Anime, Manga and overall Japanese culture fans will be ecstatic to hear that Viz Pictures (an offshoot of local Anime and Manga publisher Viz Media) is a partner in building a “J-Pop Center” in Japantown! The Center will include a theatre for showing releases from Viz Pictures, Anime and other Japanese features. Also expected are a branch of the already popular Kinokuniya Bookstore, a cafe and some Japanese clothing shops… a one-stop J-Pop shop!

The website for the Viz Cinema does not show a lot of information at the moment, but it does state that it is slated to open in Winter of this year.

Area schools are closed, and homes have been evacuated.

Our thoughts are with the homes and families affected by the fires, and hope for the fires to be extinguished with as little loss as possible. There is currently no estimate when the fire will be under control.

Update 5:00pm: Still no containment. Over 3,000 acres have burned, but luckily no injuries reported.

Update 11:00pm: 15% containment, weaker winds tomorrow show hope for keeping the fire under control. For the most recent updates, see the update page on the CAL FIRE website.

The top 10 nominees were ranked by the highest percentage of respondents as being “sparkling” cities, according to a survey of 900 adults ages 21 and older. Most of the survey respondents said that what makes a city sparkle is “breathtaking scenery” and “great night life” and unique food.

Now it’s up to online voters to determine the winner! You can vote for the top Sparkling City on the [yellow tail] website. Voting is open until June 15th.

“The inaugural Search for America’s Most Sparkling City is designed to uncover the most animated, brilliant, lively and vivacious city in the United States,” said Mark Lyle, vice president of marketing for [yellow tail] wines. “We thought honoring the cities across the United States that make Americans feel the most ‘switched on’ would be a fun way to remind them to ‘always sparkle.’”

The winner will be revealed during an event in the winning city the week of July 4.

Not only is there a live view of the SF skyline, there are some stunning HD panoramas, a live map of ships in the Bay and more. My favorite is the mesmerizing HD time lapse of The City as viewed from Sausalito, available in 480p, 720p, and even 1080p(!) so you can fill your screen with a superb view of SF.

For your convenience, here is a link to tomorrow’s film lineup. Films at the Kabuki include:

• Children of the Sun
• American Teen
• Secrecy
• All is Forgiven
• Glasses (see my entry)
• Big Man Japan (see Jeremy’s recent entries: 1, 2)
• Flower in the Pocket
• The Secret of the Grain
• The Man from London
• Shadows in the Palace
• Umbrella

There are also select films playing at the Clay and Castro Theatres, as well as a couple over at Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley.

For more information on these and SFIFF films, see the the SFIFF website and buy your tickets here!

Metal cookware, that is. Beijing artist Zhan Wang has sculpted a metal version of San Francisco as a part of the exhibit On Gold Mountain: Sculptures from the Sierra at the Asian Art Museum. He has painstakingly crafted a model of San Francisco with mirrors, pots, pans, and rocks specially selected from the Sierra Nevada Mountains that were then transported to his studio in China to be integrated into his sculptures.

Zhan Wang has also created similar sculptures for other cities, such as London, Beijing and Chicago. On Gold Mountain: Sculptures from the Sierra is on display at the Asian Art Museum until May 25th.

Dust is a part of our everyday lives, whether we like it or not. We mostly look at it as a nuisance and a symbol of uncleanliness. What we often forget is what important role dust has had in the creation of our universe and our planet, and the importance of it in everyday life. There is so much more to dust than meets the eye, and we must look past its dingy reputation in order to realize this.

These ideas are explored in the German/Swiss documentary Dust, by director Hartmut Bitomsky. Different circumstances of dust are explored, as well as the people that are affected by, study, and work with dust… some seemingly to the point of obsession. There are some fascinating interludes between the presentation of facts and interviews, including the reality that dust will never go away… it is omnipresent and will always leave a trace.

Dust has its final SFIFF showing tomorrow, May 7th, at 4:15pm. For more information on this and other SFIFF films, see the the SFIFF website and buy your tickets here! The festival ends this Thursday, so catch these films while you can!

Glasses follows the experience of a four-eyed professor named Taeko (charmingly portrayed by Satomo Kobayashi), who escapes the city life for a seaside getaway at the seemingly innocuous Hamada Inn. The Inn is off the beaten path, and visitors often get lost trying to find their way from the purposefully cryptic maps drawn by the its quirky (and also bespectacled) owner (Ken Mitsuishi).

The charming elder woman of Hamada Inn, Sakura-san (Masako Motai), starts every morning by patiently sitting at Taeko’s bedside till she awakes, and greets her with a smile. She then leads a group of faithfuls through a set of exercises that look like something like a Tai Chi Chicken Dance. Needless to say, all the regulars here are different in their own ways, and it makes Taeko hesitant. Eventually, all at Hamada Inn find that they share more in common than just their eyeglasses.

Glasses is a beautiful film, shot in a beautiful island location. The pace may seem a bit slow, but it brings a sense of calm. The calming backgrounds along with the minimalist soundtrack allows the viewer to be engrossed with the characters and the poignant unspoken lines in between the spoken ones. I believe I now understand what a Zen Comedy is, but feel that you must see this film to understand it yourself.

Glasses plays today at 6pm and again on Thursday, May 8th at 5pm at the Kabuki Theatre. For more information on this and other SFIFF films, see the the SFIFF website and buy your tickets here!

The West Coast premiere of The Yellow Handkerchief takes place tomorrow as a part of the 51st Annual San Francisco International Film Festival. Starring William Hurt and Maria Bello, this film is a soulful tale of love, loss and redemption set along the blue highways of rural Louisiana.

Maria Bello will be presented the Peter J. Owens Award today, an award named after local cultural benefactor and longtime Film Society board member Peter J. Owens. The award honors an actor whose work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity. I remember Maria Bello from her days on ER, but more recently, she’s had parts in Thank You For Smoking and World Trade Center. See her complete filmography on IMDB.

The Yellow Handkerchief shows at 7:30pm on Friday at the Castro Theatre, with Maria Bello participating in an on-stage interview and career retrospective at 7pm.

For other SFIFF films, see the the festival’s lineup and buy your tickets here!

The San Francisco Giants have started to host Heritage Nights, bringing a taste of ethnic culture to a few special nights of baseball. Heritage Nights include pre-game and in-game cultural entertainment, and a commemorative t-shirt.

Upcoming Dates:

• 5/09 Mexican Heritage Night
• 5/12 Chinese Heritage Night
• 5/13 Korean Heritage Night
• 5/14 Filipino Heritage Night (pictured)
• 5/16 Japanese Heritage Night

Later this summer, the Giants will host Irish, Italian, African-American, Jewish and Latino Heritage nights!

For more info, check the Giants’ special event calendar.