The Moon, Two Planets and Two Openings

This extraordinary shot was photographed by Jim Herd last night, from Golden Gate Park. You see Jupiter on top, Venus in the middle and the glorious crescent moon below. Plotnik hopes you saw it because this particular convergence won't happen again until 2052.

Plot and Duck didn't see Jupiter, but they did see Venus and the moon hanging over their car as they ran out last night to hurry over to the Aurora in Berkeley for the West Coast premiere of George Packer's "Betrayed." Tonight there is a John Guare opening at SF Playhouse, and then tomorrow there's the Super Bowl as an excuse to go to two Super Bowl Parties, the first one in a new and local brewery around the corner that has definitely piqued Plotnik's interest. Supposedly the brewer is brewing up 3 gallons of home brew for the party, as the home brew and home-wine vintner revolution appears to be alive and flourishing in Snowy Valley.

"Betrayed" is about Iraqi translators working with American forces in Iraq, and how they have gotten screwed by absolutely everybody. When Plot and Duck got home from the play they turned on the news and listened to endless discourses on our economic meltdown. But face it: to us, this all still feels temporary, even though our common sense tells us really hard times are on the way. But we've got to keep things in perspective -- what we call an economic slowdown, these Iraqis would call Paradise.

You can read the San Francisco Theater Blog review of "Betrayed" here.