Archives
Welcome to the inaugural installment of Inbox, a column dedicated to remarkable emails. Inbox began in 2002 as the only annual zine dedicated to preserving email. The initial concept was a spoof on museums that try to preserve and catalogue the completely meaningless trifles of life. However, after receiving more than 150 submissions for the first
Archives
The cult following, especially among young people, of the Douglas Adams novels --- and the radio and television series they spawned --- will probably guarantee the profitability of the new feature-length film based on his signature book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Without that large and presumably eager audience, however, I doubt that the
Archives
Do you enjoy movies but can't bear the thought of dealing with the same one for two grueling hours? Sufferers from short attention spans: Put down that can of Mountain Dew and rejoice! It's time once again for the Rochester International Film Festival, more commonly referred to as Movies on a Shoestring. 2005 marks the
Archives
"Nothing," jokes Matty Sonar, describing what attracted him to playing in local noise outfit Gaybot. "I didn't like it at all," he says, "and I don't know if I do now." For Sonar, who provides beats and plays guitar, saxophonist Chris Wicks, and mastermind Brian Blatt (who most often embodies the Gaybot persona, though he
Archives
Browsing through the Brighton library recently, I came across a video from a 1982 PBS mini-series titled "A Walk Through the 20th Century." This particular installment was called "World War II --- The Propaganda Battle," narrated by Bill Moyers. Being a history buff, especially about World War II, I checked it out. The film compares how propaganda,
Archives
There were two pharmacies in the village where I grew up outside of Boston: the neat one owned by Mr. Margolis, where my brother and I picked up my father's medicine, and the cluttered one with the nudie magazines on display. This is where we bought my mother's cigarettes. Even though we had to
Archives
Library clerk Mary Ellen Baxter tries to vary the themes for the Henrietta Public Library's storyline, her self-proclaimed "baby." But some themes just bear repeating. She's repeated the "Please & Thank You" month several times. "Because we have children come in, and their manners are just like --- well," she says. "I have my little
Archives
"I go to work angry every day, and I go home angry every day." That's how one Democrat and Chronicle reporter --- speaking on condition of anonymity --- described what it's like working inside Rochester's largest news outlet. That might be an extreme description, but among rank and file newsroom staffers, confidence in the paper and its leadership is
Archives
HISTORY AND THE SANDINISTAS Chris Nelson's letter "Rewriting History" (April 20) represents a throwback to the Cold War rhetoric of the 1980s. To discredit the Sandinistas, Nelson now (and President Reagan then) called them "Marxists." In fact, the Sandinistas included people from all points along the progressive spectrum. Some were liberal reformers, some were socialists,
Archives
The gospel of the playground Blackfriars' cast of talented young performers is presenting Godspell,a wildly imaginative treatment of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. Originally John-Michael Tebelak's MFA directing thesis, Godspell is "a celebration of life." Its clownlike youngsters play and sing joyously in an abandoned playground as a modernized Jesus teaches them through parables. After a
Archives
The totals: 1,582 American soldiers, 180 Coalition soldiers, and approximately 21,239 to 24,106 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq from the beginning of the war and occupation to April 30. American soldiers killed from April 24-30: Specialist Gary W. Walters Jr., 31; Victoria, Texas | 1st Sergeant Timmy J. Millsap, 39; Wichita, Kansas | Specialist David L.
Archives
Intriguing sprockets and a lowly worm Has Rochester grown tiresome? Head to the Buffalo Museum of Science for Springs, Sprockets and Pulleys, the mechanical sculptures of Steve Gerberich, on exhibit through June 26. There were no German guys named Dieter hosting the exhibit during our visit, but we did see a guitar-playing robot that looked just
Archives
You've heard them a thousand times, the little taglines that have followed conversations about Rochester for years. Rochester "has a lot of old money." Rochester "is a white-collar town." Rochester "is an arts and culture city." Here are a couple of more recent ones: Rochester's children are the 11th poorest in the country and the poorest in New
Archives
Fanboy alert! Popbot, free comics Somewhere there's a dirty rock-star cat named Kitty who has an imposing robot bodyguard called Popbot. They go on chaotic misadventures involving transgendered assassins (tranassassins), the "deepcore" rapper Mo Prostate, Andy Warhol as a revolutionary on the planet CHE, and, according to Kitty, "the finest pharmaceuticals a rock star's money can buy." All of
Archives
The totals: 1,600 American soldiers, 180 Coalition soldiers, andapproximately 21,521 to 24,398 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq from the beginning of the war and occupation to May 8. American soldiers killed from May 1-8: Sergeant Kenya A. Parker, 26; Fairfield, Alabama | Specialist Derrick J. Lutters, 24; Burlington, Colorado | Major John C. Spahr, 42; Cherry Hill,
Archives
If you question the value of design in urban planning, take a spin through Irondequoit. That northeastern MonroeCounty suburb offers some of the area's best examples of what happens in the absence of a master plan. The result, say urban planners, is mass development without cohesion. It's the absence of that synergy that best characterizes sprawl: a
Archives
At a recent practice for PUSH Physical Theatre, Tom Ohl and Topher Holt made handstand pushups look like routine jumping jacks. Gravity never weighs PUSH performers down; the five-person troupe relies on it to carve an imaginary world out of the air around them. "There should be a sense for the audience that the air
Archives
It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock 'n' roll. It's even longer if you have to burn dreary thruway miles from Ithaca to do it. Each week members of The Black Arrows drive an hour and a half to converge at their bass player's home in East Rochester. The
Archives
The Lilac Fest opens Friday, May 13, and runs through Sunday, May 22. It is 10 days of heady fun not only celebrating our city's love affair with a certain purple bloom, but also heralding the opening of a long and full summer festival season. With 1200 bushes and 500-plus varieties throughout our prized
Archives
Something big is either happening or gonna happen. In the past few weeks I've seen the Rochester bands go from a whisper to a scream. The roar was apocalyptically epic a few weeks back, like when The Atomic Swindlers opened for Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook and TheFluffers. The Swindlers rock in a big and
