Night+Day

wednesday
september 20
Mr. Big Mouth and Ms./Mr. Mars The tone of Eric Bogosian's writing is conveyed by the title of one of his books: Pounding Nails in the Floor With My Forehead. Best known for his raging role in Talk Radio -- which was a play before the equally subtle Oliver Stone decided to film it -- Bogosian continues to write as well as act. Wake Up and Smell the Coffee is his latest one-man show, and -- surprise! -- it's a rant. As the Solo Mio Festival continues, monologue fans with a jones for subversion and perversion can check out Bogosian's fellow New Yorker, drag king Shelly Mars. Her Invasion From Mars caresses familiar hot spots -- gender, identity, sexuality -- with finesse. Wake Up and Smell the Coffee starts at 8 p.m. at Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center, S.F.; the run continues through Sunday; tickets are $16-22. Invasion From Mars begins at 8 p.m. at Bayfront Theatre, Fort Mason, Building B, S.F.; it plays through Friday. Tickets are $12-16. Call 392-4400 for information about both shows.

Creepsakes Lots of S.F. artists pay the rent by making cutesy, craftsy keepsakes, little kitsch curios that add that special something to any urban dweller's apartment. In this context, Angela Lim's pillow assemblages are especially interesting. Obsessive instead of precious, more scary than adorable, Lim's work uses blood, fingernails, fish scales, dirt, human hair, and teeth as material. Often scorched or mangled, the resulting creepsakes match Mike Kelley's stuffed animals as sick American mementos (though Lim's pieces also have feminist, cross-cultural elements). Lim, Kathy Spence, and team Ian Pollock and Janet Silk make up "The Second Annual Bay Area Award Show"; it's open for viewing noon to 5 p.m. at New Langton Arts, 1246 Folsom, S.F. A reception for the artists takes place Thurs, Sept. 21, from 6 to 8 p.m., and the exhibition continues through Nov. 18. Free; call 626-5416.

thursday
september 21
Friends of Dorothy The Friends of the San Francisco Public Library benefit series continues with an evening lecture by Bay Area author Dorothy Allison. With the recently published Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, Allison offers a bite-size snack for devotees craving the follow-up to her award-winning crossover hit Bastard Out of Carolina; the author will read from it at 8 p.m. at Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness, S.F. Tickets are $15; call 392-4400.

Mission Motion Sponsored by Cine Acción, ACine Latino! showcases more than 50 recent Latino films and videos. Made in the U.S. and Latin America, this year's entries range from experimental video poems and award-winning student works to features by acclaimed directors. Topics include music, indigenous cultures, sexual and family ties, the urban experience, and immigration; highlights of the four-day fest include Andrew Durham's Mi Pollo Loco (a drag spoof of Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca) and Luis R. Vera's Miss Amerigua (the story of a beauty pageant in a tiny Paraguayan town). Following a 6 p.m. champagne reception, Miss Amerigua screens at 8 p.m. at the Victoria Theatre, 16th Street and Mission, S.F. Tickets are $13-15 for the opening gala, $6-7 for regular programs; call 553-8140 for more information.

Show Your Stuff The visual equivalent of an open-mike show, Open Screens provides digital artists, animators, filmmakers, and other interested folks a chance to show their stuff on a high quality video/sound system. Though the people behind the event promise "an appreciative audience" instead of "reviewers," the truth is, everyone's a critic. Participate or sit back and watch at 7 p.m. at Transmission Theater, 314 11th St, S.F. Tickets are $5 (includes post-show admission to the Paradise Lounge); call 289-4332.

Young Women's Tales Listen Up! Voices From the Next Generation offers first-person essays by a variety of young women with one thing in common: They're feminists. Listen Up!, one of two new books on teen feminism -- the other is Hillary Carlip's Girl Power -- features a handful of Bay Area contributors: Jee Yuen Lee, Jennifer Reid, Maxcy Myhre, Inga Muscio, and Nancy Lamm. They'll read and talk at 7:30 p.m. at Old Wives' Tales, 1009 Valencia, S.F. Tickets are $3; call 821-4675.

friday
september 22
Justin's Return Scary coincidences: Like Karen Black, Justin Bond has long, pretty, caramel-colored hair; like Black, Bond is performing at the Solo Mio Festival; lastly, like Black's upcoming show A View of the Heart, Bond's The Moon in the Gutter mixes literature (excerpts from Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending, Jack Kerouac's Tristessa, and Bond's own Freudian Slippers) with folk and rock music (Leonard Cohen, Foreigner). Built around a Southern pulp-noir heroine named Hazy Limbo, The Moon in the Gutter brings the New York-based Bond back to S.F., if only for a while. See him at 10 p.m. at the Climate Theatre, Fort Mason Center, S.F. The Moon in the Gutter continues Fri & Sat through Oct. 14. Tickets are $10; call 392-4400.

Op-Ad Want to pay money to watch commercials? "The Best of the Best: British TV Advertising Awards" hopes to sell you on the idea. Drawn from over 2,000 entries in the British Television Advertising Award competitions, the program features 89 award-winning ads. Viewers can expect several appearances by Monty Python's John Cleese, and a Grand Prize clip that has something to do with condoms. "The Best of the Best" screens at 7 and 9 p.m. (and continues through Monday) at the Castro Theatre, Castro and Market, S.F. Tickets are $7; call 621-6120.