Web Site of the Week: Oozak
http://oozak.caseyporn.com
Letters
MIA in Sarasota Re: "Florida's Cultural Milquetoast" by Natasha Del Toro (Aug. 7-13) As a recent members of the Sarasota community, my husband and I greatly appreciate and look forward to Weekly Planet. In choosing my new position as head of the Fine Arts Department at Ringling School of Art and Design, I was pleased…
Undercover Angel: Rebekah Pulley
One of my few hard-and-fast rules regarding this column concerns original artists and bands that also work the cover circuit; to wit, I don't feature them. It may be seen as stupid or uppity or "punk rock" or whatever when viewed from a different perspective, but I have my reasons. I certainly don't think such…
Independents on Parade
Seems like the Education Channel's Independents Day Film Festival was just here, but, incredibly, almost two months have passed since that annual Fourth of July weekend event. It's all over now but for the shouting, as well as the inevitable handing out of the awards. And that's exactly what'll take place on Sept. 19, when…
Celebrating West Africa
As part of a monthlong tribute to West African history and culture, the Tarpon Springs Cultural Center and the Tarpon Springs Library team up for free public screenings of three West African films (with English subtitles) and several related events. The films and screening times are as follows: Guimba the Tyrant at 2 p.m. Sept.…
N.Y. Counter Culture
What has risen from the ashes of 9/11 is a renewed determination. New Yorkers have demonstrated a grit and perseverance of which we can all be proud. They've showed us a new definition of courage. So, in honor of the city and its citizens, we are focusing this week on a cuisine that grew up…
Books
The Whore's Child and Other Stories by Richard Russo Alfred A. Knopf/$24 Richard Russo's fiction usually arrives in rambling, delightful, 400-page novels, like Nobody's Fool (made into a fine 1994 film) and Empire Falls (winner of a Pulitzer Prize). Great lumps of literature like those, the reader knows, will take a while to finish. They…
Orbitals
A state appeals court has ordered Florida Power Corp. to the bargaining table; The Ice Palace's new $150-million name: the St. Pete Times Forum; kettle corn delivered straight to your desk; and the fate of Sam "The Fat Man" Cagnina. Florida Power Loses Again A state appeals court has ordered Florida Power Corp. to the…
Spins
Dixie Chicks Home For their first two major label outings, the Dixie Chicks straddled the line between neo-traditional and country pop, then seemingly out of nowhere (they'd already had three indie albums behind them in 1993) became one of Nashville's most bankable acts with the release of Wide Open Spaces in 1998. The next year…
800-Pound Gorilla on the Tarmac
There's this famous scene in King Kong where Kong, frustrated in the big city, climbs atop a skyscraper with a screaming woman in his hand. That's pretty much the scene today in downtown St. Petersburg, with the city's dominant daily newspaper as the 800-pound gorilla and the tiny Albert Whitted Municipal Airport as its captive.…
A Darker Shade of Pale
"Photos are only taken of happy moments," says Robin Williams' decidedly unhappy character in One Hour Photo. It's one of those observations that's so obvious it usually flies completely under our radar, and Williams' character backs it up by citing the endless supply of snapshots documenting familial bonding, love, reunions, celebrations, personal successes, holiday gatherings…
Outtakes
Austin Powers in Goldmember (PG-13) The least fabulous of all the Powers entries to date. As usual, Dr. Evil and Mini-Me steal the show, although Myers gets off a few good licks with the latest addition to his roster of villains, the revolting and thoroughly irritating title character. Stars Mike Myers, Beyonce Knowles, Michael York…
Weird Name, Great Value
When I first heard the word "Languedoc" (lahn-GWEH-dock), my thoughts were sucked into the gutter of Deep Throat. Something about its vague reference to the tongue made my mind dance with impure thoughts, especially when associated with wine. But Languedoc is far from a porno flick; it's actually a wine region in France. And a…
Photo Op: One Year Later
Photo Op: One Year Later Artist Carol Lay offers a comical yet poignant portrayal of the Sept. 11 aftermath.
DVD Pick: Ossessione
Luchino Visconti's Ossessione is one of those incredibly important movies that no one (outside of film studies departments) seems to have heard about, and it's important for all sorts of contradictory reasons. An uncredited adaptation of James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, Visconti's 1942 Italian production predates and predicts the whole film noir…
Do Not Feed the Humans: Zoo Story and Trace of Arc
Edward Albee's The Zoo Story is about the alienation of urban humans and their desperate need to make contact. It's about other things too: the fear that God may have abandoned us, the adoption of cruelty as a form of self-defense, the strange interchangeability of sadism and masochism. It was The Zoo Story that first…
