Comfort of Strangers
Comfort of Strangers Label: Astralwerks Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: Comfort of Strangers It’s a popular misconception that by stripping music down to the barest essentials you meet the real artist. What is Lennon without his double-tracked vocals, Waits without his junkyard assembly, Nirvana without the distortion? At least the Ramones never gave us an MTV Unplugged.…
Donuts
Donuts Label: Stones Throw Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: Donuts For his extensive history of creative contributions and collaborations – the long list most recently includes some production work on Common’s Be – Detroit beat maestro/MC J Dilla owns a rock-solid reputation in the game. On Donuts, his love for the buttery “late night soul” radio format…
ANTEBELLUM BLUES
If your trip to Captain and the Cowboy originates in Orlando, expect to spend mile after mile crawling north on U.S. Highway 441 through some of the worst scenery Central Florida has to offer: strip malls, billboards, shopping centers, gas stations, blah, blah, blah. Then suddenly, when 441 merges with State Road 436, you’ll pass…
SHOW BUSINESS
Mrs. Henderson Presents Studio: The Weinstein Company Rated: R Website: http://www.mrshendersonthemovie.com/ Release Date: 2006-02-03 Cast: Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, William Young, Kelly Reilly, Thelma Barlow Director: Stephen Frears Screenwriter: Martin Sherman WorkNameSort: Mrs. Henderson Presents Our Rating: 4.00 For a people with a reputation for being stuffy about sex, the British keep proving that they’re…
2 FAST 2 FATUOUS
The World’s Fastest Indian Studio: Magnolia Films Rated: PG-13 Website: http://www.worldsfastestindian.com/ Release Date: 2006-02-03 Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Lawford, Bruce Greenwood, Paul Rodriguez, Diane Ladd Director: Roger Donaldson Screenwriter: Roger Donaldson WorkNameSort: World’s Fastest Indian, The Our Rating: 1.50 No matter how impishly magical he may seem, your average wise old duffer is only repeating…
Occupation: Dreamland
Occupation: Dreamland Studio: Rumur Releasing Rated: NONE Website: http://www.occupationdreamland.com/ Release Date: 2006-02-03 Cast: Chris Corcione, Eric Forbes, Matt Bacik, Thomas Turner, John Blyler Director: Garrett Scott, Ian Olds WorkNameSort: Occupation: Dreamland Our Rating: 3.50 Forget that it’s, like, the 1,264th documentary about the Iraq situation and you’ll thank yourself at the end of Occupation: Dreamland.…
Paradise Now
Paradise Now Studio: Warner Independent Pictures Rated: PG-13 Website: http://www.paradisenowthemovie.com/ Release Date: 2006-02-03 Cast: Lubna Azabal, Hiam Abbass, Ashraf Barhoum, Lubna Azabel, Amer Hiehel Director: Hany Abu-Assad Screenwriter: Hany Abu-Assad, Bero Beyer WorkNameSort: Paradise Now Our Rating: 3.00 Even with a Golden Globe under its belt, this controversial meditation on suicide-bomber politics was relegated to…
I Love Television
As you’ve probably heard, last week’s announcement that The WB and UPN will be joining forces to create one slightly more popular network was every TV geek’s wet dream. I mean, C’MON! My remote finger was getting absolutely fatigued switching back and forth between Veronica Mars (UPN) and Smallville (WB). Now I can use that…
COMMUTER LITERATE
Tax Advice Offered At LYNX Central Station LYNX is partnering with the City of Orlando and Orange County Saturday (Jan. 28) for an event dubbed “Super Saturday.” Free tax preparation for persons who qualify for that benefit will be offered as well as educational services. — Golynx.com, Jan. 27, 2006 Enhance your lifestyle the small-town-transit…
SOUL RENEWAL
Some artists bring you into their world with their performance; in the case of soul singer Sharon Jones, it’s quite literal. She climbs up on the lip of the stage and sings right into the audience, exploding the perceived distance off the stage. It’s like she’s the hostess of a party, and she insists on…
Police Beat
Jan. 24, 7:32 a.m. : Here at Police Beat we understand — all too well — the pressures involved in meeting deadlines, so this week your correspondent will begin with a story about a little lost fax machine. On the 100 block of West Miller Street, our victim (male, 53) returned to work after the…
Morningwood, Margo Veil, Bold Art, Montanagraphic and more
Thursday • 2 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT! The Popcorn Flicks series of al fresco movie screenings has a song in its heart this month, employing MGM’s 1974 anniversary omnibus, That’s Entertainment!, as a crowd-pleasing clip reel of some of the greatest moments Hollywood ever put to music. Our favorite is the Anchors Aweigh! sequence that has Gene…
News of the Weird
At ease Even with the nation at war and casualties mounting, some Pentagon officials evidently believe that one way to reduce military families’ stress is to teach them to laugh. Its “laughter instructor,” retired Army Col. James Scott, holds therapeutic sessions around the country with National Guard families that feature walking like a penguin and…
Notable Noise
Ever watch someone disappear right before your eyes? I have. In fact, last Saturday (Jan. 28) I witnessed a larger-than-life someone in the process of receding into the alternate universe that is fame. The scene was the cavernous “backstage” area at the Bank Atlantic Center (fka Office Depot Center) in Fort Lauderdale, after my lovely…
Savage Love
I generally don’t agree with the advice you give, but I need help and I can’t talk to my friends. About two months ago I broke off a relationship with a guy I had been seeing for about seven years. I am only 24 and I needed to explore other fish in the sea! I…
Book Review
In recent novels, DeLillo has pushed language to the point where it doesn’t mean anything. Love Lies Bleeding feels like a brutal coda to this aesthetic. Boasting laconic yet liquid dialogue, the play conjures a family as they circle the wagons around fallen paterfamilias Alex, who has suffered a stroke. The drama which ensues will…
Blister
On the road to self-discovery, one typically encounters any number of liquor-filled potholes. On the road to Winter Springs — an elbow-to-ass circumnavigation of tollbooths and their quantified self-doubt — I’ve only managed to sustain a hangover, if not a slight buzz. It’s Saturday morning, after all, which isn’t typically my beat. From the vantage…
Book Review
Finally, a book about pornography that doesn’t get buried in socio-scientific mumbo-jumbo about exploitation and instead focuses on the garish, classless fun of it all. The Big Book of Porn is all bright colors, near-nudity – there are a few shots of boobs, but the one you’ll remember the most is probably the granny in…
Rob Brezsny’s Free Will Astrology
ARIES My friend Rose comes from a family that doesn’t include a single millionaire. On the other hand, many religious devotees, humanitarians and do-gooders have graced both sides of her family line. She thinks of herself as having received an inheritance composed of spiritual wealth. What about you? What are the special gifts of your…
UNBUCKLING THE BELTWAY
Ana Marie Cox’s contributions to the Wonkette blog (www.wonkette.com) have long been the finest synthesis of political gossip and sodomy jokes on the web. Describing its sensibility without the word “snarky” is like recounting Ben Affleck’s career without the word Gigli. However, it’s with no spirit of snarky schadenfreude that I must report that Cox’s…
Letters
Gay is the new retard While it would be an overstatement to call Billy Manes’ recent column about Brokeback Mountain a movie review `Blister, Jan. 12`, I’m glad he didn’t like it. I hated it too. But to be fair, I didn’t actually see it, I just hate it because of what it stands for:…
A DIFFERENT HAPPINESS
Should doctors ever diagnose a form of literary attention-deficit disorder, Vikram Seth would be their most famous and accomplished patient. In some 25 years, the Indian writer has ranged from poetry (Mappings) and travel literature (From Heaven Lake) to epic storytelling (A Suitable Boy) and novels in verse (The Golden Gate). His latest mania? Memoir,…
FUMBLE PIE
Felix Humble is a puerile and confused graduate student of astrophysics who has returned home, Hamlet-like, for his father’s funeral. There, he must contend with his shrewish mother, Flora; her lover, the somewhat thuggish George; and George’s daughter, Rosie, who Felix once abandoned after an abortive romantic fling. While waiting for his “Eureka!” moment –…
STAND-UPS AND SIT-DOWNS
With the recent death of Richard Pryor, the greatest comedian in the English-speaking world, this may be a good time to take the pulse of stand-up comedy. And, going on the basis of what we’re seeing in movies and on TV, it looks as if the old forms are losing steam. Conventional comedy concert films,…
Happytown
So, there’s this 19-year-old guy who says he’s spending an entire year at Disney World: 24 hours a day for 12 months, nothing but Disney, Disney, Disney. He’s eating there, sleeping there, buying Disney crap there in an attempt to create the world’s largest collection of Disney crap. One day a week he flies home…
HOLY NOODLES
In the beginning, He created a mountain, a tree and a midget. Thus sayeth the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the world’s newest and fastest-growing religion (at least in this newsroom). And if you’re looking to save your soul – or you see something supernatural in a really good mushroom ravioli – Flying Spaghetti…
DEAR BUDDY
Editor’s note: This is the third installment of a three-part series that explores the city’s homelessness dilemma. (Part One: `”Stalemate,” Jan. 19`, Part Two: `’Battle Ready,” Feb. 2`) Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer One City Commons 400 South Orange Ave. Orlando, FL 32802 Orlando, FL 32802 Dear Buddy, Let’s be honest. All this talk about relocating…
