Reign of Error

• by Chris Potter

Seeds of Change

Food Bank bringing farm-fresh produce to areas that would otherwise do without

• by Melissa Meinzer

Media: Ferlo gets city to waive fees for homeless newspaper

A new start-up homeless newspaper in the city faced a big obstacle before the first issue could be sold. Thanks to one state senator, that roadblock no longer exists.

• by Adam Fleming

Activism: Anarchists gather for picnic, not protest

Normally accustomed to carrying picket signs, Pittsburgh's anarchist community came to this event carrying blueberry pie, water balloons and, of course, a biography of Emma Goldman.

• by Diana Fisher

Online: Bloggers to unite under common threads at conference

Whether from Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Buffalo or Erie, bloggers write about common themes.

• by Adam Fleming

Sauce

A hip little diner and bar with simple menu that distinguishes itself through a few signature tricks

• by Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth

LRJ Treatz

Carnival food, on tap in Penn Hills

• by Colleen Van Tassell

Rock 'n' roll ain't noise pollution -- it's the regular kind

While Dave Matthews may have his "green rider," and while the Post-Gazette Pavilion now operates a "Green Nation" recycling project, it's really on you.

• by Aaron Jentzen

Folk-music society Calliope revamps outdoor festival

For all the changes, folk music emphasizes tradition, and much about the festival remains "rooted" in Calliope's long history

• by Aaron Jentzen

New local band The Lost Sea makes waves with debut album

"We have the same bark, the same forlorn whine."

• by Margaret Welsh

Groundbreaking guitarist Adrian Belew performs at Diesel

"More and more I give up on pop music because it seems like a losing battle."

• by Chris Parker

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's JazzLive series spotlights Craig Davis

• by Mike Shanley

Mongol

A film about Genghis Khan is necessarily pretty speculative. Such are the limits of biographical research into 12^th-century Central Asian grasslands. But while director Sergei Bodrov doesn't "update" history with hand-held cameras or a techno soundtrack, his film busily makes a case for antiquity's greatest conqueror as a horseback-riding, sword-wielding proto-modern man. The Russian-born filmmaker's fascination with Genghis has yielded a character whose martial skill, romantic fortitude and sense that he's ordained to unify his people make him seem some combination of Bruce Lee, Dr. Zhivago and Moses. But in dramatizing the forces that formed the conqueror, and speculating about what drove him, might Bodrov be humanizing him too much? A better film might have humanized Genghis' foes, as well -- made us feel horror along with our awe for one of history's most remarkable leaders. In Mongolian, with subtitles. Manor [2.5 out of 4 stars]

• by Bill O'Driscoll

Jellyfish

The title of Israeli writer-director Shira Geffen's film is a metaphor for the many tentacles of melancholy that reach out and sting its half-dozen or so central characters, who are all adrift in an ocean of loneliness and despair. Jellyfish moves back and forth between these lives. About half of everything the characters say and do is a metaphor for something, and together their circumstances contemplate loneliness, responsibility and, perhaps above all, the lives of women -- their roles and options in society. Yet apart from a few fleeting details, there's nothing particularly "Israeli" about these dilemmas: Jellyfish could be a contemporary indie art film from America or France or Poland or China. Its anxieties are universal, and Geffen seems to want to keep them that way, eschewing cultural references that would isolate her characters. In Hebrew, with subtitles. [2.5 out of 4 stars]

• by Harry Kloman

The Animation Show

This traveling show of recent animated short comic films compiled by Mike Judge (Beavis and Butthead) returns in its fourth iteration. The roughly two dozen films are a mixed bag -- in style, substance and entertainment value -- but there's enough here to guarantee a fun screening. Among the highlights: the crudely drawn but funny "Angry Unpaid Hooker" (part of an upcoming HBO series); a visually brilliant bit of stop-motion animation "Western Spaghetti," from PES; the swirling, artfully shifting shapes of "Jeu"; a pair of computer-animated bunnies on the run, in "Usavitch"; the droll undertaker adventure "This Way Up," from U.K.'s Smith & Foulkes; and a surprisingly evocative paintball battle, seemingly staged within a 1970s arcade game, in "LOVESPORT: Paint Balling." And because no compilation would be complete without an entry from Bill Plympton, Show also offers "Hot Dog," the final installment of the well-known animator's "Guard Dog" trilogy. In English, and some French, with subtitles. 10 p.m. nightly, Sat., July 12; and Mon., July 14, through Thu., July 17. Oaks (AH) [3 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

Reprise

At the start of Joachim Trier's quirkily but elegantly constructed coming-of-age drama, two young Norwegians and best pals drop the manuscripts of their respective first novels into the post box. Phillip's (Anders Danielsen Lie) book is published, but he soon suffers a breakdown. Erik's (Espen Klouman-Høiner) novel is rejected, and he alternately slacks, works on another book and tends to Phillip. Trier, who co-wrote the script, spins out a familiar story of bright young privileged men who find that adult life, with all its promise of creative freedom, success and romance, isn't quite what they expected. But Reprise brings some freshness to the genre: There are disjointed flashbacks, an authoritative yet wry commentary from an unidentified voiceover, and some literalizing of the title, which suggest that life is a really a series of do-overs (or borrowed adaptations). Trier's film is thoughtful, but it's not all Nordic gloom: The handsome cast is easy on the eyes, and there are a number of genuinely funny moments. In Norwegian, with subtitles. Starts Fri., July 11. Manor (AH) [3 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

The Singing Revolution

The small nation of Estonia, with its convenient port on the Baltic Sea, has frequently been overrun by more aggressive neighbors. But few blows struck as hard as those during World War II, when Estonia was invaded by the Soviets, then the Nazis, and then the Soviets again. James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty's documentary recounts the struggles of the Estonia under decades of Soviet occupation, a grim condition which they argue was tempered by the tiny country's deep and abiding sense of national identity, particularly its folk and music traditions. What eventually flowered in the late 20^th century was a resistance movement that found its natural voice of dissent in the forbidden folk music of this song-happy nation. Such tactics proved to be curious, yet benign and effective weapons: What could the Soviet police do when tens of thousands of people in one spot sang a nostalgic paean to their homeland? Ironically, the inspirational account of little Estonia breaking free of the USSR and reclaiming its heritage may be less known to us because these remarkable events were bloodless. In this uplifting, real-life story, the ballad proves mightier than the sword. In English, and some Estonian and Russian, with subtitles. Starts Sat., July 12. Harris (AH) [3 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

We offer a Top 10 list for structures no longer with us.

• by Charles Rosenblum

The BigBots are coming.

"I would like to do something with the people who are interacting with the robot as the performers as such, as the triggers of the robot and also as the expressive element of it."

• by Paul Ruggiero

Make Shop Rock returns for its second fashion party.

"We'll put the clothes on the models and some kind of button that says, 'I'm a model, check out my clothes,' versus putting them onstage and making them do runway work."

• by Melissa Meinzer

What kind of libraries did Pittsburgh have before the Carnegie libraries were built?

Question submitted by: Joe Forbes, South Side

• by Chris Potter

This Just In: July 10 - 17

Highlights from the local TV news: Patriot Games.

• by Frances Sansig Monahan

The History Boys

There isn't a character on stage who isn't an aching bundle of need, and each of their emotional journeys is what makes the evening so powerful.

• by Ted Hoover