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Tasty Mod
Co-owners and chefs of St. Helena's Terra Restaurant, Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani expanded their wine country operations in 2006 by creating a distinctly urban destination: Ame Restaurant in the luxurious St. Regis Hotel. As SFMOMA's nearest neighbor, Ame's décor is spare and modern with an austere kitchen that opens to a posh sashimi bar. The teak floors and sleek, comfortable furnishings reflect the best in design, backing up the steep price point while providing a setting that is unfussy and inviting.
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Six-day Fest includes Music, Film and Art
Well into its teenage years, San Francisco's maturing DIY music fest Noise Pop is back with a few new attributes, a bunch of new and old friends, and a schedule that could test the stamina of even the most rugged, beer- and/or caffeine-fueled music fan.
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SF Station Blows It Up
Los Amigos Invisibles are the kings of South American rock and being at the Independent last Tuesday night I now know why. With rocking guitars drums, keys and Latin conga drums they thrashed the spot. They performed tune after tune infused with every genre of music possible but still keeping the beat raw rock. These Latins most definitely know how to get down.
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Released on Jagjaguwar, 6/6/06
Picture this: a clearing in a lush and slightly dank looking pine forest that is scattered with debris and memorabilia. There are stuffed bears and dolls hanging from the trees, beer cans, and a Pee-Wee Herman doll leans casually against moss covered roots. In the foreground, a model ship sits amid photos, a cassette tape, matches, and fallen branches. A man peeps out from the trees -- his attention fully fixed upon a woman surrounded in a ring of votives wearing nothing but moccasins and a feathered headdress. She has been caught mid-prance.
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Released on Salted Music, 3/20/07
Miguel Migs (a.k.a. Petalpusher) releases his second much anticipated solo album, Those Things, under his very own label (a sub label of Om Records) on Salted Music with a loaded guest list. Those Things summons the talent of those Miguel Migs has either charted tempos with in the past or those he has long admired. Amongst the sparkling guest stars is the legendary Fred Ross from Sly and the Family Stone, reggae frontman Junior Reid of Black Uhuru, long time collaborator Lisa Shaw, Aya of Sweetback, Sadat X of Brand Nubian, Tim Fuller and more.
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How Sweet the Sound
In Amazing Grace, director Michael Apted sheds light on antislavery pioneer, William Wilberforce, whose life arguably was the personification of the song. The film opens with a powerful scene in which Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd) exits his carriage in a driving rainstorm to stop another driver from beating his weary, rain soaked horse. Right away you are inspired by Wilberforce's fierce humanitarianism...
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A Thoughtful, if Not Exactly Original, War Film
Nominated in the Best Foreign Film category at this year's Academy Awards, Days of Glory (Indigènes) examines the experiences of North African soldiers who, as colonial subjects, fought alongside the French against the German occupation. Co-written and directed by Rachid Bouchareb (L'Ami y'a bon, Le Vilain petit poussin), Days of Glory is credited with compelling French president Jacques Chirac into supporting war pensions for North African soldiers who served with the French during World War II and their survivors.
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Ah, the Healing Power of Comedy
Any film with a patently absurd title like Reno 911!: Miami shouldn't be taken seriously. Luckily, it's the first (and perhaps last) big screen adaptation of Comedy Central's long-running half-hour comedy, "Reno 911!" (a parody of "Cops"). An obtrusive television crew follows sheriff's deputies around as they go about their business. Most of it is routine (e.g., daily roll calls, patrols), but the deputies never know what to expect when they're sent out to answer 911 calls of crimes in progress. High hilarity and raunchy ridiculousness often result.
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A Promising Premise Undermined by a Weak Pay-Off
Joel Schumacher has had a long and varied career spanning several decades, directing the good-but-not-great (Phone Booth, Falling Down), the execrably bad (Batman and Robin), the morally dubious (8MM), and on through to the guilty pleasure (Flatliners, The Lost Boys). Making an out-and-out great film, though, has always seemed beyond Schumacher's talent or preference. He may be a hack in some moviegoers' or critics' eyes, but he's also directed several lightweight, campy films that suggest Schumacher doesn't take himself seriously.
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Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places
Sam (Tom Cavanagh) and Gray (Heather Graham) are nigh on inseparable. Attached at the hip, these two would appear to be the perfect couple...if only they weren't brother and sister. This seemingly minor obstacle acts as a catalyst for the two to begin a quest for the perfect mate for the other. You know it's February when a film like Gray Matters unfurls at the box office.
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Nostalgia Undermines Otherwise Entertaining Family-Oriented Film
If you were born between 1955 and 1985, chances are you once dreamed of becoming an astronaut. Of course, only a select few have actually made it into outer space. But what if you dreamed of becoming an astronaut, never became one, but still stubbornly held onto that dream, no matter how unlikely it had become? Michael and Mark Polish (Northfork, Twin Falls Idaho), tried to answer that question with their fourth film, The Astronaut Farmer, an somewhat contrived, whimsical, nostalgic, family-oriented drama about a man, a dream, and a home-made rocket to the stars.
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Spa Skin Care in A Doctor's Hands
Some people don't like being touched by strangers. Well, that would include me. I'm not particularly fond of being accosted by lecherous men on a bus. But, when it comes to spa treatments, I'll make an exception. Not the lecherous men part, but the touching part. You must trust the person giving you your spa facial, and after my first one about eight years ago, I put my faith in skin care specialists. My skin was clearer and softer than it had been in years, not to mention how relaxed the whole process made me feel.
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Trigger Happy
What does a girl do when she has it all? Say beauty, brains, a happy childhood with a view of the fjords of Norway, and a fortunate marriage to a promising young scholar? Add to that a six-month honeymoon with a visit to the seven wonders of the world with a dip into Rome's Trevi Fountain, only to return -- potentially enceinte -- to a new home brimming with fancy furniture, books, and a few pistols? Well, if you're Hedda Tesman, née Gabler (played by René Augesen), you start shooting things.
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