One from the chap book
Movie: The Kid Stays in the Picture
Legally redneck
Movie: Sweet Home Alabama
Doughnut divinity hits Altamonte
Considering how many people lined up when the first Krispy Kreme opened in Orlando, I figured doughnuts must have magic powers. But when I heard about yet another fried-cake franchise heading for town, I sort of yawned. Well, shut my mouth and call me Slappy, because Hotties (400 W. SR 436, Altamonte Springs; 407 389-4500)…
One from the chap book
Movie: The Kid Stays in the Picture
Legally redneck
Movie: Sweet Home Alabama
The eyes have it
‘The picture is far too big to look at, kid. Your eyes won’t open wide enough and you are constantly surrounded by that swirling stream of what is and what was,” seethes Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes at the outset of the new album, “Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear…
Doughnut divinity hits Altamonte
Considering how many people lined up when the first Krispy Kreme opened in Orlando, I figured doughnuts must have magic powers. But when I heard about yet another fried-cake franchise heading for town, I sort of yawned. Well, shut my mouth and call me Slappy, because Hotties (400 W. SR 436, Altamonte Springs; 407 389-4500)…
Mickey lops heads at school district
The Orange County School Board needed an image boost to convince voters to back its half-cent, school-construction sales tax. Walt Disney World wanted the tax to pass since it would save $50 million in 13 years from a property-tax cut included in the measure. The solution: Bill Kivler, Disney’s technical director of global engineering. In…
Pearlman: The Church Street boy?
Boyband Svengali Louis J. Pearlman has his eye on a chunk of Church Street Station, with the idea of turning it into a broadcasting studio/city backdrop similar to the set-up MTV uses for its afternoon “TRL” program. If the deal goes through the new studio will be used to broadcast the third installment of Pearlman’s…
Who’ll talk for the teachers?
There’s an oft-repeated anecdote about how Florida’s education system — 40 years old and rooted in progressive reform — got torn apart and rebuilt, and it goes like this: One night in 1999, Gov. Jeb Bush was having dinner with then House Speaker John Thrasher. Conversation got around to the university system, which both men…
Truly obscene
When I wrote a column about contraceptive use by American women for the Seminole Community College newspaper, The Scribe, it occurred to me that I might offend a few people. What I didn’t expect was that college administrators would be so put off by language like “stupid bitches,” “damn” and “ass” that they would threaten…
Onward Christian Sara
Walk through the doors of the House of Hope’s south Orlando facility and you immediately come face-to-face with the Christian right’s unofficial trinity: two 1980s-era pictures of President Ronald Reagan flanking a painting of Jesus. Just below that is a copy of House of Hope director Sara Trollinger’s new book, “Unglued & Tattooed: How to…
An estrogen party
“I’m gonna get my ass kicked for this,” says Kyle Justin, the muscle behind Ladyfest Orlando (www.ladyfestorlando.org), “but women are just more creative than men.” That might sound strange coming from most men, but Justin, 27, describes himself as a longtime feminist who has always favored female musicians to their male counterpart. (He’s a musician…
God’s gifts to humanity
The 12-story, earthquake-proof, $190 million Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels was dedicated in Los Angeles in September, celebrated not only for the obligatory gift shop ($24.99 for house Chardonnay), the ATM and the $12-a-day parking garage, but for the private crypts underneath at prices of $50,000 to $3 million. “`That’s` kind…
Leave it to the men?
Clearly, Joe Fatone is out of his mind. As the corpulent father of “Big Fat” star Joey Fatone of ‘N Sync, Joe would probably best serve the public by respectably obeying his self-imposed retirement and living off the fat of the ham. But that would be no fun, would it? Instead, Joey Sr. is doing…
Mall apologies
With a grand flourish, high-end retailers like Neiman Marcus, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s have flocked to Mall at Millenia, the 1.2 million square foot shoppers’ paradise opening Oct. 18 in south Orlando. But every commercial mecca has its dark side, and through unequaled journalistic prowess Orlando Weekly has obtained a list of proposed stores that were…
