Fetterman in Fetters
Once again, Braddock Mayor John Fetterman is making headlines — this time for being charged with trespassing yesterday after refusing to leave UPMC’s global headquarters Downtown: Pittsburgh police today charged Braddock Mayor John Fetterman with trespassing because they say he refused to leave private property during a Downtown protest. Fetterman, 41, was protesting the closing and razing…
Becky Slemmons and “Gatherings”
It’s about 20 visits, 80 more to go for Becky Slemmons. The local artist has set herself a challenge: to visit 100 places of worship in Pittsburgh, at least one each week. She started Sept. 5. Her goals include exploring the role belief plays in society; “the similarities in differently labeled spiritual mythologies”; and “the…
Short List: Week of November 25 – December 2
Done in the style of an old-school barnstorming stage show, Zafira Dance Company’s annual Vaudeville Carnivale is just a damn good time: Hear live music, watch bellydancers and trapeze artists, peruse oddities and curiosities. Attractions at the showcase’s fourth iteration, on Sat., Nov. 27, at the Rex Theater, include Jill Parker and Tamara Nelson of…
Thai Foon
Am urbane Pan-Asian restaurant spices up a new suburban shopping development.
Tangled
This Disney re-do begins with the basics — Rapunzel, a baby with magically long golden hair — is kidnapped by a mean old lady, and locked away in a remote tower, only to be later discovered by a cute guy. In the film, the guy — a dashing thief — helps Rapunzel escape and, after…
Love and Other Drugs
In this sort-of rom-com from Edward Zwick, a glib, bed-hopping young pharmaceutical salesman named Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) pitches doctor’s Pfizer’s miracle potions. On a visit to charm an influential doc (Hank Azaria), Jamie meets the vivacious artist Maggie (Anne Hathaway). After some brief sparring, they discover they’re a perfect match: Each only wants lots of…
Last Train Home
Lixin Fan’s vérité-style documentary was shot over a couple of years, beginning in 2006, and depicts how a new global economy is in deep conflict with China’s traditional family and social structures. He follows one family, who live a fractured existence. For the past 16 years, the parents have made garments in the factory city…
Howl
This film probably won’t convince anyone that Allen Ginsberg is an important poet or an interesting man, but for those of us who know he is, it’s engaging cinematic theater and great fun to watch. James Franco doesn’t imitate Ginsberg in his introspective portrayal. He merely adopts a Ginsberg-like cadence. As the poet reads his…
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
If you’ve reveled in all seven of the increasingly complex Harry Potter books, and the six earlier films, you’re likely be sad and discomfited that grand ride is soon over. So perhaps that’s why I was fine with the occasionally broody, do-nothing nature of this outing, part one of David Yates’ adaptation of the seventh…
127 Hours
In 2003, Aron Ralston went hiking alone in Utah and got himself into a jam — with his arm pinned by a boulder against the canyon wall. Five days later, he cut off the arm below the elbow, and then climbed and walked back to a rescue. This is a true story, and that’s the…
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Though trimmed to just under two hours, this brief but tedious Midsummer is still too long to run without an intermission.
The Last Night of Ballyhoo
Pat Cena Samreny and Linda Levine do exceptional work as sisters whose abiding love goes hand-in-hand with abiding friction.
Talley’s Folly
It’s a love story, and no matter how frustrating and cyclical the dialogue, you will smile at the finale despite yourself.
This Just In: November 25 – December 2
Highlights from the local TV news: (Face) Book ‘Em!
Technical glitches aside, Fallout: New Vegas is one of the year’s best.
Fallout: New Vegas delivers an epic amalgam of shooter and RPG that somehow manages to improve upon the legacy of its venerable predecessors.
Kerry Skarbakka’s photographs look like crazy stunts even as they get at the root of our anxieties.
This exaggeration is also accurate, however: It’s how we tend to view our own mishaps, dramatic and calamitous.
Four decades ago, Pittsburgh-based GASP joined a new wave of citizen environmentalism — and the group is still here.
“I was expecting college groups. … What I found were housewives.”
Delayed Review
Without attorneys, the CPRB is at a standstill
World AIDS Day events to help raise awareness
This year the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force turns 25 years old. And while most organizations might see that as a positive milestone, Executive Director Kathi Boyle says it’s not something to celebrate. “I thought we’d be out of business by now,” she says. But with HIV infections still spreading in the community, the task force…
Success Breeds Failure
Advances in treating HIV have led some to minimize its risks
Darker My Love adopts a more relaxed, California vibe with Alive As You Are
It’s an unexpected turn for a band founded by two former members of legendary post-punk band The Fall and the onetime drummer of The Distillers.
Canadian metalcore band Cancer Bats open for The Chariot at Altar Bar
Singer Liam Cormier goes from feral-but-still-decipherable growls to a flat speak-sing, like Henry Rollins crossed with Lou Reed.
Meet doom-metal band Brown Angel, the least-fun band in Pittsburgh
“A lot of bands want that celebratory release in a song. We don’t have that.”
Kickstarter’s online fund-raising helps Pittsburgh musicians finance new work
This fall, Ben Hardt and His Symphony sought funding for an ambitious recording project, raising more than $10,000.
BRADDOCK
A poem by Richard Schnap
Mary Lee’s Meals
Mary Lee Linsenmayer helps you make “home-cooked” meals
Savage Love
I’m a 23-year-old female college student whose life consists of going to class and going to the gym. I got hurt in my last relationship, so I’ve been staying away from dating for a while. I notice guys checking me out, but I’m afraid I come off as unapproachable. I’ve noticed this fine guy at…
See-Through Agenda
You don’t need an X-ray to see motives in airport-security debate
Former Steeler Merril Hoge sounds off on head injuries and illegal hits.
“I would love for [James Harrison] to show me or tell me the coach that taught him to take your forearm and try to shove it up into the throat of a wide receiver coming across the field.”
