Tiger Beat

The Real Dirt on Farmer John

Farmer John
Originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes.

Wednesday, June 7th is the last night to see the full version of The Real Dirt on Farmer John at the Red Vic.

Farmer John will be at the evening screenings. <b>Correction</b>: He will actually be in Oregon tonight (his <a href=http://www.angelicorganics.com/Film/realdirtcontent.php?contentfile=filmandbooktour>schedule</a> - he will be in Sonoma on June 16th).

He was also interviewed on Fresh Air.  Audio is online and it will be on KQED FM at 1 pm and 7 pm and KALW at 6 pm on Wednesday.

A shorter version will be on many PBS stations as part of Independent Lens on Tuesday, June 13th (check ). Their website  is now online.

Stupid KQED is in pledge dreck mode.  Instead of showing, Farmer John on the night it is scheduled when it would get the most promotional push from the Fresh Air interview, they are showing
Best Money Tips: Your Guide to Wealth with Jonathan Pond (if he had any real wealth, he'd have hired someone to design a better website) and a Who concert.

This is the fucking bay area. They could pledge around Farmer John.  Give away his book, the DVD, and CSA subscriptions.  That would be a hell of a lot healthier than Dr. Perricone's wrinkle cure books. 

You can watch it on KQED on Thu, Jun 22 at 11 pm.

Wide Awake

wide awake
Originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes.

I put the tape of Wide Awake in my vcr just after midnight.  I was exhausted, but it kept me up (and laughing) for the next ninety minutes.

It will be shown Saturday at  5:45 pm at PFA in Berkeley, Sunday at 4:15 pm at the Aquarius in Palo Alto, and more appropriately at 9:30 pm on Tuesday at the Kabuki.


I've been nocturnal since I was a kid and sleep deprived almost that long, so I identified with Alan Berliner's examination of his insomnia.  When he described how his mind raced with thoughts when tried to fall alseep in bed, I knew exactly what he meant.  I also do my best work at night (so this post written a bit before noon won't be as good as the film deserves - maybe I'll rewrite it when I get home in  the week hours after the late night showing of  The Descent).

Berliner captures the dilemma of knowing that it is healthier and kinder to your family and friends to fall alsleep long before the sun rises, but not wanting to miss anything including what could be your best work.

He talks to a series of experts on sleep to both try and find out why he doesn't sleep and how he can get better.

One sequence shows him taking a red eye to show Nobody's Business, his film about his father, to a small audience at a college.  He uses a camcorder with night vision to show how many of the students fall asleep during his film. 

One of the experts explains it isn't because they are bored by his film, they would fall alseep in the dark no matter what was showing (so remember that if you hear someone snoring next to you during a film at the fest which is perhaps the perfect laboratory besides college for studying sleep deprivation).

There is much more to say (and I will when it gets a theatrical release and is eventually be shown on HBO), but I'm getting tired.   

Berliner is at the SFIFF, so it is worth staying awake to see Wide Awake.