Friends,
San Francisco (1955 Cinemascope film) [Free Download]
Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Gabrielle Giffords ShootingBelow are some great events coming up at the Book Smith at 1644 Haight St. between Clayton & Cole (863-8688)
Tuesday, January 31
7:30 PM
VICTORIA COSTELLO
A LETHAL INHERITANCE: A Mother Uncovers the Science Behind Three Generations of Mental Illness
In conversation with Dr. Demian Rose, UCSF Psychiatrist, Medical Director of PREP SF
Co-presented by the Mental Health Association of San Francisco
Part memoir, part scientific detective story, A LETHAL INHERITANCE is Emmy Award-winning science writer Victoria Costello’s harrowing account of her son’s descent into schizophrenia, which, at its worst had him wandering the streets of Los Angeles shoeless, muttering incoherently; and her exploration into her family’s history of depression, drug addiction, and secrets that stretches back
at least three generations.
She shares the story of her younger sister, who by sixteen had a full-blown heroin habit, recalls her loving, but alcoholic father, and re-examines the tragic “accident” that left her grandfather dead on a New York City railroad track in 1913. She also shares how she had to address her own history of depression and cope when a second son developed an anxiety disorder.
Artfully weaving the scientific into the personal, Costello takes a journey to the far reaches of neuroscience and reports back on the startling findings it is yielding about the complex interplay between genes and environment that drives mental
illness and what it now tells us about how parents can trump a lethal inheritance.
“This honest, lucid book examines the urgent problems of family history and early diagnosis in mental illness from a personal and scientific standpoint. It will be invaluable to families trying to understand their own history, and to those who have been blind to such history.” – Andrew Solomon, National Book Award- winning author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
Victoria Costello is a science writer, journalist, and TV producer. Originally from suburban New York, Costello launched her investigative journalism career by weighing in on the Vietnam War and the rights of farm workers in her high school’s “underground newspaper.” She studied journalism at American University in Washington, DC and became an independent video journalist covering such hot button issues as abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment, nuclear power, the environment, and social justice for PBS. She was the first Director of the TV/Video Program at The American Film Institute; a TV producer of documentaries; a web content writer and editor; and the author of four books on mental health topics. Currently, she helps train social workers in strength-based recovery at Family Services Agency in San Francisco.Friday, February 3
5:30 PM
Come and celebrate the release of Full Stop. SF Waldorf High School's biannual literary magazine!
Students from the SF Waldorf High School will celebrate the release of the Winter issue of their literary magazine - Full Stop. with music, readings and refreshments. Contributors Noam Baruch, Jules Christeson, Owen Christofferson, Rebecca Cohen, William Donovan-Seid, Jessie Ferguson, Alana Gurewitz, Annie Hughes-White, Caroline Kaufman, Davia Schendel, Manette Stamm, andThea Wong will read their work with musical accompaniment by Owen Christofferson and Leanna Vandlen.Thursday, February 9
7:30 PM
LOVE, INSHALLAH: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women
With co-editors Ayesha Mattu and Nura Maznavi, and contributors Leila Khan and Zahra Noorbakhsh
Co-hosted by the International Museum of Women
Love, Inshallah [goes] to a place where few, if any, books have gone before. Lesbians, co-‐wives, converts to Islam, Shia, Sunni, black, brown and white: Every voice is unique. Collectively, they sing of strength, passion and love. One can’t help but sit back and listen, captivated. – Samina Ali, award-winning author of Madras on Rainy Days
Romance, dating, sex and – Muslim women? In this groundbreaking collection, 25 writers sweep aside stereotypes to share their search for love and reveal what it means to be a Muslim woman in America today. The writers represent a broad spectrum of ethnicities, races and religious practice and speak openly for the first time about love, relationships, sexuality, gender, identity, homophobia, and racism. Come hear from the editors of this collection, Ayesha Mattu and Nura Maznavi, about their intentions and purpose of the book and the road to publication, and meet two of the contributors reading excerpts from their stories. Plus: a spirited question and answer session where audience members can pose the questions they've always wanted to ask a Muslim woman -- but were too afraid to ask!
Everyone seems to have an opinion about Muslim women, even (especially!) those who have never met one. Co-‐editors Ayesha Mattu and Nura Maznavi thought it was about time we heard directly from Muslim women themselves. You’ll be captivated by these moving, funny, provocative and surprising stories, each as individual as the writers themselves.
A beautiful collection that reminds us all not only of the diversity of the American Muslim community, but the universality of the human condition, especially when it comes to something as magical and complicated as love. – Reza Aslan, bestselling author of No god but God
Hats off to Maznavi and Mattu, who were the winners of the first of last year’s Pitchapaloozas created and hosted by our favorite Book Doctors, David Henry Sterry and Arielle Eckstut!
Muslim women…and Jon Stewart? Check out a recent Huff Po article.
Ayesha Mattu is a writer, editor and international development consultant. Her writing has appeared in the International Museum of Women, Religion Dispatches, and The Huffington Post. She was selected a Muslim Leader of Tomorrow by the UN Alliance of Civilizations and the ASMA Society in 2009. Ayesha is working on a memoir about losing faith and finding love, which is excerpted inLove, InshAllah. She lives with her husband and son in Northern California.
Nura Maznavi is a civil rights attorney. She has worked with migrant workers in Sri Lanka, on behalf of prisoners in California, and with a national legal advocacy organization leading a program to end racial and religious profiling. She is working on a screenplay and several short stories. Nura’s third love—after food and traveling—is California, where she was raised and currently lives.
Leila N. Khan (pen name) lives and works in Northern California. She enjoys Italian films, classical music, and spending time in her kitchen. Her favorite places in the world are Strasbourg, Dubrovnik, and Maui.
Zahra Noorbakhsh is a writer, actor and stand-up comedian, whose one-woman shows All Atheists Are Muslim and Hijab and Hammerpants have appeared at the New York International Fringe Theater Festival, San Francisco Theater Festival, and Solo Performance Workshop Festival, with widespread critical acclaim. She is a graduate of the UC Berkeley in Theatre & Performance Studies. Though she began as a stand-up comic, her love of storytelling drew her into the world of theater and ultimately the art of short story writing.
Friday, February 10
8:00 PM
Literary Clown Foolery
An Evening of Satire, Cabaret and Amazing Feats of Comedy
Hosted by Dr. Schmidtt and Gretchen (Polina Smith and Tristan Cunningham)
This evening we welcome Bi-Rite Market’s Sam Mogannam, co-author of Eat Good Food: A Grocer’s Guide to Shopping, Cooking& Creating Community Through Food, and now the subject of our attention, and, we hope, wit. Check out Bi-Rite’s why-we-wrote-a-book video here!
Once a month, our very own Literary Clown Foolery troupe of trained, professional clowns (clowns, not seals) offers hilarious interpretations of a featured writer’s work as well as juggling, acrobatics, original music – and we offer you refreshments and a ton of fun! Celebrate the Bay Area’s literary and creative traditions through laughter – the fun starts at 8.
Tickets $10, available in the store and Brown Paper Tickets online.
Tuesday, February 21
7:30 PM
RABBI MICHAEL LERNER
EMBRACING ISRAEL/PALESTINE:
A Strategy to Heal and Transform the Middle East
A major modern conundrum is how the Arab/Israel conflict remains unresolved and, seemingly, unresolvable. In Embracing Israel/Palestine, Rabbi Michael Lerner examines how the mutual demonization and discounting of each sides’ legitimate needs drive the antagonism, and explores the underlying psychological dynamics that fuel the seeming intransigence on both sides. Lerner shows the importance of being both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine, challenges the master narratives in both Israel and Palestine to the extent that they demean the other side, and exposes the false idea that “homeland security” (either for Israel or for the U.S.) can be achieved through military, political, economic, or cultural domination. Lerner argues that real security is best achieved through an ethos of caring and generosity toward “the other” and presents a Global Marshall Plan whose first location would be the Middle East.
Insisting that any agreement reached at the negotiating table will be worthless without a fundamental transformation of consciousness, Lerner shows how we in the West could play a central role in facilitating that change if we ourselves were to adopt a more rational approach to homeland security and foreign policy. Lerner’s approach, drawn from his own work as a psychotherapist with Israelis and Palestinians and addressing the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that politically cripples both societies, presents a vital and creative new direction that will provide hope and instruction to anyone who seeks a lasting peace for the Middle East and a healing of the U.S. as well.
Best-selling author Michael Lerner, PhD, is the rabbi of Beyt Tikkun synagogue in San Francisco and Berkeley and the editor of Tikkunmagazine. Lerner founded Tikkun in 1986 as “the voice of Jewish liberals and progressives” and as “the alternative to Commentarymagazine and the voices of Jewish conservatism.” From the start, the magazine was dedicated to Jewish ethics and to healing and repair of the world, but it has evolved into one of the leading interfaith intellectual magazines in the West and the spur to a new movement, the Network of Spiritual Progressives. In 2001, he was awarded a special PEN Award for his stance in breaking the censorship that effectively exists around Israel-Palestinian matters in the U.S. media, and in 2005 the Martin Luther King, Jr./Mahatma Gandhi Peace Award from Morehouse College.Wednesday, February 22
7:30 PM
MARTHA GROVER
ONE MORE FOR THE PEOPLE
Eight years in the making, ONE MORE FOR THE PEOPLE is the first collection of Martha Grover’s zine Somnambulist. Playful, wry, and conversational, ONE MORE FOR THE PEOPLE chronicles three generations in the life of the Grover family. As these idiosyncratic characters reluctantly confront adulthood, one Grover is always there to take notes. But after she’s diagnosed with a rare, potentially fatal disease (whose 81 side effects include dramatic changes to her appearance, not to mention the dreaded possibility of having to move back home), her story becomes something unexpected: a survival guide. In the spirit of Lucy Grealy’s Autobiography of a Face, Grover transforms her own misfortune into a tale as unsettling as it is entertaining.
Martha Grover is a genius. Her story is unique, but as I read Grover, some part of me always feels that this is everybody’s autobiography. This is what it means to fiercely love a changing self. – Ariel Gore, author of Bluebird and Atlas of the Human Heart
Martha Grover has a master’s degree in creative writing from California College of the Arts. Her work has appeared in The Coachella Review, Switchback, Broken Pencil, Never Have Paris Zine, Tom Tom Magazine, The Raven Chronicles, and her zine Somnambulist, which she has been publishing since 2003. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Thursday, February 23
7:30 PM
RICHARD MASON
HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKERFrom the acclaimed author of The Drowning People (“A literary sensation” —The New York Times Book Review) and Natural Elements(“A magnum opus” —The New Yorker), HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER is an opulent, romantic coming-of-age drama set at the height of Europe’s belle époque, written in the grand tradition with a lightness of touch that is wholly modern and original.
Richard Mason’s tale opens in Amsterdam at the turn of the last century, moves to New York at the time of the 1907 financial crisis and proceeds onboard a luxury liner headed for Cape Town. It is about a young man—Piet Barol—with an instinctive appreciation for pleasure and a gift for finding it. Piet’s father is an austere administrator at Holland’s oldest university. His mother, a singing teacher, has died—but not before giving him a thorough grounding in the arts of charm. Piet applies for a job as tutor to the troubled son of Europe’s leading hotelier: a child who refuses to leave his family’s mansion on Amsterdam’s grandest canal. As the young man enters this glittering world, he learns its secrets—and soon, quietly, steadily, finds his life transformed as he in turn transforms the lives of those around him.
HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER is a brilliantly written portrait of the senses, a novel about pleasure and those who are in search of it; those who embrace it, luxuriate in it, need it; and those who deprive themselves of it as they do those they love. It is a book that will beguile and transport you—to another world, another time, another state of being.
If Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, Mann’s Buddenbrooks, Miller’s Tropic of Cancer or Wharton’s The Age of Innocence intrigued and caught you as a reader, Richard Mason’s new novel is a marvelous ‘literary romp’ to fall into.
“One of the best three books of the year” – Independent
“Piet Barol is a pure pulse of young manhood; not an everyman, but perhaps the fantasy everyman that every man would like to be.” – Times Literary Supplement
“Enthralling and perfectly paced” – The Observer
“A saucy, hugely entertaining romp of a young man making his fortune in 1907 Amsterdam’ – The Sunday Times
“Readers of a sensitive disposition beware” – The Lady
“Highly recommended as an engaging portrait of an individual, a family, and time.” -- Library Journal, starred
“This bildrungsroman is as smart as it is seductive . . . Readers will savor final scenes aboard the gilded ocean-liner Eugenie and welcome the undercurrent that perhaps Piet’s good fortune isn’t luck at all but a lesson that pleasure exists for those who seek it.” -- Booklist
Richard Mason was born in South Africa in 1978 and lives in New York City. His first novel, The Drowning People, published when he was twenty-one and still a student at Oxford, sold more than a million copies worldwide and won Italy’s Grinzane Cavour Prize for Best First Novel. He is also the author of Natural Elements, which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the best books of 2009 and longlisted for the IMPAC Prize and the Sunday Times Literary Award. HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER is his fourth novel.
In 1999, with Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mason started the Kay Mason Foundation, which helps disadvantaged South Africans access quality education. He is the recipient of the Inyathelo Award for Philanthropy.The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes
http://media.causes.com/510213?p_id=44401190Tired of Talking to a Voice Robot? Want to Talk with a Human?:
Dial A Human - http://www.dialahuman.com/Women In The Arts - [Video] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUDIoN-_Hxs
World Clock: http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf
Dear World:
We, the United States of America, your top quality supplier of the ideals of liberty and democracy, would like to apologize for our 2001-2008 interruption in service. The technical fault that led to this eight-year service outage has been located, and the software responsible was replaced November 4.
Early tests of the newly installed program indicate that we are now operating correctly, and we believe it to be fully functional as of January 20.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage. We look forward to resuming full service and hope to improve in years to come.
We truly thank you for your patience and understanding,
Sincerely,
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAJUKEBOX - http://www.bobforrest.com/JukeBox.htm
[HUMOR/ETC. - LOCATED NEAR BOTTOM OF PAGE]
SOME INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY
Alaska
More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska .Amazon
The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% the world's oxygen supply. The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States .Antarctica
Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world's ice covers Antarctica . This ice also represents 70% of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches. Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, i.e.), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.Brazil
Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.Canada
Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Canada is an Indian word meaning ' Big Village .'Chicago
Next to Warsaw , Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.Detroit
Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan carries the designation M-1, so named because it was the first paved road any where.Damascus , Syria
Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.Istanbul , Turkey
Istanbul (AKA Constantinople), Turkey , is the only city in the world located on two continents.Los Angeles
Los Angeles' full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula -- and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.New York City
The term 'The Big Apple' was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930's who used the slang expression 'apple' for any town or city. Therefore, to playNew York City is to play the big time - The Big Apple.
There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.Ohio
There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is man made.Pitcairn Island
The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia , at just 1.75 sq. miles.Rome
The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome , Italy in 133 B..C. There is a city called Rome on every continent.Siberia
Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests.S.M.O.M
The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M. O.M.). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and as of 2001 had a population of 80, 20 less people than the Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vaticanis.Sahara Desert
In the Sahara Desert , there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. Technically though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island . There has been no rainfall there for two million years.Spain
SPAIN literally means 'the land of rabbits.'St. Paul, Minnesota
St. Paul, Minnesota , was originally called Pig's Eye after a man named Pierre 'Pig's Eye' Parrant who set up the first business there.Roads
Chances that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A: 1%, in Canada : 75%.Texas
The deepest hole ever made in the world is in Texas . It is as deep as 20 empire state buildings but only 3 inches wide.United States
The Interstate System requires that one-mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.Waterfalls
The water of Angel Falls (the World's highest) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet. IT is 15 times higher than Niagara Falls
It has been said that one should learn something new every day.
Unfortunately, many of us are at that age where what we learn today, we forget tomorrow. But, give it a shot anyway!.All My Faves - http://www.allmyfaves.com/
FactCheck.org
Recent Postings - http://www.factcheck.org/just-the-facts/index.htmlTRIVIA
A friend of a friend of mine sent me this. Some interesting bits of trivia. Cheers, Marliese
Buddy Holly's backup band, the Crickets, got their name by flipping through the 'Insects' section of an encyclopedia. One of the names they rejected was 'The Beetles'. The Beatles chose their name in honor of The Crickets. And The Hollies chose their name in honor of Buddy Holly. And Badfinger's original name, The Iveys, was in honor of The Hollies.
Led Zeppelin's original name was "The New Yardbirds". Guitarist Jimmy Page had briefly been a member of the Yardbirds, and the band sprang out of an attempt to reform the band with new members.
Lynyrd Skynyrd named themselves after their high school athletic coach, Leonard Skinner, who'd told them that they'd never amount to anything.
"Mr. Mojo Risin'" (a phrase used in The Doors' song " L.A. Woman") is an anagram for Jim Morrison.
The Aerosmith hit "Walk This Way" was inspired by a gag in Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein"
The band Nirvana was originally called "Skid Row", the members somehow unaware of the very popular heavy metal band by that name. When they finally heard of the band, they changed their name to "Nirvana", and were promptly sued by the members of a practically unknown sixties band that had gone by that name.
-First choice for Terry Doolittle in "Jumpin' Jack Flash" was Shelly Long. Whoopi Goldberg got the part.
-First choice for Bernie Rhodenbarr in "Burglar" was Bruce Willis. Whoopi Goldberg got the part.
-First choice for Rita Rizzoli in "Fatal Beauty" was Cher. Whoopi Goldberg got the part.
-First choice for Deloris Van Cartier in "Sister Act" was Bette Midler. Whoopi Goldberg got the part.-First choice for the title role in "Carrie" was Carrie Fisher. Sissy Spacek got the part.
-First choice for Princess Leia in "Star Wars" was Sissy Spacek. Carrie Fisher got the part.The Professor on 'Gilligan's Island' was named Roy Hinkley. The Skipper was named Jonas Grumby. Both names were used only once in the entire series. Gilligan's full name was never revealed (even Bob Denver, who played Gilligan, was never told his full name, nor was he sure if Gilligan was his first or last name), though some insiders claim his name was supposed to be Willy Gilligan. And Mary Ann's last name was Summers, and Mrs. Howell's maiden name was Wentworth.
Hot water weighs more than cold water.
If a pin was heated to the same temperature as the center of the Sun, its heat would set alight everything within 60 miles of it.
If the Sun's energy output would decreased by one-tenth, the entire Earth would be covered in ice one mile thick; if the Sun's energy increased by 30 percent, all life on Earth would be burnt to a cinder.
If something were to happen to Washington, D.C., the city of Port Angeles, WA, would become our nation's capital.
If you ever need to call someone in Antarctica, the area code is 672.
In medieval England, beer was often served with breakfast.
Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts and white worms like fried pork rinds.
John Larroquette was the narrator of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"
Leonardo DiCaprio's acting debut was on TV's 'Romper Room'.
Roald Dahl, the children's writer who wrote "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" and "James And The Giant Peach", wrote the screenplay for "You Only Live Twice", the fifth James Bond Movie.
Female wrestlers are called "siffleuses"
Most tropical marine fish could survive in a tank filled with human blood.
Spiders never spin webs in structures made of chestnut wood. That is why do many European chateaux were built with chestnut beams - spider webs on a 50-foot beamed ceiling can be difficult to clean.
>From the same list with my own addition:
What do Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix, Kris Kristofferson, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Marvin Gaye, Michael Nesmith (of The Monkees), Bill Wyman (of The Rolling Stones), The Everly Brothers, and Gene Vincent all have in common that Rush Limbaugh, Bill Kristol, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Scooter Libby do not? They're veterans of course.
Underground Hour
Tuesdays 7 to 8 p.m.
http://ksfs.sfsu.edu/
MUSIC by MiKo
Paper Mill Creek Saloon, Forest Knolls, CA, - FREE - EVERY Tuesday, 8-11 PM, West on Sir Francis Drake, turn left at the Forest Knolls intersection (before Lagunitas). Thought for the day: Q What is the only food that doesn't spoil? A Honey ..via Michael Welch
