TV on the Radio

So much to do tonight, we're torn:

TV on the Radio: Live and FREE at Prospect Park. Friday July 30 at 6:30 pm

From Celebrate Brooklyn Website: Brooklyn's TV ON THE RADIO leads a triple bill that will get you in touch with your inner indie rock aficionado. With singer Tunde Adebimpe at the helm and a dizzying arsenal of influences that ranges from post-punk to classic soul in their back pocket, TVOTR "elegantly pursues their quest to sound like nothing they recognize" (Mojo) and comes across "like Kanye West producing a punkabilly space-rock troupe" (Spin) They might be America's most original band. With the dashing Philly-to-Brooklyn transplants MATT POND PA and, here all the way from Austin to rock your pants off, VOXTROT. Click here for more information.

And at McCarren Park, there's the Billyburg Short Film Festival, featuring Japanther and lots of great local film and video in New York's coolest venue.

Click here for more information.

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NPR has provided a handy interactive map where you can track anti-gay marriage initiatives state by state. Check it out here.

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I’M YOURS NOW, featuring new work by Hipster Handbook, Food Court Druids, and The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right artist, Jeff Bechtel.

Opening Reception, Wednesday June 28th, 6-8PM
Sikkema Jenkins & Co. gallery space
(more info after the jump)

Sikkema Jenkins & Co. will present a group exhibition, I’m Yours Now, organized by Arturo Herrera. The artists in the exhibition are; Jeff Bechtel, Terry Haggerty, Ann Veronica Janssens, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Jorge Queiroz, Jan Van Der Ploeg, Claudia Wieser.

I'm Yours Now brings together seven international artists, some making their first US appearance. Each artist will work exclusively within the given architecture of the Sikkema Jenkins & Co. gallery space.

Using a variety of techniques, media, and scale, each of the artists will select existing standard architectural elements such as walls, floor and ceiling to create their work.

The exhibition explores the potential of the space to generate site-specific pieces ranging from the pictorial to the conceptual. Working within a hybrid arena of abstraction and representation, all the artists will re-address the space as ground for images and visual environments.

An underlying temporality unites all the works. They will all be destroyed, painted over or switched off at the end of the exhibit.

Organized by artist Arturo Herrera, who will have a solo exhibition at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in October – November 2006.

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And it's actually kind of hilarious, even though they mistakenly suggest that a hipster would drink a frat boy elixir like Coors. Check it out here. And if you missed their previous teaser, Hip or Dangerous, be sure to check that out here.

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UPDATE: All vouchers at all locations are gone

As you may already know, Belle & Sebastian are playing a free show at Battery park on July 4th. There are a limited amount of tix, so here's where you need to be to pick them up: (after the jump)

Tickets will be released on June 27th at the following Starbucks (one of the many corporate sponsors for this event). *two per person limit on a first come first served basis.

From Noon until supplies last: Starbucks, Corner of Woolworth
Building, 233 Broadway at Barclay Street.

From Noon until supplies last: Starbucks, Park Slope, 164 7th
Avenue, Brooklyn.

From 5pm until supplies last: Starbucks at One Battery Park Plaza,
near State Street and Pearl Street

From 5pm until supplies last: Starbucks at Astor Place, 13-25 Astor
Place.

Also check out this link for more info:

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Guess it's time to throw out our Europe '72 disk. Ann Coulter confesses to being a Deadhead. [From the most retarded site known to man, Jambands.com]

Jambands: When and how was your last Dead show?

AC: I have no recollection of it whatsoever, other than that it was awesome...

Jambands: It's time to name names. Who are the other Deadheads who have infiltrated the conservative movement?

AC: As a Deadhead and a freedom-lover, I am wounded to the bone that you think the two do not naturally go hand in hand. The Deadheads I just met casually and not through conservative politics were almost always right-thinking, whatever they called themselves. Deadheads believe in freedom – not a government telling people how much water they can have in their toilets or where they can smoke or whether they should be allowed to own a gun. (Remember the photos of Jerry testifying before some Congressional committee while chain smoking? Yeah, he'd really bond with Henry Waxman.)

One of my Dead friends I met at Vail made candles for Grateful Dead merchandizing. His daily routine consisted of waking up, smoking a bowl, and turning on the Rush Limbaugh radio show while he made his candles. (It's true. He's so far out there he practices this weird, freaky ritual known as “commerce.” Don't try telling me pot is harmless!)

Also there was a big Deadhead Christian group that handed out terrific pamphlets at Dead shows. Admittedly, many of them found God staring into a puddle while high on LSD, but whatever the path, they were very serious Christians – they made Jerry Falwell sound like a secularist.

Predictably, Coulter doesn't just like the Dead (a respectable band in their prime), she's a jamband aficionado:

Jambands: Are there any other jambands you like?

AC: All the usual — String Cheese Incident, Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Blues Traveler, New Potato Caboose.

Now we understand the root of Coulter's insanity. If our iPod was filled with Widespread Panic, Sugar Ray, and fifteen gigs of jamband bullshit, we'd lose our minds too. Read the whole interview here. [Thanks Kevin.]

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[From WaPo]

Muslim Gays Seek Lesbians For Wives

On a Web site for gay South Asians, 27-year-old Syed Mansoor uploaded the following message last summer:

"Hi, I am looking for a lesbian girl for marriage. I am gay but I would like to get married because of pressure from parents and society. I would like this marriage to be a 'normal' marriage except for the sex part, please don't expect any sexual relationship from me.

"Being an Indian gay person, I believe it is so much worth it to give up sex and have a nice otherwise normal family. We can be good friends and don't have to repent all our life for being gay/lesbian."

Across the globe and especially in America, hundreds of other gay Muslims have started to pursue marriages of convenience--or MOC, as they are known-- in which gay Muslims seek out lesbian Muslims, and vice versa, for appearances' sake.

Mansoor works as an accountant in New York and is a devout Muslim. He abstains from drinking alcohol or eating pork and is particular about offering early morning prayers.

To his friends on Wall Street, he is a financial whiz; to his parents, a devoted son. But Mansoor is also part of a burgeoning trend of gay Muslims adopting marriages of convenience. Hard statistics are hard to come by, but on a single Web site for South Asian gays and lesbians seeking such marriages, almost 400 requests had been uploaded.

They ranged from a desperate plea from Atlanta ("I just finished medical school, and the pressure for me to get married is becoming ridiculous. I can't have a conversation with my parents without them pressuring me") to a straightforward one from Texas ("I will not object to her having sex with other women").

Mansoor credits the Internet for making these marriages a real possibility for gay Muslims. Gay activists agree and say that in recent years they have seen a rise in such marriages among Muslims.

Jack Fertig, a co-coordinator for al-Fatiha, a national advocacy group for gay Muslims, says he comes across at least one such e-mail request every month.

"It's obvious that this is becoming a viable option," he said. "People are seeking, looking and trying to make connections that could develop into such marriages."

Other activists say gay Muslims are resorting to these unions for reasons of self-preservation.

"Marriages of convenience are the result of gay Muslims wanting to avoid emotional and physical harm to themselves," says Muhammed Ali, a board member of Homan, a Los Angeles-based support group for gay Iranians.

Homosexuality is a crime punishable by death in much of the Islamic world. In Iran last year, two gay teenagers were publicly executed, while in Afghanistan, the Taliban government would torture homosexuals by collapsing walls on them.

Though gay Muslims in America don't have such fears, they still seek out marriages of convenience as a way of staying in the closet. Many of them worry about being ostracized from their families if their secret is revealed.

A marriage of convenience is the perfect solution, Mansoor said. "It's a great option," he said. "I get married to a lesbian, we sleep in different rooms and remain friends. Meanwhile, I can have a boyfriend."

Mansoor is also willing to throw a financial incentive into the deal. A year has passed since he posted his request on an online discussion board, and, as yet, he has received no replies. But he continues to hope. "Now that I have a good job and earn handsomely, my family keeps asking, 'Why don't you find a wife?' " he said. "I plan to have a marriage of convenience just to satisfy the world."

Muslim authorities around the world have repeatedly emphasized that homosexuality is not permissible. Muzammil Siddiqi of the Islamic Society of North America said there is no flexibility on this topic.

"Homosexuality is a moral disorder. It is a moral disease, a sin and corruption. . . . No person is born homosexual, just like no one is born a thief, a liar or murderer," he said. "People acquire these evil habits due to a lack of proper guidance and education."

Mainstream Islamic scholars also take an unfavorable view of MOCs. The face of Imam Omar, a scholar at the Islamic Cultural Center of Manhattan, crinkled with laughter when he was asked about this phenomenon. "These people are Muslims?" he asked.

Omar receives all sorts of inquiries and is now rarely taken aback. But a query about marriages of convenience stunned him. "What kind of marriage is this?" he asked. "A nikah [marriage] in Islam needs to be consummated. There is no concept of marriage in Islam without sexual relations."

Although some gay men feel a union of convenience is the best option, Rachel Sussman, a marriage counselor in New York, said they may not know what they are getting into. "It's opening up a Pandora's box," she said. "What happens if his partner falls in love with someone? What happens if he falls in love with someone who is not okay with him being married?"

Sussman says that arrangements can potentially lead to depression, anxiety and severe marital distress.

But Ali of Los Angeles disagrees. He doesn't think MOCs are any unhealthier than other arrangements.

"If you look at our traditional culture, marriages were usually marriages of consensus and convenience and not necessarily emotional marriages," he said. "If two people care enough about each other to help each other out, who is to say they won't have a good marriage?"

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This story hit the wires 2 weeks ago, but hasn't gotten much coverage. Further proof that our media has its collective head up its own ass. Or at least up Angelina Jolie's "more newsworthy" ass. [thanks for the reminder Pete]

The board of governors of the American Bar Association voted unanimously yesterday to investigate whether President Bush has exceeded his constitutional authority in reserving the right to ignore more than 750 laws that have been enacted since he took office. [Read the whole article here]

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This promises to be a great festival (if it doesn't rain). Here's the schedule:

Saturday, June 24th at McCarren Park Pool (Lorimer Street between Driggs and Bayaard in Williamsburg). Only $10.00 at the door for all the below:

Line Up:
6:30pm Doors Open - come explore the installations and booths from local community artists including Open Ground, 3rd Ward, Antimart, Peripheral Media, Interrupcion, Indamine Ochre Architecture, Harry Rosenblum, Action Direction, Fnerd, Jennifer Jaser, Brooklyn Parents for Peace with the international DJ James Friedman spinning!

7:30pm Japanther - they are unbelievable band and we're psyched to have them!

8:30pm Michael Showalter (from the State, Wet Hot American Summer, and most recently the troupe called Stella) will share some of his sketch comedy videos.

Sundown - Short films from Brooklyn International, Coney Island, and our very own Billyburg Short Film Festival

After party at Supreme Trading (North 8th between Roebling and Driggs) with Complacent Nation.

UPDATE: THIS HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO FRIDAY JUNE 30 DUE TO RAIN

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We discovered a great new Latin Fusion restaurant this week just off the Graham Avenue stop of the L. It's a tad hard to get to, but the delicious cerviche, the pulled pork, and the quesadillas make it worth the walk. The quinoa & beans side is exquisite. Plus, they have buy 1 get 1 free drink specials until 8pm. If you're too lazy to walk to Meserole, Mojito Loco offers free delivery until 11pm as well. Find out more here.

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The just-opened Second Coming clothing has a hilarious new line of Christian T-Shirts. Our brother site evangelicalright.com has more.

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David Lee Roth: "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody"

Most of our readers undoubtedly already read Pitchfork, so maybe this post is unneccessary, but their 100 Awesome Music Videos feature rules. Check it out here.

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Metalux & John Wiese - "Exoteric"
(Load)

Femme-tronic duo Metalux and prolific noisemeister John Wiese have a new collaborative full-length of murky malaise out now on - yep, Load Records. Recorded in Wiese's California apartment, "Exoteric" oozes unnerving electronic noise environments that feature disembodied voices and damaged rhythmic upchuck over crunchy PowerBook cacophony.

The sounds the threesome summons are not overly harsh or extreme but are tailored to titillate. Wiese's digital abstractions are in a constant state of flux so no sound ever grows stale. Metalux's vocal performance is occasionally provided via analog tape, which gets manipulated and spliced to frightful effect.

Metalux & John Wiese create tasty sound soup that goes down easy but may induce nightmares if taken too close to bedtime.

The Lovekill - "These Moments are Momentum"
(AstroMagnetics)

Helloooo Cleveland! The Lovekill are a new power chord foursome from Rock and Roll town USA with amps that go to eleven. Their debut full-length reveals a group keen on mixing Midwest blues rock and East Coast emo-thrash -- a smart, if just a touch tired, combination likely to make them a hot item on their leg of the Warped Tour this summer.

The band wastes no time getting to the meat of their melodies and the whole affair seems to gain steam as it goes. Chris Rager's gruff vocals compliment the group's wall of riffage and the rhythm section keeps everything tight, tight, tight. Don't be shocked if the songs on "These Moments are Momentum" sound a tad familiar, but don't be surprised if you end up singing along to them in the end.

-- John Rickman

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Our brother site, evangelicalright.com, has the story.

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There's a hilarious new site dedicated to cats that look like Hitler. Check it out here. [Thanks Kevin K.]

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We know, we know... coming back to work on Monday sucks. At least tomorrow will be a great day for music:

Son Volt will be playing a free show at the World Financial Center at 7pm tomorrow. More here. And the Beirut will be at Northsix ($10).

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We've been negligent in our duties and failed to provide a weekend to-do list. Luckily, Cakehead has us covered. Check out her great suggestions here. If you're looking for a yummy new Williamsburg restaurant, try Pies & Thighs. And don't forget that Sunday is Father's Day.

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Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland was on The Colbert Report last night and in a priceless moment flaundered when Colbert asked him to list the Ten Commandments. He could only come up with three:

Watch the video, via Crooks and Liars, here

here's the Transcript:
Colbert: You have not introduced a single piece of legislation since you entered Congress.
Westmoreland: That's correct.
Colbert: This has been called a do nothing Congress. Is it safe to say you're the do nothingest?
Westmoreland: I, I, ..Well there's one other do nothiner. I don't know who that is, but they're a Democrat.
Colbert: What can we get rid of to balance the budget?
Westmoreland: The Dept. of Education.
Colbert: What are the Ten Commandments?
Westmoreland: You mean all of them?--Um... Don't murder. Don't lie. Don't steal Um... I can't name them all.

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Michael Gerson

[From WaPo]
Since first joining the presidential campaign as chief speechwriter in 1999, Gerson has evolved into one of the most central figures in Bush's inner circle, often considered among the three or four aides closest to the president. Beyond shaping the language of the Bush presidency, Gerson helped set its broader direction.

He was a formulator of the Bush doctrine making the spread of democracy the fundamental goal of U.S. foreign policy, a policy hailed as revolutionary by some and criticized as unrealistic by others. He led a personal crusade to make unprecedented multibillion-dollar investments in fighting AIDS, malaria and poverty around the globe. He became one of the few voices pressing for a more aggressive policy to stop genocide in Darfur, even as critics complained of U.S. inaction.

"He might have had more influence than any White House staffer who wasn't chief of staff or national security adviser" in modern times, said William Kristol

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click to see video [via ThinkProgress]

Transcript:

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Peter. Are you going to ask that question with shades on?
Q I can take them off.
THE PRESIDENT: I’m interested in the shade look, seriously.
Q All right, I’ll keep it, then.
THE PRESIDENT: For the viewers, there’s no sun. (Laughter.)
Q I guess it depends on your perspective. (Laughter.)

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This story hit the wires last week and we decided not to comment, assuming the media and blogs would be all over it. Oddly, the story has been all but ignored with patchy coverage here and there from tech blogs. So here goes:

[ From the AP] Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin acknowledged Tuesday the dominant Internet company has compromised its principles by accommodating Chinese censorship demands. He said Google is wrestling to make the deal work before deciding whether to reverse course.

Meeting with reporters near Capitol Hill, Brin said Google had agreed to the censorship demands only after Chinese authorities blocked its service in that country. Google's rivals accommodated the same demands — which Brin described as "a set of rules that we weren't comfortable with" — without international criticism, he said.

"We felt that perhaps we could compromise our principles but provide ultimately more information for the Chinese and be a more effective service and perhaps make more of a difference," Brin said....

"It's perfectly reasonable to do something different, to say, 'Look, we're going to stand by the principle against censorship and we won't actually operate there.' That's an alternate path," Brin said. "It's not where we chose to go right now, but I can sort of see how people came to different conclusions about doing the right thing."

We've been opposed to the deal all along, especially given the company's better-than-thou posturing and their "don't be evil" mantra. Brin's statement of course begs the question if Google compromised their principles, why not change course now? Maybe Google will decide to do the right thing in the coming weeks, but simply issuing a statement admitting that they fucked up is an empty gesture.

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You know, now that they've been proven wrong and have the blood of Iraq on their greedy, imperialistic hands. [From AntiWar.com]

Is the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which did so much to promote the invasion of Iraq and an Israel-centered"global war on terror," closing down?

In the absence of an official announcement and the failure since late last year of a live person to answer its telephone number, a Washington Post obituary would seem to be definitive. And, sure enough, the Post quoted one unidentified source presumably linked to PNAC that the group was "heading toward closing" with the feeling of "goal accomplished."

In fact, the 9-year-old group, whose 27 founders included Vice President Dick Cheney and Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld, among at least half a dozen of the most powerful hawks in the George W. Bush administration's first term, has been inactive since January 2005, when it issued the last of its "statements," an appeal to significantly increase the size of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps to cope with the growing demands of the kind of "Pax Americana" it had done so much to promote.

As a platform for the three-part coalition that was most enthusiastic about war in Iraq – aggressive nationalists like Cheney, Christian Zionists of the religious Right, and Israel-centered neoconservatives – PNAC actually began breaking down shortly after the Iraq invasion.

It was then that the group's predominantly neoconservative leadership – Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, PNAC director Gary Schmitt, and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace analyst Robert Kagan – began attacking Rumsfeld, in particular, for failing to deploy enough troops to pacify the country and launch a true nation-building exercise, as in post-World War II Germany and Japan.

It was the first of a number of policy splits that, along with the deepening quagmire in Iraq itself, have debilitated the hawks, forcing neoconservatives in the group to reach out to liberal interventionists with whom they sponsored a series of joint statements extolling the virtues of nation-building and a larger army, or calling for a tougher U.S. stance toward Russia and China.

PNAC was launched by Kristol and Kagan in 1997, shortly after their publication of an article in Foreign Affairs magazine entitled "Toward a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy," in which they called for Washington to exercise "benevolent global hegemony" to be sustained "as far into the future as possible."

While critical of then President Bill Clinton, the article was directed more against a Republican Congress which, in their view, had grown increasingly isolationist, particularly after the precipitous U.S. withdrawal from Somalia in 1994 and strong Republican opposition to intervention in the Balkans against Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

It was in this spirit that the two co-founded PNAC, whose charter was signed by leading neoconservatives, including Cheney's future chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby; Rumsfeld's future deputy, Paul Wolfowitz; Bush's future top Middle East aide, Elliott Abrams; his future ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad; Rumsfeld's future top international security official, Peter Rodman; American Enterprise Institute (AEI) fellow and neocon impresario Richard Perle; Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; as well as Cheney and Rumsfeld themselves.

The charter's few specifics, as well as follow-up reports published by PNAC – "Rebuilding America's Defenses" and "Present Dangers," both published in 2000 to influence the foreign policy debate during the presidential campaign that year – were based to a great extent on an infamous "Defense Planning Guidance" (DPG) draft produced under Cheney when he served as secretary of defense under President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

That paper, which was developed by then-Undersecretary of Defense Wolfowitz, Libby, Khalilzad, and the current deputy national security adviser, J.D. Crouch, with assistance from Perle and other like-minded defense specialists, called for the "benevolent domination by one power" (the U.S.) to replace "collective internationalism" and for Washington to ensure that domination, particularly in Eurasia, in order to prevent the emergence, by confrontation if necessary, of any possible regional or global rival.

It was PNAC's role to sustain and propagate these ideas through its reports, its periodic letters and statements signed by right-wing notables, and a steady flow of opinion-pieces and essays, that acted as part of a larger neoconservative"echo chamber" that included Kristol's Weekly Standard, Fox News, the Washington Times, and the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, to frame debates in official Washington and the mainstream media.

In this sense, PNAC was more of a "letterhead organization" that acted more as a mechanism for developing consensus on issues among different political forces – in its case, Republican hawks – and then pushing them in public, than as a think tank.

Indeed, the fact that several of its half-a-dozen staff members – most recently, PNAC director Schmitt – have taken posts at the much-larger AEI located just five floors above PNAC's offices helps illustrate the incestuous nature of the larger network. Nonetheless, PNAC was the first to call publicly (in 1998) for Washington to pursue "regime change" in Iraq by military means in conjunction with the Iraqi National Congress of Ahmed Chalabi, who would later play a key role in the propaganda campaign against Saddam Hussein in the run-up to the 2003 invasion.

But perhaps its most notable letter was sent to Bush Sept. 20, 2001, just nine days after the 9/11 attacks. In addition to calling for the ouster of the Taliban and war on al-Qaeda, the letter called for waging a broader and more ambitious "war on terrorism" that would include cutting off the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat, taking on Hezbollah, threatening Syria and Iran, and, most importantly, ousting Hussein regardless of his relationship to the attacks or al-Qaeda.

"It may be that the Iraqi government provided assistance in some form to the recent attack on the United States," it said. "But even if evidence does not link Iraq directly to the attack, any strategy aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Failure to undertake such an effort will constitute an early and perhaps decisive surrender in the war on international terrorism."

The letter was signed by 38 members of the predominantly neoconservative Washington echo chamber, many of whom – especially Kristol, Kagan, Defense Policy Board members Perle, Woolsey, Eliot Cohen, Center for Security Policy president Frank Gaffney, former Education Secretary William Bennett, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer, and Foundation for the Defense of Democracies director Clifford May – would emerge, along with Woolsey, as the most ubiquitous champions of war with Iraq outside the administration.

Seven months later, PNAC issued another letter signed by many of the same people urging Bush to step up preparations for war with Iraq, sever all ties to the Palestinian Authority under Arafat and give full backing to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's efforts to crush the Palestinian Intifada.

"Israel's fight against terrorism is our fight. Israel's victory is an important part of our victory," the letter noted. "For reasons both moral and strategic, we need to stand with Israel in its fight against terrorism." Bush complied two months later.

That period – Sept. 20, 2001, to the run-up to the Iraq war in early 2003 – marked the high-water mark of PNAC's existence. Since then, things have generally gone downhill, as the hawks they represented, including the group's dominant neoconservatives, have fallen prey to internal disagreements: over Rumsfeld's stewardship of Iraq and the Pentagon; over the wisdom of democratic "transformation" in the Arab Middle East; over Sharon's Gaza disengagement plan; over China; and even over the latest administration moves on Iran.

All of which has made it far more difficult to forge consensus – and compose letters – in these areas.

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We checked out a great new restaurant in Williamsburg last weekend, Pies & Thighs. Our favorite food blog, cakehead, has a story here. The name Pies and Thighs makes us feel dirty, but definitely pay them a visit before the crowds discover them.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We saw Cat Power perform over the weekend at Town Hall with the The Memphis Rhythm Band. It was [surprisingly] an AMAZING show. Chan seemed completely at ease an energized playing with a band. And the ten-piece Memphis Rhythm Band was a lot of fun. She played every song off of her latest record, The Greatest, and a handful of covers including "Wild is the Wind," "Hit the Road Jack," and "House of the Rising Sun." Defying her reputation as a bad performer, Chan frequently joked with the crowd and even did a costume change. She came out for an encore wearing a tight, white prom dress. We were pissed back in February when she cancelled a series of shows due to "health issues" -- perhaps a bout with the bottle since she made several references to being sober at Saturday's show-- but her performance more than made up for it.

RBally has a great live Cat Power bootleg here.

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From BattleCry - A Christian youth festival envisioning a Christian nation. Read the whole story here, on out brother site evangelicalright.com. [image c/o Rogouski]

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from Blow-Up

Michelangelo Antonion Retrospective
when: Jun 7 - 29
where: BAM
Web info: click here

One of the few artists credited with creating a new language of cinema, Michelangelo Antonioni remains enormously influential, yet impossible to imitate. While many of his Italian contemporaries used Neo-Realism to address political issues of the day, Antonioni developed a new approach: one that directly attacked problems within society and human interactions, while using a supremely confident visual style. Never content to work on a small canvas, Antonioni explored weighty issues and set his characters amidst stark and unfeeling landscapes. Yet central to all his work is a need to see, to understand, and to interpret the world around him. All films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, in Italian with English subtitles, unless otherwise noted. All new prints courtesy of Cinecittà Holding unless otherwise noted. Presented with Cinecittà Holding and the support of the Ministry of Culture of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute in New York.

and don't miss

Iron Artist
when: Sat 6.10 (3pm)
where: P.S.1 (22-25 Jackson Ave, LIC, 718.784.2084)
price: $5 suggested donation
Web Info: click here

From Flavorpill:

Inspired by the eccentric-but-endearing cooking game show, Iron Artist pits artist against artist in a test of on-the-spot creative ingenuity. Today's event, the love child of P.S.1 and Cabinet magazine, consists of two bouts, each 45 minutes in length. The first features two sculptors: artist/musician Jude Tallichet versus German-born and California-trained satirist Olav Westphalen. The second sees the production design collective Big Room, founded by Julian LaVerdiere and Vincent Mazeau take on artist team Type A. For each match, competitors create works based on a theme and materials provided, as commentators give a play-by-play of the action.

and on Saturday & Sunday if it doesn't rain: The Big Apple BBQ

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The dashing groom

This story is too hilarious to not share [from AFP]

A woman who fell in love with a snake has reportedly married the reptile at a traditional Hindu wedding celebrated by 2,000 guests in India's Orissa state. Bimbala Das wore a silk saree for the ceremony Wednesday at Atala village near the Orissa state capital Bhubaneswar.

Priests chanted mantras to seal the union, but the snake failed to come out of a nearby ant hill where it lives, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said.

A brass replica snake stood in for the hesitant groom.

"Though snakes cannot speak nor understand, we communicate in a peculiar way," Das, 30, told the agency.

"Whenever I put milk near the ant hill where the cobra lives, it always comes out to drink.

"I always get to see it every time I go near the ant hill. It has never harmed me," she added.

Villagers welcomed the wedding in the belief it would bring good fortune and laid on a feast for the big day.

Snakes and particularly the King Cobra are venerated in India as religious symbols worn by Lord Shiva, the god of destruction.

Das, from a lower caste, converted to the animal-loving vegetarian Vaishnav sect whose local elders gave her permission to marry the cobra, the world's largest venomous snake that can grow up to five metres.

"I am happy," said her mother Dyuti Bhoi, who has two other daughters and two sons to marry off.

"Bimbala was ill," Bhoi told local OTV channel. "We had no money to treat her. Then she started offering milk to the snake ... she was cured. That made her fall in love."

Das has moved into a hut built close to the ant hill since the wedding.

Earlier this year, a tribal girl was married off to a dog on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Firedoglake dig a great job yesterday of pointing out one of the more inane passages in Ann Coulter's new book Godless:

Liberals hate science and react badly to it. They will literally run from the room, lightheaded and nauseated, when told of data that might suggest that the sexes have different abilities in math and science. They repudiate science when it contradicts their pagan beliefs—that the AIDS virus doesn’t discriminate, that there is no such thing as IQ, that nuclear power is dangerous and scary, or that breast implants cause disease. Liberals use the word science exactly as they use the word constitutional.

Both words are nothing more or less than a general statement of liberal approval, having nothing to do with either science or the Constitution. (Thus, for example, the following sentence makes sense to liberals: President Clinton saved the Constitution by repeatedly ejaculating on a fat Jewish girl in the Oval Office.)

At least, people seem to be on to Ann's bullshit this time around. Even Olbermann has turned on her.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Our Rapturous brother site, EvangelicalRight.com, has a revealing story on the Religious Right's insane priorities. The powerful, boycott-happy American Family Association has already drafted a petition to thwart the supposed war on Christmas. Check it out here.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

we all know who the real antiChrist is

Happy Devil Day... otherwise known as The National Day of Slayer.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Juan McLean to play PS1's Summer Warm-Up

From PS1 Website:

July 1
Body & SOUL Ten-Year Reunion with Danny Krivit, François K. and Joe Claussell
July 8
The Idjut Boys (U-Star, Cottage, Tirk, London)
Phil South (No Ordinary Monkey, NYC)
July 15
Todd Terje (Full Pupp, Oslo, Norway)
Kudu “live” (Nublu, NYC) Citizen Kane (APT, NYC)
July 22
A Guy Called Gerald “live”(Sugoi, U.K. Berlin)
San Serac “live” (Output, Boston) Derek Plaslaiko (Ghostly, NYC)
July 29
The Juan Maclean “live” (DFA)
Adam X “live” (Sonic Groove, NYC)
Jeffrey Sfire (Ghostly, NYC)
Aug 5
agnès b. Presents…
Aug 12
Rub-N-Tug (Eskimo, aNYthing)
Escort “live” (NYC)
Aug 19
Mathew Johnson “live” (Wagon Repair, Vancouver B.C.)
Beppe Loda (Afro-Cosmic, Italy)
Lee Douglas (Rong Music)
Jeremy Campbell (Tropical Computer System)
Aug 26
The Glimmers (Eskimo, Belgium)
+ a special guest
Sept 2
Carl Craig (Planet E, Detroit)
Gamal Awad
+ a special guest

Admission
On Warm Up Saturdays, from 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., the admission fee to P.S.1 and Warm Up is $10. Included in this price is access to all exhibitions and Warm Up. During this time, P.S.1 does not offer the $5 suggested admission or any other discounted admission rate.

On Warm Up Saturdays, from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., museum admission is free.

Warm Up Season Pass and Advance Tickets
For the aficionados, the Warm Up Season Pass is available for purchase until July 7, 2006. The Pass is $100 and valid for all ten Saturdays in 2006 and admits the cardholder plus one guest.

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is the coolest story we've read in a while. [From Popular Science]

Nearly 50 tons of mysterious red particles showered India in 2001. Now the race is on to figure out what the heck they are

As bizarre as it may seem, the sample jars brimming with cloudy, reddish rainwater in Godfrey Louis’s laboratory in southern India may hold, well, aliens. In April, Louis, a solid-state physicist at Mahatma Gandhi University, published a paper in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Astrophysics and Space Science in which he hypothesizes that the samples—water taken from the mysterious blood-colored showers that fell sporadically across Louis’s home state of Kerala in the summer of 2001—contain microbes from outer space.

Specifically, Louis has isolated strange, thick-walled, red-tinted cell-like structures about 10 microns in size. Stranger still, dozens of his experiments suggest that the particles may lack DNA yet still reproduce plentifully, even in water superheated to nearly 600˚F. (The known upper limit for life in water is about 250˚F.) So how to explain them? Louis speculates that the particles could be extraterrestrial bacteria adapted to the harsh conditions of space and that the microbes hitched a ride on a comet or meteorite that later broke apart in the upper atmosphere and mixed with rain clouds above India. If his theory proves correct, the cells would be the first confirmed evidence of alien life and, as such, could yield tantalizing new clues to the origins of life on Earth.

Last winter, Louis sent some of his samples to astronomer Chandra Wickramasinghe and his colleagues at Cardiff University in Wales, who are now attempting to replicate his experiments; Wickramasinghe expects to publish his initial findings later this year.

Meanwhile, more down-to-earth theories abound. One Indian government investigation conducted in 2001 lays blame for what some have called the “blood rains” on algae. Other theories have implicated fungal spores, red dust swept up from the Arabian peninsula, even a fine mist of blood cells produced by a meteor striking a high-flying flock of bats.

Louis and his colleagues dismiss all these theories, pointing to the fact that both algae and fungus possess DNA and that blood cells have thin walls and die quickly when exposed to water and air. More important, they argue, blood cells don’t replicate. “We’ve already got some stunning pictures—transmission electron micrographs—of these cells sliced in the middle,” Wickramasinghe says. “We see them budding, with little daughter cells inside the big cells.”

Louis’s theory holds special appeal for Wickramasinghe. A quarter of a century ago, he co-authored the modern theory of panspermia, which posits that bacteria-riddled space rocks seeded life on Earth. “If it’s true that life was introduced by comets four billion years ago,” the astronomer says, “one would expect that microorganisms are still injected into our environment from time to time. This could be one of those events.”

The next significant step, explains University of Sheffield microbiologist Milton Wainwright, who is part of another British team now studying Louis’s samples, is to confirm whether the cells truly lack DNA. So far, one preliminary DNA test has come back positive.“Life as we know it must contain DNA, or it’s not life,” he says. “But even if this organism proves to be an anomaly, the absence of DNA wouldn’t necessarily mean it’s extraterrestrial.”

Louis and Wickramasinghe are planning further experiments to test the cells for specific carbon isotopes. If the results fall outside the norms for life on Earth, it would be powerful new evidence for Louis’s idea, of which even Louis himself remains skeptical. “I would be most happy to accept a simpler explanation,” he says, “but I cannot find any."

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Neko Case

Despite fears, Clear Channel spin-off, Live Channel, manages to book some great shows. Too bad they're not all free. TicketMaster (ugh) will be handling ticket sales instead of local outlets:

7/29 - Bloc Party, Secret Machines, Mew
7/30 - Of Montreal (free)
8/11 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sonic Youth, Blood on the Wall
8/12 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sonic Youth, Awesome Color
8/13 - Deerhoof (free)
8/17 - Iron & Wine
8/24 - Neko Case, Joanna Newsom, Martha Wainwright

[via BrooklynVegan]

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

[via Gawker]

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

... with his generosity. Check out these three amazing live shows. We recommend starting with Van Morrison at Fillmore:

Tom Waits - San Diego Folk Festival 1974
Ryan Adams on Jools Holland
Belle & Sebastian Live in 1998
Van Morrison at the Fillmore West, 1970

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

by Dave Thomas

Nacho Libre

Comedy is king this month, though early Break-Up reviews may beg to differ. But Jack Black, Adam Sandler and the good folks at Pixar are ready to pick up the slack should Vince Vaughn fall short.

June 2

THE BREAK-UP

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston go all Brad Pitt and, um, Jennifer Aniston.

WILL IT SUCK?
Newcomers to writing, including Vaughn, who contributed to the story. Directing-wise we have a little bit of hope with Peyton Reed, he of Bring It On and Down with Love. Can he make the transition to two-word titles? But the real hope here, and this almost never happens for me with a comedy, is the trailer. It's actually funny. How can you not laugh when that guy starts singing Owner of a Lonely Heart?

It doesn't hurt that Vaughn reunites with Justin Long and Jason Bateman from Dodgeball and Jon Favreau from Swingers. Judy Davis, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Cole Hauser should be fun, too.

Early buzz, sadly, not so good.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Not much competition. Other movies are as afraid of this as X3 for some reason. Maybe they remember what comedies did last summer. The next week, Cars will suck up a lot of oxygen, but this flick's demo will probably be one of the least affected. $162mil.

-----------------------------------

PEACEFUL WARRIOR

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Nick Nolte plays Yoda to an injured gymnast.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is mixed, with the film coming off as too New Age-y for some. On the other hand, this is from the guy who directed Powder (and both Jeepers Creepers movies, go figure). The writer who adapted Dan Millman's memoir The Way of the Peaceful Warrior for this exercise also wrote Hellraiser 3, another spiritual journey.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Little competition, and these mystical romps are notoriously unpredictable at the box office. $4mil.

-----------------------------------

DISTRICT B13

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Magnolia takes an awesome French action film and saddles it with an unwieldy title to explain a plot point.

WILL IT SUCK?
This is one of the best action films of the year. How do I know? Because it was the best action film I saw at Toronto last year. Fantastic parkour. A tight plot. Great sense of humor. And plenty of "wow" factor, especially in the first half.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
The buzz for this is strictly underground, and the trailer is only so-so (but I may be biased since I've actually seen the film). In any case, Magnolia's is going to have to do a bigger push than usual to get this on the radar. If they do, they could be looking at one of the few foreign action crossovers to actually work. $5mil.

-----------------------------------

TYPHOON

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
A supervillain plans an attack on Korea involving a typhoon and nuclear waste while the rest of the world asks "too soon?"

WILL IT SUCK?
Hard to say. This movie just sort of came out of nowhere in spite of fame and glory in its native South Korea. Dreamworks/Paramount Classics picked it up, but so far early buzz here has been middling.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
It may be hard to get American audiences to take this seriously and then if they do it may be hard not to get them to take it as exploitative. $2mil.

-----------------------------------
June 6
-----------------------------------

THE OMEN

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Hey, in 2006 it's possible to release a movie on June June 06. Let's redo The Omen!

WILL IT SUCK?
The guy who directed the original (Richard Donner) is better known for action films, so I guess it makes sense that John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines) is directing this. They were classy enough to get the original screenwriter to come back for the remake. Did you know that guy also wrote (and directed) Lucas? Also, you can't beat the cast. I'm a big Liev Schreiber fan, and Michael Gambon and Pete Postlethwaite should be great in supporting expository roles. I rather enjoyed the original and I don't imagine this is going to be terribly different. Early buzz is decent.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
It doesn't have very much competition, and though horror rarely does well in the summer, this is the rare exception - an event horror film. $53mil.

-----------------------------------
June 9
-----------------------------------

CARS

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Pixar. 6 and 0.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is good, which is the same as saying it's a Pixar film. That 6 and 0 refers to quality as well as box office. If it matters, you've got Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, George Carlin, Michael Keaton and I'll overlook Larry the Cable Guy doing voices. But you had me at Pixar, in spite of less-than-stellar trailers.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Nobody fucks with the Pixar. $340mil.

-----------------------------------

A PRARIE HOME COMPANION

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Lindsay Lohan's in a Robert Altman film? Really?

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz has this ranking just below Gosford Park in the director's oeuvre.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Even though this is a wide release, I highly recommend Picturehouse get this into arthouse theaters. Call me nutty, but I think there may be some crossover between NPR listeners and Altman fans. $14mil.

-----------------------------------

THE HEART OF THE GAME

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Doc about six years of a girl's high school basketball team in Seattle.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is insanely good. Like Oscar short list good.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Pretty serious competition from Wordplay the following week, but if Miramax can get the word out, this stands a chance. $5mil.

-----------------------------------
June 16
-----------------------------------

NACHO LIBRE

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
A Mexican priest (Jack Black) becomes a Mexican wrestler.

WILL IT SUCK?
Well, if you can buy Charlton Heston as a Mexican... This is from the writer/director of Napoleon Dynamite, and to look at the trailer, the sense of humor is the same. Plus, they took the screenplay and let Mike White (School of Rock, Chuck & Buck) put some stank on it.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
This will be a pretty good match-up. The following week Adam Sandler's Click comes out. Will it draw from Nacho's second weekend? Does the old guard still have something up on the new? $85mil.

-----------------------------------

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Initial D with stupid Americans.

WILL IT SUCK?
The straight-to-DVD Hollow Man 2 has more reason to exist than this waste of Justin Lin and Lucas Black's talent.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
People are idiots, but a lot of the same crowd are going to want to see Nacho Libre this week and Click the next. $75mil.

-----------------------------------

THE LAKE HOUSE

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock exchange notes through a mystical mailbox that carries their messages back and forth through time. And if the mailbox goes under 50mph, it explodes.

WILL IT SUCK?
Not content to remake Japanese horror films, Hollywood is now pilfering their romantic sci-fi. They've hired an acclaimed Argentinean director you've never heard of and thrown the guy who wrote Proof (the play and the screenplay) at the adaptation. So at least they're trying.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
This is angling to be this summer's Notebook. It ain't gonna pull that off, but it will surprise you. $49mil.

-----------------------------------

GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Not content to squander Bill Murray's talent, the franchise draws in Billy Connolly as well.

WILL IT SUCK?
I'm going to pretend that you didn't ask that question. Although I maintain that Tokyo Drift is still the more pointless sequel.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
I think the kids would rather see Nacho Libre. $28mil.

-----------------------------------

THE MOSTLY UNFABULOUS SOCIAL LIFE OF ETHAN GREEN

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Pretty straightforward romantic gay comedy.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is not so good, but the comic strip is popular.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
It's hard enough to get support for a gay romantic comedy when the reviews are good. $500,00.

-----------------------------------

WORDPLAY

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Doc about the NY Times crossword and its inimitable editor, Will Shortz.

WILL IT SUCK?
It's awesome. Even if you don't care about crosswords, I'd see it.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Somewhat high profile indies coming out next week, but this has a pretty good buzz lead-in going all the way back to Sundance. $9mil.

-----------------------------------

LOWER CITY

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
We're on a road movie to El Salvador.

WILL IT SUCK?
This has been described as a cross between City of God and Y Tu Mama Tambien. Won the Award of the Youth at Cannes last year because, you know, the Youth, they're important.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Whatever hyperbolic comparisons you want to make, there's much stiffer competition in the waters. $250,000.

-----------------------------------

LOVERBOY

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
You know that creepy relationship on Arrested Development between Lucille and her son Buster? Go creepier.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is not so good. This is directed by Kevin Bacon and stars his wife Kyra Sedgwick and, yes, the term "vanity project" has been thrown around.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Bacon's name will carry this for a while, but without good reviews, it will ultimately falter. $2mil.

-----------------------------------
June 23
-----------------------------------

CLICK

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Adam Sandler Controls the Universe (with a remote).

WILL IT SUCK?
This actually has a pretty good shot at not sucking. It's got the director of The Wedding Singer, one of Sandler's best, and writers behind the similarly-premised Bruce Almighty, which turned out better than anyone could have expected. Then again, it's Revolution Studios, so forget everything I just said.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Although Nacho Libre's second frame is a bit of an issue, the only real competition comes the following week when Superman blows everything away. $121mil.

-----------------------------------

WAIST DEEP

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
People have simply got to stop letting their kids ride in cars what with all the carjacking-turned-kidnappings in films these days. This one has Tyrese robbing banks to raise the ransom to get his tyke back.

WILL IT SUCK?
When I first saw the trailer for this it reminded me of the trailer for Caught Up and, sure enough, one of the writers here penned that. Vondie Curtis Hall directs, and he has a bit of a mixed track record. Some good TV (Firefly) and, um, Glitter. Here he writes and directs for the first time since the somewhat beloved Gridlock'd, but early buzz doesn't indicate that that helps any.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Tyrese would have probably been better off sticking with the Fast/Furious franchise. $18mil.

-----------------------------------

THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Pseudo-doc based on the true story of three British Muslims imprisoned at Gitmo before being released (without being charged)...two years later.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is outstanding, which is not surprising as co-director Michael Winterbottom is the shit and the subject matter is incendiary. Consider it the most important film you'll see all summer.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Could still get lost in the shuffle. $2mil.

-----------------------------------

LEONARD COHEN: I'M YOUR MAN

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Everybody Loves Leonard

WILL IT SUCK?
U2's in it, so I'm pretty much sold, but for the rest of you, if Leonard Cohen isn't enough to get you into the theater, I can't help you. Early buzz is good.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
If the Beasties can't pack 'em in, I don't know that Lenny can. $750,000.

-----------------------------------

WASSUP ROCKERS

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
This latest slice of fringe from Kids director Larry Clark focuses on LA Latino skate punks.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is mixed, but Clark is at least in familiar territory.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Familiar territory for Clark is also low box office. Delay from April doesn't help. $5oo,ooo.

-----------------------------------

THE HIDDEN BLADE

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Drama set in the latter days of the samurai era.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is good and the international kudos myriad, but it's no romp. Think "staid." From the same team that put together Twilight Samurai.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
I don't think anybody heard of Twilight Samurai, either. $500,000.

-----------------------------------
June 30
-----------------------------------

SUPERMAN RETURNS

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. Oh, and I think there's some stuff with Superman, too.

WILL IT SUCK?
After the fiasco that was X3, this had better not suck. The relentless mediocrity of Ratner's Last Stand (when shit wasn't blowing up, anyway) only pointed out how sorely the franchise missed Singer, and if this is the reason he had to go, we can only hope it was worth it. He's co-written the script with a couple of his X2 cohorts, so that's a promising sign. And, frankly, he could just make the whole thing about Luthor and make it work, but it's probably a good idea to have the Man of Steel up in there, too.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
It makes up for having Dead Man's Chest the following weekend by owning an ostensibly 5-day 4th of July weekend. $250mil.

-----------------------------------

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
The chick-flick Superman Returns.

WILL IT SUCK?
Scoring Meryl Streep to play Miranda Priestly really is like scoring Spacey to play Luthor, and the director has done nice work on Entourage and Band of Brothers (oddly, very guy-centric shows), but I'm none too pleased to see the screenwriter behind Laws of Attraction and Three to Tango on the adaptation.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Not much competition and fairly good anticipation. $60mil.

-----------------------------------

QUEENS

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Five mothers cope with the impending nuptials of their gay sons.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is generally good. One of the writers did the acclaimed Km. 0.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Higher profile indies will squash this, though it's likely to be the only movie with a mass gay wedding this summer. $250,000.

-----------------------------------

WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Doc about the rise and fall of the electric car. Turns out it was those same fuckers what framed Roger Rabbit.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is strong. Should make a nice companion piece to An Inconvenient Truth.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Speaking of Truth, right now it's pulling down $91,000 per screen. Are enviro-docs the new black? $3mil.

-----------------------------------

STRANGERS WITH CANDY

WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Prequel to the Comedy Central show about a 32-year-old woman (Amy Sedaris) who goes back to high school.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is good, though some seem far more impressed with the first thirty minutes than the rest for some reason. Series regulars Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris wrote the script, and Dinello directs. Most of the old cast is back, plus Matthew Broderick, Dan Hedaya, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ian Holm, Allison Janney, Sarah Jessica Parker and Justin Theroux. Rent the first season on DVD. You'll know right away if it's your cup of tea. Me, I'm just hoping they'll be dancing over the end credits.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Has a pretty good following, a red-hot Colbert and, until Scanner Darkly comes out the following week, very little competition in indiewood. $13mil.

Next Month: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

— Dave Thomas

Posted by freewilliamsburg at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)