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Jul 11-17, 2001

Jul 11-17, 2001 / Vol. 17 / No. 28

Lion hunters kill without Simba-thy

A Tucson, Ariz., international big-game-hunting organization recently pressured the government of Botswana to lift its ban on shooting at the rapidly dwindling lion population, with help from three of the group’s highest-profile members: former President George Bush, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and former Vice President Dan Quayle. According to a leading Botswana conservationist, rich hunters (safaris…

Chuck Shepherd

A chip off the old Block

“Are you like a stylist or publicist or something?” giggles the Britney across from me. She’s pigtailed it from Daytona with two friends to attend XL106.7’s July Third nightmare of girl sweat and screams, “Red Hot and Boom,” and is currently holding court in the bustling lobby of the Altamonte Springs Embassy Suites, where the…

Billy Manes

Drama duo leaves the curtains open

Here’s an idea to chew on: What would the world be like if actors could do anything they wanted? Well, Charlie Sheen’s day-to-day routine probably wouldn’t change much. But from a professional standpoint, most of his fellows in the field would find their horizons greatly widened. They would at least be freed from hearing those…

Steve Schneider

Imagine there’s no heaven

What do the initials WDI stand for? Walt Disney Imagineering, of course. The talented folks who create all those rides and shows for the Disney theme parks. The proud Imagineers themselves might have joked at one time that it stands for “We Design the Impossible.” But after 18 months of staff cuts, the atmosphere at…

Jim Hill

Karma chameleon

“Just be yourself.” People get this advice a lot when they’re trying to make a good impression — for example, on a date or a job interview. But you notice that people don’t get this advice in court. You never see a TV crime show where the lawyer tells the defendant, “Just be yourself.” They…

Liz Langley

Itâ??s 1985, and a 14-year-…

It’s 1985, and a 14-year-old boy has just received his first shipment from the Columbia House Record & Tape Club: 12 albums for a penny, including Duran Duran’s “Rio,” Thomas Dolby’s “The Golden Age of Wireless,” The Police’s “Ghost in the Machine” and Billy Joel’s “The Stranger.” The box arrives on a Saturday afternoon, and…

Noel Murray

DeVos backs down

Almost everyone except for the Sentinel’s editorial board guffawed when Orlando Magic owner Rich Devos demanded $121 million in tourist taxes to build himself a new arena for his 12-year-old franchise, suggesting that because the T.D. Waterhouse Centre didn’t have enough luxury amenities, the Magic were losing $10 million a year. Throughout, Devos warned that…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Taken for a ride

Mayor Glenda Hood’s administration has long pegged a downtown rebirth on the arrival of high-end residential housing. That point was made clear again with the recent decision to start running a “trolley” between upscale downtown apartments and the city’s lagging Farmer’s Market starting in September. The Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) approved $3,000 for the pilot…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Concrete divider

Mr. Answer man, could you tell us why a group of neighbors in the northeast Orlando community of Audubon Park fought the city when it tried to install sidewalks in their neighborhood? Residents allege that sidewalks bring skateboarders and burglars into yards and that they aren’t needed because Audubon Park is a safe, friendly community…

William Dean Hinton

Tijuana Flats Burrit

What can you say about a restaurant that makes a hot sauce called “Smack My Ass and Call me Sally”? When it’s a successful, locally-birthed chain like Tijuana Flats, I guess you grab your burrito and assume the position. If you’ve already attained that grand and potentially jobless title of “graduate”, Tijuana Flats will take…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Big Brother is spell-checking you

A funny thing happened on the way to an article the other day. I was writing an innocuous story — a feature about flying disc golf, no less — and happened to mention Wal-Mart in a sentence describing the horror of suburban big-box blight. Except, in my haste, I uncouthly typed “Walmart” by mistake. Thankfully,…

Dan Rubinstein

Way too much to drink

If you thought Evian and Perrier were the epitome of hydration, you haven’t seen “fitness water” yet. Aquèss has fiber, Calcium Springs has calcium, Glaceau adds soy, Propell (from Gatorade) has vitamins and Oxy-Water is “impregnated with extra oxygen.” I’ve actually seen people making coffee with “caffeine enhanced” Water Joe, and if you have a…

Joseph Hayes

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