Last night Channelside Cinemas, which has shown first-run films at their location in Channelside for a decade, closed up shop. This follows on the heels of two of the biggest others venues at the cheesy shopping complex, Stumps Supper Club and Howl at the Moon, shutting their doors for good earlier this month.
Meanwhile, negotiations reportedly continue with Lightning owner Jeff Vinik to take over the facility.
As a cinephile, I certainly hope the movie theatre (under different management) is revived if and when Vinik does take control of the complex, the BayWalk of Tampa (though BayWalk still shows movies).
I went to the theatre over the weekend to check out the film End of Watch, an immensely watchable L.A. cop flick from the writer of Training Day, David Ayer. I didn't know it would be the last time.
The theatre had a large giant screen (though officially not an Imax screen) that was great for checking out films like Mission Impossible and the U2 concert film from Argentina that screened there in 2008. It wasn't fantastic, but it will be missed.
On to the news: Liberal activists aren't being deterred by the charge by Pinellas Congressman Bill Young that "occupiers" and members of the Florida Consumer Action Network are stalking him, as they held a news conference begging him to engage more with the public and his Democratic opponent, 41 days before the election.
Thanks to reporter Mark Puente, we now know that it cost around $950,000 to pay for security for the RNC's official welcoming party in St. Pete that shut out the general public the night before the convention was scheduled to start last month. Examining it now, it's sort of remarkable that Tea Party types haven't raised a stink about our federal taxpayers going to such a non-essential event.
And a new report questions why local television stations in markets like Tampa that are making money hand over fist from super PACs aren't running any news stories questioning the veracity of those ads.
