Gladiator journalism
A definitive political thriller for our time
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Standard-issue sports movie found wanting
Not just another pretty space
Lago has good looks and the cooks to match
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Our little Stalinists As a past volunteer at Boone High School, it disheartens me that a school that has such high standards would fall prey to the games played by the superintendent `”All the news that’s fit to censor,” April 9`. If Mr. Blocker wanted to be mature about the situation, he would have had…
Blister
This is how the movie begins. The camera swerves nervously around an assembled crowd of shiny shirts with sleeves rolled up and low-cut blouses propped up by high-heeled shoes. Flicks of streaked hair glisten almost symphonically in a flirtation dance that, from a distance, must look like an errant power grid to those calling the…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19) One of the casualties of the recession has been grooming and primping. Many people are devoting less time and money to maintaining their appearance at peak levels. Make-up sales are down, and I’ve definitely been seeing more unkempt — or should I say raw and unadorned? — people lately. If you’ve…
Savage Love
My female roommate is astoundingly hot. Her room is being repaired (the ceiling fell in), and, at her request, I’m letting her and her boyfriend sleep in my room while I take the couch. I’ve been able to contain my attraction up to now, but I’m considering spying on her with a hidden surveillance cam.…
This Little Underground
The newest sprout in the field of local labels is Second Subject Recordings (secondsubject.com). The fact that its founder is Swamburger — the MC of Solillaquists of Sound and a significant scene-builder in his own right — makes it a particularly auspicious entry. Beyond just hip-hop or even music, the roster includes photographers, writers and…
Happytown
This week in the gay: Everyone’s a homo! First the Iowa Supreme Court struck down the state’s anti-gay marriage law, and wingnuts’ heads exploded amid cries of “judicial tyranny” while corn-husking butch lesbians made out on national television. Exciting! Then the Vermont Legislature approved its own same-sex marriage law over the objections of the state’s…
Council Watch
The billowing dark clouds of impending storms crept through the city’s air ducts and into council chambers at this week’s bad-mood celebration. The Rev. F. Jay Deacon — a Unitarian! — huffed and puffed about “crumbling dreams of despair” and “acid fog,” effectively blowing the house down. Still, it wasn’t all bad news, said the…
Police Beat
March 31 (2009-150527) 8:19 a.m.: Typos! “Unknown persao n(s) used a piece of concrete to smash the front galss door of `a tanning shop`. Once inside, the money from the cash regoister was taken.” (Case number missing) 6:04 p.m.: At a traffic stop, “a strong smell of cannabis was emitting from the open window of…
Confessions of a Pet Shopaholic
“T oo much of anything is never enough,” slinks pop music’s grand professor of miserablism, Neil Tennant, about halfway through the perversely asexual album opener “Love Etc.,” and with that all bets are off. Pet Shop Boys have always had a way with words and the sounds that seemingly oppose them — few others would…
The excellent and the esoteric at DBIF
Daytona Beach International Festival April 16-May 2 at Peabody Auditorium, News-Journal Center and other venues 888-978-3243 www.dbif.com (price varies according to event) The Daytona Beach International Festival packs a lot into 15 days. There are obvious highlights, from the London Symphony Orchestra’s classical and pops programs to star turns by Chuck Mangione (April 18) and…
That flute flow
Greg Pattillo and Project; 3 p.m. Friday, April 24;Stetson University, DeLand;386-822-7100;free ;; When flutist Greg Pattillo and his New York City–based trio, Project, hit town next week for the Daytona Beach International Festival, it will be with their usual genre-bending style – and at least as much energy as Pattillo brings to the keynote style…
Fringe: Getting closer
Fringe: Getting closer Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival May 14-25 at Lowndes Shakespeare Center and Orlando Repertory Theatre www.orlandofringe.org At the April 13 Fringe preview, producer Beth Marshall updated the audience (not quite a full house) on the ticket situation. Ticket sales have been delayed a week, until Monday, April 20, instead of going on…
Graffiti rules, for father and son
Graffiti rules, for father and son Generation & Progeny Through May 2 at Creative Spirit Art Gallery, 820-A Lake Baldwin Lane 407-898-8343; free www.creativespiritgallery.com The funny thing about Generation & Progeny, the small but pithy collection of works by Robin Van Arsdol and Jaeger Van Arsdol, isn’t that its big, messy canvases and hard-edged sculptures…
Swallowed by the cracks
On Nov. 19 at 3 p.m., Karen Fullmore received an unexpected phone call. She had taken the day off from the downtown Orlando law firm where she works, so her office patched the urgent call through to her cell phone. On the other end was a child’s voice. “This is Alexis, your goddaughter,” the girl…
Ponzi scheme
“Any Ponzi scheme can be sustained as long as new investors continue to be added to the pyramid. Problems emerge and the scheme breaks down when the inflow of new investors is no longer strong enough to provide payments to existing investors.” In those two sentences, buried inside an 89-page report on Florida’s economic future,…
