Chloe is always there to quip, “Well, Papa is more than happy to help.” Long before Chris had an affair, he was already emasculated, or rather de-humanized, by Papa. Meanwhile, Chris and Nola have struggled their entire lives just to make rent. Perhaps this class connection was another common denominator between the two. But in this story, as in much of reality, wealth wins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which leads me back to my initial point. Why did Woody Allen decide to leave his beloved New York and go all the way to England to film this movie? It’s certainly not easier to make a movie there, as it’s significantly more expensive to do so. Are British actors (sans Johansson) easier to work with?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The immediate difference between this film and his others really struck me. It didn’t even LOOK like a typical Woody Allen flick; and the director/writer/actor infamous for putting himself into his own work did not even make an appearance here. I guess he’s finally growing up, branching out and changing with the times; it’s something we all have to do at one point or the other, right? No matter how much you try to resist, things always change. In this case, at least, it was for the better.\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>Match Point\u003c/b> opens January 6, 2005.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and show times\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416320/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/arts/1147/match_point",
"authors": [
"109"
],
"categories": [
"arts_74"
],
"label": "arts"
},
"arts_1150": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "arts_1150",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "1150",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1135411200000
]
},
"parent": 0,
"labelTerm": {
"site": "arts"
},
"blocks": [],
"publishDate": 1135411200,
"format": "standard",
"title": "The Best of Youth",
"headTitle": "The Best of Youth | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>The Best of Youth\u003c/b>, the must-see movie of 2005, was held over for three months at the Balboa Theater and played to sold-out audiences at repertory theaters across the country. By all accounts the film was a real tearjerker that had viewers weeping inconsolably into their tissues. Who would have thought that a six-hour Italian family melodrama originally shot for television would get American audiences in such a tizzy? But then again, look at the success of \u003cb>The Godfather\u003c/b> trilogy and the cult status of \u003cb>The Sopranos\u003c/b>. I have to be honest, except for vintage Douglas Sirk Technicolor gems from the fifties, I am not a fan of the heavy-handed, nostalgia-laden family melodrama. I loathe the veneer of nostalgia that permeates most films and books about the past and the implication that a less corrupt and just civil society once existed. This cotton candy fairytale land is a figment of our collective imagination and born out of a desire to rewrite the nasty bits of history, which still haunt us in the present day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given these tendencies, I was faced with an afternoon at the Balboa Theater watching a sweeping family epic with a handful of other people who had missed the first run of the \u003cb>The Best of Youth\u003c/b>. The film opens in 1966 with a focus on a middle class family living in Rome. All the characters are slowly introduced as they move through their daily lives. At the center of the film is the story of two brothers Nicola and Matteo, who, despite coming from the same family and being of a similar age, are completely divergent in their approach to life and the world around them. As they finish their exams and head out on a summer trip to the North Cape, their plans are derailed when Matteo attempts to help a young mental patient who is being abused in the asylum where he works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Matteo tries to reach out to Giorgia, but is immediately frustrated by her lack of response and his temper is raised. Meanwhile his brother uses humor, patience, and respect to get through to her. The experience with Giorgia makes an indelible impression on both of them and sets the course of their lives. It is one of those unexpected, transformative encounters with another human being that causes each brother to drop out in their own way: Nicola travels up north, joins the hippy counter-culture and learns to believe in the beauty of the world; Matteo runs away from the situation with Giorgia, enlists in the military and spends the rest of his life building an impenetrable wall around himself. Through the brothers, the story follows a simple family against the backdrop of postwar Italy, tracing their marriages, deaths, and births through several generations and countless political struggles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The director and screenwriter excel at creating engaging and challenging characters that capture the empathy of the audience. These are not perfect human beings, but people struggling to survive in a world that is changing rapidly and spinning out of control around them. In the midst of significant historic shifts, it is the small details and seemingly insignificant moments that have a profound impact. A snap shot on the deck of a ferryboat, a short conversation with a stranger, and the power of stories, poetry and books. The director interweaves these minor details and gives them the weight in history and memory that they deserve. Perhaps there is something about duration. Spending hours with the characters, not just the fictional years, that creates a special relationship for the viewer. The filmmaker capitalizes on the time we spend with Matteo, Nicola, and the rest, developing a certain history and connection to the characters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite my initial resistance, I was easily caught up in the beauty and sweetness of the story and shared several teary-eyed moments and subdued sniffles with the audience during the course of the film. But along with the moments of pure joy and assured directing, there was an utter dependence on big bombastic scenes that threw me completely out of the story and gave me that sinking, “I am watching actors saying lines in a movie” feeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a painful to watch scene with the mother after a particularly heartbreaking event has transpired. She sits in a classroom and stares listlessly into space, unable to hear students recite their homework. Her eyes and face are dead and no glimmer of recognition crosses her face as they speak. I can imagine reading this scene in a script and understanding its intention, but in actuality the performance is so over the top that it should have been cut. Instead the director follows up with a sequence in an empty courtyard with a camera spinning round and round, in an attempt to capture the old woman’s confusion and loss of reality. Its as if the director didn’t know when the fine line between drama and hysteria was crossed. This heavy-handed approach also tainted several plot points that seemed artificial and made-up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within the context of an already heady mix of family melodrama of epic proportions, these missteps weighed down the second half of the film and made me squirm in my seat. Because the characters were incredibly well developed in the first half, there were countless scenes that should have been cut out of the second half of the film. I think \u003cb>The Best of Youth\u003c/b> is an engaging film and the characters draw the viewer into an intimate world of family life, politcs and love that is irresistible. But the film’s overt emotional ploys and penchant for nostalgia needs to be paired down. Less is more. My advice: don’t do the marathon viewing. See the film in two parts, it will make you far less impatient and tolerant of the second half of the film.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Best of Youth\u003c/b> is now playing.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and showtimes\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>See the IMDB listing for this film.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0346336/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
"stats": {
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"hasAudio": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"wordCount": 1027,
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"paragraphCount": 11
},
"modified": 1705053924,
"excerpt": "\u003cb>The Best of Youth\u003c/b>, the must-see movie of 2005, was held over for three months at the Balboa Theater and played to sold-out audiences at repertory theaters across the country. By all accounts the film was a real tearjerker that had viewers weeping inconsolably into their tissues. Who would have thought that a six-hour Italian family melodrama originally shot for television would get American audiences in such a tizzy? But then again, look at the success of \u003cb>The Godfather\u003c/b> trilogy and the cult status of \u003cb>The Sopranos\u003c/b>. I have to be honest, except for vintage Douglas Sirk Technicolor gems from the fifties, I am not a fan of the heavy-handed, nostalgia-laden family melodrama. I loathe the veneer of nostalgia that permeates most films and books about the past and the implication that a less corrupt and just civil society once existed. This cotton candy fairytale land is a figment of our collective imagination and born out of a desire to rewrite the nasty bits of history, which still haunt us in the present day.",
"headData": {
"twImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twDescription": "",
"description": "The Best of Youth, the must-see movie of 2005, was held over for three months at the Balboa Theater and played to sold-out audiences at repertory theaters across the country. By all accounts the film was a real tearjerker that had viewers weeping inconsolably into their tissues. Who would have thought that a six-hour Italian family melodrama originally shot for television would get American audiences in such a tizzy? But then again, look at the success of The Godfather trilogy and the cult status of The Sopranos. I have to be honest, except for vintage Douglas Sirk Technicolor gems from the fifties, I am not a fan of the heavy-handed, nostalgia-laden family melodrama. I loathe the veneer of nostalgia that permeates most films and books about the past and the implication that a less corrupt and just civil society once existed. This cotton candy fairytale land is a figment of our collective imagination and born out of a desire to rewrite the nasty bits of history, which still haunt us in the present day.",
"title": "The Best of Youth | KQED",
"ogDescription": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "The Best of Youth",
"datePublished": "2005-12-24T00:00:00-08:00",
"dateModified": "2024-01-12T02:05:24-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "the_best_of_youth",
"status": "publish",
"sourceUrl": "http://www.kqed.org/arts/category/movies/movies-review/",
"sticky": false,
"path": "/arts/1150/the_best_of_youth",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>The Best of Youth\u003c/b>, the must-see movie of 2005, was held over for three months at the Balboa Theater and played to sold-out audiences at repertory theaters across the country. By all accounts the film was a real tearjerker that had viewers weeping inconsolably into their tissues. Who would have thought that a six-hour Italian family melodrama originally shot for television would get American audiences in such a tizzy? But then again, look at the success of \u003cb>The Godfather\u003c/b> trilogy and the cult status of \u003cb>The Sopranos\u003c/b>. I have to be honest, except for vintage Douglas Sirk Technicolor gems from the fifties, I am not a fan of the heavy-handed, nostalgia-laden family melodrama. I loathe the veneer of nostalgia that permeates most films and books about the past and the implication that a less corrupt and just civil society once existed. This cotton candy fairytale land is a figment of our collective imagination and born out of a desire to rewrite the nasty bits of history, which still haunt us in the present day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given these tendencies, I was faced with an afternoon at the Balboa Theater watching a sweeping family epic with a handful of other people who had missed the first run of the \u003cb>The Best of Youth\u003c/b>. The film opens in 1966 with a focus on a middle class family living in Rome. All the characters are slowly introduced as they move through their daily lives. At the center of the film is the story of two brothers Nicola and Matteo, who, despite coming from the same family and being of a similar age, are completely divergent in their approach to life and the world around them. As they finish their exams and head out on a summer trip to the North Cape, their plans are derailed when Matteo attempts to help a young mental patient who is being abused in the asylum where he works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Matteo tries to reach out to Giorgia, but is immediately frustrated by her lack of response and his temper is raised. Meanwhile his brother uses humor, patience, and respect to get through to her. The experience with Giorgia makes an indelible impression on both of them and sets the course of their lives. It is one of those unexpected, transformative encounters with another human being that causes each brother to drop out in their own way: Nicola travels up north, joins the hippy counter-culture and learns to believe in the beauty of the world; Matteo runs away from the situation with Giorgia, enlists in the military and spends the rest of his life building an impenetrable wall around himself. Through the brothers, the story follows a simple family against the backdrop of postwar Italy, tracing their marriages, deaths, and births through several generations and countless political struggles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The director and screenwriter excel at creating engaging and challenging characters that capture the empathy of the audience. These are not perfect human beings, but people struggling to survive in a world that is changing rapidly and spinning out of control around them. In the midst of significant historic shifts, it is the small details and seemingly insignificant moments that have a profound impact. A snap shot on the deck of a ferryboat, a short conversation with a stranger, and the power of stories, poetry and books. The director interweaves these minor details and gives them the weight in history and memory that they deserve. Perhaps there is something about duration. Spending hours with the characters, not just the fictional years, that creates a special relationship for the viewer. The filmmaker capitalizes on the time we spend with Matteo, Nicola, and the rest, developing a certain history and connection to the characters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite my initial resistance, I was easily caught up in the beauty and sweetness of the story and shared several teary-eyed moments and subdued sniffles with the audience during the course of the film. But along with the moments of pure joy and assured directing, there was an utter dependence on big bombastic scenes that threw me completely out of the story and gave me that sinking, “I am watching actors saying lines in a movie” feeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a painful to watch scene with the mother after a particularly heartbreaking event has transpired. She sits in a classroom and stares listlessly into space, unable to hear students recite their homework. Her eyes and face are dead and no glimmer of recognition crosses her face as they speak. I can imagine reading this scene in a script and understanding its intention, but in actuality the performance is so over the top that it should have been cut. Instead the director follows up with a sequence in an empty courtyard with a camera spinning round and round, in an attempt to capture the old woman’s confusion and loss of reality. Its as if the director didn’t know when the fine line between drama and hysteria was crossed. This heavy-handed approach also tainted several plot points that seemed artificial and made-up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within the context of an already heady mix of family melodrama of epic proportions, these missteps weighed down the second half of the film and made me squirm in my seat. Because the characters were incredibly well developed in the first half, there were countless scenes that should have been cut out of the second half of the film. I think \u003cb>The Best of Youth\u003c/b> is an engaging film and the characters draw the viewer into an intimate world of family life, politcs and love that is irresistible. But the film’s overt emotional ploys and penchant for nostalgia needs to be paired down. Less is more. My advice: don’t do the marathon viewing. See the film in two parts, it will make you far less impatient and tolerant of the second half of the film.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Best of Youth\u003c/b> is now playing.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and showtimes\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "floatright"
},
"numeric": [
"floatright"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>See the IMDB listing for this film.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0346336/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/arts/1150/the_best_of_youth",
"authors": [
"109"
],
"categories": [
"arts_74"
],
"label": "arts"
},
"arts_1151": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "arts_1151",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "1151",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1135238400000
]
},
"parent": 0,
"labelTerm": {
"site": "arts"
},
"blocks": [],
"publishDate": 1135238400,
"format": "standard",
"title": "Transamerica",
"headTitle": "Transamerica | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://%20www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/transamerica\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at apple.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I know that if I were about to have my family jewels cut off so that I could finally become the female I always wanted to be, the last thing I would want is to go on a cross-country trip with my juvenile delinquent son. No thank you. But sometimes you don’t get a choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bree (\u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/name/nm0005031\">\u003cb>Felicity Huffman\u003c/b>\u003c/a>) is the girliest of girls. The kind that always has her nails done, never has a hair out of place, and screams for help at the sight of a spider. Of course, the sound she emits would be about three octaves lower than the average woman. You see, Bree used to be known as “Stanley”. And “Stan” isn’t some weird Eastern European nickname given to little girls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Bree would rather forget all about Stan. In fact, she’s been steadily working to kill him off altogether. She’s been taking hormones and has her heart set on surgery. But just when the date for the operation approaches, she unexpectedly finds out that when she was a he, Stan had fathered an illegitimate son, Toby (\u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/name/nm0954225\">\u003cb>Kevin Zeger\u003c/b>\u003c/a>), who’s just been thrown in jail for theft (he stole a frog) and drug possession. Margaret, Bree’s psychologist and only friend, (\u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/name/nm0001615\">\u003cb>Elizabeth Peña\u003c/b>\u003c/a>) refuses to sign the waiver for Bree’s sexual reassignment surgery until she deals with this long lost son and, in turn, her past as a man. Well, before you can say “vagina,” Bree’s on a plane headed for NYC to bail out Toby and finally wash her hands of any evidence of her maleness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, she doesn’t have the balls (no pun intended) to tell Toby the truth. So she simply goes along when he assumes that she’s a missionary for an organization that works to reform wayward youth. This issue is the source of much humor as Bree isn’t a god-fearing kind of gal. As hokey as this scenario sounds (it has “\u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0075596\">\u003cb>Three’s Company\u003c/b>\u003c/a> episode” written all over it), it actually doesn’t come off as completely contrived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I thought \u003cb>Transamerica\u003c/b> would be this melodramatic tale of mother/father-son bonding full of cheesy moments, an overly-earnest “finding yourself” theme and a soundtrack that included Damien Rice or, perhaps even The Dave Matthews Band. Gag. It was neither of those things. Yes, Bree does come to understand herself better and, yes, she does bond with her son, but none of it is saccharine. It’s honest and engaging and complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The choice of using a female actor to play a man that’s turning into a woman was interesting. Huffman, best known for her role as Lynette Scavo the overworked mother of four boys on \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0410975\">\u003cb>Desperate Housewives\u003c/b>\u003c/a>, is absolutely amazing in this role. You truly believe she’s a transsexual. I was all, “Yeah… Felicity Huffman really does look like a guy!” She brings a touching vulnerability to the performance drawing you in to Bree’s body issues. And writer/director Duncan Tucker does an outstanding job in bringing the character to life. Furthermore, Fionnula Flanagan as Stanley’s/Bree’s crazy mother, Elizabeth, is excellent. She is a total scene-stealer. In fact, all the acting here is top notch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In lieu of taking your brood to see \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0356680\">\u003cb>The Family Stone\u003c/b>\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0360717\">\u003cb>King Kong\u003c/b>\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0363771\">\u003cb>Narnia\u003c/b>\u003c/a>, why not drag them to see this instead? If nothing else, it’ll make things interesting. Christmas dinner will be extra fun. Seriously, it has a great message and is all about family values. What more could you possibly ask?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Transamerica\u003c/b> opens December 23, 2005.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and show times\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407265/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
"stats": {
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"hasAudio": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"wordCount": 660,
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"paragraphCount": 11
},
"modified": 1705053925,
"excerpt": "\u003ca href=\"http:// www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/transamerica\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at apple.com).",
"headData": {
"twImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twDescription": "",
"description": "Watch the trailer (at apple.com).",
"title": "Transamerica | KQED",
"ogDescription": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Transamerica",
"datePublished": "2005-12-22T00:00:00-08:00",
"dateModified": "2024-01-12T02:05:25-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "transamerica",
"status": "publish",
"sourceUrl": "http://www.kqed.org/arts/category/movies/movies-review/",
"sticky": false,
"path": "/arts/1151/transamerica",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://%20www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/transamerica\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at apple.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I know that if I were about to have my family jewels cut off so that I could finally become the female I always wanted to be, the last thing I would want is to go on a cross-country trip with my juvenile delinquent son. No thank you. But sometimes you don’t get a choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bree (\u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/name/nm0005031\">\u003cb>Felicity Huffman\u003c/b>\u003c/a>) is the girliest of girls. The kind that always has her nails done, never has a hair out of place, and screams for help at the sight of a spider. Of course, the sound she emits would be about three octaves lower than the average woman. You see, Bree used to be known as “Stanley”. And “Stan” isn’t some weird Eastern European nickname given to little girls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Bree would rather forget all about Stan. In fact, she’s been steadily working to kill him off altogether. She’s been taking hormones and has her heart set on surgery. But just when the date for the operation approaches, she unexpectedly finds out that when she was a he, Stan had fathered an illegitimate son, Toby (\u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/name/nm0954225\">\u003cb>Kevin Zeger\u003c/b>\u003c/a>), who’s just been thrown in jail for theft (he stole a frog) and drug possession. Margaret, Bree’s psychologist and only friend, (\u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/name/nm0001615\">\u003cb>Elizabeth Peña\u003c/b>\u003c/a>) refuses to sign the waiver for Bree’s sexual reassignment surgery until she deals with this long lost son and, in turn, her past as a man. Well, before you can say “vagina,” Bree’s on a plane headed for NYC to bail out Toby and finally wash her hands of any evidence of her maleness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, she doesn’t have the balls (no pun intended) to tell Toby the truth. So she simply goes along when he assumes that she’s a missionary for an organization that works to reform wayward youth. This issue is the source of much humor as Bree isn’t a god-fearing kind of gal. As hokey as this scenario sounds (it has “\u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0075596\">\u003cb>Three’s Company\u003c/b>\u003c/a> episode” written all over it), it actually doesn’t come off as completely contrived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I thought \u003cb>Transamerica\u003c/b> would be this melodramatic tale of mother/father-son bonding full of cheesy moments, an overly-earnest “finding yourself” theme and a soundtrack that included Damien Rice or, perhaps even The Dave Matthews Band. Gag. It was neither of those things. Yes, Bree does come to understand herself better and, yes, she does bond with her son, but none of it is saccharine. It’s honest and engaging and complicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The choice of using a female actor to play a man that’s turning into a woman was interesting. Huffman, best known for her role as Lynette Scavo the overworked mother of four boys on \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0410975\">\u003cb>Desperate Housewives\u003c/b>\u003c/a>, is absolutely amazing in this role. You truly believe she’s a transsexual. I was all, “Yeah… Felicity Huffman really does look like a guy!” She brings a touching vulnerability to the performance drawing you in to Bree’s body issues. And writer/director Duncan Tucker does an outstanding job in bringing the character to life. Furthermore, Fionnula Flanagan as Stanley’s/Bree’s crazy mother, Elizabeth, is excellent. She is a total scene-stealer. In fact, all the acting here is top notch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In lieu of taking your brood to see \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0356680\">\u003cb>The Family Stone\u003c/b>\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0360717\">\u003cb>King Kong\u003c/b>\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0363771\">\u003cb>Narnia\u003c/b>\u003c/a>, why not drag them to see this instead? If nothing else, it’ll make things interesting. Christmas dinner will be extra fun. Seriously, it has a great message and is all about family values. What more could you possibly ask?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Transamerica\u003c/b> opens December 23, 2005.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and show times\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407265/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/arts/1151/transamerica",
"authors": [
"109"
],
"categories": [
"arts_74"
],
"label": "arts"
},
"arts_1157": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "arts_1157",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "1157",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1134028800000
]
},
"parent": 0,
"labelTerm": {
"site": "arts"
},
"blocks": [],
"publishDate": 1134028800,
"format": "standard",
"title": "Walk the Line",
"headTitle": "Walk the Line | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/walk_the_line/hd/\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at apple.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I never really got the Johnny Cash thing. I’ve never been all that much into Country music, though there are a few things I’m nuts for, the Carter family being one. But he always seemed to me like one of those leftover novelty acts from Generations Past, like Andy Williams or Mel Torme. Plus the whole ink-black-hair thing creeped me out. The only memory I have of listening to The Man In Black was some random track on a Christmas album. Conway Twitty was on there too. Is it any wonder I missed out on the mystique?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frankly, I went to see \u003cb>Walk the Line\u003c/b> because I’ll see Joaquin Phoenix in anything. I have a soft spot for Reese Witherspoon, too; I like her sass. I learned three things from this experience: 1) I need to seriously re-think my position on Johnny Cash; 2) Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix are eerily almost too-talented for their age, and 3) I never ever ever ever need to see another biopic again for as long as I live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To the first lesson first. I never knew what a sad, complex and powerful artist Johnny Cash was. I have very little in common with him as a person, but I could relate somehow to the throbbing ache at his center. He seemed to carry around an awareness of his own capacity for wickedness, a burden that made him doubt whether he deserved to be loved at all. That made him raw and honest and restless and defiant, and all of that got poured into his music. In fact, he seemed to be one of those people who could barely express himself in words — unless they were lyrics to a song. This movie showed me, at last, what the hoopla was all about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The film itself, however, is hopelessly pedestrian. It’s a standard-issue biopic bounce along the headlines: He’s poor, he loses his beloved brother, he discovers the guitar, goes on the road, gets hooked on drugs, sleeps around, loses his family, hits bottom, writhes around on a bed until he’s sober again, and hang-doggedly attempts to revive his career. It is to Joaquin Phoenix’s credit that we never look away from the screen. He inhabits Johnny Cash with a meticulously-crafted performance that goes far beyond impersonation. He captures certain truths about the man: his gruff honesty, his shame, his renegade temper, his desire for salvation. And oh yes, his voice. As has been much trumpeted, Joaquin does all of his own singing, and he really pulls it off. He gets all the way down there in those growly bass tones that we all associate with Johnny Cash, and his singing gets richer and fuller and more moving as the film goes on. Reese Witherspoon is his equal throughout — she is as feisty and spirited as June Carter ever was, and she makes exacting, split-second acting choices that let us glimpse the brokenhearted vulnerability and confusion lying just beneath June’s famous grit. Her singing is less convincing — well-done, but more like adorable Reese than spitfire June. Together, though, Phoenix and Witherspoon have so much chemistry and charisma, you are knocked back in your chair. They are the sole reason to see this movie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To my third point. Not to be Miss Crankypants, but with very few exceptions — \u003cb>Amadeus\u003c/b>, \u003cb>Patton\u003c/b>, \u003cb>Ghandi\u003c/b>, \u003cb>Helter Skelter\u003c/b> (now there’s a cast of characters Monty Python could do something with!) — I think the whole biopic genre should be outlawed. Isn’t that what documentaries are for? I mean, honestly, do we ever need to see another actor doing the”I’m in Withdrawl Hell” bed-sweats again? I’m convinced there’s some clause in Hollywood contracts these days that states “doesn’t do full-frontal nudity, but is available for Oscar-baiting \u003ci>delirium tremens\u003c/i>.” Joaquin sweats & shivers persuasively enough, but COME ON ALREADY.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest flaw of the film is that it turned Cash’s life into a story of redemption and love using the relationship between Johnny & June to explain the man. They should have focused instead on the relationship between the man and his MUSIC. In my opinion, the most mesmerizing (and revealing) scene comes early in the movie: a confrontation between Cash and Sam Phillips, the Sun Records owner who gave him his big break (played brilliantly by Dallas Roberts). Cash auditions with a hum-drum rendition of a popular gospel song, which Phillips calls off almost immediately. They have a heated argument, and Phillips snaps, challenging Cash to imagine he had just been hit by a train, and is now lying on the tracks bloody and desperate and about to die — and he’s got 2 minutes left on earth to sing one last song. “That’s the song that will save people,” says Phillips, “not some tired old hymn.” At that, Cash pulls out a rocky “Folsom Prison Blues,” and he’s suddenly on his way. It seems to me Sam Phillips’s echo is in every song Cash wrote after that, desperate and bloody and true. I wish the movie had broken out of its tedious bio-formula and focused on that instead — then it could’ve really shed some light on the mysterious magic that made him The Man in Black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Walk the Line\u003c/b> now playing.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and show times\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358273/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
"stats": {
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"hasAudio": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"wordCount": 961,
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"paragraphCount": 10
},
"modified": 1705053931,
"excerpt": "\u003ca href=\"http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/walk_the_line/hd/\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at apple.com).",
"headData": {
"twImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twDescription": "",
"description": "Watch the trailer (at apple.com).",
"title": "Walk the Line | KQED",
"ogDescription": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Walk the Line",
"datePublished": "2005-12-08T00:00:00-08:00",
"dateModified": "2024-01-12T02:05:31-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "walk_the_line",
"status": "publish",
"sourceUrl": "http://www.kqed.org/arts/category/movies/movies-review/",
"sticky": false,
"path": "/arts/1157/walk_the_line",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/walk_the_line/hd/\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at apple.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I never really got the Johnny Cash thing. I’ve never been all that much into Country music, though there are a few things I’m nuts for, the Carter family being one. But he always seemed to me like one of those leftover novelty acts from Generations Past, like Andy Williams or Mel Torme. Plus the whole ink-black-hair thing creeped me out. The only memory I have of listening to The Man In Black was some random track on a Christmas album. Conway Twitty was on there too. Is it any wonder I missed out on the mystique?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frankly, I went to see \u003cb>Walk the Line\u003c/b> because I’ll see Joaquin Phoenix in anything. I have a soft spot for Reese Witherspoon, too; I like her sass. I learned three things from this experience: 1) I need to seriously re-think my position on Johnny Cash; 2) Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix are eerily almost too-talented for their age, and 3) I never ever ever ever need to see another biopic again for as long as I live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To the first lesson first. I never knew what a sad, complex and powerful artist Johnny Cash was. I have very little in common with him as a person, but I could relate somehow to the throbbing ache at his center. He seemed to carry around an awareness of his own capacity for wickedness, a burden that made him doubt whether he deserved to be loved at all. That made him raw and honest and restless and defiant, and all of that got poured into his music. In fact, he seemed to be one of those people who could barely express himself in words — unless they were lyrics to a song. This movie showed me, at last, what the hoopla was all about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The film itself, however, is hopelessly pedestrian. It’s a standard-issue biopic bounce along the headlines: He’s poor, he loses his beloved brother, he discovers the guitar, goes on the road, gets hooked on drugs, sleeps around, loses his family, hits bottom, writhes around on a bed until he’s sober again, and hang-doggedly attempts to revive his career. It is to Joaquin Phoenix’s credit that we never look away from the screen. He inhabits Johnny Cash with a meticulously-crafted performance that goes far beyond impersonation. He captures certain truths about the man: his gruff honesty, his shame, his renegade temper, his desire for salvation. And oh yes, his voice. As has been much trumpeted, Joaquin does all of his own singing, and he really pulls it off. He gets all the way down there in those growly bass tones that we all associate with Johnny Cash, and his singing gets richer and fuller and more moving as the film goes on. Reese Witherspoon is his equal throughout — she is as feisty and spirited as June Carter ever was, and she makes exacting, split-second acting choices that let us glimpse the brokenhearted vulnerability and confusion lying just beneath June’s famous grit. Her singing is less convincing — well-done, but more like adorable Reese than spitfire June. Together, though, Phoenix and Witherspoon have so much chemistry and charisma, you are knocked back in your chair. They are the sole reason to see this movie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To my third point. Not to be Miss Crankypants, but with very few exceptions — \u003cb>Amadeus\u003c/b>, \u003cb>Patton\u003c/b>, \u003cb>Ghandi\u003c/b>, \u003cb>Helter Skelter\u003c/b> (now there’s a cast of characters Monty Python could do something with!) — I think the whole biopic genre should be outlawed. Isn’t that what documentaries are for? I mean, honestly, do we ever need to see another actor doing the”I’m in Withdrawl Hell” bed-sweats again? I’m convinced there’s some clause in Hollywood contracts these days that states “doesn’t do full-frontal nudity, but is available for Oscar-baiting \u003ci>delirium tremens\u003c/i>.” Joaquin sweats & shivers persuasively enough, but COME ON ALREADY.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest flaw of the film is that it turned Cash’s life into a story of redemption and love using the relationship between Johnny & June to explain the man. They should have focused instead on the relationship between the man and his MUSIC. In my opinion, the most mesmerizing (and revealing) scene comes early in the movie: a confrontation between Cash and Sam Phillips, the Sun Records owner who gave him his big break (played brilliantly by Dallas Roberts). Cash auditions with a hum-drum rendition of a popular gospel song, which Phillips calls off almost immediately. They have a heated argument, and Phillips snaps, challenging Cash to imagine he had just been hit by a train, and is now lying on the tracks bloody and desperate and about to die — and he’s got 2 minutes left on earth to sing one last song. “That’s the song that will save people,” says Phillips, “not some tired old hymn.” At that, Cash pulls out a rocky “Folsom Prison Blues,” and he’s suddenly on his way. It seems to me Sam Phillips’s echo is in every song Cash wrote after that, desperate and bloody and true. I wish the movie had broken out of its tedious bio-formula and focused on that instead — then it could’ve really shed some light on the mysterious magic that made him The Man in Black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Walk the Line\u003c/b> now playing.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and show times\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358273/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/arts/1157/walk_the_line",
"authors": [
"109"
],
"categories": [
"arts_74"
],
"label": "arts"
},
"arts_1156": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "arts_1156",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "1156",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1134028800000
]
},
"parent": 0,
"labelTerm": {
"site": "arts"
},
"blocks": [],
"publishDate": 1134028800,
"format": "standard",
"title": "Brokeback Mountain",
"headTitle": "Brokeback Mountain | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/brokeback_mountain/\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at apple.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have been told that I’m dead inside because I rarely cry during movies, even when a friend is sitting next to me while drying her eyes and sniffling into a used Kleenex. I can’t remember the last time I’ve shed a tear. I’m moved, sure, but moved to the point of tears? Not likely. That is until I saw \u003cb>Brokeback Mountain\u003c/b>. This movie just about broke my heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Talkative Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and taciturn Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) are two young cowboys who meet working as sheep ranchers one summer (in 1963 to be exact) up in Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming. The two fall into an easy friendship that soon turns into something else. I know, it sounds boring. Two cowboys up in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming: blah blah blah. But it’s anything but. I couldn’t tear my eyes off the screen for its entire two hour and 14 minute run time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I would love to write about the story in depth, but I think that would ruin the film. Besides, I really wished they hadn’t already revealed the relationship between the two in the trailers. Instead of looking at the film simply as a love story, it will be dubbed a “gay movie”. The marketing team should have hidden the affair and have let people decide for themselves what kind of movie they thought it was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now there will be whole sections of potential audiences who will avoid \u003cb>Brokeback Mountain\u003c/b>, and consequently, they will have missed out on one the best, most beautiful love stories I have ever seen unfold on screen. And I think that is exactly how the film should be viewed — as a poignantly touching and moving story about love and longing. It really doesn’t matter who’s doing the loving and what their gender is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Okay, okay, it matters a little as that fact affects the characters and their behavior and heavily influences their choices, but other than that, it doesn’t matter. Not when it comes down to the emotional soul of the movie. And \u003cb>Brokeback Mountain\u003c/b> has some serious soul. This can best be seen through Ennis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Honestly, the man says like four words the entire film (that may be an exaggeration) but he expresses a world of emotion through his actions. Ledger delivers an award-winning performance as a repressed, emotionally-inept, hard man who barely scrapes by a brutal existence in the heartland; don’t be surprised if Ledger goes home with an Oscar. This is not to say that Gyllenhaal’s character is an emotional idiot. Jack is every bit as young and effervescent and brimming with (delusional) hope as Ennis is practical and ancient. It’s like Jack is a puppy and Ennis is an aging dog in its twilight years. The two have AMAZING chemistry and are perfect compliments. Props to the casting agent and director Ang Lee (\u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0119349\">\u003cb>The Ice Storm\u003c/b>\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0111797\">\u003cb>Eat Drink Man Woman\u003c/b>\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee’s skills shine in this film, which I believe is his best work to date. If the story doesn’t have you in its clutches, the stunning shots of the Wyoming landscape will. The movie is in many ways a study in contrasts. The liberating beauty of the mountains versus the stifling ruin of crumbling apartments. The comfort and safety of marriage versus the passion and loyalty found in an affair. The turbulence of silence versus the emptiness of a conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brokeback Mountain\u003c/b> is based on a short story written by Annie Proulx (\u003ca href=\"/.amazon/0671510053\">\u003cb>The Shipping News\u003c/b>\u003c/a>) that first appeared in \u003cb>The New Yorker\u003c/b> magazine. I haven’t yet read the eight page story but I wonder how faithful the adaptation was. I have a hunch it was done just right, because to me \u003cb>Brokeback Mountain\u003c/b> was perfect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brokeback Mountain\u003c/b> opens December 9, 2005.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and show times\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388795/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
"stats": {
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"hasAudio": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"wordCount": 684,
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"paragraphCount": 12
},
"modified": 1705053932,
"excerpt": "\u003ca href=\"http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/brokeback_mountain/\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at apple.com).",
"headData": {
"twImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twDescription": "",
"description": "Watch the trailer (at apple.com).",
"title": "Brokeback Mountain | KQED",
"ogDescription": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Brokeback Mountain",
"datePublished": "2005-12-08T00:00:00-08:00",
"dateModified": "2024-01-12T02:05:32-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "brokeback_mountain",
"status": "publish",
"sourceUrl": "http://www.kqed.org/arts/category/movies/movies-review/",
"sticky": false,
"path": "/arts/1156/brokeback_mountain",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/brokeback_mountain/\">Watch the trailer\u003c/a> (at apple.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have been told that I’m dead inside because I rarely cry during movies, even when a friend is sitting next to me while drying her eyes and sniffling into a used Kleenex. I can’t remember the last time I’ve shed a tear. I’m moved, sure, but moved to the point of tears? Not likely. That is until I saw \u003cb>Brokeback Mountain\u003c/b>. This movie just about broke my heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Talkative Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and taciturn Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) are two young cowboys who meet working as sheep ranchers one summer (in 1963 to be exact) up in Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming. The two fall into an easy friendship that soon turns into something else. I know, it sounds boring. Two cowboys up in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming: blah blah blah. But it’s anything but. I couldn’t tear my eyes off the screen for its entire two hour and 14 minute run time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I would love to write about the story in depth, but I think that would ruin the film. Besides, I really wished they hadn’t already revealed the relationship between the two in the trailers. Instead of looking at the film simply as a love story, it will be dubbed a “gay movie”. The marketing team should have hidden the affair and have let people decide for themselves what kind of movie they thought it was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now there will be whole sections of potential audiences who will avoid \u003cb>Brokeback Mountain\u003c/b>, and consequently, they will have missed out on one the best, most beautiful love stories I have ever seen unfold on screen. And I think that is exactly how the film should be viewed — as a poignantly touching and moving story about love and longing. It really doesn’t matter who’s doing the loving and what their gender is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Okay, okay, it matters a little as that fact affects the characters and their behavior and heavily influences their choices, but other than that, it doesn’t matter. Not when it comes down to the emotional soul of the movie. And \u003cb>Brokeback Mountain\u003c/b> has some serious soul. This can best be seen through Ennis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Honestly, the man says like four words the entire film (that may be an exaggeration) but he expresses a world of emotion through his actions. Ledger delivers an award-winning performance as a repressed, emotionally-inept, hard man who barely scrapes by a brutal existence in the heartland; don’t be surprised if Ledger goes home with an Oscar. This is not to say that Gyllenhaal’s character is an emotional idiot. Jack is every bit as young and effervescent and brimming with (delusional) hope as Ennis is practical and ancient. It’s like Jack is a puppy and Ennis is an aging dog in its twilight years. The two have AMAZING chemistry and are perfect compliments. Props to the casting agent and director Ang Lee (\u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0119349\">\u003cb>The Ice Storm\u003c/b>\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0111797\">\u003cb>Eat Drink Man Woman\u003c/b>\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee’s skills shine in this film, which I believe is his best work to date. If the story doesn’t have you in its clutches, the stunning shots of the Wyoming landscape will. The movie is in many ways a study in contrasts. The liberating beauty of the mountains versus the stifling ruin of crumbling apartments. The comfort and safety of marriage versus the passion and loyalty found in an affair. The turbulence of silence versus the emptiness of a conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brokeback Mountain\u003c/b> is based on a short story written by Annie Proulx (\u003ca href=\"/.amazon/0671510053\">\u003cb>The Shipping News\u003c/b>\u003c/a>) that first appeared in \u003cb>The New Yorker\u003c/b> magazine. I haven’t yet read the eight page story but I wonder how faithful the adaptation was. I have a hunch it was done just right, because to me \u003cb>Brokeback Mountain\u003c/b> was perfect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Brokeback Mountain\u003c/b> opens December 9, 2005.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and show times\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388795/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/arts/1156/brokeback_mountain",
"authors": [
"109"
],
"categories": [
"arts_74"
],
"label": "arts"
},
"arts_1158": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "arts_1158",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "1158",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1133424000000
]
},
"parent": 0,
"labelTerm": {
"site": "arts"
},
"blocks": [],
"publishDate": 1133424000,
"format": "standard",
"title": "Plans",
"headTitle": "Plans | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Death Cab for Cutie are in a pretty comfortable position right now. They are the Princess and the Pea, sitting atop a giant pile of soft fluffy down mattresses named Built to Spill, U2, The Cure, and Elliott Smith. They don’t even feel the hard cold pea of selling out, because the lines have become so blurred between the sheets and the bed that everything just feels cozy and warm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve thoroughly lived and loved through so many waves of punk, post-punk, indie rock and alt-whatever that at this point I just dig backwards in time to find anything worth listening to. I dismissed Death Cab for their first few albums as a Built to Spill knock-off, but some friends of mine were playing \u003cb>Transatlanticism\u003c/b> at a party recently and I was grabbed. Then Claire and her friends were singing along to it on Six Feet Under, and I was smitten. All of a sudden I felt like a moony 16-year-old and I relished that feeling, so I got my friend to burn me a copy of that one and I went out and bought \u003cb>Plans\u003c/b>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After listening to \u003cb>Plans\u003c/b> for about a week, Death Cab came to town and I decided to plunk down the coin and check them out. I was in the Warfield getting the same feeling I got when I saw Nirvana at the Warfield so many years ago — that this would definitely be the last time they played a place this small. Like Nirvana before them, Death Cab are able to distill the past ten years of independent music into a winning formula, add it to their awe-shucks regular guy-ism and turn the whole thing into one big, moving arena rock spectacle complete with an audience that knows all the words and ‘tween girls chaperoned by their bemused parents. It was a perfect cross between a sweaty club gig and a U2 concert, and it was fascinating. I had a good time, but when they mechanically kicked their amps over at the end of the set, I was reminded again of Nirvana’s Saturday Night Live appearance that made me squirm with the lack of motivation behind such a predictable act. (Forgive me for the journalistic laziness of dropping Nirvana’s name three times, since I hate to propagate their already over-inflated position in rock history, but in this case it actually applies.) Fortunately for Death Cab, bandleader Ben Gibbard doesn’t seem to have any pre-existing drug problems to hinder their rise to superstardom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Plans\u003c/b> virtually drips with adolescent longing, college freshman philosophy and the fear of death, which are basically the three things that shaped me as a person, so I can dig it. I was a goth, I was a drama major, I was a hopeless romantic breaking hearts from coast to coast, so when Gibbard sings “We’d left our love in our summer skin” or “Who’s gonna watch you die?” I can relate. Once a teenage girl, always a teenage girl. And the acoustic ditty “I’ll Follow You Into the Dark” proves that Gibbard is a first class songwriter, able to hold the listener in the delicate tremble of his voice, as proven by the hundreds singing along at the show. The album production is deep and shimmering, with their trademark rhythmic interplay complimented by washy harmonic guitars, spooky pianos and vintage keyboards. The tunes are so simple and majestic, the singing so plaintive, and the packaging so dreary that it really makes me wanna burn some incense and cry over a lost love. When you’re happily married with a little kid running around, this feeling doesn’t come around too often, so you gotta relish it. Call me a masochist, but I love that old sensation of a sinking pit in the middle of my chest!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Death Cab are offering a Cliff’s Notes version of indie rock and romantic longing, conveniently packaged in CD form. Take one, and we can all sleep a little more comfortably knowing they’ve got it under control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"stats": {
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"hasAudio": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"wordCount": 711,
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"paragraphCount": 7
},
"modified": 1705053933,
"excerpt": "Death Cab for Cutie are in a pretty comfortable position right now. They are the Princess and the Pea, sitting atop a giant pile of soft fluffy down mattresses named Built to Spill, U2, The Cure, and Elliott Smith. They don't even feel the hard cold pea of selling out, because the lines have become so blurred between the sheets and the bed that everything just feels cozy and warm.",
"headData": {
"twImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twDescription": "",
"description": "Death Cab for Cutie are in a pretty comfortable position right now. They are the Princess and the Pea, sitting atop a giant pile of soft fluffy down mattresses named Built to Spill, U2, The Cure, and Elliott Smith. They don't even feel the hard cold pea of selling out, because the lines have become so blurred between the sheets and the bed that everything just feels cozy and warm.",
"title": "Plans | KQED",
"ogDescription": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Plans",
"datePublished": "2005-12-01T00:00:00-08:00",
"dateModified": "2024-01-12T02:05:33-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "plans",
"status": "publish",
"sourceUrl": "http://www.kqed.org/arts/category/music/music-review/",
"sticky": false,
"path": "/arts/1158/plans",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Death Cab for Cutie are in a pretty comfortable position right now. They are the Princess and the Pea, sitting atop a giant pile of soft fluffy down mattresses named Built to Spill, U2, The Cure, and Elliott Smith. They don’t even feel the hard cold pea of selling out, because the lines have become so blurred between the sheets and the bed that everything just feels cozy and warm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve thoroughly lived and loved through so many waves of punk, post-punk, indie rock and alt-whatever that at this point I just dig backwards in time to find anything worth listening to. I dismissed Death Cab for their first few albums as a Built to Spill knock-off, but some friends of mine were playing \u003cb>Transatlanticism\u003c/b> at a party recently and I was grabbed. Then Claire and her friends were singing along to it on Six Feet Under, and I was smitten. All of a sudden I felt like a moony 16-year-old and I relished that feeling, so I got my friend to burn me a copy of that one and I went out and bought \u003cb>Plans\u003c/b>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After listening to \u003cb>Plans\u003c/b> for about a week, Death Cab came to town and I decided to plunk down the coin and check them out. I was in the Warfield getting the same feeling I got when I saw Nirvana at the Warfield so many years ago — that this would definitely be the last time they played a place this small. Like Nirvana before them, Death Cab are able to distill the past ten years of independent music into a winning formula, add it to their awe-shucks regular guy-ism and turn the whole thing into one big, moving arena rock spectacle complete with an audience that knows all the words and ‘tween girls chaperoned by their bemused parents. It was a perfect cross between a sweaty club gig and a U2 concert, and it was fascinating. I had a good time, but when they mechanically kicked their amps over at the end of the set, I was reminded again of Nirvana’s Saturday Night Live appearance that made me squirm with the lack of motivation behind such a predictable act. (Forgive me for the journalistic laziness of dropping Nirvana’s name three times, since I hate to propagate their already over-inflated position in rock history, but in this case it actually applies.) Fortunately for Death Cab, bandleader Ben Gibbard doesn’t seem to have any pre-existing drug problems to hinder their rise to superstardom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Plans\u003c/b> virtually drips with adolescent longing, college freshman philosophy and the fear of death, which are basically the three things that shaped me as a person, so I can dig it. I was a goth, I was a drama major, I was a hopeless romantic breaking hearts from coast to coast, so when Gibbard sings “We’d left our love in our summer skin” or “Who’s gonna watch you die?” I can relate. Once a teenage girl, always a teenage girl. And the acoustic ditty “I’ll Follow You Into the Dark” proves that Gibbard is a first class songwriter, able to hold the listener in the delicate tremble of his voice, as proven by the hundreds singing along at the show. The album production is deep and shimmering, with their trademark rhythmic interplay complimented by washy harmonic guitars, spooky pianos and vintage keyboards. The tunes are so simple and majestic, the singing so plaintive, and the packaging so dreary that it really makes me wanna burn some incense and cry over a lost love. When you’re happily married with a little kid running around, this feeling doesn’t come around too often, so you gotta relish it. Call me a masochist, but I love that old sensation of a sinking pit in the middle of my chest!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Death Cab are offering a Cliff’s Notes version of indie rock and romantic longing, conveniently packaged in CD form. Take one, and we can all sleep a little more comfortably knowing they’ve got it under control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/arts/1158/plans",
"authors": [
"109"
],
"categories": [
"arts_74"
],
"label": "arts"
},
"arts_1160": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "arts_1160",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "1160",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1132819200000
]
},
"parent": 0,
"labelTerm": {
"site": "arts"
},
"blocks": [],
"publishDate": 1132819200,
"format": "standard",
"title": "Bee Season",
"headTitle": "Bee Season | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Yes! It’s a two-for-one posting this week. Last week the movie \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0387059\">\u003cb>Bee Season\u003c/b>\u003c/a>, based on the \u003ca href=\"/.amazon/0385498802\">\u003cb>novel\u003c/b>\u003c/a> of the same name by Myla Goldberg, opened. I just so happened to have read the book a few months ago and was interested as to how they would adapt this quirky and delicate piece of fiction to the big, bad and scary screen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bee Season\u003c/b> revolves around the Naumann family, a seemingly functional family whose secrets and tensions begin to reveal themselves after its youngest member, Eliza, qualifies for the regional spelling bee. In the book — and somewhat in the movie — the mom, Miriam, is a cold and detached ice queen who’s rarely present, even if she’s sitting at the kitchen table along with everyone else. The father, Saul, is a tornado of love who seems to only be able to focus on one thing at a time and, as a result, each child finds himself/herself competing for his affections; the thoughtful and overachieving son Aaron, much more than Eliza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Normally neglected, after Eliza participates in the bee, her father shifts his energy from Aaron to her, setting up study sessions after school and lavishing her with attention. A resentful Aaron rebels not by experimenting with drugs or alcohol or even music and girls, but with religion. Meanwhile, Miriam’s neurosis make increasingly frequent appearances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s always fascinating to see what they (“they” meaning the screenwriter, director, producers and studio execs) choose to change in a novel upon adaptation. Sometimes, it can be a small detail, however, many times it’s a major component about a character or the plot. Basically, the changes indicate what they think “works” and what they think doesn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cb>Bee Season\u003c/b> the novel, Saul (played in the movie by Richard Gere), is a cantor and unofficial scholar of Judaic mysticism. However, in the movie he’s a religions professor at UC Berkeley, which ends up altering the dynamics between father and son. It doesn’t make as much sense why Aaron chooses religion as his way to rebel if he’s father an open-minded professor at a liberal university; it doesn’t have the same impact as him being a cantor in a synagogue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the book, the mother is a lawyer and in the film, as Juliette Binoche, she’s a researcher of some sort. She’s also much, much colder in the book (she hardly ever touches Eliza much less tells her she loves her) than in the film where her coldness is toned down. I wonder why they made her warmer, is it because they thought audiences wouldn’t be able to cope with a character who’s a cold mother?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is also interesting to compare what you as the reader imagine the characters to look like as opposed to how they are portrayed in a movie. I think they did a good job casting the characters. Binoche as the mother is perfect and so is Gere. And Flora Cross as Eliza is just as awkward as I imaged her to be. Max Minghella as Aaron is a little better looking and less dorky than what I had thought. And his mentor Chali got turned from a weird hippy dude into Kate Bosworth! I felt this took away from the storyline and made it seem like Aaron’s exploration into other religions, specifically Hinduism, was more based on a crush than a genuine curiosity and appreciation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A major motif in both the book and the movie is Jewish mysticism, specifically Kabbalah (you know that thing all the celebrities are into now). Saul uses Kabbalah techniques to help Eliza study and envision her spelling words. To put it simply, letters and words are divine and can be used, at the highest level of Kabbalah, to directly commune with God. I have to be honest, the whole religious strain was lost on me. Call me a sinner that’s going to hell, but religious mumbo-jumbo just isn’t my cup of tea, even if it’s honeyed with a compelling story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The verdict? Avoid the movie and sit down with the book. It’s a lot better, as is usually the case.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"/.amazon/0385498802\">\u003cb>Bee Season\u003c/b>\u003c/a> by Myla Goldberg\u003cbr>\nPaperback, 288 pages\u003c/p>\n\n",
"stats": {
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"hasAudio": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"wordCount": 743,
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"paragraphCount": 11
},
"modified": 1705053935,
"excerpt": "Yes! It's a two-for-one posting this week. Last week the movie \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0387059\">\u003cb>Bee Season\u003c/b>\u003c/a>, based on the \u003ca href=\"/.amazon/0385498802\">\u003cb>novel\u003c/b>\u003c/a> of the same name by Myla Goldberg, opened. I just so happened to have read the book a few months ago and was interested as to how they would adapt this quirky and delicate piece of fiction to the big, bad and scary screen.",
"headData": {
"twImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twDescription": "",
"description": "Yes! It's a two-for-one posting this week. Last week the movie Bee Season, based on the novel of the same name by Myla Goldberg, opened. I just so happened to have read the book a few months ago and was interested as to how they would adapt this quirky and delicate piece of fiction to the big, bad and scary screen.",
"title": "Bee Season | KQED",
"ogDescription": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Bee Season",
"datePublished": "2005-11-24T00:00:00-08:00",
"dateModified": "2024-01-12T02:05:35-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "bee_season",
"status": "publish",
"sourceUrl": "http://www.kqed.org/arts/category/movies/movies-review/",
"sticky": false,
"path": "/arts/1160/bee_season",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Yes! It’s a two-for-one posting this week. Last week the movie \u003ca href=\"http://imdb.com/title/tt0387059\">\u003cb>Bee Season\u003c/b>\u003c/a>, based on the \u003ca href=\"/.amazon/0385498802\">\u003cb>novel\u003c/b>\u003c/a> of the same name by Myla Goldberg, opened. I just so happened to have read the book a few months ago and was interested as to how they would adapt this quirky and delicate piece of fiction to the big, bad and scary screen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bee Season\u003c/b> revolves around the Naumann family, a seemingly functional family whose secrets and tensions begin to reveal themselves after its youngest member, Eliza, qualifies for the regional spelling bee. In the book — and somewhat in the movie — the mom, Miriam, is a cold and detached ice queen who’s rarely present, even if she’s sitting at the kitchen table along with everyone else. The father, Saul, is a tornado of love who seems to only be able to focus on one thing at a time and, as a result, each child finds himself/herself competing for his affections; the thoughtful and overachieving son Aaron, much more than Eliza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Normally neglected, after Eliza participates in the bee, her father shifts his energy from Aaron to her, setting up study sessions after school and lavishing her with attention. A resentful Aaron rebels not by experimenting with drugs or alcohol or even music and girls, but with religion. Meanwhile, Miriam’s neurosis make increasingly frequent appearances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s always fascinating to see what they (“they” meaning the screenwriter, director, producers and studio execs) choose to change in a novel upon adaptation. Sometimes, it can be a small detail, however, many times it’s a major component about a character or the plot. Basically, the changes indicate what they think “works” and what they think doesn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003cb>Bee Season\u003c/b> the novel, Saul (played in the movie by Richard Gere), is a cantor and unofficial scholar of Judaic mysticism. However, in the movie he’s a religions professor at UC Berkeley, which ends up altering the dynamics between father and son. It doesn’t make as much sense why Aaron chooses religion as his way to rebel if he’s father an open-minded professor at a liberal university; it doesn’t have the same impact as him being a cantor in a synagogue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the book, the mother is a lawyer and in the film, as Juliette Binoche, she’s a researcher of some sort. She’s also much, much colder in the book (she hardly ever touches Eliza much less tells her she loves her) than in the film where her coldness is toned down. I wonder why they made her warmer, is it because they thought audiences wouldn’t be able to cope with a character who’s a cold mother?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is also interesting to compare what you as the reader imagine the characters to look like as opposed to how they are portrayed in a movie. I think they did a good job casting the characters. Binoche as the mother is perfect and so is Gere. And Flora Cross as Eliza is just as awkward as I imaged her to be. Max Minghella as Aaron is a little better looking and less dorky than what I had thought. And his mentor Chali got turned from a weird hippy dude into Kate Bosworth! I felt this took away from the storyline and made it seem like Aaron’s exploration into other religions, specifically Hinduism, was more based on a crush than a genuine curiosity and appreciation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A major motif in both the book and the movie is Jewish mysticism, specifically Kabbalah (you know that thing all the celebrities are into now). Saul uses Kabbalah techniques to help Eliza study and envision her spelling words. To put it simply, letters and words are divine and can be used, at the highest level of Kabbalah, to directly commune with God. I have to be honest, the whole religious strain was lost on me. Call me a sinner that’s going to hell, but religious mumbo-jumbo just isn’t my cup of tea, even if it’s honeyed with a compelling story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The verdict? Avoid the movie and sit down with the book. It’s a lot better, as is usually the case.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"/.amazon/0385498802\">\u003cb>Bee Season\u003c/b>\u003c/a> by Myla Goldberg\u003cbr>\nPaperback, 288 pages\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/arts/1160/bee_season",
"authors": [
"109"
],
"categories": [
"arts_74"
],
"label": "arts"
},
"arts_1163": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "arts_1163",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "1163",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1131961020000
]
},
"parent": 0,
"labelTerm": {
"site": "arts"
},
"blocks": [],
"publishDate": 1131961020,
"format": "standard",
"title": "Greta Snider's View-Master Documentaries",
"headTitle": "Greta Snider’s View-Master Documentaries | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Before I ever had an inkling that I was going to be a filmmaker or heard of Greta Snider, I saw a bootleg copy of \u003cb>Hard Core Home Movie\u003c/b>. To be honest, I had no experience with experimental filmmaking and didn’t have the vocabulary to discuss the impact of the film, except that it blew my mind. It was made with a punk aesthetic that was personal and fun, and captured the raw energy and visceral experience of going to a punk rock show. I hadn’t in my short and inexperienced life seen anything like it. Since that initial encounter with \u003cb>Hard Core Home Movie\u003c/b>, I have had the pleasure of seeing most of Snider’s films at independent screenings, festivals and on DVD. The films have a hand-made aesthetic and are often personal documentaries offering a window into the lives of the visionaries and weirdos that populate subcultures on the margins of our homogenous consumer society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite a stellar fall schedule of art openings and screenings, I was feeling extremely anti-social and unwilling to venture out into the world. What did the trick, what got me going was a phone call from my friend Johunna Grayson, who has been assisting Greta Snider on her most recent artistic endeavor. The ladies have been hard at work shooting, hand processing and assembling a series of personal portraits to be viewed in 3-D with custom built View-Masters. For any of you past the age of thirty, the sight of these nostalgia-laden plastic toys might just bring a tear to your eye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The View-Master resembles a pair of plastic binoculars loaded with a circular reel of slides that spin around incrementally to reveal a new 3-D image each time the user pushes on a plastic spindle. The invention dates back to 1939 when William Gruber combined the 3-D technology of Stereoscopic photographs with newly developed Kodachrome film to create the gadget. Vintage “scenic reels,” often coveted by collectors, depict exotic travel locales and were sold in stationary stores like postcards. By the 1950s View-Master began to use popular television shows and movies as subjects, especially Disney characters aimed at a younger audience. Today, the View-Master is used to mass market Hollywood films and the latest popular cartoon characters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By turning the reels into an interactive art experience, Snider is transforming a mass-produced commercial product into a hand made object and capturing the personal histories of regular people, not often reflected or celebrated in popular culture. For the upcoming show, Greta approached a group of friends and asked them to choose a place in San Francisco where they would like to have their portraits taken. Not only are the reels portraits of individuals, but they also reveal the hidden treasures and underground spaces scattered throughout San Francisco. Look for Ivy McClellan’s tour of a clandestine cement garden near Candlestick Park, Bill Basquin working the dirt on a plot of his community garden, and Craig Baldwin emerging from the basement of Artists’ Television Access. With this latest project, Snider once again takes a potentially commercial medium and creates an intimate homemade record of peoples’ personal lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>View-Master Documentaries\u003c/b> by Greta Snider opens as part of \u003cb>Copyist Conspiracy\u003c/b> Saturday November 19, 6-9pm at Needles & Pens: a zine, DIY goods, and art space located in the Mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.needles-pens.com\" target=\"offsite\" rel=\"noopener\">Needles and Pens\u003c/a> (at needles-pens.com).\u003c/p>\n\n",
"stats": {
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"hasAudio": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"wordCount": 585,
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"paragraphCount": 8
},
"modified": 1705053938,
"excerpt": "Before I ever had an inkling that I was going to be a filmmaker or heard of Greta Snider, I saw a bootleg copy of \u003cb>Hard Core Home Movie\u003c/b>. To be honest, I had no experience with experimental filmmaking and didn't have the vocabulary to discuss the impact of the film, except that it blew my mind. It was made with a punk aesthetic that was personal and fun, and captured the raw energy and visceral experience of going to a punk rock show. I hadn't in my short and inexperienced life seen anything like it. Since that initial encounter with \u003cb>Hard Core Home Movie\u003c/b>, I have had the pleasure of seeing most of Snider's films at independent screenings, festivals and on DVD. The films have a hand-made aesthetic and are often personal documentaries offering a window into the lives of the visionaries and weirdos that populate subcultures on the margins of our homogenous consumer society.",
"headData": {
"twImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twDescription": "",
"description": "Before I ever had an inkling that I was going to be a filmmaker or heard of Greta Snider, I saw a bootleg copy of Hard Core Home Movie. To be honest, I had no experience with experimental filmmaking and didn't have the vocabulary to discuss the impact of the film, except that it blew my mind. It was made with a punk aesthetic that was personal and fun, and captured the raw energy and visceral experience of going to a punk rock show. I hadn't in my short and inexperienced life seen anything like it. Since that initial encounter with Hard Core Home Movie, I have had the pleasure of seeing most of Snider's films at independent screenings, festivals and on DVD. The films have a hand-made aesthetic and are often personal documentaries offering a window into the lives of the visionaries and weirdos that populate subcultures on the margins of our homogenous consumer society.",
"title": "Greta Snider's View-Master Documentaries | KQED",
"ogDescription": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Greta Snider's View-Master Documentaries",
"datePublished": "2005-11-14T01:37:00-08:00",
"dateModified": "2024-01-12T02:05:38-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "greta_sniders_viewmaster_documentaries",
"status": "publish",
"sticky": false,
"path": "/arts/1163/greta_sniders_viewmaster_documentaries",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Before I ever had an inkling that I was going to be a filmmaker or heard of Greta Snider, I saw a bootleg copy of \u003cb>Hard Core Home Movie\u003c/b>. To be honest, I had no experience with experimental filmmaking and didn’t have the vocabulary to discuss the impact of the film, except that it blew my mind. It was made with a punk aesthetic that was personal and fun, and captured the raw energy and visceral experience of going to a punk rock show. I hadn’t in my short and inexperienced life seen anything like it. Since that initial encounter with \u003cb>Hard Core Home Movie\u003c/b>, I have had the pleasure of seeing most of Snider’s films at independent screenings, festivals and on DVD. The films have a hand-made aesthetic and are often personal documentaries offering a window into the lives of the visionaries and weirdos that populate subcultures on the margins of our homogenous consumer society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite a stellar fall schedule of art openings and screenings, I was feeling extremely anti-social and unwilling to venture out into the world. What did the trick, what got me going was a phone call from my friend Johunna Grayson, who has been assisting Greta Snider on her most recent artistic endeavor. The ladies have been hard at work shooting, hand processing and assembling a series of personal portraits to be viewed in 3-D with custom built View-Masters. For any of you past the age of thirty, the sight of these nostalgia-laden plastic toys might just bring a tear to your eye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The View-Master resembles a pair of plastic binoculars loaded with a circular reel of slides that spin around incrementally to reveal a new 3-D image each time the user pushes on a plastic spindle. The invention dates back to 1939 when William Gruber combined the 3-D technology of Stereoscopic photographs with newly developed Kodachrome film to create the gadget. Vintage “scenic reels,” often coveted by collectors, depict exotic travel locales and were sold in stationary stores like postcards. By the 1950s View-Master began to use popular television shows and movies as subjects, especially Disney characters aimed at a younger audience. Today, the View-Master is used to mass market Hollywood films and the latest popular cartoon characters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By turning the reels into an interactive art experience, Snider is transforming a mass-produced commercial product into a hand made object and capturing the personal histories of regular people, not often reflected or celebrated in popular culture. For the upcoming show, Greta approached a group of friends and asked them to choose a place in San Francisco where they would like to have their portraits taken. Not only are the reels portraits of individuals, but they also reveal the hidden treasures and underground spaces scattered throughout San Francisco. Look for Ivy McClellan’s tour of a clandestine cement garden near Candlestick Park, Bill Basquin working the dirt on a plot of his community garden, and Craig Baldwin emerging from the basement of Artists’ Television Access. With this latest project, Snider once again takes a potentially commercial medium and creates an intimate homemade record of peoples’ personal lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>View-Master Documentaries\u003c/b> by Greta Snider opens as part of \u003cb>Copyist Conspiracy\u003c/b> Saturday November 19, 6-9pm at Needles & Pens: a zine, DIY goods, and art space located in the Mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.needles-pens.com\" target=\"offsite\" rel=\"noopener\">Needles and Pens\u003c/a> (at needles-pens.com).\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/arts/1163/greta_sniders_viewmaster_documentaries",
"authors": [
"109"
],
"categories": [
"arts_74"
],
"label": "arts"
},
"arts_1167": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "arts_1167",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "1167",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1130755080000
]
},
"parent": 0,
"labelTerm": {
"site": "arts"
},
"blocks": [],
"publishDate": 1130755080,
"format": "standard",
"title": "Film Arts Festival of Independent Cinema",
"headTitle": "Film Arts Festival of Independent Cinema | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In a world where underground music, culture and art is co-opted as quickly as it’s created, what does it mean to be truly independent? The word, especially in relationship to film has taken quite a beating. The American “indie” has become a genre, rather than a clear depiction of how a film is produced. Glossy 15 million dollar pictures with an all-star Hollywood cast, wear the indie label to conceal their true identity. American independent films, for the most part, are merely films produced by smaller production companies that are in turn owned by media conglomerates. Distribution still resides in the hands of a few powerful companies with well-oiled publicity machines that have the means necessary to distribute films to a mass audience. If one looks at the definition of the word independent, then to be a truly independent filmmaker is virtually impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty-one years ago, before every city, state and region had a local film festival and the word independent became cliché, Film Arts Foundation launched its first Festival of Independent Cinema. The goal was simple: to provide a venue for filmmakers creating truly independent work, political in nature and challenging in form. It celebrated artists working on the margins of mainstream culture and gave them a place to connect with a local audience. Through the years the organization has nurtured the work of artists that have gone on to experience more mainstream success — being nominated for (and winning) Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Peabody Awards and directing big budget features. Although the landscape of film culture has shifted radically over the last two decades, there is still a need to provide a venue for locally produced work and to nurture artists who are beginning to develop their talent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Screening at this year’s festival, \u003cb>Blood, Sweat and Glitter\u003c/b>, by Sasha Aickin follows five talented contestants as they primp, prance and pull out all the stops to compete for the Miss TrannyShack Pageant. Every Tuesday night for over a decade the Stud Bar has played host to the radical, gender bending drag show, TrannyShack. Beyond old-school female impersonation, this style of drag verges on performance art. A gaggle of drag artists weaned on rock & roll, punk music, high fashion, and a plethora of pop icons, put together an often disturbing, hilarious and evocative show complete with dance numbers, brilliant costumes and lip synching. TrannyShack has evolved into a true San Francisco institution. Once a year, Heklina, the hostess of Trannyshack stages a pageant to crown the reigning drag queen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The film introduces the performers as they devise their ideas for the big night, including stage shows, choreographed dance numbers, fabulous sets and even more fabulous costumes. We come to know the personality of each contestant through their approach to planning and their relationship to the art of performance. Structured like a traditional backstage musical, the film allows us a glimpse into the process of putting on a show, with all the obstacles each contestant must overcome as the pageant draws near.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And like any good backstage musical, you’ll find yourself rooting for your favorite contestants: you’ll hold your breath, cross your fingers and hope that their eccentric vision becomes a reality. No matter how different their approach, all the performers are united by the energy and dedication they bring to the effort. It’s more than simply being crowned Miss TrannyShack and getting to wear a glittery tiara, it is about the desire to create and perform simply for the love of it. As the movie progresses,it becomes clear that the independent spirit lacking in the film world is being kept alive by the performers on that tiny stage at the Stud every Tuesday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although it may seem like an unlikely comparison, TrannyShack and the Film Arts Festival have much in common. Both cultivate artists beginning to develop their talent and provide a venue for locally produced, cutting edge and independently made work. It is completely befitting that, to celebrate 21 years of independent cinema, the festival is once again focusing on homegrown talent and showcasing films that won’t be screening at the local multi-plex anytime soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 21st Film Arts Festival of Independent Cinema runs November 3-9 at the Kanbar Hall and the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco, at the Parkway in Oakland, and at the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the way, my short film, \u003cb>Lost & Found\u003c/b>, which \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/weblog/arts/2005/08/sundance-deadline-do-or-die.html\">I wrote about in this blog\u003c/a> last August, is screening Sunday, November 6, at 12 noon at the Roxie Cinema.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Learn more about the \u003ca href=\"http://www.filmarts.org/home.php\">Film Arts Festival of Independent Cinema\u003c/a> (at filmarts.org) and visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.heklina.com/\">TrannyShack\u003c/a> (at heklina.com).\u003c/p>\n\n",
"stats": {
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"hasAudio": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"wordCount": 798,
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"paragraphCount": 11
},
"modified": 1705053943,
"excerpt": "In a world where underground music, culture and art is co-opted as quickly as it's created, what does it mean to be truly independent? The word, especially in relationship to film has taken quite a beating. The American \"indie\" has become a genre, rather than a clear depiction of how a film is produced. Glossy 15 million dollar pictures with an all-star Hollywood cast, wear the indie label to conceal their true identity. American independent films, for the most part, are merely films produced by smaller production companies that are in turn owned by media conglomerates. Distribution still resides in the hands of a few powerful companies with well-oiled publicity machines that have the means necessary to distribute films to a mass audience. If one looks at the definition of the word independent, then to be a truly independent filmmaker is virtually impossible.",
"headData": {
"twImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twDescription": "",
"description": "In a world where underground music, culture and art is co-opted as quickly as it's created, what does it mean to be truly independent? The word, especially in relationship to film has taken quite a beating. The American "indie" has become a genre, rather than a clear depiction of how a film is produced. Glossy 15 million dollar pictures with an all-star Hollywood cast, wear the indie label to conceal their true identity. American independent films, for the most part, are merely films produced by smaller production companies that are in turn owned by media conglomerates. Distribution still resides in the hands of a few powerful companies with well-oiled publicity machines that have the means necessary to distribute films to a mass audience. If one looks at the definition of the word independent, then to be a truly independent filmmaker is virtually impossible.",
"title": "Film Arts Festival of Independent Cinema | KQED",
"ogDescription": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Film Arts Festival of Independent Cinema",
"datePublished": "2005-10-31T02:38:00-08:00",
"dateModified": "2024-01-12T02:05:43-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "film_arts_festival_of_independent_cinema",
"status": "publish",
"sticky": false,
"path": "/arts/1167/film_arts_festival_of_independent_cinema",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In a world where underground music, culture and art is co-opted as quickly as it’s created, what does it mean to be truly independent? The word, especially in relationship to film has taken quite a beating. The American “indie” has become a genre, rather than a clear depiction of how a film is produced. Glossy 15 million dollar pictures with an all-star Hollywood cast, wear the indie label to conceal their true identity. American independent films, for the most part, are merely films produced by smaller production companies that are in turn owned by media conglomerates. Distribution still resides in the hands of a few powerful companies with well-oiled publicity machines that have the means necessary to distribute films to a mass audience. If one looks at the definition of the word independent, then to be a truly independent filmmaker is virtually impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty-one years ago, before every city, state and region had a local film festival and the word independent became cliché, Film Arts Foundation launched its first Festival of Independent Cinema. The goal was simple: to provide a venue for filmmakers creating truly independent work, political in nature and challenging in form. It celebrated artists working on the margins of mainstream culture and gave them a place to connect with a local audience. Through the years the organization has nurtured the work of artists that have gone on to experience more mainstream success — being nominated for (and winning) Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Peabody Awards and directing big budget features. Although the landscape of film culture has shifted radically over the last two decades, there is still a need to provide a venue for locally produced work and to nurture artists who are beginning to develop their talent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Screening at this year’s festival, \u003cb>Blood, Sweat and Glitter\u003c/b>, by Sasha Aickin follows five talented contestants as they primp, prance and pull out all the stops to compete for the Miss TrannyShack Pageant. Every Tuesday night for over a decade the Stud Bar has played host to the radical, gender bending drag show, TrannyShack. Beyond old-school female impersonation, this style of drag verges on performance art. A gaggle of drag artists weaned on rock & roll, punk music, high fashion, and a plethora of pop icons, put together an often disturbing, hilarious and evocative show complete with dance numbers, brilliant costumes and lip synching. TrannyShack has evolved into a true San Francisco institution. Once a year, Heklina, the hostess of Trannyshack stages a pageant to crown the reigning drag queen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The film introduces the performers as they devise their ideas for the big night, including stage shows, choreographed dance numbers, fabulous sets and even more fabulous costumes. We come to know the personality of each contestant through their approach to planning and their relationship to the art of performance. Structured like a traditional backstage musical, the film allows us a glimpse into the process of putting on a show, with all the obstacles each contestant must overcome as the pageant draws near.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And like any good backstage musical, you’ll find yourself rooting for your favorite contestants: you’ll hold your breath, cross your fingers and hope that their eccentric vision becomes a reality. No matter how different their approach, all the performers are united by the energy and dedication they bring to the effort. It’s more than simply being crowned Miss TrannyShack and getting to wear a glittery tiara, it is about the desire to create and perform simply for the love of it. As the movie progresses,it becomes clear that the independent spirit lacking in the film world is being kept alive by the performers on that tiny stage at the Stud every Tuesday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although it may seem like an unlikely comparison, TrannyShack and the Film Arts Festival have much in common. Both cultivate artists beginning to develop their talent and provide a venue for locally produced, cutting edge and independently made work. It is completely befitting that, to celebrate 21 years of independent cinema, the festival is once again focusing on homegrown talent and showcasing films that won’t be screening at the local multi-plex anytime soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 21st Film Arts Festival of Independent Cinema runs November 3-9 at the Kanbar Hall and the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco, at the Parkway in Oakland, and at the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the way, my short film, \u003cb>Lost & Found\u003c/b>, which \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/weblog/arts/2005/08/sundance-deadline-do-or-die.html\">I wrote about in this blog\u003c/a> last August, is screening Sunday, November 6, at 12 noon at the Roxie Cinema.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Learn more about the \u003ca href=\"http://www.filmarts.org/home.php\">Film Arts Festival of Independent Cinema\u003c/a> (at filmarts.org) and visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.heklina.com/\">TrannyShack\u003c/a> (at heklina.com).\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/arts/1167/film_arts_festival_of_independent_cinema",
"authors": [
"109"
],
"categories": [
"arts_74"
],
"label": "arts"
},
"arts_1170": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "arts_1170",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "1170",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1129622400000
]
},
"parent": 0,
"labelTerm": {
"site": "arts"
},
"blocks": [],
"publishDate": 1129622400,
"format": "standard",
"title": "Grizzly Man",
"headTitle": "Grizzly Man | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>OK, not really, but it sure felt that way. I was in a funk. The slurpy voices of self-doubt (“you have nothing original to say, nothing authentic to contribute!”) were sucking me down into the quicksand of creative paralysis. My friends were throwing out lifelines like “disorientation is an inevitable part of your process.” Ugh. So I went to the movies. It seemed fitting to choose a film about a man who was devoured by bears since that described the exact sensation in my head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[emailsignup newslettername='food']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Grizzly Man\u003c/b> is Werner Herzog’s documentary about Timothy Treadwell, a well-meaning but deluded “protector” of wild grizzly bears. A failed actor with a history of alcohol abuse, Treadwell sought salvation in Alaska where he lived among the grizzlies, alone and unarmed, for 13 summers. He observed and interacted with them peacefully until October 2003, when a hungry bear ate him. The bear also killed his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, who picked that unfortunate summer to accompany him. Treadwell documented his many bear encounters with a hand-held video camera, and captured, most astonishingly, his own brutal death. Though he had no time to get the lens cap off, he did manage to push “record” before his arm was ripped off in the fatal attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Werner Herzog gained access to that grisly tape and the 100 hours of film footage Treadwell left behind. In the hands of a lesser filmmaker, the result could have been simply a sensational story about a wide-eyed, troubled man done in by nature. Instead, Herzog uses documentary film portraiture to examine an infuriatingly brave and romantic man in naive pursuit of a utopian coexistence with a dangerous predator — and to examine fundamental tensions in human nature. Especially in our essential quest to find/create meaning out of our lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out Timothy Treadwell was a decent videographer. Herzog incorporates much of his handiwork, and a few nuggets are so gorgeous and uniquely intimate, you gain a sense of what kept him out in the wilderness for months on end. He also talks non-stop to the camera, sometimes ecstatically (about the bears), sometimes vulnerably (about himself), and oftentimes angrily (humans, God, the National Park Service). He has an innocent’s rhapsodic view of nature, all romance and benevolence, and lives out his Waldensesque principles with glee — he undergoes great hardships without complaint, and is genuinely loving with the bears. But where he sees cosmic harmony, Herzog does not. The filmmaker muses in voiceover “I believe the common character of the universe is hostility, chaos and murder.” Herzog’s outlook is as bleak as Treadwell’s is idealistic, and the tension between these two worldviews is fascinating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herzog treats his subject with skepticism, but he is also sincerely respectful. His examination of what drove this man becomes deeper and \u003cem>kinder\u003c/em> as we get closer to the moment of death. And here is what makes Herzog such a master craftsman: We don’t see the attack. We don’t even hear it. What we see instead is the director listening to Treadwell’s death-tape on headphones. And as Herzog, the skeptic, becomes visibly shaken and pleads that the tape be destroyed, we can only imagine the gruesome things he alone has heard. What follows after this extraordinary moment is an uncommented-upon scene from Treadwell’s old footage, a bear fight in progress, some sort of mating ritual, and as the bears rip into each other with their claws and teeth, we see, we feel, we \u003cem>understand\u003c/em> what happened to Treadwell. It is just two long shots coupled together, but it is a brilliant construction. I wept openly, feeling as though I had witnessed his death firsthand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is no nature film, my friends, it’s a film about human nature. And its questions haunt long after the credits roll.\u003c/p>\n\n",
"stats": {
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"hasAudio": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"wordCount": 668,
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"paragraphCount": 9
},
"modified": 1705053946,
"excerpt": "OK, not really, but it sure felt that way. I was in a funk. The slurpy voices of self-doubt (\"you have nothing original to say, nothing authentic to contribute!\") were sucking me down into the quicksand of creative paralysis. My friends were throwing out lifelines like \"disorientation is an inevitable part of your process.\" Ugh. So I went to the movies. It seemed fitting to choose a film about a man who was devoured by bears since that described the exact sensation in my head.",
"headData": {
"twImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twDescription": "",
"description": "OK, not really, but it sure felt that way. I was in a funk. The slurpy voices of self-doubt ("you have nothing original to say, nothing authentic to contribute!") were sucking me down into the quicksand of creative paralysis. My friends were throwing out lifelines like "disorientation is an inevitable part of your process." Ugh. So I went to the movies. It seemed fitting to choose a film about a man who was devoured by bears since that described the exact sensation in my head.",
"title": "Grizzly Man | KQED",
"ogDescription": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Grizzly Man",
"datePublished": "2005-10-18T01:00:00-07:00",
"dateModified": "2024-01-12T02:05:46-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "grizzly_man",
"status": "publish",
"sourceUrl": "http://www.kqed.org/arts/category/movies/movies-review/",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"sticky": false,
"path": "/arts/1170/grizzly_man",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>OK, not really, but it sure felt that way. I was in a funk. The slurpy voices of self-doubt (“you have nothing original to say, nothing authentic to contribute!”) were sucking me down into the quicksand of creative paralysis. My friends were throwing out lifelines like “disorientation is an inevitable part of your process.” Ugh. So I went to the movies. It seemed fitting to choose a film about a man who was devoured by bears since that described the exact sensation in my head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "emailsignup",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"newslettername": "food",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Grizzly Man\u003c/b> is Werner Herzog’s documentary about Timothy Treadwell, a well-meaning but deluded “protector” of wild grizzly bears. A failed actor with a history of alcohol abuse, Treadwell sought salvation in Alaska where he lived among the grizzlies, alone and unarmed, for 13 summers. He observed and interacted with them peacefully until October 2003, when a hungry bear ate him. The bear also killed his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, who picked that unfortunate summer to accompany him. Treadwell documented his many bear encounters with a hand-held video camera, and captured, most astonishingly, his own brutal death. Though he had no time to get the lens cap off, he did manage to push “record” before his arm was ripped off in the fatal attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Werner Herzog gained access to that grisly tape and the 100 hours of film footage Treadwell left behind. In the hands of a lesser filmmaker, the result could have been simply a sensational story about a wide-eyed, troubled man done in by nature. Instead, Herzog uses documentary film portraiture to examine an infuriatingly brave and romantic man in naive pursuit of a utopian coexistence with a dangerous predator — and to examine fundamental tensions in human nature. Especially in our essential quest to find/create meaning out of our lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out Timothy Treadwell was a decent videographer. Herzog incorporates much of his handiwork, and a few nuggets are so gorgeous and uniquely intimate, you gain a sense of what kept him out in the wilderness for months on end. He also talks non-stop to the camera, sometimes ecstatically (about the bears), sometimes vulnerably (about himself), and oftentimes angrily (humans, God, the National Park Service). He has an innocent’s rhapsodic view of nature, all romance and benevolence, and lives out his Waldensesque principles with glee — he undergoes great hardships without complaint, and is genuinely loving with the bears. But where he sees cosmic harmony, Herzog does not. The filmmaker muses in voiceover “I believe the common character of the universe is hostility, chaos and murder.” Herzog’s outlook is as bleak as Treadwell’s is idealistic, and the tension between these two worldviews is fascinating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herzog treats his subject with skepticism, but he is also sincerely respectful. His examination of what drove this man becomes deeper and \u003cem>kinder\u003c/em> as we get closer to the moment of death. And here is what makes Herzog such a master craftsman: We don’t see the attack. We don’t even hear it. What we see instead is the director listening to Treadwell’s death-tape on headphones. And as Herzog, the skeptic, becomes visibly shaken and pleads that the tape be destroyed, we can only imagine the gruesome things he alone has heard. What follows after this extraordinary moment is an uncommented-upon scene from Treadwell’s old footage, a bear fight in progress, some sort of mating ritual, and as the bears rip into each other with their claws and teeth, we see, we feel, we \u003cem>understand\u003c/em> what happened to Treadwell. It is just two long shots coupled together, but it is a brilliant construction. I wept openly, feeling as though I had witnessed his death firsthand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is no nature film, my friends, it’s a film about human nature. And its questions haunt long after the credits roll.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/arts/1170/grizzly_man",
"authors": [
"109"
],
"categories": [
"arts_74"
],
"label": "arts"
},
"arts_1171": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "arts_1171",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "1171",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1129536000000
]
},
"parent": 0,
"labelTerm": {
"site": "arts"
},
"blocks": [],
"publishDate": 1129536000,
"format": "standard",
"title": "Quality of Life",
"headTitle": "Quality of Life | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Growing up in the mid-west, where the summers are unbearably hot and humid, I spent many days at the library surrounded by the musty smell of old books and cool air. With its grand winding staircase, dark wood paneling, and antique tabletop lamps, the library felt like a relic from the past. In contrast to the old world environment, I discovered writers who were daring and modern and spoke to me as a young person. This is the place where I first read \u003cb>The Outsiders\u003c/b>, unable to put the book down until I finished two days later. In the span of a couple of weeks I read all of S.E. Hinton’s writing and then re-read the books again. The characters and stories struck a chord. As I watched \u003cb>Quality of Life\u003c/b> for the first time, I was immediately reminded of S.E. Hinton’s adolescent novel \u003cb>That Was Then, This is Now\u003c/b>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s difficult not to make the comparison. At the heart of each story are two childhood friends, from economically disadvantaged families, struggling with their transition from adolescence into adulthood. Frustrated by economic hardships and limited prospects, the young men choose wildly divergent paths in life that threaten to tear their friendship apart. In \u003cb>Quality of Life\u003c/b> the two young men, Michael Heir Rosario (Lane Garrison) and Curtis Vain Smith (Brian Burnam) spend their nights playing cat and mouse with the police as they paint the urban San Francisco landscape with their artwork.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Graffiti is a lifestyle, a means of expression and a passion they share. Unable to afford the lofty tuition at rarified art schools, the graffiti they paint across the city canvas is their mode of communication with the world around them. Like all modern art at its inception, graffiti is controversial, but also illegal. After a late night chase through the back alleys and truck yards of San Francisco, the two men are arrested. Facing the prospect of jail time, each man has to look inward and make life-altering decisions about the kind of future they want to create for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What \u003cb>Quality of Life\u003c/b> does exceedingly well is capture the frustration of young men who have talent and no outlet for that energy. Instead of recognizing their talent and providing them with opportunities to further develop their abilities, the system criminalizes their behavior and makes it virtually impossible to stop the downward spiral. The strongest aspect of the film is the evolution of the two characters and the sad, but inevitable gulf that develops in their friendship, as they take radically different approaches to the circumstances they are dealt. Naturalistic performances from the lead actors and a strong supporting cast carry the film. While the cinematography captures the beauty and texture of the urban landscape the young men inhabit and the energy of making spontaneous public art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The downside of the film is an uneven pacing and a tendency toward over-wrought dialogue, which weighs down the film in several sections. What could have been a powerful, quiet exchange between father and son turns into a heavy dialogue scene that explains Michael’s frustration. But we already get it. The film has done a fine job expressing his inner turmoil without the character having to tell us all over again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite these flaws, \u003cb>Quality of Life\u003c/b> has its heart in the right place and is a lovely debut feature from director Benjamin Morgan. Even on a shoestring budget, he has produced something more real and authentic than a Hollywood movie with a hundred times the budget. Ultimately the film, like S.E. Hinton’s novel, with its portrayal of a friendship, growing up and apart, strikes a resonant chord.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Visit the \u003ca href=\"http://www.qualityoflife-themovie.com/\">Quality of Life web site\u003c/a> (at qualityoflife-themovie.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and show times\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382255/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
"stats": {
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"hasAudio": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"wordCount": 651,
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"paragraphCount": 10
},
"modified": 1705053947,
"excerpt": "Growing up in the mid-west, where the summers are unbearably hot and humid, I spent many days at the library surrounded by the musty smell of old books and cool air. With its grand winding staircase, dark wood paneling, and antique tabletop lamps, the library felt like a relic from the past. In contrast to the old world environment, I discovered writers who were daring and modern and spoke to me as a young person. This is the place where I first read \u003cb>The Outsiders\u003c/b>, unable to put the book down until I finished two days later. In the span of a couple of weeks I read all of S.E. Hinton's writing and then re-read the books again. The characters and stories struck a chord. As I watched \u003cb>Quality of Life\u003c/b> for the first time, I was immediately reminded of S.E. Hinton's adolescent novel \u003cb>That Was Then, This is Now\u003c/b>.",
"headData": {
"twImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twDescription": "",
"description": "Growing up in the mid-west, where the summers are unbearably hot and humid, I spent many days at the library surrounded by the musty smell of old books and cool air. With its grand winding staircase, dark wood paneling, and antique tabletop lamps, the library felt like a relic from the past. In contrast to the old world environment, I discovered writers who were daring and modern and spoke to me as a young person. This is the place where I first read The Outsiders, unable to put the book down until I finished two days later. In the span of a couple of weeks I read all of S.E. Hinton's writing and then re-read the books again. The characters and stories struck a chord. As I watched Quality of Life for the first time, I was immediately reminded of S.E. Hinton's adolescent novel That Was Then, This is Now.",
"title": "Quality of Life | KQED",
"ogDescription": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Quality of Life",
"datePublished": "2005-10-17T01:00:00-07:00",
"dateModified": "2024-01-12T02:05:47-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "quality_of_life",
"status": "publish",
"sourceUrl": "http://www.kqed.org/arts/category/movies/movies-review/",
"sticky": false,
"path": "/arts/1171/quality_of_life",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Growing up in the mid-west, where the summers are unbearably hot and humid, I spent many days at the library surrounded by the musty smell of old books and cool air. With its grand winding staircase, dark wood paneling, and antique tabletop lamps, the library felt like a relic from the past. In contrast to the old world environment, I discovered writers who were daring and modern and spoke to me as a young person. This is the place where I first read \u003cb>The Outsiders\u003c/b>, unable to put the book down until I finished two days later. In the span of a couple of weeks I read all of S.E. Hinton’s writing and then re-read the books again. The characters and stories struck a chord. As I watched \u003cb>Quality of Life\u003c/b> for the first time, I was immediately reminded of S.E. Hinton’s adolescent novel \u003cb>That Was Then, This is Now\u003c/b>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s difficult not to make the comparison. At the heart of each story are two childhood friends, from economically disadvantaged families, struggling with their transition from adolescence into adulthood. Frustrated by economic hardships and limited prospects, the young men choose wildly divergent paths in life that threaten to tear their friendship apart. In \u003cb>Quality of Life\u003c/b> the two young men, Michael Heir Rosario (Lane Garrison) and Curtis Vain Smith (Brian Burnam) spend their nights playing cat and mouse with the police as they paint the urban San Francisco landscape with their artwork.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Graffiti is a lifestyle, a means of expression and a passion they share. Unable to afford the lofty tuition at rarified art schools, the graffiti they paint across the city canvas is their mode of communication with the world around them. Like all modern art at its inception, graffiti is controversial, but also illegal. After a late night chase through the back alleys and truck yards of San Francisco, the two men are arrested. Facing the prospect of jail time, each man has to look inward and make life-altering decisions about the kind of future they want to create for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What \u003cb>Quality of Life\u003c/b> does exceedingly well is capture the frustration of young men who have talent and no outlet for that energy. Instead of recognizing their talent and providing them with opportunities to further develop their abilities, the system criminalizes their behavior and makes it virtually impossible to stop the downward spiral. The strongest aspect of the film is the evolution of the two characters and the sad, but inevitable gulf that develops in their friendship, as they take radically different approaches to the circumstances they are dealt. Naturalistic performances from the lead actors and a strong supporting cast carry the film. While the cinematography captures the beauty and texture of the urban landscape the young men inhabit and the energy of making spontaneous public art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The downside of the film is an uneven pacing and a tendency toward over-wrought dialogue, which weighs down the film in several sections. What could have been a powerful, quiet exchange between father and son turns into a heavy dialogue scene that explains Michael’s frustration. But we already get it. The film has done a fine job expressing his inner turmoil without the character having to tell us all over again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite these flaws, \u003cb>Quality of Life\u003c/b> has its heart in the right place and is a lovely debut feature from director Benjamin Morgan. Even on a shoestring budget, he has produced something more real and authentic than a Hollywood movie with a hundred times the budget. Ultimately the film, like S.E. Hinton’s novel, with its portrayal of a friendship, growing up and apart, strikes a resonant chord.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Visit the \u003ca href=\"http://www.qualityoflife-themovie.com/\">Quality of Life web site\u003c/a> (at qualityoflife-themovie.com).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/movies/playing/\">Get theaters and show times\u003c/a> (at sfgate.com).\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382255/\">IMDB entry for this movie\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/arts/1171/quality_of_life",
"authors": [
"109"
],
"categories": [
"arts_74"
],
"label": "arts"
}
},
"podcastsReducer": {
"isFetching": false,
"fetchFailed": false,
"hasFetched": false,
"podcasts": {}
},
"radioProgramsReducer": {
"isFetching": false,
"fetchFailed": false,
"hasFetched": false,
"radioPrograms": {}
},
"radioSearchSegmentsReducer": {},
"programsReducer": {
"all-things-considered": {
"id": "all-things-considered",
"title": "All Things Considered",
"info": "Every weekday, \u003cem>All Things Considered\u003c/em> hosts Robert Siegel, Audie Cornish, Ari Shapiro, and Kelly McEvers present the program's trademark mix of news, interviews, commentaries, reviews, and offbeat features. Michel Martin hosts on the weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 1pm-2pm, 4:30pm-6:30pm\u003cbr />SAT-SUN 5pm-6pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/All-Things-Considered-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/all-things-considered/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/all-things-considered"
},
"american-suburb-podcast": {
"id": "american-suburb-podcast",
"title": "American Suburb: The Podcast",
"tagline": "The flip side of gentrification, told through one town",
"info": "Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/American-Suburb-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/american-suburb-podcast",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 19
},
"link": "/news/series/american-suburb-podcast/",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/RBrW",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?mt=2&id=1287748328",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/American-Suburb-p1086805/",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/american-suburb-podcast/feed/podcast",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkMzMDExODgxNjA5"
}
},
"baycurious": {
"id": "baycurious",
"title": "Bay Curious",
"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Bay Curious",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/baycurious",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 3
},
"link": "/podcasts/baycurious",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/category/bay-curious-podcast/feed/podcast",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9a90d476-aa04-455d-9a4c-0871ed6216d4/bay-curious",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/bay-curious",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/6O76IdmhixfijmhTZLIJ8k"
}
},
"bbc-world-service": {
"id": "bbc-world-service",
"title": "BBC World Service",
"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_world_service",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/global-news-podcast/id135067274?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/BBC-World-Service-p455581/",
"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The California Report",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kqeds-the-california-report/id79681292",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/26099305-72af-4542-9dde-ac1807fe36d5/kqed-s-the-california-report",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432285393/the-california-report",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqedfm-kqeds-the-california-report-podcast-8838",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/tcram/feed/podcast"
}
},
"californiareportmagazine": {
"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Magazine-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The California Report Magazine",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 10
},
"link": "/californiareportmagazine",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/564733126/the-california-report-magazine",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/the-california-report-magazine",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/tcrmag/feed/podcast"
}
},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
"title": "Close All Tabs",
"tagline": "Your irreverent guide to the trends redefining our world",
"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CAT_2_Tile-scaled.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Close All Tabs",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 1
},
"link": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/close-all-tabs/id214663465",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC6993880386",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/92d9d4ac-67a3-4eed-b10a-fb45d45b1ef2/close-all-tabs",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/6LAJFHnGK1pYXYzv6SIol6?si=deb0cae19813417c"
}
},
"code-switch-life-kit": {
"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
"airtime": "SUN 9pm-10pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Code-Switch-Life-Kit-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/code-switch-life-kit",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/1112190608?mt=2&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/3bExJ9JQpkwNhoHvaIIuyV",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510312/podcast.xml"
}
},
"commonwealth-club": {
"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.commonwealthclub.org/podcasts",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Commonwealth-Club-of-California-p1060/"
}
},
"forum": {
"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/forum",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kqeds-forum/id73329719",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432307980/forum",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqedfm-kqeds-forum-podcast",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC9557381633"
}
},
"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 7pm-8pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Fresh-Air-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Fresh-Air-p17/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
}
},
"here-and-now": {
"id": "here-and-now",
"title": "Here & Now",
"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
"airtime": "MON-THU 11am-12pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Here-And-Now-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/here-and-now",
"subsdcribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?mt=2&id=426698661",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Here--Now-p211/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
}
},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/hiddenbrain.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hidden-brain/id1028908750?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Science-Podcasts/Hidden-Brain-p787503/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
}
},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Arts--Culture-Podcasts/How-I-Built-This-p910896/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
}
},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hyphenaci%C3%B3n/id1191591838",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
"youtube": "https://www.youtube.com/c/kqedarts",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6c3dd23c-93fb-4aab-97ba-1725fa6315f1/hyphenaci%C3%B3n",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
}
},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/790253322/the-political-mind-of-jerry-brown",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/jerrybrown/feed/podcast/",
"tuneIn": "http://tun.in/pjGcK",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/the-political-mind-of-jerry-brown",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/54C1dmuyFyKMFttY6X2j6r?si=K8SgRCoISNK6ZbjpXrX5-w",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/44420f75-3b0e-4301-ab3b-16da6b09e543/the-political-mind-of-jerry-brown"
}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/xtTd",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Latino-USA-p621/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=201853034&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/APM-Marketplace-p88/",
"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"
}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/onourwatch",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0OLWoyizopu6tY1XiuX70x",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-Our-Watch-p1436229/",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
}
},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-breakdown/id1327641087",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0c2d153-ad36-4c8d-901d-f1da6a724824/political-breakdown",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/572155894/political-breakdown",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/political-breakdown",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/07RVyIjIdk2WDuVehvBMoN",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/political-breakdown/feed/podcast"
}
},
"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/possible/id1677184070",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
}
},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pri.org/programs/the-world",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "PRI"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pri-the-world",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pris-the-world-latest-edition/id278196007?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/PRIs-The-World-p24/",
"rss": "http://feeds.feedburner.com/pri/theworld"
}
},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
"airtime": "SUN 12am-1am, SAT 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/radiolab1400.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/radiolab/",
"meta": {
"site": "science",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/radiolab",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/radiolab/id152249110?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/RadioLab-p68032/",
"rss": "https://feeds.wnyc.org/radiolab"
}
},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/reveal/id886009669",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Reveal-p679597/",
"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
}
},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rightnowish-Podcast-Tile-500x500-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Rightnowish with Pendarvis Harshaw",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/rightnowish",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 16
},
"link": "/podcasts/rightnowish",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/721590300/rightnowish",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/programs/rightnowish/feed/podcast",
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rightnowish/id1482187648",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/rightnowish",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkMxMjU5MTY3NDc4",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/7kEJuafTzTVan7B78ttz1I"
}
},
"science-friday": {
"id": "science-friday",
"title": "Science Friday",
"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
"airtime": "FRI 11am-1pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Science-Friday-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/science-friday",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/science-friday",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=73329284&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Science-Friday-p394/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/science-friday"
}
},
"snap-judgment": {
"id": "snap-judgment",
"title": "Snap Judgment",
"tagline": "Real stories with killer beats",
"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
"airtime": "SAT 1pm-2pm, 9pm-10pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Snap-Judgment-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Snap Judgment",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://snapjudgment.org",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 4
},
"link": "https://snapjudgment.org",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/snap-judgment/id283657561",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/449018144/snap-judgment",
"stitcher": "https://www.pandora.com/podcast/snap-judgment/PC:241?source=stitcher-sunset",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/3Cct7ZWmxHNAtLgBTqjC5v",
"rss": "https://snap.feed.snapjudgment.org/"
}
},
"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Sold-Out-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/soldout",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 13
},
"link": "/podcasts/soldout",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/911586047/s-o-l-d-o-u-t-a-new-future-for-housing",
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/introducing-sold-out-rethinking-housing-in-america/id1531354937",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/soldout",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/38dTBSk2ISFoPiyYNoKn1X",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/sold-out-rethinking-housing-in-america",
"tunein": "https://tunein.com/radio/SOLD-OUT-Rethinking-Housing-in-America-p1365871/"
}
},
"spooked": {
"id": "spooked",
"title": "Spooked",
"tagline": "True-life supernatural stories",
"info": "",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Spooked-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Spooked",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://spookedpodcast.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 7
},
"link": "https://spookedpodcast.org/",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spooked/id1279361017",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/549547848/snap-judgment-presents-spooked",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/76571Rfl3m7PLJQZKQIGCT",
"rss": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/TBotaapn"
}
},
"tech-nation": {
"id": "tech-nation",
"title": "Tech Nation Radio Podcast",
"info": "Tech Nation is a weekly public radio program, hosted by Dr. Moira Gunn. Founded in 1993, it has grown from a simple interview show to a multi-faceted production, featuring conversations with noted technology and science leaders, and a weekly science and technology-related commentary.",
"airtime": "FRI 10pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Tech-Nation-Radio-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://technation.podomatic.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "science",
"source": "Tech Nation Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/tech-nation",
"subscribe": {
"rss": "https://technation.podomatic.com/rss2.xml"
}
},
"ted-radio-hour": {
"id": "ted-radio-hour",
"title": "TED Radio Hour",
"info": "The TED Radio Hour is a journey through fascinating ideas, astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ways to think and create.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm, SAT 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/tedRadioHour.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/?showDate=2018-06-22",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/ted-radio-hour",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/8vsS",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=523121474&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/TED-Radio-Hour-p418021/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510298/podcast.xml"
}
},
"thebay": {
"id": "thebay",
"title": "The Bay",
"tagline": "Local news to keep you rooted",
"info": "Host Devin Katayama walks you through the biggest story of the day with reporters and newsmakers.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Bay-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Bay",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/thebay",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 2
},
"link": "/podcasts/thebay",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bay/id1350043452",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d800ea4c-7a2c-42f2-b861-edaf78a5db0b/the-bay",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/586725995/the-bay",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/the-bay",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/4BIKBKIujizLHlIlBNaAqQ",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC8259786327"
}
},
"thelatest": {
"id": "thelatest",
"title": "The Latest",
"tagline": "Trusted local news in real time",
"info": "",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/The-Latest-2025-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Latest",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/thelatest",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 6
},
"link": "/thelatest",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-latest-from-kqed/id1197721799",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/1257949365/the-latest-from-k-q-e-d",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/5KIIXMgM9GTi5AepwOYvIZ?si=bd3053fec7244dba",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC9137121918"
}
},
"theleap": {
"id": "theleap",
"title": "The Leap",
"tagline": "What if you closed your eyes, and jumped?",
"info": "Stories about people making dramatic, risky changes, told by award-winning public radio reporter Judy Campbell.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Leap-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Leap",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/theleap",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 17
},
"link": "/podcasts/theleap",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-leap/id1046668171",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/447248267/the-leap",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/the-leap",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/3sSlVHHzU0ytLwuGs1SD1U",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/programs/the-leap/feed/podcast"
}
},
"the-moth-radio-hour": {
"id": "the-moth-radio-hour",
"title": "The Moth Radio Hour",
"info": "Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of true stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. Moth storytellers stand alone, under a spotlight, with only a microphone and a roomful of strangers. The storyteller and the audience embark on a high-wire act of shared experience which is both terrifying and exhilarating. Since 2008, The Moth podcast has featured many of our favorite stories told live on Moth stages around the country. For information on all of our programs and live events, visit themoth.org.",
"airtime": "SAT 8pm-9pm and SUN 11am-12pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/theMoth.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://themoth.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "prx"
},
"link": "/radio/program/the-moth-radio-hour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-moth-podcast/id275699983?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/The-Moth-p273888/",
"rss": "http://feeds.themoth.org/themothpodcast"
}
},
"the-new-yorker-radio-hour": {
"id": "the-new-yorker-radio-hour",
"title": "The New Yorker Radio Hour",
"info": "The New Yorker Radio Hour is a weekly program presented by the magazine's editor, David Remnick, and produced by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. Each episode features a diverse mix of interviews, profiles, storytelling, and an occasional burst of humor inspired by the magazine, and shaped by its writers, artists, and editors. This isn't a radio version of a magazine, but something all its own, reflecting the rich possibilities of audio storytelling and conversation. Theme music for the show was composed and performed by Merrill Garbus of tUnE-YArDs.",
"airtime": "SAT 10am-11am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-New-Yorker-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/tnyradiohour",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/the-new-yorker-radio-hour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1050430296",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/New-Yorker-Radio-Hour-p803804/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/newyorkerradiohour"
}
},
"the-sam-sanders-show": {
"id": "the-sam-sanders-show",
"title": "The Sam Sanders Show",
"info": "One of public radio's most dynamic voices, Sam Sanders helped launch The NPR Politics Podcast and hosted NPR's hit show It's Been A Minute. Now, the award-winning host returns with something brand new, The Sam Sanders Show. Every week, Sam Sanders and friends dig into the culture that shapes our lives: what's driving the biggest trends, how artists really think, and even the memes you can't stop scrolling past. Sam is beloved for his way of unpacking the world and bringing you up close to fresh currents and engaging conversations. The Sam Sanders Show is smart, funny and always a good time.",
"airtime": "FRI 12-1pm AND SAT 11am-12pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/The-Sam-Sanders-Show-Podcast-Tile-400x400-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.kcrw.com/shows/the-sam-sanders-show/latest",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "KCRW"
},
"link": "https://www.kcrw.com/shows/the-sam-sanders-show/latest",
"subscribe": {
"rss": "https://feed.cdnstream1.com/zjb/feed/download/ac/28/59/ac28594c-e1d0-4231-8728-61865cdc80e8.xml"
}
},
"the-splendid-table": {
"id": "the-splendid-table",
"title": "The Splendid Table",
"info": "\u003cem>The Splendid Table\u003c/em> hosts our nation's conversations about cooking, sustainability and food culture.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Splendid-Table-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.splendidtable.org/",
"airtime": "SUN 10-11 pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/the-splendid-table"
},
"this-american-life": {
"id": "this-american-life",
"title": "This American Life",
"info": "This American Life is a weekly public radio show, heard by 2.2 million people on more than 500 stations. Another 2.5 million people download the weekly podcast. It is hosted by Ira Glass, produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media, delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange, and has won all of the major broadcasting awards.",
"airtime": "SAT 12pm-1pm, 7pm-8pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/thisAmericanLife.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.thisamericanlife.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wbez"
},
"link": "/radio/program/this-american-life",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=201671138&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"rss": "https://www.thisamericanlife.org/podcast/rss.xml"
}
},
"tinydeskradio": {
"id": "tinydeskradio",
"title": "Tiny Desk Radio",
"info": "We're bringing the best of Tiny Desk to the airwaves, only on public radio.",
"airtime": "SUN 8pm and SAT 9pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/300x300-For-Member-Station-Logo-Tiny-Desk-Radio-@2x.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/g-s1-52030/tiny-desk-radio",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/tinydeskradio",
"subscribe": {
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/g-s1-52030/rss.xml"
}
},
"wait-wait-dont-tell-me": {
"id": "wait-wait-dont-tell-me",
"title": "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!",
"info": "Peter Sagal and Bill Kurtis host the weekly NPR News quiz show alongside some of the best and brightest news and entertainment personalities.",
"airtime": "SUN 10am-11am, SAT 11am-12pm, SAT 6pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Wait-Wait-Podcast-Tile-300x300-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/wait-wait-dont-tell-me",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/Xogv",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=121493804&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Wait-Wait-Dont-Tell-Me-p46/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/344098539/podcast.xml"
}
},
"weekend-edition-saturday": {
"id": "weekend-edition-saturday",
"title": "Weekend Edition Saturday",
"info": "Weekend Edition Saturday wraps up the week's news and offers a mix of analysis and features on a wide range of topics, including arts, sports, entertainment, and human interest stories. The two-hour program is hosted by NPR's Peabody Award-winning Scott Simon.",
"airtime": "SAT 5am-10am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Weekend-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/weekend-edition-saturday/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/weekend-edition-saturday"
},
"weekend-edition-sunday": {
"id": "weekend-edition-sunday",
"title": "Weekend Edition Sunday",
"info": "Weekend Edition Sunday features interviews with newsmakers, artists, scientists, politicians, musicians, writers, theologians and historians. The program has covered news events from Nelson Mandela's 1990 release from a South African prison to the capture of Saddam Hussein.",
"airtime": "SUN 5am-10am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Weekend-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/weekend-edition-sunday/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/weekend-edition-sunday"
}
},
"racesReducer": {},
"racesGenElectionReducer": {},
"racesGenElection2026Reducer": {},
"radioSchedulesReducer": {},
"listsReducer": {
"posts/arts?category=movies": {
"isFetching": false,
"latestQuery": {
"from": 3216,
"size": 12
},
"vitalsOnly": false,
"totalRequested": 12,
"isLoading": false,
"isLoadingMore": true,
"total": {
"value": 3243,
"relation": "eq"
},
"items": [
"arts_1144",
"arts_1147",
"arts_1150",
"arts_1151",
"arts_1157",
"arts_1156",
"arts_1158",
"arts_1160",
"arts_1163",
"arts_1167",
"arts_1170",
"arts_1171"
],
"complete": true
}
},
"recallGuideReducer": {
"intros": {},
"policy": {},
"candidates": {}
},
"savedArticleReducer": {
"articles": [],
"status": {}
},
"newslettersReducer": {
"isFetching": false,
"fetchFailed": false,
"hasFetched": false,
"newsletters": {},
"isSubscribing": false,
"isUnsubscribing": false,
"subscribedNewsletters": {}
},
"termsReducer": {
"about": {
"name": "About",
"type": "terms",
"id": "about",
"slug": "about",
"link": "/about",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"arts": {
"name": "Arts & Culture",
"grouping": [
"arts",
"pop",
"trulyca"
],
"description": "KQED Arts provides daily in-depth coverage of the Bay Area's music, art, film, performing arts, literature and arts news, as well as cultural commentary and criticism.",
"type": "terms",
"id": "arts",
"slug": "arts",
"link": "/arts",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"artschool": {
"name": "Art School",
"parent": "arts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "artschool",
"slug": "artschool",
"link": "/artschool",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"bayareabites": {
"name": "KQED food",
"grouping": [
"food",
"bayareabites",
"checkplease"
],
"parent": "food",
"type": "terms",
"id": "bayareabites",
"slug": "bayareabites",
"link": "/food",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"bayareahiphop": {
"name": "Bay Area Hiphop",
"type": "terms",
"id": "bayareahiphop",
"slug": "bayareahiphop",
"link": "/bayareahiphop",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"campaign21": {
"name": "Campaign 21",
"type": "terms",
"id": "campaign21",
"slug": "campaign21",
"link": "/campaign21",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"careers": {
"name": "Careers",
"type": "terms",
"id": "careers",
"slug": "careers",
"link": "/careers",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"checkplease": {
"name": "KQED food",
"grouping": [
"food",
"bayareabites",
"checkplease"
],
"parent": "food",
"type": "terms",
"id": "checkplease",
"slug": "checkplease",
"link": "/food",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"education": {
"name": "Education",
"grouping": [
"education"
],
"type": "terms",
"id": "education",
"slug": "education",
"link": "/education",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"elections": {
"name": "Elections",
"type": "terms",
"id": "elections",
"slug": "elections",
"link": "/elections",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"events": {
"name": "Events",
"type": "terms",
"id": "events",
"slug": "events",
"link": "/events",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"event": {
"name": "Event",
"alias": "events",
"type": "terms",
"id": "event",
"slug": "event",
"link": "/event",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"filmschoolshorts": {
"name": "Film School Shorts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "filmschoolshorts",
"slug": "filmschoolshorts",
"link": "/filmschoolshorts",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"food": {
"name": "KQED food",
"grouping": [
"food",
"bayareabites",
"checkplease"
],
"type": "terms",
"id": "food",
"slug": "food",
"link": "/food",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"forum": {
"name": "Forum",
"relatedContentQuery": "posts/forum?",
"parent": "news",
"type": "terms",
"id": "forum",
"slug": "forum",
"link": "/forum",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"futureofyou": {
"name": "Future of You",
"grouping": [
"science",
"futureofyou"
],
"parent": "science",
"type": "terms",
"id": "futureofyou",
"slug": "futureofyou",
"link": "/futureofyou",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"jpepinheart": {
"name": "KQED food",
"relatedContentQuery": "posts/food,bayareabites,checkplease",
"parent": "food",
"type": "terms",
"id": "jpepinheart",
"slug": "jpepinheart",
"link": "/food",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"liveblog": {
"name": "Live Blog",
"type": "terms",
"id": "liveblog",
"slug": "liveblog",
"link": "/liveblog",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"livetv": {
"name": "Live TV",
"parent": "tv",
"type": "terms",
"id": "livetv",
"slug": "livetv",
"link": "/livetv",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"lowdown": {
"name": "The Lowdown",
"relatedContentQuery": "posts/lowdown?",
"parent": "news",
"type": "terms",
"id": "lowdown",
"slug": "lowdown",
"link": "/lowdown",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"mindshift": {
"name": "Mindshift",
"parent": "news",
"description": "MindShift explores the future of education by highlighting the innovative – and sometimes counterintuitive – ways educators and parents are helping all children succeed.",
"type": "terms",
"id": "mindshift",
"slug": "mindshift",
"link": "/mindshift",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"news": {
"name": "News",
"grouping": [
"news",
"forum"
],
"type": "terms",
"id": "news",
"slug": "news",
"link": "/news",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"newsletters": {
"name": "newsletters",
"type": "terms",
"id": "newsletters",
"slug": "newsletters",
"link": "/newsletters",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"perspectives": {
"name": "Perspectives",
"parent": "radio",
"type": "terms",
"id": "perspectives",
"slug": "perspectives",
"link": "/perspectives",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"podcasts": {
"name": "Podcasts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "podcasts",
"slug": "podcasts",
"link": "/podcasts",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"pop": {
"name": "Pop",
"parent": "arts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "pop",
"slug": "pop",
"link": "/pop",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"pressroom": {
"name": "Pressroom",
"type": "terms",
"id": "pressroom",
"slug": "pressroom",
"link": "/pressroom",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"quest": {
"name": "Quest",
"parent": "science",
"type": "terms",
"id": "quest",
"slug": "quest",
"link": "/quest",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"radio": {
"name": "Radio",
"grouping": [
"forum",
"perspectives"
],
"description": "Listen to KQED Public Radio – home of Forum and The California Report – on 88.5 FM in San Francisco, 89.3 FM in Sacramento, 88.3 FM in Santa Rosa and 88.1 FM in Martinez.",
"type": "terms",
"id": "radio",
"slug": "radio",
"link": "/radio",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"root": {
"name": "KQED",
"image": "https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"imageWidth": 1200,
"imageHeight": 630,
"headData": {
"title": "KQED | News, Radio, Podcasts, TV | Public Media for Northern California",
"description": "KQED provides public radio, television, and independent reporting on issues that matter to the Bay Area. We’re the NPR and PBS member station for Northern California."
},
"type": "terms",
"id": "root",
"slug": "root",
"link": "/root",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"science": {
"name": "Science",
"grouping": [
"science",
"futureofyou"
],
"description": "KQED Science brings you award-winning science and environment coverage from the Bay Area and beyond.",
"type": "terms",
"id": "science",
"slug": "science",
"link": "/science",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"stateofhealth": {
"name": "State of Health",
"parent": "science",
"type": "terms",
"id": "stateofhealth",
"slug": "stateofhealth",
"link": "/stateofhealth",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"support": {
"name": "Support",
"type": "terms",
"id": "support",
"slug": "support",
"link": "/support",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"thedolist": {
"name": "The Do List",
"parent": "arts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "thedolist",
"slug": "thedolist",
"link": "/thedolist",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"trulyca": {
"name": "Truly CA",
"grouping": [
"arts",
"pop",
"trulyca"
],
"parent": "arts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "trulyca",
"slug": "trulyca",
"link": "/trulyca",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"tv": {
"name": "TV",
"type": "terms",
"id": "tv",
"slug": "tv",
"link": "/tv",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"voterguide": {
"name": "Voter Guide",
"parent": "elections",
"alias": "elections",
"type": "terms",
"id": "voterguide",
"slug": "voterguide",
"link": "/voterguide",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"guiaelectoral": {
"name": "Guia Electoral",
"parent": "elections",
"alias": "elections",
"type": "terms",
"id": "guiaelectoral",
"slug": "guiaelectoral",
"link": "/guiaelectoral",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"arts_category_movies": {
"isLoading": true
},
"arts_74": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "arts_74",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "arts",
"id": "74",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Movies",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Movies Archives | KQED Arts",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 75,
"slug": "movies",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/arts/category/movies"
}
},
"userPermissionsReducer": {
"wpLoggedIn": false
},
"eventsReducer": {},
"fssReducer": {},
"tvDailyScheduleReducer": {},
"tvWeeklyScheduleReducer": {},
"tvPrimetimeScheduleReducer": {},
"tvMonthlyScheduleReducer": {},
"userAccountReducer": {
"user": {
"email": null,
"emailStatus": "EMAIL_UNVALIDATED",
"loggedStatus": "LOGGED_OUT",
"loggingChecked": false,
"articles": [],
"firstName": null,
"lastName": null,
"phoneNumber": null,
"fetchingMembership": false,
"membershipError": false,
"memberships": [
{
"id": null,
"startDate": null,
"firstName": null,
"lastName": null,
"familyNumber": null,
"memberNumber": null,
"memberSince": null,
"expirationDate": null,
"pfsEligible": false,
"isSustaining": false,
"membershipLevel": "Prospect",
"membershipStatus": "Non Member",
"lastGiftDate": null,
"renewalDate": null,
"lastDonationAmount": null
}
]
},
"authModal": {
"isOpen": false,
"view": "LANDING_VIEW"
},
"error": null
},
"youthMediaReducer": {},
"checkPleaseReducer": {
"filterData": {
"region": {
"key": "Restaurant Region",
"filters": [
"Any Region"
]
},
"cuisine": {
"key": "Restaurant Cuisine",
"filters": [
"Any Cuisine"
]
}
},
"restaurantDataById": {},
"restaurantIdsSorted": [],
"error": null
},
"userAgentReducer": {
"userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)",
"isBot": true
}
}
