Brunch...Spanish StyleTICKETS: $5 and Kids Under 10 FREE11am - 6pmCASUAL LUNCH,STYLISH DINNER.HAPPY HOURMONDAY-FRIDAY4:30PM-7PMSUNDAY4:30PM-11PMCelebrate the delicious flavors, diverse cultures,and unique talents that keep <strong>Austin</strong>our favorite place in the world. <strong>The</strong> festival promises to provide a great mix ofmouth-watering dishes and exceptional, family-friendly entertainment with an Asian flair.Benefiting SAHELI for Asian Families, SafePlace and Capital Area Food BankDelicious Food Prepared by Clay Pit, Jade Leaves Tea House, Dragon Gate, Cafe De Bella, TC Noodle House, Momoko, Deli Bento, Thai Fresh and many others!Entertainment by Texas Dragon Dancers, Oliver Rajamani, <strong>Austin</strong> Taiko Drummers, and many more great Asian Acts!Fiesta Gardens, 2101 Jesse E. Segovia Street (Bergman), East of I-35 on Lady Bird Lake“Inspired by the fare that has made Spain famous!”____________________________________________________________________________________Agua de Valencia Spanish MimosaMade with fresh orange juice, Licor 43and Cava ChampagneSample Menu(All items served with fresh fruit and toast or spicy potatoes )Manchego cheese and Serrano ham omelette Fried eggs over seared beefPoached eggs over chicken & Serrano ham croquettesOrange & Cinnamon Spanish Style French ToastEnjoy $1.00(with the purchase of entrée, limit 3pp)Sangria Blanco, Tinto or RosadoMade with brandy, orange juiceand fresh fruit__________________________________________Every Saturday & Sunday 11:30am - 2:30pm440 W 2 nd donate foodSt. <strong>Austin</strong>, Texas 512-236-8020 www.malagatapasbar.comvolunteerHUNGER INSURANCE.HUNGER INSURANCE.austinfoodbank.org8201 S. Congress Ave.<strong>Austin</strong> TX 78745512.282.2111give moneyspeak outgive money donate food volunteer speak outaustinfoodbank.org 8201 S. Congress Ave. <strong>Austin</strong> TX 78745 512.282.2111give moneydonate foodvolunteerspeak out48 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E MARCH <strong>27</strong>, <strong>2009</strong> a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o maustinfoodbank.org8201 S. Congress Ave.<strong>Austin</strong> TX 78745512.282.2111
screens50UNDER THE STARS ANDMAYBE SOME SPACE ALIENS<strong>The</strong> LBJ Library screens sci-fi classicsBY MARC SAVLOV“No one would have believed in the middleof the 20th century that human affairswere being watched keenly and closely byintelligences greater than Man’s. Yet,across the gulf of space on the planetMars, intellects vast and cool and unsympatheticregarded our Earth with enviouseyes, and slowly and surely joined theirplans against us.”Those lines are adapted from H.G.Wells’ 1898 pacifist cri de guerre, <strong>The</strong> Warof the Worlds, but for kids growing up inthe Fifties, they were probably first heardspoken aloud by Sir Cedric Hardwicke asthe narrator of producer George Pal’s riotouslycolorful, Oscar-winning 1953 film version.And, chances are, those selfsamekids more than likely got their sci-fi on atthe local drive-in theatre, or possibly at aSaturday afternoon, triple-feature, monstermovie matinee. Not so anymore: Drive-insare as rare nowadays as to be consideredkitschy-quaint. <strong>The</strong>re hasn’t been a theatreregularly running a triple-feature Saturdaymatinee since Dealey Plaza took it “backand to the left” and the popcorn-and-Jujube generation lost the last of its innocence,trading the thrilling darkness of itslocal theatre for the horrifying blue-whitelight of Walter Cronkite’s daily dose ofcathode ray Vietnam-ization.FRANKLY, MY DEAR:GONE WITH THEWIND REVISITEDby Molly HaskellYale University Press,<strong>27</strong>2 pp., $24With Frankly, My Dear,what Molly Haskell does sodeftly is dismiss conventionalwisdom about GoneWith the Wind – still theall-time box office champwith an inflation-adjusted$1.3 billion gross – and whyit’s perceived as film fluffand the book as sentimental twaddle. <strong>The</strong>nearly unequivocal critical consensus ofFrankly, My Dear is that oh my, oh yes,GWTW is indeed a reputable cinematicand literary work worthy of respect. <strong>The</strong>question becomes: What choir is Haskellpreaching to?Maybe she’s not preaching. Haskell,film critic turned academic and author ofFrom Reverence to Rape: <strong>The</strong> Treatmentof Women in the Movies, once stood upLuckily for those of us who missed outon all that 1950s sci-fun, this Friday theLyndon Baines Johnson Library andMuseum, in conjunction with the AlamoDrafthouse’s Rolling Roadshow, is presentingthe next best thing: an outdoor screeningof <strong>The</strong> War of the Worlds on the LBJLibrary lawn via the Alamo’s 40-foot-by-60-foot road-show screen. Bring your blanketsand the kids, but no alcohol.<strong>The</strong> event, part of the library’s exhibit“To the Moon: <strong>The</strong> American SpaceProgram in the 1960s,” kicks off at 5pmwith a chance to visit the exhibit beforerockin’ out, daddio, to the groovy soundsof the Rockit Scientists (incredibly,they’re actual rocket scientists from theJohnson Space Center). <strong>The</strong>n at 8pm, themartians invade!But wait, there’s more: a real, honest-togoodnessSaturday afternoon triple sci-fimatinee inside the LBJ Library’s theatre.Seriously, this is one lineup not to bemissed by any monster kid or film studiesmajor: sexy space babe Anne Francis andRobby the Robot battling it out with the“monsters from the id” in the classicForbidden Planet (10am), George Pal’s gorgeouslyapocalyptic When Worlds Collide(1pm), and the awesome Ray Harryhausenstop-motion destruction of our nation’s capitalin Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (3pm).to a 1972 panel of fellowfeminists and disputedGloria Steinem’s contentionthat Scarlett O’Hara was asymbol of female repression.Moreover, Haskell is nostranger to the moonlightand-magnoliasSouth thatcreated Scarlett O’Hara.A Southerner herself,Haskell delves into heranalysis using thefilm and the book,alternately positingthe book’s Scarlettwith the film’s Scarlett and theMargaret Mitchell-authored storywith its screen script. <strong>The</strong> true purposeof Frankly, My Dear, then, seems lessto defend GWTW’s undeniably tarnishedreputation than to make it okay to admit toliking GWTW.And for what has GWTW been pilloriedover the years? Even in 1939 when GWTWwas released, it was not considered anaccurate account of plantation life, slavery,SXSW Reviews 52 SXSW Red Carpet 53 TV Eye 78 Film ListingsBest of all, it’s totally free! So grab your picnicbasket, and go relive the anxious days ofthe Red Scare era, UFO mania, and the U.S.Air Force’s now declassified (or so they say)tantalizing search for earthbound extraterrestrials,Project Blue Book.And, hey, while you’re at it, “Keep watchingthe skies!”■War of the Worlds screens Friday, <strong>March</strong> <strong>27</strong>, at 8pmon the LBJ Library lawn (2313 Red River). Triple-FeatureSci-Fi Saturday takes place Saturday, <strong>March</strong> 28, startingat 10am, in the LBJ Library’s third-floor theatre. Allevents are free and open to the public. For more info,visit www.lbjlib.utexas.edu.or the Civil War. Accusations of racism weredisputed by its black stars, such as HattieMcDaniel’s famous rebuke that she wouldrather get paid for playing a maid than workas one. Gone With the Wind, then as now, isstrictly entertainment minus any pretense ofpolitical correctness.At Haskell’s most compelling, she acknowledgesthe film’s casting for its magic andromantic allure. Vivien Leigh’s luminousbeauty perfectly fit Mitchell’s descriptionof Scarlett, yet Haskell findsinprintOlivia de Havilland’s Melanieintriguing and considers her thecharacter around which Scarlettdoes her most important selfgrowth.Haskell also points out thatfemale fans had the rare opportunity toexperience the virgin-or-the-whore choices socinematically available to men: Ashley Wilkes’intellectual vs. Rhett Butler’s rakehell.Frankly, My Dear imbues Gone With theWind with far more intention and contextthan Margaret Mitchell ever intended, butleave it to Molly Haskell to reinforce itsenduring appeal. – Margaret Moserfilm newsBY JOE O ’CONNELLSEEN AND HEARD AT SXSWRobert Rodriguez confirmed during aSouth by Southwest Film Festival panel that hewill shoot his next film, a futuristic thriller, in<strong>Austin</strong> this June. He called it Nerveracker, butprevious reports have it as the pluralNerverackers. Rodriguez said he sold the filmas a scriptless title 10 years ago to theWeinstein brothers. Rodriguez also revealedthat he finally became a college graduate lastyear… Tim McCanlies, whose wacky comedy<strong>The</strong> 2 Bobs premiered at SXSW, said he tookon the directing chores for Alabama Moon,based on Watt Key’s young-adult novel of thesame name, with only a few weeks’ notice. <strong>The</strong>film was shot in New Orleans but could haveeasily been lensed on McCanlies’ 350-acreBastrop County ranch if not for the larger financialincentives offered in Louisiana, he said.Famed more as a screenwriter and script doctor,McCanlies is having a hot year behind thecamera with the two films in the can and seekingdistribution. Little known fact? McCanliesput himself through Southern MethodistUniversity film school as a Dallas cop.AUSTIN-RAISED ACTORHONORS 9/11 HEROES<strong>Austin</strong> High School grad Todd Allen hasbeen in 50 or so film and television projects,including Grand Canyon and AMC’s Broken Trail,but he says his latest, the short “AmericanIdentity,” is perhaps the most personally fulfilling.Set around the events of 9/11, it will tourmilitary bases, starting with Fort Hood. <strong>The</strong> ideacame from fellow producer Stephen Rollins,who had a birthday dinner Sept. 10, 2001, in arestaurant atop the World Trade Center. Whilethere he received a telephone call from oldfriends in Boston, who would die the next day ina hijacked airplane. “As the son of a Naval aviatorand the nephew of a Marine who fought inVietnam, it is particularly gratifying,” said Allen,who also recently starred as a Texas Rangerwho brings down a drug cartel in AmericanCartel, which shot in San Antonio and Uvalde.AND THE REST …Reel Women presents Lunafest at 2pmSunday at the Dell Jewish Community Campus(7300 Hart). <strong>The</strong> program includes 10 shortfilms that deal with what it means to be awoman in a new century. Proceeds benefit ReelWomen programs and the Breast CancerFund… Actor Danny DeVito will be signing bottlesof his new Limoncello at Twin Liquors inHancock Center from 11am to 1pm onSaturday… Will Moore’s Cowboy Smokescreens at 7:30pm tonight, Thursday, <strong>March</strong> 26,at the Alamo Lake Creek as part of the ongoing<strong>Austin</strong> Film Festival series AFF Presents.Brian Satterwhite, the film’s composer, recentlywas honored for his score at the Park CityFilm Music Festival… <strong>The</strong> Texas-shot“Desdemona: A Love Story” premieres at theAFI-Dallas International Film Festival on Tuesday.a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m MARCH <strong>27</strong>, <strong>2009</strong> T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E 49
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