Continuing Labor of ‘Labor Priest’
Local Catholic activists are hoping to carry on some of the work of Monsignor Charles Owen Rice by pressing for room for a new column in the Pittsburgh Catholic focused on social-justice issues. Rice, who died Nov. 13 at 96, was famous for his public agitation, and public commentary, on behalf of civil rights,…
Café Roma
Location: 4770 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. 412-621-1534. Hours: Mon-Sat 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Prices: Sandwiches $5-7; entrees $7-11 Fare: Simple Sicilian, plus luscious desserts Atmosphere: Casual Italian diner Liquor: BYOB Bloomfield may proclaim itself Pittsburgh’s Little Italy, but lately it seems there is more pad thai than pomodoro in the restaurants of Liberty Avenue. It’s almost making…
Faith and Works Bring South Side South
While other church groups have traveled to the Gulf Coast to help with Hurricane Katrina relief, Pastor Jim Walker of the South Side’s Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community admits his congregants’ recent work in Biloxi, Miss., might have stood out a little. “We’re reaching the tattooed, pierced kind of folks who would never be welcome…
False ID
On Dec. 20, federal Judge John E. Jones III gave a Christmas present to everyone involved with the controversy over “Intelligent Design” (ID). That day, Jones issued a ruling prohibiting York County’s Dover School District from teaching ID as an alternative to evolution. The ruling vindicated those who saw ID, which proposes that species…
Managed Competition
There are two schools of thought regarding architectural competitions. One is that they bring out a higher standard of work by challenging the best designers and allowing a real comparison of artistic possibilities, in a way that handshake deals with favorite boardroom architects do not allow. The other is that competitions cause architects…
My husband recently got a job on the South Side, and we noticed there are a lot of streets named after women. How come?
How come? Because, as many of us can attest, it’s never a bad idea to try getting in good with the in-laws. Most of what we now call the South Side was owned by John Ormsby, a British soldier who’d fought in the French and Indian War. Ormsby had been stationed…
Grand Theft Pittsburgh
Looking at Jesse Schell’s office from an old, sunken couch — staring at the pile of board games, DVDs, magazines and video games — it’s hard to believe that this small South Side business could ever represent Pittsburgh’s future. If the 1980s-vintage Mad Magazine board game, or the ancient Atari 2600 game console, make you…
A Conversation with Colleen Black
Painter and sculpturist Colleen Black started this year by creating two larger-than-life statues of bronze wolves, which led to a chance to show her work on Home and Garden Television. Their only request was that she sculpt another similar animal, which she did: a foam and plaster likeness of her dog, Dodge, sprayed in bronze,…
Talking Points
When Penn State meets Florida State in the FedEx Orange Bowl (what did we do before corporate sponsorship?) on Jan. 3, their two coaches will no doubt shake hands before the coin flip. Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno have both been coaching NCAA football for 39 years — nearly as long as Castro has led…
Hot Chip
There’s a sound on “Take Care,” the first track on the American release of Hot Chip’s debut full-length album Coming On Strong — a cheap-synth shaker sound; the kind on the keyboard you had as a kid, 44 keys of piano, 44 of percussion. Just like back then, that shaker is so perfect as to…
Landing Strip
Jake Leger is a sex machine. At least, that’s what he’s trying to convince you on this debut by his new duo with drummer (and girlfriend) Keriann Hansen. Leger already has an extensive Squirrel Hill pedigree in noisy indie rock, from the example of his older brother Noah (Hurl/Speaking Canaries) to his own cataclysmic…
This Side of Eve
From the opening chord jangles and harmonica wails on its newest release, one might get the impression that This Side of Eve is a mere Bob Dylan tribute act. But when Alyssa Creasy’s airy, Harriet Wheeler-esque vocals chime in, and mellow pop choruses ensue, it’s evident that the band fits much better with the children…
The Producers
Music, jokes, parody, Nazis, shtupfing: If you had to sum up the cinema of Mel Brooks in five words, those would be the ones. (If you had a sixth word, it might be “Jews.”) So it’s especially nice to report that The Producers, the 2005 musical film based on his 2001 musical play based on…
The Passenger
More than a decade after completing the landmark trilogy that began with L’avventura, Michelangelo Antonioni was approached by producer Carlo Ponti, who’d first worked with him on Blow-Up. Ponti asked Antonioni to film an original story by Mark Peploe, a thriller about a journalist who trades names with a dead man. But while Antonioni’s…
Rumor Has It
Just in time for the Oscars, along comes Rumor Has It, my nominee for the most purposeless movie of 2005. Ostensibly a comedy — a shrill, witless one, with copious banal sentimentality — its funniest thing is the list of seven “executive producers” in the opening titles. That’s enough cooks to spoil gruel. I’m…
THE RINGER
In this feel-good low-rent comedy, an underachiever (Johnny Knoxville), at the behest of his shiftless uncle with burdensome gambling debts, pretends to be mentally retarded, hoping to best the real competitors at the Special Olympics. His new teammates — played by a mix of actors and real-life Olympians — quickly spot “Jeffy” as a fake,…
Female Athletes Still Need Offense
A new report by the Women’s Law Project places the University of Pittsburgh among the worst large schools in the Commonwealth when it comes to offering equal opportunities for female athletes and Pennsylvania State University as one of the best. Since 1972, the federal Title IX law has required any school, college or university…
