Snapler

March 14, 2010

City Island: Close to Home

As it prepares its ninth season, it is noteworthy that several movies opening theatrically in the next few weeks premiered at last year's Tribeca Film Festival, among them Conor McPherson's "The Eclipse' and Bette Gordon's "Handsome Harry." Another is a sweet-hearted gem named for its primary location, City Island.

"City Island" is set in the small fishing community, a part of the Bronx that feels remote from New York City, providing a backdrop for a family story where each member has something to hide. Andy Garcia leads a cast that includes Alan Arkin, Julianna Margulies, Emily Mortimer. His own daughter Dominik Garcia-Lorido plays his film daughter, a college student who has a secret vocation as a stripper in a Bada Bing type bar.

More...

Homeless And Pregnant: Toronto Program Aims To Educate Homeless Women

Over 300 women give birth in Toronto each year, and a team of five women, called the Homeless At-Risk Prenatal Program (HARP), have the job of caring for and educating them about raising children.

The Toronto Star profiles 22-year-old pregnant Renee who, with her boyfriend Cliff, live in a homeless shelter. This is her fifth pregnancy.

More...

Scott Brown Bashes Obama’s ‘Bitter’ Push For Health Care Reform (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON (AP)-- Newly arrived Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts accused President Barack Obama and Democrats on Saturday of a "bitter, destructive and endless" drive to pass health overhaul legislation that Brown warned would be disastrous.

"An entire year has gone to waste," Brown said in the weekly GOP radio and Internet address. "Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, and many more jobs are in danger. Even now, the president still hasn't gotten the message.

More...

March 13, 2010

John McCain Calls For More Sweeping Ban On Earmarks

At the end of a week when House Republicans agreed to suspend all forms of earmark carve-outs on next year's spending bills, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the Senate needs to go even further.

McCain on Friday announced plans to propose an amendment to extend this suspension until the difficult tasks of balancing the budget and eliminating the deficit are completed -- and that could take a while.

More...

SXSW: The Austin Tea Party

The highlight of the day was hearing the word "Curation" spoken out loud about 20 times. It is what's next. And I'm not just saying that because I've been saying that for about a year (see my site, curatorialist.com for traffic, er, proof), I'm saying it because it's palpably true. And like all great Nextnesses, it's not exactly clear how it will happen. But it's close.

Here's what we all know -- it's an insane clown posse of data at our disposal right now. Not only are there 600 tweets a second, 400MM people on Facebook and all kinds of other impressive stats about Web usage, Web growth and what the kids are doing in droves, but the information being collected on the information is more than you know. Think about that. Information about information. As in, what you think is just a tweet is really your location, your opinion, your contribution to a subject, or brand and many other things. As one panelist said, even if you think people aren't listening to you in your social network, SOMEbody is listening to you.

More...

March 12, 2010

Twenty-Two Weeks and Counting

It's now been over 22 weeks since Jane Norton has been quoted directly in The Denver Post.

Now wait a minute, you say, in The Post on Nov. 11, in the year 2009, there's a quote attributed directly to Norton, not to one of her spokespeople or to a news release. Norton was quoted as saying, "The very heart and soul of who we are as Americans is being eroded. We're seeing Washington's giant hand grabbing everything in sight."

More...

“Brothers In Arms”: One Son’s War & Peace Playlist As We Prepare to Enter “The Pacific”

Back in World War II, my late great father Stanley Wild -- who we lost exactly one year ago on Sunday -- was a very young, very scared and very brave Naval Lieutenant serving his country in the Pacific. Though my father was not shy about sharing some colorful war stories with his kids, the truth is I have probably learned more about our Second World War from Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg than I ever did from Dad or any of the other great teachers in my life. To me that's a true public service and a rather excellent use of our airwaves and time. Band Of Brothers forever deepened my understanding of war, peace and history, and so I will meekly but fittingly honor my father's guts and grace by tuning into HBO on Sunday night to begin a whole new journey into The Pacific. I only wish my Dad were still here to watch it too.

To put myself in the proper mindset to enter The Pacific, I've come up with a playlist of great songs that -- at least for me - speak powerfully to the very big subject of war & peace from a variety of perspectives and eras. Though I'm no expert on history, I'm fairly certain they did not have iPods on Naval ships during World War II. Yet if they did, here are a few songs I might load onto one for Dad as he shipped off to serve this country and help try to save the world.

More...

Bohemian in a Sack Suit: The 1959 Brooks Brothers Novel

Last year, between Los Angeles and New York, I spent six months in my old environs of the Bay Area, including five weeks staying with a former flame (now married to a Hungarian who lost his baronetcy in the revolution), in Oakland on Lake Merritt.

Out for a stroll one day, I popped into Walden Pond Books, one of those massive used bookstores you can get lost in for hours, and of which so few remain today. In the back were several tables loaded with paperbacks from the '50s, a mixture of science fiction and detective dime novels and reprints of stuff like DH Lawrence and Ovid's Art of Love with lurid covers.

More...

School Cancels Prom Because Girl Wants To Bring Her Girlfriend, Wear A Tux

Itawamba Agricultural High School is ruining prom for senior Constance McMillen and her classmates.

"Due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events, the Itawamba County School District has decided to not host a prom at Itawamba Agricultural High School this year," school board members released in a public statement.

More...

Join Me At #FakeSXSW

It's that time of year again and everybody who is anybody is joining everybody who wants to anybody next year as well as some people who used to somebody in Austin, Tejas for SXSW. It's a week long haze of music, film, interactive media, interactive trying to get laid, beer, BBQ, more beer, tattoos, panel discussions, deliberate nonchalance, non-ironic cowboy hat wearing, open bars, ironic cowboy hat wearing, business card swapping, low self esteem, high tech, high self esteem and low tech.

But you aren't there, are you? Me, neither.

More...
Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress