KATA TONIC
Fusion lounge invigorates Orlandoâ??s Thai dining scene
TURKISH BAN BROKEN
Author breaks silence on Armenian genocide
Because I Said So
Because I Said So Studio: Universal Pictures Rated: PG-13 Release Date: 2007-02-02 Cast: Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Gabriel Macht, Tom Everett Scott, Lauren Graham Director: Michael Lehmann WorkNameSort: Because I Said So Our Rating: 1.50 Because I Said So director Michael Lehmann is the guy responsible for Heathers back in 1989, which makes his continuing…
Yojimbo/Sanjuro
Yojimbo/Sanjuro Studio: Criterion Collection Rated: NOT RATED Release Date: 2007-01-23 Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Eijiro Tono (II), Kamatari Fujiwara (II), Takashi Shimura, Seizaburo Kawazu Director: Akira Kurosawa WorkNameSort: Yojimbo/Sanjuro Want to know a secret? Great films, even when they’re ‘classicsâ?�, are supposed to be fun. And a great director like Akira Kurosawa might be able to…
The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. 1
The Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. 1 Studio: Fantoma Rated: NOT RATED Release Date: 2007-01-23 Director: Kenneth Anger WorkNameSort: Films of Kenneth Anger, Vol. 1, The This single disc collects the five most important and enduring Kenneth Anger shorts from 1947 to 1954, including the notorious homoerotic dreamfilm Fireworks. The iconoclastic avant-garde experimentalist has been…
The Doctor, the Tornado & the Kentucky Kid
The Doctor, the Tornado & the Kentucky Kid Studio: Docurama Rated: NOT RATED Release Date: 2007-01-30 Director: Mark Neale WorkNameSort: Doctor, the Tornado & the Kentucky Kid, The Ewan McGregor may have loosed a lot of bad acting on the world, but he’s a big fan of motorcycles and motorcycling, so we must forgive him…
Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo
Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo Label: Vice Records Length: LP Release Date: 2007-01-20 Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo Cole Alexander and co. may have the blogosphere fooled ‘ they’ve been described as ‘slurred swashbucklersâ?� and ‘the best kind of badâ?� ‘ but Los Valientes (recorded live in Tijuana) exposes the…
Convicts
Convicts Label: Yep Roc Length: LP Website: http://www.youami.net Release Date: 2007-01-23 Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Convicts You Am I is yet another group incredibly successful in its homeland ‘ Australia, in this case ‘ that has yet to make any notable impression here in the U.S. YAI’s latest, Convicts, isn’t likely to change things,…
There’s No 666 in Outer Space
There’s No 666 in Outer Space Label: Ipecac Length: LP Website: http://www.hellaband.com/ Release Date: 2007-01-30 Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: There’s No 666 in Outer Space Since busting out as Hella in 2001, the Cali duo of Spencer Seim (guitars) and Zack Hill (drum kit) have done it all and then some. Despite failing to…
Aerial Days
Aerial Days Label: Fat Cat Length: LP Release Date: 2006-01-12 Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Aerial Days In 2005, Fat Cat Records released the lilting eponymous LP of demos from Song of Green Pheasant’s Duncan Sumpner. Frilly folk marked Sumpner’s efforts, and plentiful vocal harmonies on ‘I Am Daylightsâ?� and ‘The Wraith of Lovingâ?� augmented…
SELECTIONS
;Thursday•1 ;;Jamie Foxx With three new Grammy nominations under his belt, including one for best male R&B album, it looks like actor Jamie Foxx’s bid to become a respected recording artist has been accepted. If only the portrayal of his R&B heartthrob role were more convincing. His singing’s all right, but not incredibly moving or…
MIND OVER METAL
Genres thrive in the darkness, outside the media spotlight. Attention only engenders legions of imitators, flush with money from trend-chasing A&R execs, quickly diluting any creativity that exists. For a long time, country music was the pariah, and then for a while metal was the redheaded stepchild of the underground scene. Now, with punk thoroughly…
PACIFIC CROSSING
;With their elegantly grotesque imagery, surreal sequencing and universally relevant (at least in developed countries) social criticism about the alienating effects of modern technology, late-’90s Japanese horror movies resonate with American extreme-cinema connoisseurs. While gorier than that period’s slasher fare, films such as Audition (1999) and Cure (1997) didn’t rely on graphic mutilations to shock…
CREATIVE BY DESIGN
;On a Friday afternoon, at the busy downtown intersection of Garland Avenue and Livingston Street, waiting for the walk signal has rarely sounded so complicated. Two young men in their 20s, each boasting a Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy photo ID dangling from their khaki belt loops, are debating with undue animation the merits of some…
THE MEDIOCRITY OF MANDY MOORE
;Mandy Moore is one of the most mediocre entertainers working today. Contrary to the American ideal of striving for perfection, this is not necessarily bad. ;;Being mediocre is underrated. On one end of the spectrum, there’s being one of the worst entertainers working today. On the other end of the spectrum, being one of the…
BLISTER
Digestively speaking, if somebody told me that I’d be whiling away my Sunday afternoon hangover at a posh recreation of an Iron Chef scenario — people actually competing … with food … food that smells like food — I’d probably be flushed down the toilet and halfway through my secret underground sewer escape route faster…
SAVAGE LOVE
;I regard this column, gentle readers, as a sacred calling, and I would never intentionally do anything that would cause you to question my judgment. Sound judgment, after all, is the professional advice columnist’s most precious commodity.; ;Nevertheless, I have — once again — auctioned off the right to give advice in this space. Auctioning…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
ARIES I have a warning and an encouragement for you. The warning: Don’t be like the Roman emperor Caligula, who declared war on the god of the sea and commanded his troops to hurl their spears into the water. The encouragement: If you heed my warning, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to…
THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
;What a scene the Amway Arena was last weekend. With John Mayer on the marquee, it was a veritable hen parade, sprinkled with the occasional flipped collar. Having an enormous female following is something most guys would want to brag about (dude, I so relate), but if you’re a serious musician and the most artistically…
CURRY CORRIDOR
Take a drive down OBT south of S.R. 528 and you’ll notice clothiers, jewelers, grocers and, most notably, restaurants catering to Orlando’s burgeoning South Asian community. A bevy of hidden gems attract the Desi nation: Chaat House serves the type of texturally diverse street food so popular in bustling metropoles of the Indian subcontinent; Apna…
I LOVE TELEVISION
As we all know, there’s no conceivable reason anyone would want to watch football — other than it being a convenient conduit for alcoholism. That’s how my pop played it! He couldn’t give two craps about a bunch of knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers huffing and puffing down a field, playing keep-away with a pig’s bladder. However! When…
ARTS & CULTURE TO GO
;‘Monorail Inferno’ ;; There’s a curious similarity between eating a booger and hearing about disaster at Disney. They’re both bad, but each gives a curious sense of release. Back in the ’80s, a Disney World monorail car caught fire and gave local impresario Michael Wanzie a jumping-off point for this lengthy but engaging musical that…
FAUX POPULISM
How do you sell an unpopular idea? Simple. Gin up interest in it and hope it gains momentum. That’s the strategy behind the “grass-roots” organization recently formed to ram the idea of downtown’s Big Three — new performing arts center, renovated Citrus Bowl, new arena — down the throat of a reluctant populace. So far,…
HAPPYTOWN
;This wildly popular column will go anywhere for a story. Especially if someone else is paying for the flight — somebody like the loaded-for-bear liberal organization MoveOn.org, which doles out “travel scholarships.”; ;;Thus, we dispatched correspondent Jeffrey C. Billman to tag along with local activist Sandra Diaz and University of Central Florida professor Spencer Downing…
POLICE BEAT
JAN. 17, 4:40 A.M.: Most Orlandoans are still facedown in their pillows, snoozing, at such hours. But this early morn, at least one nerdy ne’er-do-well was up and at ’em. A 32-year-old man cozily slumbered at home in the 100 block of West Princeton Street until a noise emanating from the living room scared him…
FOUL
At some point in the near future, the Orlando City Council will likely approve an agreement to build the Orlando Magic a new arena. City leaders and Magic officials will tell us how terrific this “downtown events center” — a phrase that has replaced “arena” in city parlance — will be for our urban core.…
