Analyze This
The camera swoops down and zooms across Tampa Bay toward the Pier in St. Pete. It glides over the Vinoy, past Bay Walk and down Central Avenue. 'Who Are You" blares from the screen as crime scene investigators race to their van and speed off down First Avenue North toward the scene of the crime.…
Spins
The Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots The virtues of Flaming Lips are what you'd come across in the ideal boho personal ad — geeky but charming, intellectual and arty, but not aloof. Elusive yet honest and sincere. How did these Oklahoma boys manage to meet these criteria? Sometimes from sophistication is born simplicity…
Outtakes
Short reviews of films playing throughout Tampa Bay Austin Powers in Goldmember (PG-13) The least fabulous of all the Powers entries to date but still good, disposable fun. Goldmember is really just a loosely connected series of gags, routines and set pieces (not that the other two movies weren't) with much of the humor coming…
Damsels in Distress
Crouched in a modest, little bungalow-style building facing the bay, The Colonnade debuted in 1935, and became a Tampa institution. The restaurant on Bayshore Boulevard changed with the times. During the 1940s, "50s and "60s it was a drive-in that attracted young people for burgers and sandwiches. In 1974, it moved into its current building…
Orbitals
The skinny on a socially conscious hip-hop show in St. Pete; sex toy story sends glut of readers to Times Web site; Chris Hart gets the political help he needs; and more hassles for Tampa’s public access cable. Semi-Hip Happs Nearly every single hip-hop show since Public Enemy's Welcome to the Terrordome tour has sucked.…
No Animals Were Harmed in This Cooking Presentation
Chef Debby DeGraaff stands behind a stainless steel counter in a modern kitchen/classroom just off the produce section of Nature's Harvest Market. It's 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 24, and 25 of the room's 31 straight-back chairs are occupied. The topic of DeGraaff's vegetarian cooking class this evening is Amazing Avocados. Spotting a few new…
Nightrous Oxide
A profile on Alkaline Trio
Letters
Domestic Arrangements Re: "Arrested Development" by Rochelle Renford (July 17-23) The tendency of humans and many animals to combine one life with another life is apparent. Love, protection, sustenance or some other deep, emotional need drives us to seek partners. Standard heterosexual combinations work for most, resulting in legal marriage. Besides all the benefits thereof,…
Books
Warner Books/$25.95
Solitary Outcast
While it would seem that a prisoner in solitary confinement at a maximum-security prison could do very little, it also seems the federal government expects that some prisoners can do quite a bit. Mazen Al-Najjar has been jailed at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Sumter County since November on a visa violation. Federal law…
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
When a man becomes an icon, it is strange to consider his death. He is said to be dead, yet he's still around. Icon Alan Lomax informed daughter Anna recently of his plans to be 100 years old. Struggling with language and gestures few could comprehend, he indicated he would soon return to his profession…
Reviews: ‘Sunshine State’ and ‘Full Frontal’
It was inevitable that John Sayles would eventually make a Florida movie. In picture after picture, it seems like the legendary independent filmmaker has been working his way across virtually the entire expanse of America, giving each of his films a distinctive flavor by setting each one in a different state. It was only a…
Web Site of the Week
http://www.ratemykitten.com and http://www.justshepherds.com/dawgindex.htm
A Cut Above
When audience members are asked to play a part in the improv, another element enters: our pleasure in participatory sport, in testing our wits against the talents of the players. And suffusing it all is what might be called the thrill of the unique, our gladness at being present at something never before seen or…
