Rekindling spirit of campfire girls
For those who say a woman’s place is in the kitchen, we say humbug. Girls like to play outdoors with fire just like boys, and Karen Brooks, Diane Morgan and Reed Darmon submit as evidence the new book “Dressed to Grill” (Chronicle Books; $16.95). It’s the distaff side of charcoal and ribs, written as part…
Dawg
ruff ruff
There and back
Movie: 13 Conversations About One Thing
From down under
Movie: The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course
The “Road” we’re on
Movie: Road to Perdition
Con Aires
Movie: Nine Queens
There and back
Movie: 13 Conversations About One Thing
From down under
Movie: The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course
The “Road” we’re on
Movie: Road to Perdition
Con Aires
Movie: Nine Queens
Catching hell
Step into these shoes: A married, upper-class, working mom is stuffing blue jeans into the washing machine when a note falls out. From the crumpled page, the words “blow job” leap out. Further inspection reveals what would be a typical teen exchange, except for the crude and graphic description of how one of her daughter’s…
Stone Soup unplugged
On June 26, Orlando code enforcement officers cited the Stone Soup Collective with numerous violations, the most important of which is noise. That means the collective can’t continue to have the punk and hardcore shows that have kept the nonprofit, volunteer-run organization afloat. Last month, for instance, the venue had 27 nights of live music,…
‘Nuts to you,’ says bolting robot
In June in Rotherham, England, Gaak the robot, which is part of a research project into equipping robots to think for themselves, escaped from the lab while it was momentarily unattended and made it as far as the parking lot of the Magna science center before being stopped by a visitor’s car. It had forced…
School of hard knocks
As I’ve stated before in this space, I love movies and see as many as I can, but there are some I don’t mind missing. School movies fall into that last category. I don’t miss sitting in a classroom enduring some antique opus that was even more tedious than our usual human presenters. One school…
Plays well with others
I received an e-mail a few weeks ago from one of the many actors who in 2001 left Orlando to seek their fortune in Los Angeles. He had just completed his first performance with an all-West Coast cast, and he wasn’t at all happy with the experience. “Every one of them steals the spotlight as…
Playing the telephone game
This is supposed to be serious. Showtime, in light of its success in gay programming with Queer as Folk, has switched its promotions into high gear to match the timely annual lip-syncs of gay pride in a city near you. As the crescendo to it all, they’ve decided upon a countrywide conference call to alert…
Learning from a loss
A few weeks ago, my mom died after a long illness. Her death certificate says that her demise was due to natural causes, and truly, short of an autopsy, we will never know which of her many health problems finally did her in. Whether it was the cancer, or the lupus, or her advanced rheumatoid…
Hooked on ‘phonics
During the ’70s and ’80s, many European composers and musicians found lucrative side work writing and recording instrumentals for collections of what’s called “library,” “background” or “production” music — the tunes that filled the void in budget-minded TV and film projects. Because of the nature of the recordings, many artists used clever aliases to hide…
During the ’70s and ’80s,…
During the ’70s and ’80s, many European composers and musicians found lucrative side work writing and recording instrumentals for collections of what’s called “library,” “background” or “production” music — the tunes that filled the void in budget-minded TV and film projects. Because of the nature of the recordings, many artists used clever aliases to hide…
Sidewalk talk gets serious
Anyone lying or sitting on downtown sidewalks could soon be arrested if the Orlando City Council passes an ordinance prompted by business owners complaining about the large number of homeless people who have set up camp in the city’s 35 panhandling zones. The panhandling zones, often called blue boxes because of the color the city…
