Model Madness
Suddenly, there’s a convergence of at least four fashion-model reality shows on TV. Seriously, there may be more and I’m just missing them. The standard bearer, America’s Next Top Model, is back — but with a pair of clips show (booo!). New episodes, on The CW, start Wed., Feb. 20, when according to the heavily…
Dogs a Go Go
Mid-February marks the annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show — six hours of semi-serious dog-watching on USA Network, broadcast live over two nights. I tune in every year, though it hasn’t been the same since they lost Joe Gargiola, the divinely mushy-mounted co-commentator a few years back. Every year the announcer rattles off the same…
Dems back former Councilor Bodack for state house
Dems endorse a politician with a deep political background to try to replace reformer in Harrisburg.
Jericho Premiere
With the season premiere of the resurrected CBS nuclear post-apocalyptic action/drama Jericho a mere 30 or 32 hours away, I can’t help but feel a little guilty in my excitement. The show was cancelled by the geriatrics over at the “Big Eye,” presumably because they lost their target audience — seniors ages 90 to 117…
On Spec: punditry that’s worth what you’re paying for it
This wouldn’t be a politics blog without some pointless speculation about the upcoming presidential campaign. And anyway, there’s been some speculation that Pennsylvania might actually matter this year, at least as far as the Democrats are concerned. But when you look at the polling — a dubious idea, I know — it’s hard to see…
Lost in Trans-lation
On Feb. 7, Allegheny County rescuers saved 27-year-old Rebecca Hare from the flooding waters of the Allegheny River. Some reporters who covered the incident, however, were apparently still at sea. Hare was born a man but is transitioning to a woman. And while reporters thrive on rescue stories, they were clearly unsure how to handle…
Budgetary Imbalances
There will be a lot of bickering about Gov. Ed Rendell’s latest budget proposal in the months ahead. You can bet that Republican lawmakers will be paying special attention to Rendell’s proposed 5.9 percent increase in the budget for educating Pennsylvania’s children. Far less controversial, meanwhile, will be the budget that includes tossing kids in…
“Welcome to Dollywood”
The long, dark night of American Idol auditions are over, and now we’re off to Hollywood. Or Dollywood. That one poor squeaky-voiced girl who went on the judge-enforced Dolly Parton crash course was likely voted through out of their own shame and embarrassment; she was so earnest. But frankly she’d be as lucky to see…
Imparrishable Art
Only a week before Hot Metal, the art show Ed Parrish, Jr. is currently curating, opened at SPACE Gallery, his family’s home and studio were destroyed in a morning fire in Etna. Only two weeks later, Saturday, Feb. 1, some local musicians got together for a benefit for the family, who lost nearly everything they…
The Metamorphosis
Even in the fading daylight of a January afternoon, the butterfly’s wingspan shone an incandescent blue. I had chosen the glass-topped drawer randomly from one of the tall wooden cabinets lining the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Section of Invertebrate Zoology. Not knowing whether I’d find a common house fly or some nightmarish monster, I…
A Conversation With LaVerne Kemp
LaVerne Kemp’s fingers never stop making something: shawls, wall-sized art and quilts, shadowboxes adorned with junked buttons and photographs … even hats woven from hair extensions. And when the Wilkinsburg-based weaver and artist isn’t making goods to sell or exhibit, she’s teaching others the joys of arts and crafts. At the Feb. 9 Pittsburgh Knit…
Two renowned companies unite for an evening of African and African-American dance.
Scales of Memory unifies Zollar’s aesthetic of the city and the street with Acogny’s devotion to the natural world.
This Just In: Feb 6 – 13
Highlights from the local TV news: Auto theft the hard way — one part at a time … government employees discussing Star Wars on your dime!
Evil spirits, African politics and a highly anticipated role for local actor Don Marshall spark Quantum Theatre’s Breakfast With Mugabe.
“This is an important role and moment for [Marhsall] to address,” Boos says.
The Mineola Twins
The Mineola Twins is funny and charming and droll, and you won’t be disappointed at all — unless you’ve seen Paula Vogel’s other play, How I Learned to Drive.
Amadeus
Shaffer (author of Equus and Lettice and Lovage) is a remarkable writer and Amadeus his most astonishing play.
The 13th of Paris
Led by Genest and Dellapina, the cast is charming, with only occasional tugs into stereotypical Yankee gee-whiznitude and Chevalier-esque Froggery.
Thou Shalt Not
Scene after scene oozes sensuality, especially when Laurent and Therese gyrate near-nude on a bed alive with movements of its own.
Pittsburgh n’@
From: http://mybrilliantmistakes.com/index.php Six more weeks The groundhogs can’t agree this year. According to Punxsutawney Phil, winter will continue for another six weeks. But there are quite a few other groundhog prognosticators, and most of them say we’ll have an early Spring. I’d love to have an early Spring. Bring on the sunshine and warmth! Then…
Education: Slowing Down
District leaders finally heed requests of the public before moving ahead with school reform plan.
Culture: Son-of-a-Dung
If you thought Bodies was unsettling, wait until you get the “Scoop on Poop.”
Courts: Ex-Councilor sentenced
Despite requests for leniency, judge sends former councilor Twanda Carlisle to jail on public corruption charges.
Crowded House
A crowded field of candidates seeks to take Lisa Bennington’s place in Harrisburg. The question is whether the winner will want it longer than she did.
Rose Tea Cafe
Taiwanese cuisine has many influences, including Cantonese, which was once the byword for bland, Americanized Chinese food. But the real thing was never really assimilated here, and Rose Tea’s versions are decidedly enjoyable.
Punkabilly outlaws The Supersuckers play the Altar Bar
A jack-of-all-trades tattooed with ace of spades, dragging pop culture through piss troughs to clean off all the shit.
Good Night, States collaborate across state lines
“It’s like the National Guard.”
Local underground vets Allies release self-titled debut
“I don’t know if it’s stubbornness or work ethic or if we’re just old idiots.”
Yves Jean returns with for Love and Desperation
“After about eight months after my mom died, I was like ‘OK, this is really all me. I need it to be done the right way.'”
Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show
In 2005, actor Vince Vaughn filled a couple of tour buses with four up-and-coming comedians and a camera crew to record the funnymen playing 30 gigs in 30 days. Each comedian has his own style, which helps break the monotony of watching amateurishly captured on-stage performances. Cleveland-based John Caparulo, a profane blue-collar malcontent, has the…
Southland Tales
An Iraq war vet; an action-film hero with amnesia; a porn star; and a cop with a twin brother — all caught up in a heady, dystopic epic/satire about nuclear war, homeland security, neo-Marxist revolutionaries, the 2008 election, the breaching of the space-time continuum and a drug that may make users break out into musical-comedy…
Manual of Love
Breezy Italian romantic comedies, those picture postcards of aphorism about amore — if they’re your weakness, you’ll likely enjoy this four-pack of loosely connected contemporary vignettes showcasing the four stages of romance. First up in Giovanni Veronesi’s film is “Falling in Love,” in which two pretty young people spar, zip about Rome on a moped…
Film Kitchen hosts the darkly playful surrealism of Bob LaBobgah and a documentary titled “Confederate Pennsylvania.”
“If I tell you what I think it is, that limits your ability to imagine what’s going on.”
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s animated film is adapted from Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novels about her rebellious and troubled adolescent during Iran’s Islamic revolution. As a coming-of-age narrative and personal window into a tumultuous history, Persepolis offers a strong female perspective, rich with insight, candor and wit, less often explored in cinema. Rendered almost entirely…
The Carnegie explores the aesthetics of three centuries of artificial light.
World War I had altered aesthetic sensibility, and designers sought to cleanse the calligraphic line of its profligate arabesques.
Savage Love
I am a 39-year-old divorced mother of four. I’m also a grandmother. I’ve started seeing a younger man, age 25, who is only a few years older than my oldest kid. We hit it off great and other than the sex, everything is beautiful. My sex life with my ex-husband of 20 years was very…
Le Vegeterian Le Pommier
Meat is an option with Chef Collins’ adapted French cuisine.
Smells like battle-of-the-bands season
For many unknown bands, it can be a worthwhile venture onto the city’s larger stages — if only for the learning experience of being sent packing.
Hitting the Bottle
Pennsylvania holds on to its absurd anachronisms like Fast Eddie Rendell grips a Philly cheesesteak.
