The Filtered Excellence: February 7, 2013
Bob Geldof once asked us, “Where is the filtered excellence!?” It’s right here. Here are this weeks picks of what to WATCH, what to DO what to TRY what to READ what to LISTEN TO and more:
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WATCH THIS:
AMC Best Picture Showcase. Plan Ahead!!! It’s that time of year where there’s not many new films worth going to see, but here’s the good news, AMC Theaters are showcasing this year’s Oscar nominees, so if you missed anything, here’s your chance to catch up. Spend Saturday February 16th and Saturday February 23rd seeing all the nominees. Or, if you really want a challenge, attend a twenty four hour marathon of all nine films on February 23rd for just $60 (from 10am to 10am).
- Get all the info at amc.com.
TCM’s Annual 31 Days of Oscar Continues. You now have 31 days where it will be impossible to say ‘there’s nothing on tv.’ TCM’s expertly selected round the clock festival of Oscar nominated and Oscar winning movies continues this week. It’s all excellence but some a few favorites running this week include: The Grapes of Wrath, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Titanic (’53), The Three Faces of Eve, Peyton Place, Zorba the Greek, Top Hat, Citizen Kane, Notorious, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rebecca and Spellbound.
The 2013 BAFTA Awards . Sunday, February 10 on BBC America at 8pm. The BAFTAs or British Oscars will be awarded Sunday evening. Best Picture nominees include “Argo”, “Les Miserables”, “Life of Pi”, “Lincoln” and “Zero Dark Thirty”. But the big question is can Ben Affleck pick up another award for Best Director on his way to his Oscar snubbing!? By the way, in a bizarro world twist, Steven Spielberg was not nominated in BAFTA’s directing category.
- For more information go to awards.bafta.org
Lenny Kravitz: Looking Back on Love. Grammy Award nominee Mathieu Bitton gets full access to Lenny Kravitz at home, on the road and in the studio as he records his 9th album, Black And White In America. What started out a 3 month project expands into a 2 year odyssey that includes stops in Paris, New Orleans and Kravitz’s new home in The Bahamas. Featuring appearances by Kravitz’s daughter Zoe, new collaborators Trombone Shorty and the Rebirth Brass Band and celebrity friends Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, Looking Back On Love provides a complete look into the life and artistry of Lenny Kravitz. It’s available now exclusively on Itunes.
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New York City: Jean Michel Basquiat at Gagosian. Over 50 works by the extraordinary artist will be on display now through April 6th at Gagosian Galleries on 555 West 24th Street in New York City. The exhibition spans Basquiat’s brief but meteoric career, which ended with his death at the age of twenty-seven. If you are in the area, this is not to be missed.
- Get info at gagosian.com.
New York City: Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg. Starting this week – Grey Art Gallery at NYU. This exhibit features photographs taken by American poet Allen Ginsberg, mostly in the 50s and early 60s. These photographs were found with some of Ginsberg’s lost papers in the 1980s and include images of William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, Gregory Corso and Jack Kerouac.
- Get more info at http://www.nyu.edu/greyart/.
New York City: A Pryor Engagement at The Brooklyn Academy Of Music February 8 through 21, 2013. Coinciding with Black History Month, BAMcinematek will have a retrospective of the film work of Richard Pryor. The seminal concert films “Live In Concert’ and ‘Live On The Sunset Strip’ and ‘Here And Now’ are included, in addition to his classic pairings with Gene Wilder (‘Silver Streak’ and ‘Stir Crazy’). But this series also showcases Pryor’s considerable non-comedic acting skills that were on full display in such films as ‘Lady Sings The Blues’, ‘Some Call It Loving’, ‘Blue Collar’ and the semi-autobiographical ‘Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling’. It will also feature Pryor’s scene-stealing performances in ‘Car Wash’, ‘Uptown Saturday Night’, ‘Bingo Long & The Traveling All-Stars’ and the counterculture classic, ‘Dynamite Chicken’. A Pryor Engagement is the perfect opportunity to see the many dimensions and facets of one, if not the greatest, comedian of all-time. It runs February 8th through the 21st.
- You can go to www.bam.org for showtimes and more information.
San Francisco, CA: Party Down With Party Down. Saturday, February 9 at 4pm at Cobb’s Comedy Club. It’s the series that went away too soon after only 2 seasons. And now your favorite struggling actors / caterers are getting back together. “Party Down” cast members Lizzy Caplan, Adam Scott, Ken Marino, Ryan Hansen and Martin Starr reunite at the San Francisco Sketchfest for a discussion about the show. The reunion takes place Saturday afternoon at Cobb’s Comedy Club.
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For more information go to sfsketchfest.com
Everywhere: Celebrate Chinese New Year. February 10th marks the beginning of The Spring Festival. It is the Lunar New Year, The Year of the Snake! If there is a local Chinatown to visit, you’ll most likely have the opportunity to enjoy lion dancers, fireworks, and of course, special foods particular to the celebration. Gong Hay Fat Choy!!!