2014 Orlando Fringe Wrap-up and Critics’ Choice Awards
Say farewell to the 2014 Orlando Fringe Festival (photo by Seth Kubersky) After thirteen days (seventeen if you count previews) of artistic overindulgence, the 2014 Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival comes to a close over the next 30 hours with this year’s final Patrons Pick encore performances. While shows continue through Tuesday night, the festival lawn…
Diagon Alley Dragon installed at Universal Orlando
The Diagon Alley dragon has been installed at Universal Orlando’s new Wizarding World (photo via @HateToFly) We are still a few weeks away from the June debut of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Diagon Alley expansion at Universal Orlando, but yesterday the crowning jewel of the new attraction was installed in the form…
Thank You, Internet: boob-enlarging cookies and a #globalselfie
Okay, folks, it’s the Friday before a long weekend and the day’s almost over. Is all your work done? Good. Check out these links that should help you blast through the last few hours of your day: via 1. People are stuffing everything into the middle of cookies these days: globs of Nutella, Reese’s peanut…
The Smiling Bison to stop serving lunch
via Earlier this year, we were very excited to visit the Smiling Bison for lunch. The restaurant cemented itself as a tasty lunch option with their supergrilled awesomecheese, which features a house-made (and amazing!) sweet tomato jam. Sadly, May 31 will be the last time this summer you’ll be able to hit up the Smiling Bison…
Rollins College president officially resigns
via The 14th president of Rollins College, Lewis Duncan announced his resignation on Thursday after 10 years of service. The college’s Board of Trustees will establish transitional leadership until an interim president is appointed in June. The buildup to the president’s abdication can be attributed to recent declarations of “concern” from the College of Arts…
Location Matters: Reign of the Orlando Superchildren, Part 4 of 4
Location Matters is a series that reflects upon pieces of Orlando immortalized in popular film. Today, the fourth installment of a sub-series devoted to the 1980s Superboy program that was produced in our fair metropolis (view part one here, part two here, and part three here). Season four of Superboy (Oct. ’91 – May ’92) is where this series stops…
YOUR DAILY WEEKLY READER: liberal religion, fake-weed terrorism, and Milk stamps
via Reuters WHY LIBERALS LYING ABOUT GOING TO CHURCH MEANS THERE IS NO WAR ON RELIGION: “Last week, the Public Religion Research Institute published a study showing that Americans want their fellow citizens to think they are more religiously observant than they really are. When asked by a live human being on the telephone how…
Orlando Fringe Review: Donating Sperm To My Sister’s Wife
Donating Sperm To My Sister’s Wife at the 2014 Orlando Fringe As a “liberal Southern road comic” discussing hot-button topics like lesbianism, abortion, the metric system, and ketchup on eggs, Stewart Huff is used to having punches thrown at him in redneck bars across the Bible Belt (which apparently extends from New England to California,…
19 questions with an Orlando resident: Bill Platt
Welcome to 19 Questions, a feature where we ask longtime Orlando residents 19 questions that are mostly related to living in the City Beautiful. Bill Platt first came to Orlando from Michigan in 1985 at the age of 10, coming of age in Central Florida’s crown jewel before graduating from University High. Bill’s been “in…
It was a crazy good week for movie trailers. Check a few out
**** Big Hero 6, Disney’s first original Marvel cartoon. It’s from a fairly obscure comic series that surprisingly still remains obscure, though I assume a collected edition will make its way to stores around the end of summer. The teaser trailer seems to be some sort of homage to 3D printing and the Stay Puft…
This Little Underground: The Lacs and Moonshine Bandits @ Firestone Live
This Little Underground is Orlando Weekly’s music column providing perspective, live reviews and news on the city’s music scene. Read the latest column here. I ask you to pop out of your comfort zone all the time so it’s only fair I show you I’m capable of same. And a recent hick-hop showcase should prove how…
8 places to celebrate Memorial Day in Orlando
via Whether you’re in the mood to relax with music in the park or party the day away with friends, Orlando has something for everyone this Memorial Day. Here are some of the best events around town: Disney Memorial Day Soccer Shootout Come out and enjoy a day of soccer with the family before the…
Renderings for ‘I-4 Ultimate’ toll lanes make us want to get drunk on the SunRail
The express toll lanes cometh, and Orlando will never be the same. I-4 will be getting managed toll roads added to the center of the notoriously jammed section that runs through Orlando over the next few years. The new lanes will cover 21 miles from Kirkman Road up to Longwood and 434. This will make…
Orlando Fringe Review: Zero Tolerance
You’d have to be trying real hard to miss the ubiquitous slogan for Orlando Fringe this year: “Anyone Can Fringe.” While this campaign is aimed at building an audience, creating awareness that there is a wide variety of offerings at Fringe for people of all ages and creeds, it is important to remember that these…
YOUR DAILY WEEKLY READER: expensive denials, FS-who?, YOLO YOHO, paranoid redaction
via florida trend NOT ONLY IS CLIMATE-CHANGE DENIAL STUPID, IT’S ABOUT TO GET EXPENSIVE: “Tom Steyer, a billionaire environmental activist from California, wants to blast the issue of climate change to the front lines of American politics. His “super PAC,” NextGen Climate, will spend about $100 million this year to influence several Senate and governor’s…
Five more Orlando check-in deals available right now
So, you wanna go out, but you don’t want to spend a small fortune? Stop clipping flimsy paper coupons and scrounging pennies from the couch cushions. You live in the digital age! Pick up your smartphone, download Yelp! or Foursquare and take advantage of these delicious check-in deals: via 1. If you’re a slave to…
Orlando Weekly Galleries are currently down
via Due to some overnight technical difficulties, our galleries are currently down. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and encourage you to explore our blogs and our current issue. We’ll let you know as soon as the galleries are back in operation.
Orlando Fringe Review: Ennui
The buzz around Circus-Arts’ production of Ennui was nowhere near what the production’s title would imply; those who have experienced Fringe before can attest to a certain “ennui” that can accompany singularly titled pretentions. Instead, there was a palpable sense that this might be one of this year’s exceptional sleepers, and that sense was more…
Orlando Fringe Review: The Ride-Along
The Ride-Along at 2014 Orlando Fringe Taking the Fringe’s “bring your own venue” concept to an exciting new extreme, The Ride-Along invites two (or three) audience members into the back seat of a beater car for an interactive spy spoof with the whole Ivanhoe neighborhood as its stage. Viewer’s volunteer to become new recruits in…
From Blowfly docs to unauthorized Beyonce biographies – don’t neglect Netflix ‘music’
via Scrolling through Netflix can be painful, tedious and ultimately disappointing – unless you’re a music fan. The music documentaries on Netflix have always displayed an impressive range of genres, covering both modern pop stars everyone knows like Katy Perry (Katy Perry: Part of Me) and hugely influential world musicians like Fela Kuti (Fela Kuti:…
HBO goes live on Amazon Prime with The Sopranos, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire and more
Starting this morning most of HBO GO will also be available to stream on Amazon Prime. The purported $100+m deal that announced in April includes series and miniseries titles like The Sopranos, The Wire, Band of Brothers, Boardwalk Empire and True Blood, and movie titles like Gia, You Don’t Know Jack and Temple Grandin. The…
Check out the trailer for coming space doc ‘Last Man On The Moon’
[vimeo 92046183 670 377] Maybe you’ve noticed we haven’t visited the moon recently. In fact, no one’s been up there since December of 1972, when astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt explored the gray giant for 22 hours as part of the Apollo 17 mission. Now Mark Stewart Productions is working on a documentary about…
YOUR DAILY WEEKLY READER: on liars, bungholes and dropouts
IF, AS THEY SAY, THE BUCK STOPS HERE, DOESN’T THIS BASICALLY IMPLICATE FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER DEAN CANNON, EVEN IF HE CALLS HIS FORMER AIDE “STUPID?”: In the second day of the redistricting trial on Florida’s congressional maps, Kirk Pepper, the former deputy chief of staff to former House Speaker Dean Cannon, provided a window into…
This Little Underground: Matt Butcher goes rock & roll
Live reviews: Deer Tick, Have Gun, Will Travel, Langhorne Slim & the Law
OBP taproom plans for Mills 50 canceled
Plus Crave and Primo close suddenly, and Darden sells off Red Lobster. Womp-womp.
Drinking, Nightlife and Parties
Where to drink and party in Orlando this week
Pujol is one of garage punk’s most melodically gifted
Album review: Pujol’s ‘Kludge’
Comet Control’s debut merges riffs and fuzz in electrifying ways
Album review: Comet Control’s self-titled
Orlando fast-food workers fight for $15
Protesters say studies show that $15 an hour is the minimum amount needed to make ends meet
Savage Love
I am a genetic male with recurrent questions about my gender identity. Straddling desires to maintain my stature in the professional world, keep my wife at my side and become who I feel like I am, I have experimented with crossdressing, chastity, antiandrogens and, prior to all that, steroids. While the matrimonial veto has been…
We speak to voice actor Ian Sinclair of the Adult Swim hit ‘Space Dandy’
Niche celebs draw crowds at this weekend’s Florida Anime Experience
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19) I believe your persuasive powers will be stronger than usual in the weeks ahead. The words coming out of your mouth will sound especially interesting. I also suspect that your intelligence will get at least a temporary upgrade. The clarity of your thoughts will intensify. You will see truths you have…
Wage wars
Readers talk about whether fast-food workers should be paid $15 an hour
Orlando Fringe show “Which Side Are You On?” focuses on labor
Two-person show traces history of the Wobblies and labor activism in the United States
Review: ‘Locke’
Tom Hardy does a stellar job in this movie about a construction worker whose life unravels before him
Police Beat: Shooting people in the ass
Shooting people in the butt is a new fad in Orlando crime
Review: ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’
The X-Men go back in time in the most recent installment of this saga
‘Ultima II Massage” is caked thick with Tobacco’s fucked touch
Album review: Tobacco’s ‘Ultima II Massage”
Opening in Orlando: ‘Belle’ and ‘Blended’
Movies opening in Orlando theaters this week
Uh Huh Her struggles to reconcile homosexuality with religion
Just don’t call them a lesbian rock duo
Best of the fest
Our top Orlando Fringe Festival picks
Orlando’s street art makes the city beautiful
A photo essay documenting the mural trend sweeping our streets
Bar Exam: Minus5 Icebar
Where better to escape the summer heat than a bar made of ice?
Lolailo the Original
The Spanish food here falls mainly on the plain – plain terrific, that is
See the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for free @ Enzian’s Wednesday Night Pitcher Show 5/21
There are certain films that perfectly define childhood for those who were at the right age at the right time. The Wizard of Oz. Star Wars. Back to the Future. And, yes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The first movie I was ever taken to see was Return of the Jedi. The first movie I vaguely…
Will Orlando soon be home to a monorail?
via Today, American Maglev Technology took a big official first step towards bringing monorail to Orlando. The Florida Department of Transportation granted the Georgia-based firm the right to start leasing land between Orange County Convention Center and the Orlando airport. The proposed monorail would make a large dent in the traffic in the tourist-heavy I-Drive area,…
McDonald’s introduces a frightening new character named “Happy”
via McDonald’s has done it again. After giving Ronald McDonald a scary makeover earlier this year, they’ve rolled out a new character that, without a doubt, wins the creepy character wars: Happy. With bendy arms and legs that look unable to support a couple of fries, much less an entire meal, McDonald’s new Happy Meal ambassador…
Can the Maya Rudolph Show survive the fact that no one likes variety shows?
Last night NBC aired the pilot for The Maya Rudolph Show, an hour-long variety show that featured Sean Hayes, Andy Samberg, Fred Armisen, Kristin Bell and Craig Robinson, with Janelle Monae as the musical guest performing Electric Lady. Hosted, of course, by Rudolph, the show doesn’t exactly throw it back to the Sid Ceaser Caesar…
Jimmy Fallon bringing his ‘Tonight Show’ to Universal Studios
Modern talk shows have a long-standing tradition of taking their act on the road to broadcast from foreign cities. Remember Dave in L.A., Conan in Toronto, Kimmel in Detroit? Not one to be left out, Jimmy Fallon is packing up NBC’s Tonight Show for a stint of tapings in Orlando – specifically, at Universal Studios,…
Val Demings ends her campaign for Orange County Mayor
via Earlier today, former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings announced that she would be dropping out of the Orange County mayoral race. In a statement released by her campaign, Demings said, “I am humbled by and grateful for the support I have received from every corner of our county. After careful analysis I have determined…
Orlando is the No. 1 city for food trucks
Leave it to Fringe to bring together the religious right, the New-Agey spiritual left and the Westboro Baptist Church. OK, so maybe not even Fringe can fully integrate those evil nutjobs from Topeka, Kansas, but the creators of FrankenChrist: the Musical! come close, all while delivering one of the smartest and funniest shows of this…
