She Likes to Watch

The 14th annual San Luis Obispo International Film Festival is over.

Peter Fonda strode off stage Saturday night. The final credits of the final film flickered on Sunday afternoon. Executive director Wendy Eidson packed up the festival office earlier this week.

Only 363 days until the next film festival? What’s a movielover to do?

For those who crave thoughtful cinema, there’s HopeDance FiLMs, an ongoing, enlightening series of movies and events.

The journey starts tonight with “The Real Dirt on Farmer John,” a look at farmer/actor/activist John Peterson.

That film will be screened at 7 p.m. at the San Luis Obispo City Library, 995 Palm St. in San Luis Obispo. A $5 donation is encouraged.

On Thursday, HopeDance FiLMs will screen “Sicko,” Michael Moore’s controversial documentary about the American health care system, as a fundraiser for Health Care for All.

Learn more at a question-and-answer series featuring representatives of Health Care for All. That free screening is 7 p.m. Thursday at the library; donations are encouraged.

Also playing this month:

“Subdivided: Isolation in Suburbia”
7 p.m., March 24
SLO Library

Filmmaker Dean Terry examines how suburban sprawl is changing the face of American neighborhoods, featuring commentary from “Bowling Alone” author Robert Putnam and James Howard Kunstler, who wrote “The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America’s Man-Made Landscape.” A discussion will follow the screening, for which a $5donation is suggested.

“Bill Hicks”
7 p.m. March 25
Honeymoon Cafe, 999 Price St., Pismo Beach

Celebrate the legacy of comedian Bill Hicks, who mixed outrageous humor with a passion for social justice. This documentary interviews his parents, David Letterman and other cohorts, while offering footage of Hicks’ stand-up routines. A $10 donation includes finger foods, which will be served at 6:30 p.m.

“One Giant Leap”
7 p.m. March 26
2975 Vineyard Dr., Templeton

It’s a new kind of music documentary. Learn about global music with Baaba Maal, Brian Eno and Michael Stipes, chat about philosophy with Anita Roddick and Tom Robbins, dance, listen and expand your mind. A donation of $5 is suggested.

The Reflecting Pool
6:30 p.m. March 27
Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St., San Luis Obispo

This new “investigative drama” challenges the official version of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Meet the film’s producers, director and some of the stars at this special screening, which requires a $10 donation.

The film will be screened again at 7 p.m., March 31, at the library. A $5 donation is requested for that screening.

For more information on the above films, visit the HopeDance Web site.

– Sarah L.

Though he was often portrayed as a typical California surfer dude, Kato Kaelin wasn’t ever a surfer. In fact, he wasn’t even from California.

He had ventured out to California from Wisconsin, with dreams of playing baseball at Cal State Fullerton. When he found the baseball studs at Cal State too intense for him, he concentrated on the entertainment industry, landing a commercial spot for Coke in his first ever audition in 1986.

Not long after that, he made his second TV appearance – on the lip sync show “Puttin on the Hits.” (He pretended to sing “Born to be Wild.”) After that, he landed small roles in movies like “Beach Fever,” “Save Me,” and “Hail Caesar” before a gruesome double homicide placed him in an international spotlight.

Kaelin will appear at the Spyglass Inn in Shell Beach this weekend, opening for the Unknown Comic, Murray Langston. The shows are put on by comedian Bob Zany, who often performs the Thanksgiving weekend shows himself but couldn’t make it this year.

Some tidbits from our interview with Kaelin:

• Kaelin was asked to do “The Surreal Life,” a reality show that threw several B-level celebs into one house for several days, but he had to pass since he was making a different reality show called “Houseguest” for Fox FX. “It’s just me knocking on door with luggage saying, ‘I’m TV’s Kato Kaelin and can I live here?’” Kaelin said. A pilot was made, but the show was ditched after an executive in favor of the show went to NBC.

• On the prospect of meeting O.J. again: “Maybe when he does go to trial, I’ll go up there and do some sort of news reporting. And I’m sure I will be confronted. But there’s nothing really to say. If he says, “Hi, Kato,’ I guess I would just say hi.”

It might be more awkward, though, after this video he made for National Lampoon:

• Some of the viewer comments about that video oddly veer off to a tangent about the war in Iraq. The viewers probably didn’t know that Kaelin’s nephew was killed in Iraq.

• Kaelin was also recently the subject of a recent About.com commercial featuring 200 dancing Katos.

• On doing O.J. jokes: “I told Murray I didn’t want to talk about the trial, but I’m going to now. I’m probably just going to do five minutes and get that all out of the way and talk about the stuff people always ask me . . . and just do some of the comedy from that.”

• On being a frequent guest at the Playboy Mansion: “It’s what you make of it. You can have the most wild time and be crazy if you want to, but I bring my girlfriend all the time. My friends say, ‘Why do you bring a sandwich to the buffet?’”

• On being asked to do TV shows about O.J.: “If I have something to publicize, I’m all for it now. Because it’s been 13 years and I figure, ‘You know what – my life goes on and I like people to know what’s going on.’ And I love talking about Lampoon wherever I go. I grew up on ‘Animal House,’ and it’s a tradition.”

-Pat P.

Comedy may be an art form, but you rarely encounter comedians who are actually artists.
Chris Fairbanks, the headliner this weekend at Bob Zany’s Comedy Outlet, is an exception.
A stand-up comic and actor whose credits include “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and Comedy Central, Fairbanks creates oil paintings and graphic designs featured in Snowboarder and Freeze magazine.
He’s currently an action sports correspondent for Fuel TV, a cable network covering sports and music. Check out his work at www.chrisfairbanks.com.

Performing with Fairbanks is prison guard-turned-comic Jim Summers.
According to his MySpace profile, Summers spent fifteen years at a guard at prisons in Soldedad and the Salinas Valley. At the same time, he kicked off his comedy career by performing after work at San Francisco coffee shops and clubs.
Summers retired due to back injuries, and now works as a comic full-time. Hear his schtick at www.myspace.com/jimsummers.

The comedians will perform two shows at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday at Bob Zany’s Comedy Outlet – just days before Fairbanks heads to Las Vegas for the HBO Comedy Festival.
The venue is located upstairs from the Embarcadero Grill, 801 Embarcadero in Morro Bay. Tickets are $15.
Call 772-0716 or visit www.bobzany.com for more information.

– Sarah L.

Get ready for a funny weekend.
Standup comic Dan Grueter, a regular on radio’s nationally syndicated “The Bob and Tom Show,” plays four separate shows Friday and Saturday at Bob Zany’s Comedy Outlet in Morro Bay.
Grueter recently finished a pilot for NBC, “Be Careful What You Wish For.”
The Ohio native has also appeared on “The Late, Late Show” on CBS, “Comic View” on BET, and “National Lampoon’s Funny Money” on GSN (formerly the Game Show Network).
On his Web site, Grueter describes his comedy style as quick and clean. “By the end of his show, you’ll feel like you’ve know him your whole life,” the site said.
He’s joined on stage by Natasha Leggero, best known for her recurring roles on Comedy Central’s “Reno 911!” and the Fox sitcom “’Til Death.”
The host of MTV’s “The ’70s House,” Leggero has also appeared on “The Late Late Show,” Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend” and NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

***

Grueter and his fellow comedian perform at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday, at Bob Zany’s Comedy Outlet. It’s upstairs at the Embarcadero Grill, 801 Embarcadero in Morro Bay.
For more information, call 772-0716 or visit www.bobzany.com.