Immigration Debate Borders on Idiocy
Before discussing this week’s topic — anti-immigrant bigotry — let’s look at a few headlines from overseas. Aljanci wypowiadaja sie za stworzeniem wielkiej Polski. Amerkya wykryla spisek bolszewicko niemlecki prezeciw Polsce. Remember, you heard it here first. Actually, you didn’t. Those headlines were taken from a 1919 issue of the Pittsburgh Leader, one of the…
EnvironmentReversing Course, Swift as Mercury
When state Sen. Wayne Fontana (D-Brookline) was named the Democratic chair of the Game and Fisheries Committee, he made a pledge. He would, a June 20 public statement vowed, “use my leadership position … to advance the interests of Pennsylvania’s sportsmen and sportswomen” … and to “see to it that their concerns are heard and…
Superman Returns
You’ll have to be desperate for a Superman movie to care a whit about the story, or to feel for even a nanosecond that anything of consequence will happen to anyone.
Cycle of Uncertainty Ends for Cyclists
Bicycling magazine consistently ranks Portland, Ore., as the best bicycling city in the country. Pittsburgh has been ranked one of the worst. But now, along with Milwaukee, Wis., they share the distinction of being the first U.S. cities to implement a free online bicycle trip planner through byCycle.com, a grass-roots bicycling version of vehicle trip planners such…
The Devil Wears Prada
Prada is David Frankel’s straightforward adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s comic novel. On that frame, the film drapes a couple of basic garments: the fish-out-of-water gambit paired with the zillionth re-telling of bookish-girl makeover.
County Flexes Muscles Against Squat
When you visit Eric Cruit’s home, come around back. That’s how he first approached his North Side row house in January 2004, by which time it had been abandoned and lacked a back door. Cruit, 32, installed one and moved in. He set to making the place livable … in part with cheap solar panels…
The Art of Suburbia
Suburbs are an onslaught of pavement and plastic. Drive on or near one of the increasing profusion of interstates, and you will see more driving lanes, exit ramps and parking lots, hacked mercilessly out of the landscape, all in service of the stiflingly monolithic lumps of big-box retailing. And the people who go to…
Lifelong Ban … Stern Greeting for Filmmaker
When Canonsburg resident Brooks Cantrell produced and edited the independent film “Stanton’s Magic Dick” for the recent Howard Stern Film Festival, he hoped it would get a reaction from viewers. So far, he’s gotten at least one: He has been banned for life from Hollywood Video rental stores. Cantrell, who attends classes at…
A conversation with Leta Koontz
Leta Koontz has been practicing yoga for a decade and teaching it for five years … but only for the past few months to dogs. After conducting experimental classes with house pets and shelter dogs, she is in the midst of a four-week “doga” course at Animal Friends’ new facility in the North…
Animal Passions
The note, handwritten on a full-size sheet of green paper, stands out among the others. “Rodent Party. Room 1131. 10 p.m. Saturday. (Yiffy).” The notes are all tacked to a bulletin board, full of missed connections and mesages like “Who gave Mix a ride?” and “Xander is here! Come find me!” with room and telephone…
The Word Heard
You’ve probably heard the 2005 New Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year … podcasting. You might have even heard of some newer offshoots: vodcasting, godcasting and porncasting. But have you heard of PodLit? It’s a new online podcasting feature created by Pittsburgh-based Creative Nonfiction, the first literary journal devoted entirely…
HiM
Since Doug Scharin forged the group in the wake of his stints with 1990s indie rockers such as June of ’44 and Codeine, HiM has feinted and shuddered around the post-rock fringes of Afro-beat, dub reggae and spiritualistic African atmospherics. But with Peoples … and the additions of Antibalas founder Martin Perna, Chicago…
Grinning Mob
It’s great to hear a local rock band with a sense of groove unadulterated by indie dance rock, sludgy rap-metal or current ironic butt-rock. Westmoreland County’s Grinning Mob is a beyond-unpretentious power trio which, at its best moments, sounds like the original metal … Sabbath, Zeppelin, a dollop of Cream … the funky…
Unblocking Arteries
Billed as “a celebration of fair development for Downtown Pittsburgh,” the Justice Block Party is set to occupy part of Smithfield Street for five hours on June 30. The event is designed to push for Downtown’s future, but it’s also fueled by a development in Pittsburgh’s past: the 2003 layoff of nine Downtown…
Brick
Rian Johnson’s sufficiently clever Brick is a detective thriller about a murdered blonde and the reason she got murdered in the first place. But there’s a twist: She’s a high school girl, and the people wrapped up in her dirty little affairs are also high school boys and girls … sort of like Peanuts, all…
CLICK
In Frank Coraci’s comedy, an overworked suburban dad (Adam Sandler) finds a truly universal remote control that lets him adjust his life as necessary (fast-forward, rewind, pause). Not surprisingly, playing a button-pushing God leads to much maudlin boo-hooing about what’s really important (spoiler alert: “family, family, family”). When Sandler sticks to his routine … self-centered,…
DISTRICT B13
When a stray nuclear warhead ends up in Paris’ lawless District B13, a cop (Cyril Raffaelli) and a local vigilante (David Belle) must team up to prevent certain disaster. The plot isn’t the point in Pierre Morel’s slam-bam pic; it’s the action, specifically parkour, or the art/sport of running, jumping and flipping at top speed…
Kassab’s Lebanese Cuisine
Location: 1207 E. Carson St., South Side. 412-381-1820 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Prices: Starters $3-6; sandwiches $5-6; entrées $5-15 Fare: Traditional Lebanese Atmosphere: Casual Mediterranean Liquor: BYOB Smoking: None permitted You have to get up pretty early in the morning to get ahead of the trend on East Carson Street. Us? We can’t keep…
WAIST DEEP
When a movie opens with a working-class ex-con handing his son a war toy, then lecturing him to shun violence, you might expect some exploration of our culture’s proficiency at mixed messages. But in trying to dress a family-first drama in the clothes of a bloody neo-noir thriller, director and co-writer Vondie Curtis Hall merely…
Political Convictions
The Penguins missed the playoffs again, and the Pirates have been mired in last place since April. This has resulted in a dearth of spectator events to keep a Pittsburgher engaged, which is why the Cyril Wecht drama has interested me more than it otherwise might have. That is not to make light of Dr.…
WORDPLAY
At last, cruciverbalists get their big-screen moment in Patrick Creadon’s low-key documentary about crossword puzzles. The film is virtually a 90-minute ad for the New York Times crossword, but that puzzle truly has no equal for word-freaks. Among the interviewees: the perennially boyish Times puzzle editor Will Shortz; celebu-solvers such as Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart…
Hard Lessons for Santonio Holmes
When I woke to the news of Santonio Holmes’ second arrest in as many months, my first thought was, “Does this guy think he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders?” My second thought was, “I guess I can stop wondering why the Steelers chose another wideout in the third round.” But upon further reflection —…
Return to Towers Tougher Than Expected
After being displaced nearly three years ago, former residents of three federally subsidized high-rises in East Liberty returned in droves in late June, hoping to stake their claim to replacement housing planned for the neighborhood. But they faced a “pre-application” and other hurdles that for some may make return impossible. About 100 residents from…
