Books
Simon & Schuster/$22
Freebie: ‘A Tale of Two Cities’
USF history professors Ray Arsenault and Gary Mormino give a talk titled A Tale of Two Cities: Tampa and St. Petersburg, as part of the USF Library's Florida Conversations lecture series. The program, sponsored by the Resource Center for Florida History and Politics, takes place at 4 p.m. Sunday, June 2, in Davis Hall 130,…
Mything the Point
As much as we try to cut through all the bullshit perpetuated by wine snobs, there's still a lot of misleading info out there. Take the old story about sniffing corks. This ritual does nothing to tell you about a wine's quality, yet lots of people still think they're supposed to do it. Myths about…
Web Site of the Week: Hero Machine
Hero MachineLet's start with a very simple disclaimer: I am a dork. It becomes even more apparent when I tell you I found this site by accident, thought, "Hey, that's kinda interesting," and then proceeded to play with it for three hours. Real productive day, huh? Regardless, this is the site where superheroes go to…
Fear Less Leaders
A few minutes into Act Two of Camping With Henry and Tom, now playing at American Stage, this heretofore insignificant exercise begins to have some serious contemporary resonance. Act One is disappointing. It introduces us to President Warren G. Harding, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, convincing us that they'd gone camping together (as they did…
Hello, Dali — One More Time
An undeniably strange but always welcome old friend returns this week, as the Salvador Dali Museum's Dali and Beyond Film Series steps up to the plate with its schedule of summer films. The series' June lineup is dubbed "Art-House Summer Shockers" and begins appropriately enough with Elias Merhige's unforgettable Begotten on June 6. A wordless,…
Italian Blessing
Long before I ever set foot inside Spartaco's tiny Italian trattoria in South Tampa, I heard from friends that when the owner's mother is here on one of her extended visits from Italy, she helps make special pasta dishes by hand. Once at the restaurant, I noticed how warmly every customer was welcomed and the…
The Most Ironically Named Band in Tampa
The Most Ironically Named Band in Tampa In a dank, poorly air-conditioned East Tampa storage unit absolutely jammed with musical equipment (and a sofa on which to recline providing you were wearing a Haz-Mat suit), the five members of Coma Girl spend the first 10 minutes of rehearsal making a cacophonous improvisational racket. The formless…
Spins
Reviews of rereleases from the late, great Laura Nyro. ********************************************************* Laura Nyro Live: The Loom's Desire Eli and the Thirteenth Confession New York Tendaberry Gonna Take a Miracle She grew up singing on New York City street corners but also attended the prestigious High School of Music and Art. She was drawn to the intricate…
Outtakes
A Beautiful Mind (PG-13) Russell Crowe is the main reason to see this atypically twisty Ron Howard production, the Academy Award winner for Best Picture, about an emotionally fragile genius whose life spins out of control in all sorts of unexpected ways. About a Boy (PG-13) It's a long way from American Pie to this…
Battle of the Brands
Organizers of community events are caught in the middle between a Tampa Tribune advertising policy and a St. Petersburg Times sponsorship policy.
Downtown Bistro with a View
It was one of those weeks that starts out simple and ends with a riptide of dismaying complexities: new income tax filing rules, an out-of-town funeral, a balky computer demanding attention and a round of commitments beginning at 5 a.m. Even my cell phone needed fixing. So, it was with some relief that I contemplated…
International Plaza
A strip mall of immigrant-owned stores yields a shopping trip of curios and curiosities.
Letters
Be Nosy Re: Discomfort Zone by Fawn Germer I liked the stories on the people out there protecting our right to access public information. It is sickening to think that our crooked politicians are getting away with their effort to close our right to records, a little bit at a time. What bothers me is…
DVD Pick: The Sargasso Manuscript
The Sargasso Manuscript The history of the legendary Polish cult epic The Sargasso Manuscript is almost as fascinating and convoluted as the film itself. Released in 1965 to enthusiastic but limited acclaim (Luis Bunuel saw it three times), the film's distributors immediately deemed it too weird (even at a time when art houses where filled…
Apocalypse Now
So how real do you like your reality? Don't be scared. We're not talking cold cruel light of day, 24-7, dealing-with-the-family-and-paying-the-bills reality here. Just to make things simple, let's limit the discussion at hand to the reality that really counts: movie reality. Maybe you're an old school cinema verite fan who's seen every John Cassavetes…
The Putrefied Forest
Southwest Florida Water Management District’s practice of storing agricultural water in the Myakka River Watershed is killing the trees and destroying wildlife habitat. Plans are in place to alleviate but not solve the problem.
