Art Walks

ONGOING 2/4-26 The experience of catching someone's eye in a crowd -- or, as it was called in the 19th century, "love at last sight" -- is one of the deliciously private moments enjoyed by the elusive figure of the flâneur. This wandering appreciator of the urban landscape, whose defining activity is walking around the city looking at things, was essentially invented by 19th-century poet Charles Baudelaire, but his pursuits still find devotees in 2005. At the art exhibit "Flaneur," curator Andrew Schoultz has put together the work of a handful of artists who identify with this slightly bored people-watching stroller, who on a good day might be found enjoying a glass of wine in a cafe. While Baudelaire wrote about the minutiae of the newly sprawling Paris, the pedestrians represented at "Flaneur" have made visual art about what they see in their own cities: New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. Get lost in the crowd at the opening reception, which features DJs Code 538, Terrible, and Tragic, at 7 p.m. on Friday (the show continues through Feb. 26) at the Punch Gallery, 155 10th St. (at Howard), S.F. Admission is free; call 595-6614 or visit www.punchgallery.com.
-- Hiya Swanhuyser In Tech We Trust
Science meets paranoia WED 2/2 If nothing else, 9/11 has ensured that we'll always give fellow airplane passengers the fish eye. That fellow there -- is he acting a bit furtive? That mom with a baby -- is there plastique in that diaper? A mass neurosis about security has arisen, and, as in so many other areas, science has stepped in to address it. In Katrina Heron's fascinating book Safe: The Race to Protect Ourselves in a Newly Dangerous World, the author outlines the new technologies of a scared America -- facial-recognition software, bioterror emergency simulators, souped-up code-breaking systems -- in a way that's simultaneously reassuring and horribly chilling as it dawns on the reader just how vulnerable we are despite our advances. As one Department of Energy worker puts it, if terrorists chose to focus on our power grid, "[T]hey could bring down the whole country for months." Heron reads from Safe at 12:30 p.m. at Stacey's Bookstore, 581 Market (at Second Street), S.F. Admission is free; call 421-4687 or visit www.staceys.com.
-- Joyce Slaton Classic Car Heaven
Where vintage autos live on THURS 2/3 Make no mistake: Living in a poor country sucks in most ways. But there are some surprising upsides, chief among them the fact that many cool old things tend to get preserved simply because no one can afford to buy new stuff. For example, thousands of retro cars throng Cuba's byways. Buick Roadmasters, Chevy Bel Airs, Model T Fords -- it's like the country's traffic froze at the time of the 1959 Cuban revolution. Author Christopher P. Baker discusses the phenomenon and shows slides from his book Cuba Classics: A Celebration of Vintage American Automobiles at 7 p.m. at Get Lost Travel Books, 1825 Market (at Guerrero), S.F. Admission is free; call 437-0529 or visit www.getlostbooks.com.
-- Joyce Slaton Tet-à-Tet SUN 2/6 After last year's official designation of part of the Tenderloin as "Little Saigon," this year's Vietnamese New Year Tet Festival should be a real blast, and we're not just talking about the fireworks. Expect dragon and lion dancing, a traditional Tet ritual ceremony, popular live music, great food, and lots of other kinds of street-fair fun starting at 9 a.m. in Little Saigon, Larkin between O'Farrell and Eddy, S.F. Admission is free; call 351-1038 or visit www.vietccsf.org.
-- Hiya Swanhuyser