Freedom 101 from the Freedom Filter
Now that your populist freedom gland has been well-milked by constant coverage of the pro-democracy protests in Egypt, you may be wondering how other countries of the world stack up when it comes to civil liberties. Look no further than the Freedom Filter, which casts a political map of the world in a color-coded arrangement…
Announcements: Deftones, Fleet Foxes
Couple of exciting announcements coming in this afternoon: The Deftones are coming to Hard Rock Live on May 21 with Dillinger Escape Plan. Tickets go on sale Feb. 4. Fleet Foxes have announced their new album, Helplessness Blues, will be released May 3 on Sub Pop. And you can download the title track for free!
So long DaVinci. Again.
Man, we were so jazzed when DeLand’s live-music spot Caffe da Vinci café reopened a couple years back as simply DaVinci. Having undergone some vital restructuring the intimate, casual hang seemed reinvigorated, hosting everyone from the Shotgun Party to Bombadil to our own (also extinct) Southern Fried Sundays on occasion. The one-time home of the…
Hump the shark
Here’s a category the SAG Awards need to institute sometime in the next few hours: Best Attempted Reverse Nepotism (Prime-Time Category). The likely winner? Joe Estevez, who’s supposedly angling to replace nephew Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Misogynists while the latter enjoys yet another round of what Elmer Fudd used to call “west…
James Cameron’s “Sanctum” CineTransformer in Orlando
Sanctum, the new 3D “experience” executive produced by James Cameron, opens on RealD and IMAX 3D screens on Friday, but before you head out to the theater, you may want to stop by the Sanctum CineTransformer mobile experience at A Comic Shop, near Full Sail (Google Map). The CineTransformer will, supposedly, immerse you fully “into the…
Every. Degrassi. Ever.
OK, maybe not Every. We’re talking Degrassi: TNG, here, not the million other prior incarnations of the smash hit Canadian teen soap that continues to push every television boundary, as pointed out in a vaguely interesting Entertainment Weekly “Special Report” on gays on TV. No, Degrassi’s not a “gay” show. It’s an “everyone” show. Gay,…
Amy Steinberg’s new CD has a release date!
Over three years after her last outing, 2007’s Fall Down to Fly, veteran local singer Amy Steinberg has a release date for her 8th – read that again: 8th! – independent album, Love Divine. Like her last couple of albums, this one was produced by the mighty Justin Beckler. Release date is March 12 and…
Best Doc Oscar Nom Restrepo on NatGeo Feb. 2
For anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, the Oscar nominated documentary that chronicles the deployment of a platoon of American troops in one of the most dangerous places in the world, Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, will make its television debut on Wednesday night on the National Geographic channel, at 8pm. The film, by journalists Sebastian…
Orlando Music News: Jason Ferguson’s new digs!
As many of you have rightly noticed over the last couple of months, OW contributor Jason Ferguson has been blogging up a blitzkrieg of local music news at BEATdown. Chock full of helpful info, his posts helped demonstrate what a vital and varied local scene we truly have. Alas, it proved to be a concept…
Film review: The Company Men (1 star)
A Great Depression II cash-in as condescending as it gets by Justin Strout The Company Men (*) opens Friday, Jan. 28 at the Plaza Cinema Café, Regal Winter Park and Regal Pointe Orlando In the Dark Ages, before I was allowed to sit on my ass and review movies for a living, I worked for…
Film review: Casino Jack (3 stars)
Kevin Spacey as the poster child for everything wrong in Washington by Rob Boylan Casino Jack (***) opens Friday, Jan. 28 at Regal Winter Park If you ever wondered where Washington went wrong, here’s your culprit: lobbyists. Essentially a brigade of well-dressed parasites attacking the central nervous system of our nation, they’re criminals who are…
Reminder: Life in a Day premieres tonight on YouTube
Conceived and pieced together by Ridley Scott and Kevin MacDonald (The Last King of Scotland), Life in a Day compiles thousands of hours of film shot by regular people, all on July 24, 2010, in an effort to paint a user-submitted portrait of just how much – and how little – can happen in a…
Walk the plank
Take the leap into Cedar’s Mideast eats
Blue Valentine
A marriage slips away in heartbreaking tale of lost passion
Live Active Cultures
Live Active Cultures experiences good vibrations
Faith, restored
Sony reminds the world of George Michael’s zeitgeist moment
Savage Love
I’m from the other side of the country
DVDs Nuts!
Lesser-seen OW approved titles
Camera Obscura
New show at Cornell challenges viewers to reconsider the photograph
Light fare
Musical comedy may be a bit silly, but it’s also satisfyingly sweet
This Little Underground
Our live music columnist takes on No Age, Obits, Gentleman Jesse & His Men, hot new locals Fever and the Lone Hymnal, and more
Empire of the fun
The Imperial 1800 N. Orange Ave.407-228-4403imperialwinebar.com More than anything else, the Imperial – the bar tucked into the back of Washburn Imports – is an example of a good idea brilliantly executed. The plan was to draw potential new shoppers into this Antique Row furniture store through the delicious allure of craft beer and wine,…
Planned personhood
The pro-life movement’s newest attack on reproductive rights raises its profile in Florida
Culture 2 Go
On Feb. 4, United Arts of Central Florida, a collaboration of pro-arts businesses, schools and arts organizations, kicks off ArtsFest, an annual celebration of the arts in which more than 220 venues open their doors to the public for free for a week – dance, music, performing arts, galleries – all free, all week long.…
Council Watch
Billy Manes paying attention to local government so you don’t have to
Happytown
Noisy tumbleweed Linda Stewart is back to rule the world, Alan Grayson will never stop pretending to rule the world and baseball will never really happen in Orlando. Strike!
Les misérables
Two films by celebrated directors raise a glass to gloom
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19) What rewards do you deserve for all the good living and hard work you’ve done since your last birthday? And what amends should you make for the mediocre living and the work you’ve shirked since your last birthday? If you choose this week to take care of these two matters with…
Gay legislation falls in the Florida woods. Will anybody hear?
A couple of quick queer hits today. Those of us still a little glassy-eyed over the utterance of the “G” word – albeit briefly – during last night’s State of the Union fingerwag can take some small Sunshine State pride in the fact that, despite all apparent futility, there are a couple of legislators on…
![New Concert Announcements [Pete Rock, Thee Oh Sees, Sebadoh, Sleigh Bells, more]](https://i0.wp.com/www.orlandoweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/pete-rockjpg.webp?resize=200%2C150&ssl=1)
New Concert Announcements [Pete Rock, Thee Oh Sees, Sebadoh, Sleigh Bells, more]
Lots of great new concerts on the horizon. Feb. 12: 3rd Annual Reggae Love Fest w/Sanchez, Wayne Wonder, Gyptian (Hard Rock Live) Feb. 12: Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers (The Social) Feb. 19: Alias Punch, Franchise, the Ludes (Peacock Room; this is an awesomely weird local bill, right?) Feb. 24: Pete Rock (Back Booth) Feb.…
![Park Ave CDs’ Top 25 of the week [Jan 17-24]](https://i0.wp.com/www.orlandoweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/the-decemberists-the-king-is-deadjpg.webp?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1)
Park Ave CDs’ Top 25 of the week [Jan 17-24]
Here are this week’s Top 25 best-selling CDs at Park Ave CDs. The Decemberists – The King Is Dead (Capitol) Social Distortion – Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes (Epitaph) Pearl Jam – Live On Ten Legs (Monkeywrench) Metallica – Live At Grimey’s (Warner Bros) Gregg Allman – Low Country Blues (Rounder) Mumford & Sons -…
Eiga Geijutsu, Kinema Junpo and the Best/Worst Japanese Films of 2010
Earlier today the Japanese film diary Eiga Geijutsu released their annual best and worst of 2010 lists. The indie film Heaven’s Story took the top spot in the Best Of list, while the Tetsuya Nakashima took the “worst” list with the Oscar short-listed Confessions. 2010 Best: 1. Heaven’s Story (Zeze Takahisa) 2. Doman Seman (Shibata…
Burns, baby, Burns
As all good Scots know, today is poet extraordinaire Robert Burns’ birthday. If you don’t recall your junior year lit class so well, his Scots language verses make the dialogue in Trainspotting sound crisp and enunciated. Regardless, he’d be 252 today if that rotten tooth hadn’t gotten him, and as per tradition there are many…
The Company Men also opening this weekend.
This JUST in, because the Weinstein Co. JUST told local reps who JUST told us: The Company Men, starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Costner and written and directed by West Wing and E.R. showrunner John Wells, is opening Friday. Still waiting on which theater(s). I’ll see if I can get my review…
![Live Music Tonight [Joan of Arc, Yo La Tengo]](https://i0.wp.com/www.orlandoweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/yo-la-tengo-wheeljpg.png?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Live Music Tonight [Joan of Arc, Yo La Tengo]
The undying ’90s live! [youtube fT28L43ZYaI] Joan of Arc plays the latest Parafora Presents Anniversary shindig at Back Booth with Pillars & Tongues, the Pauses, and Nicole Miglis. Over at the Social, Yo La Tengo is playing. Apparently, the band realized that, after 11,529 years, it might be about time to do something really ridiculous…
Win an “Ultimate Showcase Package” at FMF from Axis magazine
Reprinted without comment from the email announcement: The official Magazine of the 2011 Florida Music Festival, aXis Magazine is selecting one band that submits before January 31st, to win $1000 for Expenses, a MAINSTAGE Showcase Slot and an ARTIST FEATURE in the Official FMF2011 Guide! Submit before the next deadline at SONICBIDS.COM/FLORIDAMUSICFESTIVAL! All bands that…
Get a taste of the new Bob on Blonde EP
“Battle #4” is a brief blast of Bob on Blonde, and just went up for free on the band’s Bandcamp site to give you a taste of their forthcoming Banana Battle EP, which, in addition to being ridiculously titled, is out next week. These two dudes pack a whole lot of awesome into a minute’s…
![New CD release highlights for the week [Jan. 25]](https://i0.wp.com/www.orlandoweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wanda-jackson-the-party-aint-overjpg.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
New CD release highlights for the week [Jan. 25]
So many awesome and long-awaited records out this week, but to this guy, none are more awesome nor more awaited than the Jack White-produced resurrection of Wanda Jackson. Wanda Jackson is just the goddamned best, and Jack White knows this; he wisely lets Wanda be Wanda on The Party Ain’t Over, and the results rival…
