Alex Beckstead, Maker of Paperback Dreams

Why should we keep local bookstores alive?
Because faster and cheaper isn't always better, and because diversity of thought and ownership are both critical to innovation and the vibrancy of local culture and an informed citizenry. One of Cody's past employees once drew an analogy between the value of independent bookstores and the Slow Food Movement. As much as I love the internet, I think we're overdue for a Slow Culture Movement. I mean, movies replaced books to some degree, and then TV replaced movies and now 3 minute You Tube clips are replacing TV. There's a lot of value in the way culture is speeding up, connecting, and democratizing. But there's also a richness and a value that can only come from the experience of being alone with 500 well written pages. Breadth is great, but so is depth. I believe in the value of a liberal education, and I admire people who aspire to informed generalism. That's independent booksellers in a nutshell. Carlo Petrini launched Slow Food by passing out pasta in front of McDonald's in Rome. I wish a bookish version of Petrini could lead people by the laptop to a great independent bookstore.

People should see this movie because.
It's easy to think of places like independent bookstores as eternal parts of the landscape. They were there before us, they'll be there after. It's not necessarily true. Keeping interesting bookstores alive means spending money there, showing that we value them by opening our wallets and letting them help expand our minds. Daniel Mendez, who gathered the investors who saved Kepler's, points out that people feel the loss of an independent bookstore when closes, but that they forget that these stores are something they love and value when the crisis passes. He says booksellers need amnesia prevention. The film is an act of amnesia prevention, and I hope it starts a conversation about the value of books and bookstores.

Also, if you're worried about a movie about bookstores being boring, it features multiple bombings, political intrigue, major political figures, and at least one bona fide rock star. And this will probably be your only chance to see it outdoors. With free cookies.

You've Got Mail-- the documentary?
Former Cody's owners Andy Ross and his wife Leslie Berkler met when they were working for competing bookstores around the corner from each other. Leslie was working for the chain, Andy for the independent. That's where the similarities end. This was before email. There's no role here for Steve Zahn.

Name
Alex Beckstead

Introduce yourself in one sentence
Hi, I'm Alex.

Age and Occupation
33. Filmmaker.

Home Town
Born in Salt Lake City. San Francisco is my adopted home.

How long have you lived in the Bay Area and Where?
9 years in the Bay Area. Three in Mountain View, Two and a half in a non-neighborhood near the Cow Palace that was technically San Francisco. The balance in the Inner Sunset. I got lost here on the way to graduate school. Never made it to class, but fell in love with San Francisco. It's almost completely cured me of city-envy. I still go other places and think they're great, but I don't feel sad when I get to go home.

Favorite place to spend time online
A lot of the usual suspects: Google, SF Gate, NY Times, Facebook, but not My Space. Wikipedia, even thought I know it can't be trusted. I keep an RSS reader full of friend and family blogs, plus some parenting and food and wine stuff. I belong to an online secret society where we talk about things to do with limes and Barack Obama. (That sentence was intentionally written poorly for comic effect.) That's all I can say about it. Lately I'm listening to a lot of stuff from The NPR Music Site. Strange Maps is a fascinating blog. I can spend more time than I probably should browsing the health department inspection scores of San Francisco restaurants. Good Reads. A friend gave me a password to the OED online, which was pretty cool. I loved that Simon Winchester book. I'm looking for a friend with a Lexis-Nexis password and a tendency to intellectual promiscuity.

Favorite local business
Oh like there's only one. The bookstores I've mentioned, of course. The many restaurants of Irving Street and Clement Street and environs. Le Video.

What I'm currently Reading
Right now it's Libra by Don DeLillo. Cormac McCarthy before that, a Murakami novel before that, and over the last few months I finished Taylor Branch's history of the civil rights movement, which is to say the history of America 1956-1968. 3,000 pages worth the investment of time and attention. Lately I keep a log on Good Reads.

Best Deal in San Francisco
Vietnamese food, almost anywhere but the Slanted Door. I know we're supposed to be a burrito town, but there's a lot of good pho out there for less than $8.

Favorite mode of transportation
A pair of comfortable shoes.

Best Band or Musician to come out of the Bay Area
I'm using this question to plug for Nate Grover, who composed the music for Paperback Dreams, and his band Love Is Chemicals. I won't say they're underrated, because everyone who hears them seems to love them. But they should fall on more ears.

Favorite Bay Area Stereotype, and whether or not you buy into it
That we're a bunch of snobs. We can't help it that we're smarter and better looking than the rest of the country.

Favorite local hangout
Golden Gate Park. I live in the Inner Sunset and have an office in the Richmond, so the park is like having the world's greatest back yard, no lawn mowing required.

SF has the BEST
Food. Regardless of your budget. There's no other city in the world I've encountered where you can get such a diversity of good food, from cheap thai noodles to a four course French inspired sit down.

You've never lived in SF until
You've been eating lunch when a pack of nude war protesters on bikes pass by and you look up, but take that next bite without missing a beat.

Favorite Bay area politician of past or present
Starchild. I don't necessarily agree with his positions, but I love his commitment to the democratic process.

You can tell someone is a local here IF
They think of Gavin Newsom as the conservative mayor.

SF would be soooo much better if only
I could buy a house here. I don't need much space, but I would really like my future in this city to feel secure.

Best Burrito
Any burrito with lettuce is an abomination. My personal faves are regular veggie on spinach tortilla, refried beans, salsa fresca from La Fonda on Irving Street, or chicken mole from Papalote off Valencia.

Best Restaurant
I know this is a safe choice, but Chez Panisse. My wife and I go there once a year, and look forward to that meal the other 364 days. On a budget, my neighborhood favorite is Pho Tai from Yummy Yummy on Irving and 14th. Wilson, the owner, chided us for not going to Saigon when we visited Vietnam, but he still coos at our daughter when we go in there, anyway.

Best movie scene filmed in or about SF
The car chase in Bullitt. I don't even care that the geography was impossible. I used to live near where the gas station blows up at the end.

Place you always tell visitors to check out
Observation tower at the De Young. It's free. I've sent more than one random park tourist up that elevator.

Favorite Bridge in the area
Footbridge over the pond full of turtles in the Botanical Gardens.

You have two hours and $15 bucks to kill in SF, what are you going to do?
Go to a bookstore.