Ed Rendell talks family values
Once again, Pennsylvania’s own Ed Rendell makes headlines for stepping in it. On Tuesday night, Rendell was over heard saying the following about Janet Napolitano, the Arizona governor who is Barack Obama’s pick to head up the office of Homeland Security: Janet’s perfect for that job. Because for that job, you have to have no…
Playing that same old Toomey
Courtesy of Daily Kos, we have this not-very-surprising report that arch-conservative Pat Toomey is thinking of making another run at U.S. Senator Arlen Specter in 2010. Toomey gave Specter a good run back in the 2004 Republican primary, so it’s not surprising he’d think of running again. As the Hill puts it: [Toomey] argued that…
The Plain (?) Truth
We’ve all had that experience of hearing our voices on a tape recorder for the first time. Usually it’s painful to hear yourself the way others hear you — that strange distortion when your voice is no longer distorted, no longer resonating inside your own head. But thanks to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Pittsburgh recently…
Food Review: Marie’s tavern, Grant’s Hill
Having just displaced the denizens of Fort Duquesne, it may seem strange to say we’re glad to see at least some French influence remain. But it’s hard to imagine our town’s culinary scene without the presence of John Marie’s tavern on Grant’s Hill. Here you will find no trace of the unimaginative food that characterizes…
Hamlet
By Theodophilus M. Hoover
Dispute Rages at Site of Old Fortress
Controversy continues to swirl around plans to construct a brand new military fortress alongside the current one. Backers insist that the old facility, Fort Duquesne, is too small, and that the hoped-for new fort will be a “state-of-the-art facility” that will help send a message that Pittsburgh is embracing the future. Critics counter, meanwhile, that…
“Thee Had To Ask”
Sir, Having just arrived here from Philadelphia, I find some local customs most vexatious: the tendency for locals to shoot at you from behind trees, for example, rather than standing in an orderly formation like honorable Christians. But prithee, what is the deal with these chairs in the streets? I posed your question to…
Recent Immigrants Complain of Prejudice
Immigrant-rights activists conducted a candlelight vigil last Thursday, complaining that too often, immigrants are the victims of intolerance on the part of locals. “Yes, our skin is a different color, and yes, some of us have exotic names,” admitted John Smith, a cooper who recently moved here to serve the British garrison. Speaking to the…
New Task Force Pledges to Enhance Local Rivers
The Riverlife Task Force held its first meeting on Monday, with members resolving to do whatever they could to make the area’s waterfront areas more vibrant. Citizens of Pittsburgh are slow to recognize the beauty of the rivers, task-force founder Hugh Brackenridge told an audience of 20. That’s partly because views of the water are…
Wrapping Paper
As almost everyone knows, Pittsburgh celebrates its 250th birthday this week. On Nov. 27, 1758, Gen. John Forbes wrote a letter to William Pitt, announcing that he had just seized a small French outpost at the forks of the Ohio — and that in tribute to Pitt, Forbes had named the new settlement “Pittsburgh.” What…
The Lady With All the Answers
As a theatrical bond with her, The Lady remains short on philosophy and introspection but potentially deep on emotional connection.
The Brothers Size
Jones and McNeill always surge with energy and character.
The Goat: or, Who Is Sylvia?
It’s an amazing piece of theater: scalding hot, consistently discomforting and, at times, side-splittingly funny.
Cioppino Seafood Chophouse Bar
The menu offers an “approachable Tuscan-inspired American cuisine,” with chophouse options in the modern American spirit of well-sourced, seasonal ingredients.
Patti Smith: Dream of Life
Steven Sebring’s beautiful documentary about the very much alive incantatory rocker and poet is, both wittingly and poignantly, immersed in the contemplation of death. The film was shot over the course of 10 eventful years in her latter-day career, during which she raised two kids and ended a 16-year leave from live performance. Sebring offers…
A Conversation with Michael Aronson
“The interesting part is the way that Pittsburgh becomes the hotbed of resistance.”
A Girl Cut in Two
In Claude Chabrol’s tragicomic melodrama, the lovely, vivacious Gabrielle (Ludivine Sagnier), who works as a TV weathergirl in Paris, is pursued by two inappropriate men, whose rarified worlds coincidentally intersect with hers. Charles Saint-Denis (François Berléand) is a married novelist, some 30 years her senior; Paul (Benoît Magimel) is young, handsome and rich, but an…
Four Christmases
When their Christmas trip to Fiji gets cancelled, kin-avoiding snuggle-bunnies Kate (Reese Witherspoon) and Brad (Vince Vaughn) are forced to hit four family holiday gatherings in one endless day. Because this is a by-the-numbers holiday-comedy, both Kate and Brad have divorced parents, who’ve created new, wildly different wacky families, who have also never met their…
Bolt
For kiddie-comedy about lost pets, Bolt has a fairly high concept; it’s essentially The Truman Show, but with a dog. Bolt is the eponymous star of a TV action series in which he perpetually saves his person Penny from danger; to keep his performance believable, the producers lock Bolt up in a fantasy set. But…
Australia
How the plucky inhabitants of a scrappy cattle ranch in Australia’s Northern Territory survive tragedy, corporate back-stabbing, ugly racial politics, a tedious charity ball and a Japanese military attack is the subject of Baz Luhrmann’s sprawling World War II-era epic. It starts a bit rocky, with some overly broad comedy heralding the meet-cute of uptight…
Twilight
The first book of Stephenie Meyer’s teen-vampire series gets its big-screen adaptation from director Catherine Hardwicke. New girl Bella (Kristen Stewart) finds herself in love with pale, moody Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), who is vampuire, albeit a sensitive one. But their romance is complicated by some other mean vampires and by the heightened torments of…
Synecdoche, New York
Charlie Kaufman, the fertile mind who wrote the wonderful Being John Malkovich, is the writer/director behind this story of theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman). For about 30 minutes, Kaufman makes a movie where the people face human dilemmas and have human emotions, but then he goes all post-structuralist.. Little by little, then a…
This Just In: November 28 – December 4
Highlights from the local TV news: Cold weather in November? Who knew?
YERT’s, Mine and Ours
They spent a year on the road, driving an SUV hybrid through all 50 states to ask how — and even whether — we can clean up the mess we’ve made of planet Earth. If there was one thing that inspired Mark Dixon, Ben Evans and Julie Dingman Evans over the 43,743 miles of YERT…
Activism
Activist and scholar Antonia Juhasz says the incoming administration of Barack Obama presents an “incredibly hopeful” opportunity to end “the immense, profound and unique influence the oil industry had” on America during the Bush administration. She urged a mostly receptive audience at Carnegie Mellon University on Nov. 19 to redirect the grass-roots efforts that helped…
Poverty
As the economic crisis deepens, a coalition of four service providers is asking Pittsburgh City Council to step up its fight against hunger. “How can a child learn if he or she doesn’t have the appropriate type of nutrition to start out with?” asks Cecilia Jenkins, executive director of Pittsburgh Community Services, Inc. Jenkins and…
Art
When it comes to art appreciation, “People being drunk goes a long way,” allows Jon Rubin, an assistant professor of art at Carnegie Mellon University. Or so it seemed late one Saturday night (or early Sunday morning, but who’s counting?) at a former tuxedo shop at the corner of Baum and Highland avenues, in East…
Media
At a time when newspapers are moving from print to the Web, the Pittsburgh bloggers who mock them have taken a step in the opposite direction. More than three years after launching its Onion-esque Web site, Carbolic Smoke Ball (carbolicsmokeblog.blogspot.com), the Carbolic staff is releasing its first book, Zombies Ate My Headlines. “It’s a culmination…
Captive Riders
PAT work stoppage could be ‘devastating’ to those relying on social services
Lotus sheds “jam-tronica” label with more indie-friendly Hammerstrike
“I definitely think we get written off by the more indie scene, even though I think a lot of our music sounds much closer to that.”
Tangiers’ Josh Reichmann returns with the psychedelic Oracle Band
Life is Legal is a brief, delirious collection of densely arranged yet lo-fi grooves, topped with Reichmann’s warbling voice and eccentric imagery.
The Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer plays Mr. Small’s with her Danger Ensemble
“I got to hand-select my family for this tour. It’s like picking your household, who do you want to live with, to see when you wake up in the morning.”
Brewer’s Row offers rootsy material with cross-generational appeal
“The dirt on your nails disappears / When you lay hands on the sweat-stained grip of your wheel.”
Local artists release Christmas recordings in time for yinzer yuletide
Every seasoned pop crooner or diva is under contract with the universe to release at least one Christmas album, if not myriad.
Bill Daniel’s art installation explores the modern hobo lifestyle.
The gallery has seen weirder installations than The Great Depression, but rarely anything dirtier.
Dinette
Another restaurant freshens up East Liberty.
Local bands support their own at two benefit concerts this Saturday
Hot on the heels of Anti-Flag’s Food Bank fund-raiser come two more music-driven events, each with its own story.
Loaded Questions
So it’s come to this. Groups like the National Rifle Association, which routinely claim to represent “responsible gun owners,” are opposing a bill to make gun owners act … well … responsibly. These days, gun-rights advocates are upset at Pittsburgh City Council, which is weighing a measure requiring gun owners to tell police when a…
Savage Love
I am a 28-year-old woman who has been with my boyfriend for two years. I would call it a stable, fulfilling and kinky relationship. I consider myself GGG, and every time my boyfriend has brought up a kink or variation, I’ve been willing to try it. Some things became a permanent part in our play;…
