Gender Gap

Advocates for Brian Prowel say that he and countless other Americans are slipping through the cracks of anti-discrimination laws

• by Melissa Meinzer

East Side Story

Big changes are coming to Larimer, but some activists worry about what will happen to the little guy in the process

• by Adam Fleming

Education: Middle School disciplinary problems spike

• by Chris Young

LGBT Issues: Transgender Pennsylvanians say 2009 crucial for equal rights

• by Marty Levine

The Green Fairy Returns

Absinthe is now available at state liquor stores, and select watering holes.

• by Melissa Meinzer

2Red Lounge

Small plates and big lounge chairs mark 2Red, Red Room's expanded space.

• by Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth

New club the New Amsterdam opens in Lawrenceville

A section of the glass-brick façade has been replaced with a large, transparent glass garage door facing the street.

• by Aaron Jentzen

Fantastic Voyagers two-day experimental music fest returns

Tamburo describes the festival's participants as simply "people in the world with me making art at the same time."

• by Andy Mulkerin

Music on the Edge presents NOW Ensemble -- but don't call their music "New"

"Pop musicians like Björk and Radiohead are getting closer to what contemporary classical composers are doing."

• by Manny Theiner

Grunge survivors Local H play Mr. Small's with Electric Six

Singer and guitarist Scott Lucas channels the doubt, rage, jealousy, self-loathing and feelings of victimization that come with a fiery crash.

• by Chris Parker

Quantum of Solace

Daniel Craig -- the intriguing "new" Bond -- returns as the hard-eyed, bristly, still-gelling British MI6 Agent 007, as Marc Forster's film picks off right after the events of 2006's Casino Royale. This Mr. Bond is Mr. Angry, seeking various paybacks, all while tracking a shadowy global conspiracy, but the frequently complicated but dull Quantum lacks the effervescence of traditional 007 outings. Forster is mostly intent on rushing to -- and through -- the next action scene. The rote action and the absence of the livelier Bond branding renders Quantum less a sub-par Bond pic than simply any other mediocre crash-bang thriller, complete with broody macho star, chip-choppy plot, frenetic action scenes and dizzying globe-hopping. [2 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

The Three Rivers Film Festival

• by CP Staff

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

This domestic melodrama set during the Holocaust and adapted from John Boyne's novel, left me pondering: With literally millions of real horror stories, why make up an utterly unbelievable one, and then lard it up with mawkish sentimentality, just in case we don't get it? Mark Herman's film follows 8-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield), the son of a Nazi officer assigned to run a concentration camp; the family lives next door and in plain sight of smoking crematoriums. But little Bruno believes it's a farm, and through the barb-wire fence, he befriends the half-starved, dirty Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), or the boy in the striped pajamas. There's a kernel of interesting material here -- after all, somebody's otherwise nice daddy did manage the death camps -- but Boy rarely probes uncomfortable truths, opting instead for a rather shallow depiction of increasingly head-scratching circumstances. That the cast speaks drawing-room English -- David Thewlis and Vera Farmiga portray Bruno's parents -- only adds to the disconnect of this exercise, which burbles along like a sunny Sunday afternoon until its calculated conclusion. I presume the realities of war -- and this particular war -- were intentionally disregarded so that the filmmaker could present a fable-like tale from child's perspective, but I simply found the approach bizarre. Starts Fri., Nov. 21. Manor, SouthSide Works (AH) [2 out of 4 stars]

• by Al Hoff

At the Glass Center, Susan Taylor Glasgow's ironic tributes to domesticity.

The door-less house, seemingly impenetrable, proposes little reward for "climbing" the long, narrow staircase.

• by Melissa Kuntz

Artist Leslie Ansley envisions the past -- and future -- of the Hill District.

"These kids, with their hopefulness and energy, are the future of the Hill District."

• by Jessica Lam

To what extent was the streetcar used in Pittsburgh, and when did it stopped being used for transportation?

Question submitted by: Mauren Antkowski and Paul Pedersen, Friendship

• by Chris Potter

This Just In: November 20 - 27

Highlights from the local TV news: the "suckers list."

• by Frances Sansig Monahan

Letters to the Editor: November 19 - 26

Feedback from our readers: Election-protection correction.

In time for the 250^th, labor historian Charles McCollester offers a people's history of Pittsburgh.

We can watch time pass again, only with the people who were at the bottom sitting on top.

• by Chris Potter

Blind Date

A poem by Joan E. Bauer

Into the Woods

Given how perfectly cast this very large musical is, how "just right" every actor is in his or her role, it almost seems as if it were written specifically for them.

• by Ted Hoover

Escanaba in Love

But you kinda gotta get used to da stuff, like you would wit 212 proof Soady Maple Lightning.

• by Gordon Spencer

Point Park's Conservatory Dance Company offers an entertaining Pittsburgh Connections showcase.

Something like TV's Teletubbies, the sedate dance work, with perfectly matched music by Michael Caskey, mesmerized with its simplicity and psychological undertones.

• by Steve Sucato

Doug Varone's new dance work explores a dark side of humanity.

They were shown beating and kicking one another, fleeing from aggressors and, most powerfully, being herded into a small group and forced to kneel with their hands clasped behind heads.

• by Steve Sucato

Interesting Times is local activist and playwright Jerry Starr's last testament on stage.

This heartfelt drama condenses much of Starr's existence into a two-hour nutshell.

• by Robert Isenberg