by Christina Waters | May 18, 2008 | Art |
Brigid McCabe graduated with a degree in Art from UCSC a few years ago, went back east for an MFA, and now lives and works in her Berkeley studio. McCabe’s vibrant paintings of psychological environments, in brilliant hues of orange, yellow and green, will be on exhibit at Togonon Gallery in San Francisco, starting June 5, 2008.
McCabe’s is a fictional world filled with the playful ephemera of everyday life, gleaned from childhood memories and tomorrow’s breakfast. Striking, lively and 100% California in spirit, this work produces adrenaline surges.
Daily Inventory: Paintings by Brigid McCabe. Reception – Thursday, June 5 5:30-8pm. Togonon Gallery – 77 Geary Street, SF (415).398-5572.
by Christina Waters | May 17, 2008 | Home, Movies |
This Marvel Comix-based big screen adventure is not just for 15-year-old males. Brooding, smart, crisp, astonishing and edgy — that’s Iron Man, and its star Robert Downey Jr. who pretty much owns the screen from the scorching opening in war-torn Afghanistan to the final delightful shot. I repeat, Iron Man is a thinking woman’s gloss on at least three Greek myths, one or two Freudian complexes and the age-old battle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness.
Value-added for film buffs, Iron Man looks sensational, and serves up an orgy of visual quotes from Metropolis, Aliens, Gattaca, as well as reframing both the tale of Icarus and Plato’s myth of the cave.
As a Blakean flawed genius, Downey works his way into the short list of great American actors. (I know you’re thinking I have slipped a cog here. It’s a marvel Comix industrial design heavy metal flick — but Downey rockets Iron Man way out of the mere fantasy hormone genre.)
Muscular, graceful and charismatically weary, Downey (more…)
by Christina Waters | May 17, 2008 | Food, Home |
The Best Strawberries of the Season! Whatever we were eating before, whatever those other little red orbs were that people were trying to call “strawberries,” well – this is the real stuff!
At New Leaf, look for the little container of RMS Farms Organic Strawberries – from Watsonville, $2.99. The ones we’ve been eating all week are firm and sweet, with that top-note of tartness you want from a berry. They are totally intensely strawberry flavored. Just like the ones you had in your childhood. Amazing!
by Christina Waters | May 16, 2008 | Home |
Don Yee’s Tea Cup — which was situated on the second floor above what it now Judi Wyant’s shop on Pacific Avenue — was the required after-work pit-stop during the cocktail years before 1989. The charmingly murky bar was attached to a Chinese restaurant, though no one actually remembers dining. Cocktails were the whole point (more…)
by Christina Waters | May 16, 2008 | Food |
Ham & eggs & a little light bubbly – sounds like breakfast doesn’t it? But it was bistro appetizers at Soif last week. Let me explain.
A “small plate†order of salumi caught our eye – but so did the evening special of a poached egg over shiitake mushrooms. When John Locke poured me a taste of a splendid, very light alcohol Lombardy red wine with the tiniest little “vivace†effervescence, I joked that it was light enough to be a “breakfast wine.†Then the lightbulb went on.
The kitchen obliged and what we got was this gorgeous platter of toscano, soppressata and salame rosa ($12) topped with a poached egg! Ask and ye shall receive. Peasant decadence, paired with the refreshing Francesco Montagna Oltrepo Pavese “Vivace†Bonarda 2006 ($3.25/taste). Something a little different — and completely memorable. My idea of budget gourmet.
