2007 is a bad year for philosophers
First, Robert Anton Wilson dies on January 11th. That was bad enough. But now, Jean Baudrillard has undertaken the ultimate deconstruction, one that ultimately, we all must face. From the Independent today: http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2341309.ece Jean Baudrillard, philosopher, social theorist and photographer: born Reims, France 29 July 1929; twice married (two children); died Paris 6 March 2007.…
300
300 Studio: Warner Bros. Rated: R Website: http://300themovie.warnerbros.com/ Release Date: 2007-03-09 Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Michael Fassbender, Vincent Regan, Dominic West Director: Zack Snyder WorkNameSort: 300 Our Rating: 4.00 300 is a steroid-fueled fantasy of male bloodlust inspired by Frank Miller’s graphic novel about the ancient Battle of Thermopylae between Greek Spartans ‘ a…
Gray Matters
Gray Matters Studio: Yari Film Group Rated: PG-13 Release Date: 2007-02-23 Cast: Heather Graham, Tom Cavanagh, Bridget Moynahan, Alan Cumming, Sissy Spacek Director: Sue Kramer WorkNameSort: Gray Matters Our Rating: 0.50 Gray Matters, but this movie certainly doesn’t. Heather Graham, wasting away her talents on garbage once again, plays Gray, a perpetually single New York…
Revenge of the Nerds: Atomic Wedgie Collection
Revenge of the Nerds: Atomic Wedgie Collection Studio: Fox Home Entertainment Rated: PG Release Date: 2007-03-06 Cast: Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards, Timothy Busfield, Andrew Cassese, Curtis Armstrong WorkNameSort: Revenge of the Nerds: Atomic Wedgie Collection The Superfluous Sequels Club has plenty of inductees in the crass comedy department alone ‘ Slap Shot, Caddyshack, Porky’s, Major…
Shortbus
Shortbus Studio: Velocity/Thinkfilm Rated: NOT RATED Website: http://www.shortbusthemovie.com/ Release Date: 2007-03-13 Cast: Paul Dawson, Lindsay Beamish, Adam Hardman, Sook-Yin Lee, Raphael Barker Director: John Cameron Mitchell WorkNameSort: Shortbus The cover of the Shortbus DVD screams ‘UNRATED,â?� as if John Cameron Mitchell’s post’Hedwig and the Angry Inch project had more in common with teen raunch romps…
John & Mary
John & Mary Studio: 20th Century Fox Rated: R Release Date: 2007-03-06 Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Mia Farrow, Michael Tolan, Sunny Griffin, Stanley Beck Director: Peter Yates WorkNameSort: John & Mary You’ve probably never heard of 1969’s John and Mary, and neither had I. That such a masterful, self-reflexive character study has been neglected boggles the…
ACHTUNG, BABY!
Strip-mall steakhouse plays hard to get
The Third Hand
The Third Hand Label: XL Recordings Length: LP Rated: NONE Website: http://www.rjd2site.com/ Release Date: 2007-03-06 Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Third Hand, The RJD2 swaps his almost alien sample-hunting ear for a full-band sound on The Third Hand, a departure that proves costly for the producer/DJ/songwriter. Aside from the masterful patchwork that makes up his…
Pocket Symphony
Pocket Symphony Label: Astralwerks Length: LP Website: http://www.pocket-symphony.com/ Release Date: 2007-03-06 Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Pocket Symphony Pocket Symphony will be identified as quite possibly the most understated event that French electronic act Air has ever hosted. Syrupy-warm vocal tracks on the duo’s fourth proper album sedate to great effect, but the hushed ambient…
Let It Roll
Let It Roll Label: Loose Length: LP Rated: NONE Website: http://www.willardgrantconspiracy.com/ Release Date: 2006-06-20 Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Let It Roll While the Willard Grant Conspiracy are another group considered a ‘collectiveâ?� (members freely come and go and its numbers are similar to those of a small summer camp), the musical vision is kept…
The Postmarks
The Postmarks Label: Unfiltered Length: LP Website: http://www.thepostmarks.com Release Date: 2007-03-06 Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Postmarks, The ‘Sometimes good things happen to us disguising themselves as bad,â?� Tim Yehezkely sings during the Postmarks’ girl-group tango ‘Let Go.â?� This Miami-based trio takes the opposite approach, smuggling melancholic lyrics into gorgeous chamber-pop tunes reminiscent of Camera…
SHOT OR NOT?
No one will argue cervical cancer isn’t deadly. The disease, which killed 30 percent of the 11,000 U.S. women it affected last year, ranks as one of the nation’s top causes of death. Any doctor is glad to roll out those statistics. For years, nothing short of abstinence and maybe luck could have prevented the…
GOOD, BETTER, WURST
Diners in search of a little gemütlichkeit (friendly atmosphere) with their brats and wursts will be happy to know that Bauern-Stube is back in business. The quaint South Orange Avenue gasthaus reopened last September after a raging fire in Christmas 2005 shut it down, and from the looks of it, you wouldn’t even know the…
BEEN THERE, PLAYED THAT
In the past month, I’ve bumped Diddy Kong off the road, cracked the whip on a fleet of vampires and buffed my warrior monk. All things, I might add, that I also did extensively in the mid-to-late 1990s. No, this wasn’t flashback week, where the dust mites get scraped off the Super Nintendo and PlayStation…
BLISTER
;I’m running again. ;;”Are you running again?” grills the reasonably cute goatee vacuuming his car next to my Chevron diesel pump, before adhering to the adhesive of his anti-Bush “01-20-09” bumper sticker, which he totally knows that I should appreciate. “I totally tried to vote for you last time.” ;;Aww. No, I’m running late again.…
TOM CRUISE: DOES HE GLOW?
It’s the third day of the Santa Barbara Film Festival and, any minute now, He will walk down the red carpet. Last night, Helen Mirren walked down this same red carpet, but, come on, does the Queen even compare to Him? He’s kind of like a god, when you think about it. Cinematically, at least.…
SAVAGE LOVE
I have a laptop at home. On occasion my best friend/roommate uses it to check her e-mail. On rare occasions her boyfriend uses it to check his e-mail — or so I thought. I have some naughty pics on my computer. They’re not on my desktop, so you can’t accidentally open one. I never felt…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
;ARIES “Dear Rob: As an experiment, I’ve been trying to soften myself — to stand in a room and not always take the lead, not assume that no one knows what they’re doing except me. It’s had an interesting effect so far: People seem more eager to play nice and offer good energy. But I…
THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
Before we get down, can everybody do me a favor? I’ve let this go on for years now without a word, but seriously, SHUT THE FUCK UP about American Idol already. The more pervasive it becomes in the national discourse, the more my optimism for humanity dims. Thank you … and now on to the…
I LOVE TELEVISION
And now, an important word about interrogation. There’s been a lot of hullabaloo lately regarding the Fox show 24 (9 p.m. Monday) and its repeated use of torture as a means of extracting information. Even the Army — who likes nothing better than to interrogate prisoners by cruelly dragging forks across a chalkboard — has…
ARTS & CULTURE TO GO
;The Iliad, the Odyssey ;and all of Greek Mythology ;in 90 Minutes or Less ;;It took Ulysses 10 years to get home after the Trojan War, and not even CliffsNotes can speed that up very much. For this Jester Theater Company production, local improv comedians Jay Hopkins (co-writer, director) and John Hunter (co-writer) jump on…
COUNCIL WATCH
;Uh-oh. What appeared on paper to be a swift operation wasn’t going to be brief at all. A dubious black table sat in front of the dais, as did a sea of people in very important suits. “Oh, that’ll move quick,” mayor’s assistant Heather Allebaugh assured, lying through her teeth. ; ;First on the docket…
HAPPYTOWN
To: National Geographic From: Your former friends at Happytown™ Dear Sirs: After reading your “article” on the City Beautiful in the March issue, we hereby — immediately and irrevocably (unless you start running pictures of naked indigenous peoples again, like in the old days) — cancel our subscription. Your “reporter,” whom we’ve never even met…
POLICE BEAT
;FEB. 21, 9:08 P.M.: The 36-year-old manager of a gas station was working diligently in the 5200 block of Bruton Boulevard this evening. The humming of frosty refrigerators and fluorescent lighting was interrupted, however, when one very naughty man, approximately 25, set foot indoors. ; ;This dude was no stranger either. Our manager immediately recognized…
LETTERS
How to stop a war I’ve been reading Orlando Weekly for some time now, and I’m glad that Michael I. Niman’s article, “Who’ll stop the war?” `Feb. 15` was put in your newspaper. Frankly, I think you guys could use a bit more political commentary. Though I was born in the ’80s and the only…
SELECTIONS
;Thursday•8 Marsha Bemko, Antiques Roadshow Prepare to uncross those fingers, because Antiques Roadshow is rolling into Orlando with a progression of events. While Roadshow doesn’t make its first TV-taping appearance here until June 30, executive producer Marsha Bemko makes an earlier stop to give a talk for the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art…
RATTLING THE HINGES
;No doubt about it, the ;soulful cries and curses coming out of Lucinda Williams are the heart-aching sounds of a woman unhinged yet strangely in control. That contradiction and the vocal and lyrical artistry of Williams — a lauded perfectionist who rides high in the traditional/alternative country music universe — are in ample evidence on…
COMFORTS OF HOME
One of the most captivating things about Everything All the Time, the debut album from Band of Horses, is the melancholic imagery of “St. Augustine.” In the song, singer/songwriter Ben Bridwell sings of the rusty nostalgia one gets from haunted Southern cities, and how, despite our big-city dreams, those of us who came of age…
BEHIND THE LABEL
; Leonardo Bravo and Luis Loja are different from most banana farmers in Ecuador. In contrast to workers on big plantations, many of whom are paid little and are exposed to dangerous pesticides, Bravo and Loja work in a small farmer cooperative that works in tandem with the fair-trade movement to ensure they receive fair…
