Arts & Entertainment

JESUS, barefoot and with a lamp protectively cradled in his arm, strides in close formation with Abe Lincoln in a stove-pipe hat and Julie Andrews in her Sound of Music dirndl, looking ready to break into song at any moment. Is this a trio of saviors—religious, political and pop cultural—or an just an accidental meeting in neutral painterly space? » Read More

TALK ABOUT double jeopardy. In 1991, Rick Walker, an independent auto mechanic living in East Palo Alto, was wrongfully convicted of murder, mostly on the basis of questionable testimony. Years later, the witness confessed, and Walker was exonerated. Having spent 12 years in San Quentin, Pelican Bay and other hard-core prisons, Walker was punished again by a quirk in the law. While the average prisoner is given some money and assistance upon release, an exonerated prisoner must wait for special legislative appropriation bills to receive the paltry $100 a day for each day of wrongful imprisonment mandated by California statute. » Read More

THE MOST prestigious gross-out since Irreversible, Lars von Trier's Antichrist is billed as a director's return to instinctive filmmaking. Von Trier's "Your guess is as good as mine" approach includes comments such as "I let this film flow to me instead of thinking it up." » Read More

MORTON MARCUS, whose outsize presence animated and at times dominated Santa Cruz County’s literary culture for most of the last 40 years, died peacefully at home after a long illness early in the morning of Oct. 28. He was 73, and seemed both younger and older—younger because his attitude toward everything was one of boyish enthusiasm » Read More

AGNÈS VARDA opens her documentary The Beaches of Agnès with the comment “I’m playing the role of a little old lady.” On a beach, she sets up cameras and ornately framed antique mirrors. Her children and grandchildren help her change the looking-glass angles to see themselves, Varda and the cameras behind her. These children look slightly apprehensive: What will this eccentric demand of them next? » Read More

IF THE Bible and all world religions didn't prohibit unmanly weeping, Joni Mitchell's tune "Amelia" would probably have me sniveling every time. By contrast, the Hilary Swank–starring, Mira Nair–directed biopic Amelia didn't even get me to the verge of red-eye. If there ever was a figure who deserved a postmodern bio, it's Amelia Earhart, who left so many questions behind. » Read More

RICK LEWIS’ latest installment in the Taffetas series, A Taffeta Wedding, transports audiences back to 1964 when doo-wop music ruled the airwaves, and there was nothing classier to wear than taffeta. In this Tabard Theatre premiere, the stage is set for the musical wedding of the century when the Taffetas, the singing sisters from Muncie, Ind., get married to the Cardigans, their male doppelgangers, in front of a live television audience. As both groups perform hits from the ’50s and ’60s before their quadruple wedding, an event transpires that leaves the sisters questioning their love and their wardrobe. » Read More

MEASURING 16 by 10 inches, the new book BloodWork: Sleeves tips the scales at more than 10 pounds. Produced by the Analog Tattoo Arts Kolectiv (ATAK), the gargantuan project comes with a slipcover and hand-stenciled
mailing case. » Read More

IN 1917, the play Spring Awakening, by German writer Frank Wedekind, played in New York City, only to be censored and banned over the next 89 years. The rock musical that opened off-Broadway in 2006 and was loosely adapted from the play received a much better reception. Spring Awakening was the winner of eight Tony Awards, including best musical, in 2007. The Broadway run ended in January 2008, and the national tour is set to hit the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts on Oct. 28 for a five-day run. » Read More

THE DAMNED UNITED (R; 97 min.), directed by Tom Hooper, written by Peter Morgan, based on the novel by David Peace, photographed by Ben Smithard and starring Michael Sheen and Colm Meaney, opens Oct. 23 at Camera in San Jose and the Century Cinemas 16 in Mountain View. » Read More