POP TENSION
Rhino unites the best of Britain’s pre-2000 output
Closer, Unknown Pleasures, Still
Closer, Unknown Pleasures, Still Label: Rhino Media: CD Format: Reissue WorkNameSort: Closer, Unknown Pleasures, Still It would be great if these remastered, expanded reissues of Joy Division’s only official albums provided some sort of contrarian, revelatory insight into the dominant perception of the group as British post-punk’s ultimate expression of malignant melancholy. Despite improved sonic…
In the Vines
In the Vines Label: Asthmatic Kitty Length: LP Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: In the Vines Castanets front guy Raymond Raposa grew up in San Diego and today calls New York City home, but his singing voice is distinctly Southern – lonesome and heavy with foreboding portent. In the Vines, his group’s latest effort, feels…
Dropping the Writ
Dropping the Writ Label: Domino Length: LP Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Dropping the Writ “That’s That,” the lead single from Dropping the Writ, includes a remark about “a job cleaning toilets in Baltimore” and a bass line that you could teach your cat to play. The track is nonetheless the kind of lovely, no-frills…
Disko Partizani
Disko Partizani Label: Crammed Discs Length: LP Media: CD Format: Album WorkNameSort: Disko Partizani German DJ/producer Shantel is just a guy with a sharp ear and a knack for transforming ethnic sounds into the next big European club craze. A veteran of the Frankfurt techno scene, he became inspired by the music of the Bucovina…
BREAD ZEPPELIN
Inflate yourself on oversized breads and spicy all-veggie fare
CAFÃ? CON FLAVOR
It doesn’t have to be midnight for Park Avenue patrons to enjoy a medianoche sandwich ($4.50) at Authentic Cuban Café on Morse Boulevard in Winter Park. Mothers with strollers stand alongside businessmen in Armani sunglasses just to get a taste of the sweet, hot pressed bread, made in-house and filled with the traditional Cuban sandwich…
ARMED AND DELIRIOUS
Buscemi plays another despondent entertainment journalist
The Martian Child
The Martian Child Studio: New Line Rated: PG Cast: John Cusack, Amanda Peet Director: Menno Meyjes WorkNameSort: Martian Child, The Our Rating: 3.50 In The Martian Child, John Cusack plays a widower who adopts a troublingly oddball kid. While it is sentimental, the film benefits from what Cusack’s character calls “muscular analogies.” The pretense of…
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Wristcutters: A Love Story Studio: No Matter Pictures Rated: R Cast: Patrick Fugit, Shannyn Sossamon Director: Goran Dukic WorkNameSort: Wristcutters: A Love Story Our Rating: 1.50 The witless Wristcutters holds all the fascination of a train wreck. You’ll stay in your seat just to see if it’ll get any worse, and you won’t be disappointed.…
Believers
Believers Studio: Warner Bros. Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: Believers Daniel Myrick, director of The Blair Witch Project, confounded expectations when he emerged last year with his first post-Blair Witch film. The Strand is a complex, character-rich comedy built around the odd lives of several inhabitants of Venice Beach, Calif. In it, Myrick showed a real sensitivity…
Casshern
Casshern Studio: Paramount WorkNameSort: Casshern Released in 2004 in Japan, this film feels like a cross between V for Vendetta and 300. The thing is, it came out before either of them, and its visual impact surpasses both. Achieved by a combination of high-end computer animation and powerful set design that merges Eurasian authoritarianism, East…
Jim Norton: Monster Rain
Jim Norton: Monster Rain Studio: HBO WorkNameSort: Jim Norton: Monster Rain Comedian Jim Norton is not, as some might accuse him of being, a “dirty comic.” No, with his tales of childhood fellatio (consensual, mind you … between two boys), his descriptions of the ideal vagina (“big” and “meaty” and “bald”) and his propensity for…
Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth
Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth Studio: MVD WorkNameSort: Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth The fat, funky bass line that defined the sound of Parliament’s biggest hits like “Flashlight”? That came from Bernie Worrell. Thing is, Bernie Worrell isn’t a bassist; he’s a keyboard player. As one of the many musicians whose all-pervasive influence lies invisible…
HAPPYTOWN
And now it’s time for another installment of What’s Up With Ric™, our attempt to keep you up to date on the comings and going of Orlando’s Favorite Republican, Ric Keller! This week’s episode finds Ric standing up for journalists and children, except, you know, the poor ones who don’t have health insurance. They need…
POLICE BEAT
OCT. 20, 2:52 A.M.: Early this morning a man, 60, wandered out of a homeless shelter in the 600 block of West Central Boulevard. He should have left after sunrise, for ne’er-do-wells lurked in dark corners. The enemy was quick to emerge, consisting of two men, police reports state, one of whom went by the…
MAIL SACK
Small potatoes We heard about this case in my Sexual Behaviors class at the University of Central Florida, and personally, I think that instead of picking on small business and people that have little effect on Orlando, they should focus on more important things [“Operation MBI Shame,” Oct. 25]. Funny how there are no investigations into…
EWWWW, SCARY!
It’s time once again for our annual rogues’ gallery of the most terrifying people in Orlando. And you can wear them as masks! Select a mask below and click on it for a printable PDF. (Acrobat Reader required.)
LOCAL SWANS PENNED, CHIPPED, SEXED
The sky formed an imposing blanket of menacing gray downtown Oct. 26 as steely-eyed volunteers gathered around Lake Eola to stage a battle with nature. Orlando’s beloved swan population – which by intelligent design or an evolutionary glitch has come to call the dyed sinkhole its home – was the subject of a well-intentioned assault…
IT’S EASY BEING GREEN
It’s been nearly a year and a half since the city of Orlando started certifying local businesses as “green,” yet only five have done so. Either the city’s standards are meaningless, or businesses just aren’t interested. Or maybe it’s a little of both. One problem is that the city’s narrow focus on only three business…
FILLING SEATS FOR THE ARTS
Orlando’s not really short on arts and culture. The problem is that people simply don’t buy tickets to shows. There’s a general sense of apathy compounded by limited arts funding and an even tinier budget for promotions, especially for small underground arts groups, which make up a substantial portion of the arts scene. Enter the…
CAFÃ? CON FLAVOR
It doesn’t have to be midnight for Park Avenue patrons to enjoy a medianoche sandwich ($4.50) at Authentic Cuban Café on Morse Boulevard in Winter Park. Mothers with strollers stand alongside businessmen in Armani sunglasses just to get a taste of the sweet, hot pressed bread, made in-house and filled with the traditional Cuban sandwich…
BLISTER
“Will you finger me for a dollar? I’ll let you finger me for a dollar.” It’s been a week of adrenaline cocktails and self-righteous chest-pounding at the Weekly fallout shelter, with all sorts of pudgy men in uniform (or undercover NASCAR T-shirts and jean shorts) using sex as a weapon in ridiculously unattractive, possibly unconstitutional…
SAVAGE LOVE
I am currently dating a guy who is nice, funny and has a good “dating résumé” (never married, good job, no issues). I have a good time when we are together and he treats me fine. The problem is that we have the most ridiculously boring sex. Super vanilla, totally predictable, and I never come.…
THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
Typically, it’s the legacy bands that get the DVD treatment, but not if you’re the Briefs. First time I heard “Poor and Weird,” I caught the fever immediately for their absurdly catchy, new wave–licked retro punk rock. But a full-length video chronicle of a band that’s only put out four albums and been around since…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
ARIES (March 21-April 19) A top official at the European Robotics Research Network predicts that humans will “be having sex with robots” sooner than anyone expected – probably within four years. I hope this little shocker will help motivate you to follow my astrological advice for the coming week, which is to flee in the…
I LOVE TELEVISION
Another thing I’m really good at? Pointing out other people’s problems. You know how psychiatrists work, right? I’m kind of the opposite. Instead of identifying and helping solve the problems, I just point them out. That way I’m not wasting my time, and can really focus on picking apart the problems of a lot of…
COUNCIL WATCH
“Squaaaaaaaawk!!!” bleated the City Hall sound system as the chatterers were called to order. The lack of amusement on the blood-drained faces lining the dais implied that this wasn’t the kind of feedback they were after. In fact, given the chipper demeanor of most present, there wouldn’t be much need for feedback at all, just…
