Media Sirk-us
By now you may have heard about this profile of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl from the Washington Post. It’s exactly what you’d expect: It documents his rise to power, and some of his more notable gaffes. Then it cites Ravenstahl’s tender years as proof that his support of Hillary Clinton is “an effective rejoinder to the…
Defiance, Pennsylvania
Screaming Females return for GLBTQ-friendly party at Belvies
Battlestar Galactica: The Final Fourth
After an up-and-down Season 3 — for me, the jury’s still out on whether knowing what the Cylons think is a good narrative strategy — Battlestar Galactica wrapped up with a good collection of forward-moving plot threads: the path to Earth mostly set; a possibly compliant Six on board Galactica and mind-melding with President Roslin;…
Hell’s Kitchen: Something’s Burning
So, let’s just stipulate: Hell’s Kitchen is dreadful show. The repetitive voiceover and overwrought segment teasers. The utterly unbelievable premise, that there is a restaurant in Los Angeles where people other than unemployed actors off the Fox lot can dine. The exclusion of culinary creativity — Hell’s Kitchen chefs not only cook the same dishes…
Free the Wecht 11!!!
For a while there, some of us thought the prosecution of former county Coroner Cyril Wecht was politically motivated. We thought our ambitious US Attorney, Mary Beth Bucahanan, filed trumped-up charges against the promiment Democrat to further her own career. We thought federal judge Arthur Schwab — a Bush appointee who once worked in the…
Courting Controversy
Municipal court on a Thursday afternoon is not a glamorous place. There are no TV cameras. There’s no mahogany and no robes. There are only unhappy people in uncomfortable chairs, moping, napping, reading novels, getting shushed by the bailiff and cracking their knuckles as they await their turn before city magistrate James Hanley. Fehmi Abdullah…
21
Robert Luketic’s film takes the cautionary true tale of MIT students involved in an organized, elaborate card-counting blackjack venture and turns it into a bouncy, pretty-people comedy. As adapted from the best-selling book Bringing Down the House, 21 is very light entertainment that scrimps on the story’s best aspects: the mechanics of card-counting, the shadowy…
Stop-Loss
I wanted to root for a film designed to hep the MTV crowd to the mental and physical anguish and bureaucratic shitstorms faced by some of their contemporaries, who are now veterans of the ongoing Iraq war. But director Kimberley Pierce (Boys Don’t Cry) can’t marry her obvious good intentions to show the full panoply…
Starting Out in the Evening
An elderly, nearly forgotten New York City novelist named Lionel Schiller (Frank Langella) finds the comfy but safe twilight of his life jarred by an ambitious and somewhat aggressive graduate student, Heather (Lauren Ambrose), who has made him the subject of her thesis. Heather not only shakes Schiller loose from his myopia and torpor, but…
For better and worse, David Graham’s show at Silver Eye are pure neo-Americana.
It’s a world populated by happy people living wholesome, joyous lives, and even when they’re hoisting a giant snake, there’s no chance of any threat.
Jim Schafer’s photos capture the slowing beat of the Heartland.
Even while imbuing his towns with personality and dignity, Schafer captures a nagging sense of their waning vitality.
The Counterfeiters
From the strange-but-true files comes this Holocaust drama from Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky about the secret Nazi war strategy to destabilize the Allies’ economies with forged currency. To that end, they sequestered skilled men, including top forger and Russian Jew Salomon “Sally” Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), in relative comfort at a concentration camp. The assignment: Create…
Education: New school will also get new class schedules
In an effort to focus more attention on core subject areas (i.e. math, reading), the district will implement “block scheduling,” an approach that features fewer, extended class periods each semester. “The crux of the whole matter is instructional delivery,” says Derrick Lopez, the district’s chief of high school reform.
Education: District sending adjudicated students to CEP
Four students in grades 6 through 8 were mistakenly sent to CEP, a private Nashville-based alternative education company that has accepted roughly 250 of the most behaviorally challenging students from the Pittsburgh Public Schools. CEP’s contract with the district expressly prohibits adjudicated students.
Battling On
After five years of war in Iraq, local protesters still trying to bring about change.
Triggers is smokin’ on Smoke Show
Catchy hooks and rhythms give this foot-tapper of an album a consistently nervy, twitching groove
Simply Kenia is a strong release from the Brazilian vocalist who calls Pittsburgh home
The whole set comes across as a strong return for the singer.
Spadafora’s
Though little more than an unassuming concrete-block box on the outside, inside Paul Spadafora has created a warm, welcoming trattoria from what appears to have been an old roadside bar.
Louisville’s The Fervor keeps emotions reined in and raw
Lazy backbeats overlaid with keyboards, laconic vocals and washes of alternately chiming and fuzzed-out guitar.
Dale Watson summons country’s ghost to the Thunderbird Café
It seems that even the “alt-” can’t save country music.
Film Kitchen: Philosophy on Wheels
“It really in a lot of ways sacrifices itself,” says Nelson.
Models Models Models
This season of America’s Next Top Model — I’ve lost track of the numbers, let’s just call it “back to NYC” — has been good and lively. Let’s face it: Pretty girls posing is one thing, but pretty girls pushing, backstabbing and calling each other “fat” is a lot more entertaining. And as luck would…
The Pittsburgh Jewish-Israeli Film Festival
The annual festival, offering two dozen films representing Jewish experiences from Israel and around the world, continues.
Dance Alloy’s Feed Your Head Café is the surreal thing.
Rich with lasting images and full of surprises, Feed Your Head Café was a marvelous and gratifying trip down the rabbit hole.
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler is a monument to the artistic-engineering possibilities of the Broadway musical.
Kathleen Edwards comes into her own with Asking for Flowers
“Canada has its own deficiencies and triumphs, and those are what I like to recognize and talk about and think about.”
This Just In: April 2 – 9
Highlights from the local TV news: Shell-shocked by tortoise death … playtime’s over at Center for Creative Play
How to get redevelopment of the Don Allen car dealership site right.
The greatest tribute the developers could pay to the site’s authentic history is to leave the two historic structures in place.
Letters to the Editor: April 2 – 9
Feedback from our readers: CP distorts antiwar message … Chris Potter fooled by wily Clinton supporters.
Sign Off
After spending much of March fighting over issues like LED billboards and take-home vehicles, councilors started April in what appeared a cooperative and amicable fashion. In fact, the unanimous vote on placing a six-month moratorium on the construction of or modification to new or existing billboards went so well, you kept waiting for someone to…
Nied’s
This is a fish story, but every word is true. It’s the story of Nied’s Hotel in Lawrenceville, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and is home to the fish sandwich with a cult following. At the bar, I’m lucky enough to catch big fish Paul Nied, who’s waiting to pick up lunch…
Pittsburgh n’@
Dispatches from the blogosphere
Young music promoter Joshua Bakaitus joins Drusky Entertainment
“It’s opened up a lot of doors,” says Bakaitus
Long Division
Last week, Pittsburgh got a visit from a politician with the rare ability to transcend partisan divisions, and to remind us that — no matter what our political differences — Americans share a vision of a Shining City on the Hill. I’m talking, of course, about Hillary Clinton. While Barack Obama visited Oakland’s Soldiers &…
Savage Love
I am a 28-year-old straight girl two years into my first marriage. New job, new home, and new city 1,200 miles from my closest friends. It was really lonely at first, not knowing anyone nearby. Plus, Hubby is far less social than I am, and has not gone out of his way to help us…
