Big Dreams Online
A quick heads up: Director Dave Boyle has made his 2006 film Big Dreams Little Tokyo available free online “for a limited time.” The film is here.
To quote IMDB,
Big Dreams Little Tokyo is the story of Boyd, an American with an uncanny ability to speak Japanese. Boyd aspires to succeed in the world of Japanese business but finds himself mostly on the outside looking in. Meanwhile, his roommate Jerome, is a Japanese American who has always felt too American to be Japanese but too Japanese to be American…
The movie was filmed in San Jose’s Japantown (among other locations) so be on the lookout for some local landmarks.
Double Indemnity at the SJ Repertory
Double Indemnity is now playing at the San Jose Repertory, and what better way to enjoy this fun production than with a “Noir Fashion Night”?
Carrie Paff as Phyllis Nirlinger and John Bogar as Walter Huff. Photo by Chris Bennion.
The Rep is hosting the world premiere run of James M. Cain’s famous noir classic, co-produced with Seattle’s A Contemporary Theatre. Five outstanding actors from Seattle and the Bay Area bring loosely set curls, fedoras, and a whole lot of talent to the stage in this intriguing tale of greed, lust and murder.
Carrie Paff plays Phyllis Nirlinger, the femme fatale who collects men (and bodies) the way insurance agent Walter Huff (John Bogar) collects deductibles. The two come together to hatch a diabolical plan to kill Phyllis’s husband and collect a huge insurance payout – paying on the double indemnity clause by having him fall from a moving train. The plot takes several twists and turns, the characters surprise you, and it was entertaining enough for much debate and discussion during intermission. Will they get away with it? Who will end up taking the fall? What role will Lola play in the end?
Walter Huff contemplates what he's done for Phyllis. Photo by Chris Bennion.
Although I don’t think the initial connection the two main characters felt was well established in the opening scenes, after a slightly slow start the plot soon takes off and will captivate you. The intricately revolving stage design quickly transformed from train yard to insurance office to different residences, and having one particular dead body slowly revolve in a complete circle was quite impactful. For all the darkness in the plot, there is also quite a lot of comedy in the dialog and situations, and overall this is quite an enjoyable evening.
Noir fashion at its finest. Photo by Chris Bennion.
But why not take it to the next level by dressing in your own noir fashion? On Saturday, January 21 during the 8pm performance The Rep is hosting Noir Fashion Night, featuring special fashion displays, themed drink specials, and a photographer to capture all the fedora-clad fun before the show. Dress in your finest 1930s to 1940s fashion, and enjoy all the fun — included in the price of your ticket! Doors open 1 hour prior to the performance, and you must have a ticket to gain entrance. This is a guaranteed fun and special event.
Double Indemnity
San Jose Repertory Theatre
Through February 5
January Theater Round-up
Are you all ready for the second half of theater/music/opera season? Well the season is ready for you, and it’s time to start marking the calendars. These are the shows Metblogs is hoping to attend and review for you:
Double Indemnity
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DOUBLE INDEMNITY
January 12 – February 5, 2012
San Jose Repertory Company
THERE ARE THREE ELEMENTS ESSENTIAL TO A SUCCESSFUL MURDER
From the dark and dingy streets of LA comes a treacherous tale of love and murder. The beautiful and seductive Phyllis Nirlinger unveils a cold-blooded scheme to murder her husband, but not before first taking out an insurance policy on his life—one which pays double if her husband dies in a fall from a moving train. Smart-talking insurance agent Walter Huff falls victim to the persuasive femme fatale. Caught in a web of greed and lust, the adulterous couple commits the almost perfect crime leading to guilt, suspicion and betrayal.
Did we hear murder, greed and lust? We’re so there.
West Side Story
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WEST SIDE STORY
January 17 – 22
Broadway San Jose
Center for the Performing Arts
More than fifty years ago one musical changed theater forever. Now it’s back, and mesmerizing audiences once again. From the first note to the final breath, West Side Story soars as the greatest love story of all time. Tony Award-winning librettist Arthur Laurents’ Broadway direction is recreated for the tour by David Saint, the Associate Director on Broadway. West Side Story remains as powerful, poignant and timely as ever.
One of my favorite musicals of all time! Metblogs has not yet received an invitation for review, but you should put this on your calendars regardless. It’s a sure winner!
Social Security
SOCIAL SECURITY
January 26 – February 12
Hillbarn Theater
By Andrew Bergman
Director: Hunt Burdick
Hillbarn always produces winners and I’m really looking forward to getting back to Foster City for this show.
And for those of us looking ahead, Opera San Jose will produce Giuseppe Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA starting February 11. Don’t worry, we’ll be reminding you at the end of this month!
Make your own reusable shopping bag
More than a year ago, my girlfriend found these instructions for sewing reusable shopping bags, using a disposable shopping bag from your favorite store as the pattern. She made up a set, and we’ve been using them ever since. I get lots of positive comments from clerks when I hand them over to be filled up with groceries.
My girlfriend made our bags using a Target bag for the pattern, but we found they’re more comfortable to carry if the handles are made a little bit narrower than the original. She used fabric from an old futon cover to make the bags, so they’re nice and sturdy, as well as being doubly-green as recycled goods.
I found other patterns and instructions for making shopping bags online (think Instructables and YouTube), but I think the instructions on craftster are the most complete, and the step-by-step photos make it easy to see how the bags are put together.
With San Jose’s new shopping bag ordinance in effect since Sunday, you might want to try your hand at making low-cost environment-friendly shopping accessories for yourself, too.
Photo: Michelle Wootton
New Vietnamese restaurants on Santa Clara Street
I’ve been very happy to try out a couple of new Vietnamese restaurants that opened in the past couple of months on Santa Clara Street in downtown San Jose.
The first of these, Lang Chay, offers the basic pho experience, complete with help-yourself chopsticks, hoisin sauce, and chili sauce at each table. The twist is that all of the food is vegetarian, and the pho is made with imitation meats, replicating (more or less) the texture of all of the common meat found in pho. Rice plates and other choices are also available.
I tried the basic pho, and later the crispy chow mein. Both were tasty and satisfying, and the crispy chow mein especially was the equal of the similar dish I’ve had at non-veg restaurants. Since many pho shops have absolutely no meat-free options on the menu, its good to find a place that offers the pho experience for vegetarians.
Lang Chay is located at the former Pho Lan location, immediately across the street from city hall.
The second of these new restaurants is Hoi An Bistro. Hoi An serves a varied Vietnamese menu in a slightly upscaled atmosphere at really reasonable prices. They’ve done a great job decorating with photo-murals of Vietnamese street scenes on the walls and decorative tile-roofed overhangs above the dining area.
The dishes I’ve tasted have been flavorful and also had variety beyond the pho-shop standards. I tried “farm chicken with Hoi An noodles” and got tender chicken cooked in a nutty curry-like sauce with a distinctive flavor mix that was new to me. On a previous visit, I tried both a vegetarian vermicelli bowl with egg rolls and vegetarian yellow curry (ordered green, but I think what we got was the yellow curry). The vermicelli bowl did a fine job of translating one of my favorite pork-based lunch standards to a vegetarian dish. The yellow curry was tasty, and surprisingly used cassava (?) and yams as the starch components where most local restaurants seem to use potatoes and carrots. These added a wonderful sweet flavor to a dish I thought I was fully familiar with. Prices were so low I felt compelled to tip according to what I thought they could have charged instead of what they actually did.
Hoi An Bistro isn’t strictly vegetarian, but they do dedicate a full page of their menu to veg options, and a vegan friend of mine has also given them a thumbs up. They’re located between 8th and 9th streets on the south side of Santa Clara Street, in the building that most recently housed Onyx Vietnamese fusion restaurant.
Free Rides New Year’s Eve
Free transit service on New Year’s Eve 2011:
VTA will be offering free service on all light rail and bus lines from 7:00 pm Saturday, December 31, 2011 until 3:59 am Sunday, January 1, 2012.
Light Rail:
Last trip leaving Santa Teresa at 1:54 am
Last trip leaving Alum Rock at 1:37 am
Last trip leaving Winchester at 1:10 am
Last trip leaving Mountain View at 10:50 pm
Last trip leaving Baypointe at 1:27 am
Express Line 180/181 (to the Fremont BART Station):
Last Northbound bus leaving Diridon Station at 2:06 am arriving at Fremont BART at 2:47 am
Last Southbound bus leaving Fremont BART at 3:05 am arriving at 2nd & Santa Clara at 3:41 am (Does not go to the Diridon Station)
Caltrain offers free train service starting at 11:00 pm on Dec. 31, 2011. In addition, Caltrain will add four extra post-midnight, southbound trains to its regular Sunday schedule, Jan. 1, 2012. Trains will depart the San Francisco station at 12:45 am, 1:15 am, 1:45 am and 2:15 am, making all local weekend stops (including Diridon Station).
SF Muni has free rides on all Muni lines & routes (including cable cars) from 8:00 pm New Year’s Eve until 6:00 am New Years Day. Additional Metro service from 8:00 pm to 2:15 am from West Portal to Caltrain and until 4 am from Embarcadero to West Portal Station.
Broadway San Jose Presents CATS! and Psycho Donuts a Treat
CATS the musical is playing at the Center for the Performing Arts – December 27, 2011 through January 1, 2012.
255 Almaden Boulevard San Jose, CA 95113
(408) 295-9600
CATS make-up artist Jimmy Goode (he once attended Oak Grove High School) will transform a Psycho Nurse into a CATS Nurse tomorrow at the downtown Psycho Donuts. The special CATS donuts will be available.
CATSonut is a bavarian cream filled raised donut frosted with the CATS logo also a must try a Psycho Kitty Litter cake donut.
Psycho CATS Nurse – A Psycho Transformation Event.
When: Wednesday, December 28 – 11AM – 1PM
Where: Psycho Donuts San Jose
288 S. 2nd Street, San Jose, CA 95113
Monday – Thursday 7am-10pm
Friday 7am-midnight | Saturday 8am-11pm | Sunday 8am-10pm
Also, CATS donuts will be available at the Psycho Donuts Campbell location.
Psycho Donuts Campbell
2006 S. Winchester Blvd, Campbell, CA 95008
Monday – Thursday 6am-9pm
Friday 6am-11pm | Saturday 7am-11pm | Sunday 7am-9pm
Café San José
Will the Waiter - on the right
This little hole in the wall cafe located in a strip mall serves up some very tasty breakfast.
I had the Good Morning Denver and my husband had the Pancake Sandwich. Both were very good. I had a bite of his pancake and I gave him a scoop of my omelet.
Though the cafe was packed our order was up without delay. Will was our friendly waiter. He took good care of us making sure we had all that we needed.
We plan to go back soon.
Café San José
1583 Meridian Ave.
San José, CA 95125
Located between Dick’s Bakery and the Goodwill
408.265.3020
Open daily from 7:00 AM – 3 PM
Breakfast & Lunch served all day.
Café San José Website (a joy to use)
Metro headlines WTF?
This is going to come across like me doing a bad imitation of the Daily Fetch, but here goes…
Here’s the cover of the current Metro:
Really, Metro headline writer? You want to open up the can of worms that comes with trying to put Black English into print? In the front cover headline? In a way that’s so subtle a lot of people might just think you don’t know how to spell “tentacles”?
And here’s the cover of Metro from two weeks ago:
I’ve been thinking about this (obsessively) for two weeks, and I’m still not sure how to complete the thought in this headline. At least not in a way I’d be willing to print in Metblogs, let alone a print paper.
Songs for a Winter’s Night
I am looking forward to this year’s musical holiday concert presented by the Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus (SVGMC).
I have been told “Songs for a Winter’s Night” will include the songs of Kwanza, Hanukkah, and Christmas.
Also, there are always some cheerful comic moments!
When: December 16th & 17th at 8 PM also the 18th at 3 PM.
Where: Christ The Good Shepherd Church at 1550 Meridian Ave., San Jose 95125
Tickets: Purchase
SVGMC is partnering with Family Giving Tree.
Bring a new unwrapped gift or toy to the “Songs for a Winter’s Night” concert to help the children of a family in need feel the love of the season.
Note: Each donor will receive a ticket for a special drawing.
The Santaland Diaries
The Santaland Diaries
One of the highlights of the Christmas season is the invitation from Berger Lewis for me and a guest to enjoy a play at City Lights. This year it was “The Santaland Diaries” by David Sedaris.
Sedaris was ‘discovered’ in Chicago while reading from his diary… He must have had some good entries because he was asked to read more on the radio. It was December 23, 1992 when he read on National Public Radio of his job as an elf at a Macy’s.
“The Santaland Diaries” the play is a well acted mostly one Man/Elf show – with the help of 3 Ho-Ho-Ho’s. This campy monologue of a musical will relive the painfully funny memories for anyone who has worked with the public during the holidays as Elf endures the unpleasantness of parents and their children. June and I had a jolly time!
Note: “The Santaland Diaries” is sprinkled with four-letter punctuations.
The Cast
The Elf: Adam Magill
Adam Magill
The Ho-Ho-Ho’s: Kristin Schmitz – Patty Reinhart – Elizabeth Curtis
Kristin Schmitz-PattyReinhart-Elizabeth Curtis
The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris
Directed by Jeffrey Bracco
Playing Now – Dec. 18th 2011
Only 4 days left – to purchase tickets call 408.295.4200 or City Lights
Ask about parking. Get tickets now – they are going fast!
Added a 7:00 pm show on Sunday.
For something completely different and edgy I recommend City Lights Theater Company any time of the year!
529 South Second St. San Jose
David Sedaris facebook
Berger Lewis – supports City Lights Theater Company
Investors and Startups Crawl Through Downtown San Jose
Thursday night was what I think will be the first of many PitchCrawls in downtown San Jose. Created by the energetic Tracy Lee of Dishcrawl fame, the event brought together investors and startups in a crawl through some of downtown’s innovation centers, with a break at each for startups to pitch their ideas in 3 minute sessions to investors who offer everything from funds to technology for the companies they invest in. We heard ideas for everything from affordable tech support and iphone apps to the next hot sports drink company founded by a scientist and a well known athlete and an outsourced HR company. Ideas were flowing and so was the banter as we moved from place to place.
This is a refreshing change from the usual pitch events, that’s for sure. Instead of gathering in a room to hear elevator pitch after pitch and then the frantic rush to speak to “the” investor, startups and investors had a chance to mingle and talk more casually, eat some great food and tour some of San Jose’s downtown innovation centers at the same time. Everyone I asked was delighted with the format, even in the chilly winter weather as we worked our way from venue to venue.
The first stop was at the San Jose Tech Shop. I’ve been wanting to venture in here for months. They soft-opened in July and the place is amazing. If you’re wanting to do anything requiring very cool and expensive toys, this is your place. They offer classes to expand your knowledge for using everything from CAD programs and 3-D modeling to a sophisticated machine shop, industrial sewing equipment, a powder coating booth and a huge water cutting table that can slice through marble or steel like a hot knife through butter. Very impressive. We noshed on tacos from Juanita’s and had a tour of the facilities, then stopped for round 1 of the pitches.
Stop 2 was at the home of DishCrawl and several other burgeoning startups housed in Next Space, a co-working space on 2nd St. While we sampled the amazing concoctions provided by Raw Daddy (find him at the Sunday Campbell and Palo Alto farmer’s markets) we met more founders and toured the space with manager Gretchen Baisa. If you’re looking for a drop-in space to work or a friendly office environment that’s not in your garage, you should be checking this space out right in the heart of downtown San Jose.
The 3rd stop was–in classic DishCrawl style–a food truck. This time from House of Siam for some yummy roti wrapped around satay pork with peanut sauce. It was a quick stop but gave us more energy for the busy networking scene going on at our last stop, the Irish Innovation Center. The Innovation Center had a full-on networking event going on already in the Silicon Valley Holiday Mixer, complete with a mini trade show and music, and the place was packed. Add a pile of Pichcrawlers and you’ve got a fantastic networking opportunity. The center partners with the Kauffman Foundation, Microsoft Bizspark, IDA Ireland. and Price Waterhouse Coopers to name a few, and offers members office space, mentoring, education and the opportunity to connect with potential funders.
All in all, the event was a huge success and I heard quite a few meetings being scheduled. What a unique and fun way to get in front of some interesting investors with your startup or find the next startup before anyone else! The next PitchCrawl is to be held in San Francisco on January 10. At last check there were just a few tickets left, but I expect they will be back in Silicon Valley soon. Big congrats to the DishCrawl team for another well executed concept!
Children’s Day at History San José 2011
This Sunday, December 11, is Children’s Day at History San José with holiday festivities from noon to 4:00 PM.
Children can ride the trolley with Santa Claus on the 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM runs. A highlight every year is that children can experience operating the hand-cart along the tracks.
Festivities include arts and crafts projects at the Umbarger House, the Markham House, the Hill House and the Associated Oil Service Station. Some of the participants include the Hellenic Heritage Institute, the Portuguese Historical Society of California and the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project.
Also open, the Print Shop and Trolley Barn, along with the Leonard and David McKay Gallery.
Admission is $8.00 per family of four, $2.00 per additional person. Parking is $6.00; seniors, active military, and handicap parking $2.00.
Children’s Day at History San José 2011
History San José
1650 Senter Road
San José, 95112
408.287.2290
Sunday, December 11, 2011
12:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Tree Lighting Celebrations 2011
San José – Friday, November 25
Christmas in the Park is located at the Plaza de Cesar Chavez in Downtown San José on Market Street between San Carlos and San Fernando; tree lighting at approximately 6:00 pm. Check the Christmas in the Park site for other events.
Half Moon Bay – Friday, December 2
Night of Lights will begin with a tree-lighting ceremony at Mac Dutra Park on the corner of Main Street and Kelly Avenue at 6:00 pm. The Parade of Lights begins at 7:00 pm, along with floats and an old-fashioned fire truck. Other events include roasted chestnuts on an open fire, strolling carolers, and harpists.
Mountain View – Monday, December 5
The Mountain View Tree Lighting Celebration beginning at 5:30 pm includes live holiday music, refreshments, lights and the arrival of Santa Claus. Children can visit and have their picture taken with Santa at the free event. The Community Tree Lighting Celebration located at Civic Center Plaza, 500 Castro Street.
Setting up Christmas in the Park
As I walked through downtown this morning, hundreds of volunteers and what looked like a few professionals were out in the Plaza de Cesar Chavez setting up this year’s Christmas in the Park display.
Some of the volunteers were wearing t-shirts or sweatshirts from their high school or sorority/fraternity. This group was from the Harker School:
It’s great to see that Christmas in the Park will be back this year, and its great to see so many people getting together to make it happen.
