Cronocrimenes at Fantastic Fest (2007)

Tim League of the Alamo and Nacho Vigalondo during the Cronocrimenes Question and Answer session following one of the first screenings of the movie in the states (2007).

Growing up in the small working-class refinery town of Deer Park, Texas in the eighties, I tried very hard to escape the place without actually leaving.

Being hard-up for a time travel or teleportation device, I used the very best substitute I had: homemade cassette tapes of the 70’s punk and new wave bands that I loved—like the Ramones and Blondie. Closing my eyes with the stereo on, I could nearly always escape the depressing industrial area.

So, when I went to watch the world-premiere of the Spanish time travel movie Cronocrimenes  aka Timecrimes on opening night of Austin’s science-fiction and horror movie festival Fantastic Fest, I was surprised and delighted to bump into an old friend. My pal: the song “Picture This” from Blondie’s 1978 multi-platinum selling “Parallel Lines” album, featured as an integral piece of sonic set dressing in the movie.

With the film’s poster reading “A trip back in time……from present to crime”  it isn’t exactly a spoiler to reveal that a key character keeps going back in time, trying to fix what’s gone wrong at one particular moment.

When the character returns to that moment the song “Picture This” is playing.

 Not familiar with the song? Not surprising. Even though it hit number 12 in the UK in ‘78, it wasn’t exactly a bit hit here. If my friends hadn’t fired up their ‘80’s record players, I’d never have heard it.


The idea that music has a transformative power isn’t exactly a new concept. Otherwise, why would I have been surrounded by so many people who surely remembered the 60’s when Bob Dylan played ACL?


For the premiere of the innovative Spanish-language/English subtitled “Cronocrimenes” writer/director/actor Nacho Vigalondo was in attendance answering questions. So I asked him about the use of the song.

It turns out the tune ended up in the film partly because the crew was playing the song a lot while they were making the movie. Thus when it came time to pick a song to clarify that the hero was back in the same place at the same time, the lyrics of the song seemed to fit the film.


“The lyrics for “Picture This” are so close to the movie” Vigalondo said quoting the lyrics: “Picture this - a sky full of thunder.” Indeed, a clap of thunder is a plot point in the film.


 I suspect that if I’d grown up in big city surroundings, that I might not have held on so tightly to the music of another time and another place—trying by sheer will to get myself to New York’s mythical CBCB’s club in the 70’s.


All in all, the film’s surprising use of the song shows the influence of our friends, coworkers and neighbors on our lives, perhaps especially on what we’re listening to.

No matter how global our world and economy gets, sometimes it matters most what the people closest to us are listening to.  If we love them, sometimes we’ll end up loving what they love as well.


(This column was slated for the  Statesman in 2007 but  didn't have space to run before the second time this film showed during Fantastic Fest. These pictures were taken with a borrowed point-and-shoot. I'm a slightly better photographer now.) 

Why Austin Shouldn't move the Animal Shelter

In April, a tragedy occurred in our backyard.

After years of stalking and chasing, one of our dogs finally caught our neighbor’s white cat, Emma, who had slipped though our fence.

The result-- 120 lb pup vs.  fluffy lapful—meant that rushing Emma to the animal emergency clinic couldn’t save her.

It’s a given that in the natural world predators chase prey. Cats chase birds. Dogs chase cats. It’s the cycle of life, though that doesn’t make it any easier for the humans involved.
Emma’s untimely death got me thinking.

According to Town Lake Animal Center shelter director Dorinda Pulliam, on April 30, 2006, the day of Emma’s death, 26 cats were put to death at the shelter. That week (April 30- May 4) 96 cats were killed. Last fiscal year, 5396 cats were euthanized. Many of whom were doubtless sweet, fluff-balls like Emma. I fear our a new animal shelter isn’t going to improve those numbers.

 Austinites recently passed a bond package to build a new animal shelter. The location: Levander Loop, in East Austin near Airport and 183, former site of the Texas School for the Deaf.

Moving the our animal shelter from its current central location is a poor choice. Of course, I may be biased because back in 1990 I adopted a kitten from the shelter, partly because I was able to easily find the facility by driving down Lamar.

Originally I was opposed to moving the shelter because I didn’t really understand where the new location would be. Now, after visiting the Levander Loop site, I’m even more opposed to the move. The awkwardly situated site won’t provide more patrons for the facility, certainly not casual drop-ins. This is key, because local animal rights advocates tell us that many Town Lake animals go to new homes in central and west Austin.

Unlike central Austin, the Levander loop location businesses don’t generate extra traffic to the area. While our economy  needs purveyors of concrete pipes and vivid orange tractors, these businesses don’t draw casual traffic. You go there because you need a new backhoe, not to see what new colors are in stock. The only browse-worthy  business I found nearby: Goodwill on Airport. Imported luxury vehicles weren’t cruising the streets.

Last Night at the Alamo Grindhouse (aka Watching Vintage Prints with director Quentin Tarantino) (2007)

Dressed in jeans and a black hoodie-- and clutching a beer-- film director Quentin Tarantino paced in the spotlight of the small stage of the Alamo Drafthouse theater in downtown Austin, Texas. He told the mostly male crowd that when he was in 6th grade, his mother had gotten him a subscription to Playboy. His first gift issue featured a pictorial on Casanova & Company (1977) a Tony Curtis/Casanova/ mistaken identity flick. Later re-titled Sex on the Run, it recently served as the kickoff film for Quentin Tarantino presents Last Night at the Alamo Grindhouse (May 10,11,13)—a three night mini -festival of grindhouse triple bills—showcasing Tarantino’s personal vintage 35mm prints of the low-budget gems that once played America’s drive- in’s.

The festival was inspired by the relocation of the downtown Austin, Texas Alamo Drafthouse, a quaintly tattered beer and food-serving movie venue. The downtown location was the first incarnation of what’s now a successful small chain of theaters known for eclectic programming. Sex on the Run was followed with Sex with a Smile (1976) an omnibus film of several short sex stories. The night ended with The Oldest Profession (1967) with seven directors contributing shorts on prostitution through the ages. (Tarantino’s sex comedy prints also screened at the 2007 Los Angeles Grindhouse Festival as Euro Sex Comedies Triple Feature.)

One distinctive aspect of the Alamo QT events is that there’s no velvet rope. The illusion: you’re watching movies in someone’s living room. Patrons are asked to refrain from seeking autographs or shoving screenplays into Tarantino’s face, but you can walk up and chat.