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Jesse Peretz's follow-up to the painfully mediocre but wonderfully soundtracked First Love, Last Rites sounds like something George Costanza and his buddy Jerry might pitch to NBC after frantically coming up with the idea during the ride to 30 Rock. While nobody is court-ordered to become somebody else's butler, The Ch‚teau (which screens Saturday, March
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There's no time like wartime for looking at the equation between the arts and society. If you read the equation one way, it says art is our social critic and conscience. The other way around, the equation says society must conscientiously support
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Trusting town and country Housing tracts may define the town of Greece, but the Lake Ontario shoreline and its ponds, wetlands, and woods make the town extraordinary. And environmentalists and outdoorspeople are starting to crow about enlarging one of the most significant nature preserves near the shore.
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Porn on campus --- and our coverage >As University of Rochester students, we all have a lot to learn about the world, just as every other human being does. The February 12 edition of City, with its condescending tone, successfully pointed out areas where we may be lacking. "Porno 101" did make some points, but
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Many people don't care what goes in one end of the hen or out the other. But some recent legislative chickenshit should make everyone pay attention. Earlier this month the US Congress passed a nearly $400 billion omnibus spending bill. The measure
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Chris Robinson's voice was soulful as ever at Water Street Music Hall, where he sported a new, solid band that smoothly followed the bearded frontman on his new-found mellow jam exploration. Those of us wanting the pointed-toe kick in the ass Robinson used to deliver with the Crowes were treated instead to Dead-head-ish jams,
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The local DIY rag Dunk and Piss is the bastard spawn of two Chili kids with punk rock on the brain and too much caffeine in the veins. It's funny, and packed with tales of adolescent frustration, obscenities, weirdly charming anecdotes, zine reviews, curmudgeonly quotes, and an ongoing section called "Short Stories for Short Attention Spans."
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In a February 21 press release, Monroe County Clerk Maggie Brooks reacted to the state's decision to close its Department of Motor Vehicles office in Sibley Centre on East Main Street, effective April 1 --- making Rochester the only major city in the state without such a service downtown.
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"The woman doesn't know how to dream," says Moses "Unkl Moe" Smith when his wife, Bernice, complains about his having dragged her from retirement to run a restaurant. But the tension is an act; the Smiths are clearly in this together. And though they claim not to have known what they were getting into,
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For decades, America's premier skin magazine ran a series of ads called "What Kind of Man Reads Playboy?" It was shameless self-congratulation. The guys featured in these ads were rich, good-looking, and had lots of expensive toys, exactly the kind of men who didn't need to "read" a girlie rag.
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Somewhere in its mutation from the mystery story to the cop flick, the familiar movie about the detective's search for a criminal changed not only its protagonist and his methods, but also its moral focus. The transition probably began three decades ago with the almost simultaneous appearance of some powerfully influential motion pictures: William Friedkin's
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Someone contacted the office a few months ago to tell us that Carroll's, an Irish bar and restaurant on East Main Street across from East High, has the only jukebox in town stocked with Shane MacGowan CDs. This sounded like a dubious claim,
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Although the new movie Tears of the Sun describes a fictional incident, its plot resembles some actual events from recent history closely enough to exhibit a certain degree of contemporary relevance. Like Behind Enemy Lines and Black Hawk Down, it deals with a small, discrete military engagement within the context of a larger series of actions in
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Snuffing and huffing Rocket contemplates his ticket out of the 'hood in "City of God." People familiar with the work of Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles, who crafted the offbeat comedy Maids, might be floored by his latest big-screen effort. City of God is every bit as violent as Narc, just as gritty as Amores Perros, and
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Certainly, one of the terrorists' motivations in planning the attacks of 9/11 was to cripple our economy. In addition to destroying its most prominent symbol, and all the people inside it, they hoped to deal a crushing blow to our finances as a nation.
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Honeoye Land revisited Recently, we reported a story first floated by the Honeoye Herald: how the Finger Lakes Council of the Boy Scouts of America plans to sell 165 acres of land located just south of Honeoye Lake. The land was an unrestricted donation to the Council by the late Emil Muller, whose once extensive holdings in
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Talk about retro. When you read the religious tracts about planned renovations at Sacred Heart Cathedral --- the Bishop of Rochester's home church on Flower City Park --- you have to wrap your tongue around some Latin.
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In the midst of preparations for war, with budget crises looming in Albany, in Monroe County, in City Hall, it's easy to overlook one of the biggest crises of all: the waste of minds that is taking place in the Rochester school district.
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Money aplenty I can't tell you how sad it makes me when you talk about the city schools ("Doing the Math," February 19). I can tell you from first-hand experience that most schools are failing not because they lack resources or money.
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It's hard to write about art that is just beautiful. Or perhaps I should say, mostly beautiful. The artists whose work is on show at the Visual Studies Workshop are variously able to elaborate on spiritual dimensions... philosophical connections... historical underpinnings. But I find most of it unnecessary. For me, the value of their
