11 things to make you appreciate your family

Whether your heart is warm and toasty after all the holiday bonding or you're simply sick of the patience-testing nagfests, you can't deny that family always gets you - or gets to you.

1. "I only cared about three things: the Catholic church, swimming and dancing - and I had to give them up." "Grey Gardens" is still collecting kudos with its recent entry into the National Film Registry and its Cinema Eye Honors Legacy Award.

2. The place to spot kin, en masse, digging into sprawling sundaes or queueing up for cones: East Bay ice cream institution Fentons Creamery ( www.fentonscreamery.com).

3. Akron/Family eschews today's oversaturated expression of Zen-like resignation - "It is what it is" - and embraces old-school Om with the release of "So It Goes," the first single off the forthcoming "S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT."

4. First dances, pedal-to-the-metal neighbors and Danny "Machete" Trejo as the school janitor? I wish my family arguments were as snappily written as those on "Modern Family."

5. Alfred Hitchcock didn't go the family-friendly route with "Family Plot," but the cheeky devil did add a dose of winking humor to this low-key thriller outfitted with kooky characters and S.F. locations. (Today at the Castro Theatre. www.castrotheatre.com.)

6. It's all in the family for the Bay Area's jingle-jangle Rantouls, what with guitarist Gavin May being married to drummer Lauren May and bassist Will Finn hooked up with Lauren's sister. (9 p.m. Sunday at the Hemlock Tavern. www.hemlocktavern.com.)

7. Us against the world? Any brood would have a good time getting a load of the canine eye candy at Fort Funston or braving the brisk breezes at Fort Point.

8. We're getting Loud, again. "An American Family," the influential documentary that gave birth to demon reality TV, is revisited in the upcoming behind-the-brouhaha HBO feature "Cinema Verite."

9. Still movin' on up? "A Raisin in the Sun's" Younger clan lands in the oughts in Bruce Norris' "Clybourne Park" at ACT (Jan. 20-Feb. 13. www.act-sf.org)

10. Forget "Gene Simmons Family Jewels" - when it comes to 90210 reality TV families, I'll chase the blingy, wildly over the top drama queens of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."

11. Band as family-like collective? The noisy, productive offspring of 7 Year Rabbit Cycle, Common Eider King Eider keep it real - and preciously small and intimate - with "Worn," eked out as 300-run LPs and 200 CD-Rs. (9:30 p.m. Fri. at the Hemlock Tavern. www.hemlocktavern.com.)

- Kimberly Chun, 96hours@sfchronicle.com Weigh in via the comments of the online version of this column, at SFGate.com.

This article appeared on page G - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle