John Seal’s favorite film of 2013: Blancanieves John Seal’s favorite film of 2013: Blancanieves What lessons did I learn from cinema in 2013? First and foremost, that Somali pirates are very, very dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. From mainstream Hollywood’s Captain Phillips (an extremely well-made Pentagon recruitment film) to little Denmark’s A […]
Year in review
Posted inBerkeleyside
Chip in to Berkeleyside for 2014
Tis the Season by Pete Rosos. Taken Nov. 30, 2013 The Berkeleyside team would like to wish you very happy holidays — and also remind our readers that you can chip in to help independent local news. We’ve delivered you a lot of news in 2013 on Berkeleyside, but we want you to help us […]
Posted inArts
The List: 18 books about Berkeley for Berkeley lovers
We have selected 18 books set in, or about, Berkeley — Photo: Daniel Parks It’s the holiday season and a slew of “Best Books of 2013” lists have come out, including one from Berkeleyside editors. But do you want to go beyond what everyone else is buying and reading and give something different? How about […]
Posted inArts
The best books of 2013, as chosen by Berkeleyside editors
A collection of new books available at the new West Branch Library. Photo: Frances Dinkelspiel We love books at Berkeleyside, whether in traditional format or as e-books. At the end of 2013, and as a possible spur to your holiday book buying, here are our favorite books of the year (not all were published in […]
Posted inArts
Images of 2012: The Berkeley year in photos
Sometimes it’s all about the image. Berkeleyside has strived to track down and publish great photography since its inception more than three years ago. You know what they say about the worth of a picture … As the year draws to a close, we have selected photographs for each month of 2012 to present a […]
Posted inArts
Big Screen Berkeley: Favorite films of 2012
The Fairy (La fée): for John Seal. the funniest and most inventive film of 2012 Once again, it’s that most wonderful time of the year: the season of self-delusion, when critics the world over convince themselves that their readers want nothing more than lists of the best this, that, and the other. It’s the time […]
Posted inArts
The best books of 2012, as chosen by Berkeleyside editors
A section of Lance Knobel’s bookshelf. Photo: Frances Dinkelspiel It’s almost the end of 2012, which means it is the time for lists tallying up this year’s big events. Berkeleyside will be weighing in on what we consider the biggest cultural and news happenings of the year. Today we consider books. If there was any […]
Posted inArts
Big Screen Berkeley: 2010 Year in Review
2010 was not a very good year for the motion picture arts and sciences. Well, it wasn’t very good politically, economically, or in most other respects, either — but cinema was probably due for a period of the doldrums, and 2010 appears to have marked the beginning of such a period. The pallid, peaked nature […]
Posted inBerkeleyside
Berkeley in 2010: A year of making news
Berkeley at winter solstice. Photo: D.H. Parks. It’s been a relatively quiet year in Berkeley compared to some other turbulent decades, but there were a number of developments that were significant to the city. Berkeleyside takes a look at 2010’s most important trends. Economic downturn It took a little time to reach Berkeley, but once […]
Posted inArts
Best books of 2010: A Berkeley perspective
Berkeley is a city for book lovers. There are 30 independent bookstores in the city and at least three stores specializing in rare books. Berkeley residents love their public library and check out items at a rate three times higher than other California residents. In 2008, that meant they borrowed 2.2 million books, CDS, DVDs, […]
Posted inBusiness, City
Measures S and T would grow city’s cannabis industry
A tray of cannabis at Berkeley Patients Group waiting to be examined Berkeley residents will vote on two ballot measures on Tuesday that could lead to a greatly expanded medical cannabis industry in the city – and hundreds of thousands of new dollars for the city’s coffers. Measure T would increase the number of places […]