Randy's Guide CXVII (117)

As a new year begins tonight, please spend a moment to reflect on the past year and peer into the next one. Your beloved friends, colleagues, and family will appreciate any words you have to share with them.

Today is Welsh actor Sir Anthony Hopkins' 71st and Scotland's Hogmanay; Thursday is New Year's Day and novelist J.D. Salinger's 90th; Friday is model Christy Turlington's 40th; Saturday is retired champion race car driver Michael Schumacher's 40th; Sunday is Burma's Independence Day; Monday is Spanish King Juan Carlos I's 71st; Tuesday is Three Kings Day; and Wednesday is television host Katie Couric's 52nd.


Local News
If you're going to be out and about in the Bay Area tonight, consider public transit (instead of waiting for that elusive cab or driving impaired). MUNI buses will be free from 8pm-6am, with Metro streetcars running until 4am and additional service on key bus routes until 5am. CalTrain runs until 2am; both CalTrain and SamTrans will be free from 11pm-2am. And BART will operate trains until 3am with $6 flash passes as its holiday promotion. www.sfmta.com www.bart.org www.samtrans.com www.caltrain.com


Change for Change
Your last chance (today) to make tax-deductible donations for the 2008 tax year. Check out the groups spotlighted over the past 116 issues.

-Aldea Inc: mental health care for Napa and Solano county; www.aldeainc.com
-Bay Area Community Services: mental health and senior services in Alameda County; www.bayareacs.org
-blueEnergy Group: wind and solar energy solutions for marginal communities, based in San Francisco; www.blueenergygroup.org
-City CarShare: socially responsible car sharing program in the Bay Area; www.citycarshare.org
-College Track: after-school college-preparatory program for under-privileged youths in Oakland, San Francisco, East Palo Alto, and New Orleans; www.collegetrack.org
-Common Ground Relief: rehabilitation of New Orleans; www.commongroundrelief.org
-Farm Sanctuary: animal advocacy, with educational farms in California and New York; www.farmsanctuary.org
-Foundation for the People of Burma: humanitarian aid for Burmese individuals, based in San Francisco; www.foundationburma.org
-Friends of the Urban Forest: the planting and caring for trees in San Francisco; www.fuf.net
-Glide Memorial: assistance to homeless, poor, unemployed, and HIV+ communities in San Francisco; www.glide.org
-Little Angel Fund: support and education for parents with premature or seriously ill infants; www.littleangelfund.org
-Loaves and Fishes: daily lunches for the hungry in six Contra Costa cities; www.loavesandfishesofcontracosta.org
-LYRIC: support for LGBTQQ youth, based in San Francisco; www.lyric.org
-Maitri: South Asian women facing domestic abuse or violence; www.maitri.org
-My New Red Shoes: new clothing for homeless and low-income youths, based in Menlo Park; www.mynewredshoes.org
-Natural Resources Defense Council: environmental activism group with lawyers, lobbyists, and scientists to promote action; www.nrdc.org
-San Francisco Health Services Coalition: public awareness and funds distribution for homelessness, based in San Francisco; www.sfhsc.org
-Vital Life Services: services for individuals with HIV+/AIDS and other critical illnesses, based in Oakland; www.vitalcalifornia.org

Donate through the nonprofit's Web site or your corporate donation program.


Bay Area Holiday Weekend Weather
Chance of rain on Friday, otherwise partly cloudy and cool.

Highs: low-to-mid-50s
Lows: mid-30s (inland) to ~40 (bay) to mid-40s (coast)


Environmental News
25 million Christmas trees are sold each holiday season. Please recycle your tree so that your local community can turn it into valuable mulch, trail chippings, and shoreline erosion barriers. Remove tinsel, decorations, lights, and non-wood tree stands. For San Francisco residents, Sunset Scavenger will collect the trees during the regular pick-up day next week, January 5-11.

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Your used cooking oil should not go down the drain, as this causes sewer clogs and costly city repairs. Store the oil in leakproof containers, and then compost it or give it to a biofuel producer. SFGreasecycle is collecting used oil (no food scraps or soap please) for biofuel production at Whole Foods and Costco stores from December 27-30.


Music Videos
"The Show" by Lenka (Los Angeles, Calif. / Sydney, Australia)

Lenka, a popular Czech-Slovak name, derives from her dad (who immigrated from Czechslovakia to Australia). You might have heard her song on an Old Navy commercial, or perhaps "Ugly Betty." She'll make a stop in San Francisco on January 15, in addition to shows in Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis, Washington DC, Portland, and Charlottesville.

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"Tenderoni" by Chromeo (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

Electrofunk gets a workout with this duo from Canada. Before heading off to Australia in February, catch them at Los Angeles' Key Club on January 22.


Movies (domestic revenues through December 28)
#1 Marley & Me (PG): $36.4MM opening; 3480 screens; $10,448 per screen
#2 Bedtime Stories (PG): $27.5MM opening; 3681 screens; $7,457 per screen
#3 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (PG-13): $26.9MM opening; 2988 screens; $8,987 per screen
#15 Gran Torino (R): $2.3MM; $4.2MM overall; 84 screens; $27,652 per screen; about a grumpy widower and Korean War vet (played by Clint Eastwood) who values his prized 1973 Gran Torino and, one day, saves his next-door Asian neighbors from a gang; winner of Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay from the National Board of Review

Antarctica (R): Comedy; about a group of friends in Tel Aviv who explore and seek relationships

Revolutionary Road (R): Drama; about a married couple with kids who feel trapped by the Connecticut suburbs during the 1950s; co-starring Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kathy Bates; directed by Sam Mendes; nominated for four Golden Globes, including Best Picture and Director

DVD Pick - Paris je t'aime (R): A novel approach to classic love stories, this series of 18 short films - each directed by a different person - showcases the various arrondisements of Paris. Look for appearances from Steve Buscemi, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Nick Nolte, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elijah Wood, Natalie Portman, and many others. Domestic box office: $4.9 miillion; foreign box office: $12.4 million.


Activities
{I'll assume most of you have settled your New Year's Eve plans by now.}

Wedding Faire 2009 [Sat-Sun 10am-4pm]: Largest Bay Area wedding event with over 100 booths. At Santa Clara Convention Center, $10-12. www.wedding-faire.com

Japanese Mochitsuki Party [Sat noon-4pm]: Watch and participate in the Japanese tradition of mochi pounding. At Asian Art Museum (SF), free with admission. www.asianart.org/mochi.htm

George Winston [Sat 8pm]: The famed piano composer returns to San Francisco for his first concert here in five years. At the Palace of Fine Arts (SF), $39. www.georgewinston.com

The Arabian Nights [through Jan 18]: About the legendary tales of the 1,001 nights. At Berkeley Rep, $14-71. www.berkeleyrep.org

Previous: Musical - Babes in Hollywood [through tonight in Foster City]; Event - Holiday Ice Skating [through Sunday or Jan 19 in SF]; Art - Leonardo da Vinci: Drawings [through Sunday in SF]; Musical - Phantom of the Opera [through Sunday in SF]; Art - Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul [through Monday in SF]; Theatre - Macbeth [through Jan 11 in Berkeley]; Art - Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes [through Jan 18 in SF]


Upcoming February Activities
Circus Oz [starts Feb 5 in Berkeley]; Chinese New Year Parade [Feb 7 in SF]; Cheech and Chong - Light Up America [Feb 28 in Santa Rosa]