NORDIC ALIEN
Vikings and aliens and bears!
A FORMULA FOR SUCCESS
Mathematician-turned-chef provides a solution
COMMENTS
Serving homos and pervs I was sitting at Panera Bread at Lake Eola on Sunday afternoon, enjoying the weather, when this father and son sat at the next table. “No big deal,” I thought as I went back to just relaxing. Boy, was I wrong! The son was 10, maybe 11, and said to his…
FREE ENTERPRISE
Strange/Gibberish isn’t a record label, but they release albums. They’re not a band or a collective, but they support each other in the same way. They’re from Orlando, but not only from Orlando. “I guess the goal at Strange/Gibberish is to promote hip-hop and music in general. To be creative and unbound,” says Omar Laracuente,…
REPO MAN
Darren Lynn Bousman is an impulsive guy, a trait that usually bites him in the ass — never more so than the day he moved to Orlando. “Sorry you moved out here but I can’t see you.” That blunt statement awaited him at his new apartment, taped to his door and signed by the girl…
SULTANS OF PSYCH
Nestled in the drab planned community of Columbia, Md., rests the namesake of Animal Collective’s ninth album, an outdoor concert venue with a 16,500-person capacity. Since opening in 1967, the Merriweather Post Pavilion has played host to a multitude of storied rock and pop legends: the Grateful Dead, Depeche Mode, Genesis, the Eagles, Madonna. By…
LIKE A BUNNY
The Velveteen Rabbit, a 1922 children’s book by Margery Williams, has been a perennial bedtime favorite for almost a century. Loved by kids and adults alike, the tale chronicles a stuffed rabbit’s relationship with its young owner, as well as its longing to “become real” — something that can only happen when a toy is…
DUKAKIS IN THE HOUSE
Oscar-winning actress Olympia Dukakis is attending Orlando Shakes’ Playfest to present two readings (Jan. 30 and 31) of Another Side of the Island, her new female-led adaptation of Shakespeare’s Tempest. She gave us a few minutes on the phone to share her thoughts on … … the appeal of The Tempest. “The idea of forgiveness…
HELSINGER AND HISSOM
There was a moment in rehearsal for Wittenberg when the soul-selling character of the fictional Dr. Faust, played by Jim Helsinger in a Groucho Marx—inspired take, picks up a guitar and starts to really rock. That’s when Eric Hissom, playing the idealogically opposite role — Martin Luther, of Protestant Reformation fame — connected with his…
WHAT’S GOD GOT TO DO WITH IT
It began seriously with publication of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, which became a best-seller for a previously obscure neuroscience grad student named Sam Harris. And it’s grown into what Wayne State University professor Ron Aronson calls “a remarkable intellectual wave.” What “it” is doesn’t have a simple name,…
REALITY BITES
On Jan. 15, Buddy Dyer acquiesced to reality. In a statement, the Orlando mayor finally acknowledged that given the economic downturn, his $1.1 billion plan — at least $1.8 billion with interest, though given the calamitous credit market, probably more — to build an arena and a performing arts center and renovate the Citrus Bowl…
BLISTER
Do you remember the future? You know, that hologram carrot dangling from a pixilated stick, compelling you in your Judy Jetson heels to chase colorized hot air around the circle of life until your skin wrinkled, your ankle broke and then, like so many fat Frogger frogs, you died underneath a virtual car? I do.…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
ARIES (March 21-April 19) In The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce defines history as “an account mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.” Bear that in mind as you read this: You won’t make history in the coming weeks. You will help generate an important…
SAVAGE LOVE
I love the wife I married two years ago, but she absolutely can’t come unless she uses a vibrator on herself. She’s asked me to let her use it during sex or for me to use it on her, but I’ve refused. It’s bad enough knowing I can’t compete with that thing without having to…
THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
While everybody else is busy being angry at Dubya for this mountain of shit we’re in, I’m still angry at everybody else. Hate the guy all you want, but there were enough of you who allowed him to do it — two separate times. He may have famously flubbed the “fool me twice” adage, but…
LIVE ACTIVE CULTURES
Otronicon V.4 opened Friday at the Orlando Science Center for another annual edutainment orgy of video-gaming goodness (and continued through Jan. 20). I arrived just in time for Saturday’s headlining event: an honest-to-God Halo-themed wedding between Desirai Labrada and John Henry, two local Xbox addicts who fell in love through online competition. MTV News, which…
POLICE BEAT
Jan. 8 (2009-11646) 1:04 p.m.: There’s a special place in hell for people who scam naive elderly folks out of their savings. Like the couple who approached a 79-year-old Hispanic woman in a grocery store and told her they had a winning million-dollar lottery ticket that they couldn’t claim because they didn’t have proper documentation,…
HAPPYTOWN
You’d think that given the drubbing the South took 150 years ago, the fact that we just swore in a black president and the perception of Confederate flag-wavers as inbred hicks, folks wouldn’t want to advertise their love of the Confederacy on a license plate. But they do! And they’re suing to get it. On…
This is a change…
(H/T Andrew Sullivan.) While you’re at it, check out the newly redesigned whitehouse.gov. There’s a blog. And a promise that all non-emergency legislation will be posted on the site and open to comments for five days before the prez signs it.
Obama’s First 100 Days: The Musical!
Here’s a little experiment: whatever you want Obama to do as President, find a song that goes with it. Science says people respond to songs on a cerebral level. So I’m gonna do just that and give my (and others’) recommendations to Obama regarding his first 100 days in office via song. Because it’s all…
