Geekend 2009 Day 1
The opening events of Geekend 2009. Held in the Hyatt on W. Bay Street.
Reviews: A Christmas Carol, Men Who Stare at Goats
A CHRISTMAS CAROL *1/2 Officially, the title is Disney’s A Christmas Carol, which is acceptable since it sure as hell isn’t Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. While it might be true that this animated version retains more of the literary classic than might reasonably be expected, it’s also accurate to state that a key ingredient…
Clooney flick is director’s choice
Two days after another George Clooney film screened at the Savannah Film Festival — The Men Who Stare At Goats — another film starring the actor was the Festival’s super-secret “Director’s Choice.” Directed by Jason Reitman and based on Walter Kim’s novel, Up in the Air is the hilarious, affecting, and perfectly timed story, sociopolitically…
Savannah Film Festival 2009
Some pics from the first few days of the 2009 edition of the Savannah Film Festival.
Does the camera really add ten pounds?
I’ve often heard people say “the camera adds ten pounds” when they’re photographed. Is that just an excuse or is there any truth to it? – Emma No question there’s an element of denial here. Since you’re not looking at yourself most of the time, it’s easy to maintain a self-image reflecting the svelte physique…
Cutting edge toilet tissue marketing
Lead Story Procter & Gamble announced in October that it will once again create and host a public restroom for the holiday season in New York City’s Times Square as a promotion for Charmin tissue. Last year’s installation was merely specially outfitted toilet facilities, but this year P&G will upgrade by hiring five bloggers (“Charmin…
Theremin dreamin’
For those who don’t know, the theremin – sort of an antenna that you wave your hands around – is the musical instrument that makes the eery, spooky sound made famous by cheesy horror movie soundtracks in the 1950s. (Contrary to popular opinion, the Beach Boys did not use a theremin on “Good Vibrations”; that’s…
SCAD student filmmakers: Part Two
Part Two of our profile of the talented young SCAD filmmakers whose works are entered into the student competition at the 2009 Savannah Film Festival. Duck Heart Teslacoil Written and Directed by: Tyler J. Kupferer Delete – Merge U Produced by: Tyler J. Kupferer, Elias Glasch and Alysha Kupferer The film succeeds in being a…
Checking out the new library
By the end of my first visit to the new Southwest Chatham Branch of the Live Oak Public Library system, I half expected the library staff and the patrons to break into a dance routine. Perhaps that expectation was a residual effect of watching my favorite musical, The Music Man, on a Live Oak Library…
Noteworthy: Captured! By Robots, Angela Easterling
CAPTURED! BY ROBOTS There’s this guy Jason Vance, see, and he’s the lone human in a band of musical robots. As if that thought weren’t cool enough, Vance (who’s been re-christened JBOT) wears a full-face bondage mask onstage, because the robots don’t like him much, and they’ve made him their slave. They humiliate him and…
Katrina in Scotland
With a performance of The Katrina Project: Hell and High Water, the Savannah Arts Academy Theatre Department will perform in the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland next summer. In order for a school to be entered into the contest – the American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF) – the school must first be nominated…
Mutts strut for a good cause
Do you love animals? If so, clear this Saturday on your calendar. That’s when the Humane Society will be hosting a “Mutt Strut” in Forsyth Park from 9 a.m. to noon, its largest and consequently most important fundraiser of the year. This dog-walking event will be filled with fun and festivities including bands to listen…
What’s Next: STOMP and more
The rhythms of the street propelled Britons Steve McNicholas and Luke Creswell to create STOMP, the dance–and–percussion show that’s been touring the world since 1991, and is coming to Savannah’s Johnny Mercer Theatre Dec. 8. The glory days of STOMP may have passed, but the show’s unique combination of percussion and theater never really gets…
Living to tell the tale
Judy Maltz, a journalism professor at Penn State University, had an amazing story to tell. Maltz, who produced and co-directed the film No. 4 Street of Our Lady, was descended from a family of Polish Jews who had survived the Holocaust thanks to the efforts of a woman who almost single-handedly saved the lives of…
To stage a Mockingbird
In 2003, the American Film Institute ranked Atticus Finch the greatest movie hero of the 20th Century. The protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird – memorably portrayed in a beloved 1962 film adaptation starring the late Gregory Peck, who won on Oscar for the role – embodies the spirit of the Southern liberals who, at…
Obama hate, Innovation Awards hubbub
Stop with the Hitler comparisons already Editor, I am going to keep this brief. I was recently in a coffee shop in town and overheard an appalling conversation taking place between a man and a woman. The man I make reference to made the following statements: “You wait and see, Obama is going to be…
Keep laughing
Already a successful comedian who has appeared on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend and the Today Show, as well as a laundry list of high profile festivals and clubs, Eddie Sarfaty was bitten by the writing bug after having a short story published in an anthology in 2003 titled When I Knew. His new book, Mental:…
Don’t rue the Bruery
Like many folks who head down the path of micro-brewed beers, Patrick Rue ultimately became curious. So curious, in fact, that the young California lawyer did what many curious beer lovers do — he cooked a batch of home brew in his kitchen. It’s addictive, and a pattern that has lured many now notable brewers…
Becoming ‘Precious’
Unless there’s a last–minute gold rush of five-star movies between now and the end of the year, the 2009 Oscars belong to director/producer Lee Daniels and his film Precious – Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire. Precious, as it’s known, is a brutal, unflinching drama about 16–year–old Claireece “Precious” Jones, who lives in a…
Marrying the military
If you think planning one wedding is stressful, then just imagine what it might be like to plan 42 weddings that will all happen on the same day, in two hours. That’s what James and Becky Byous are doing as a way to thank some military families, present and future, on Veteran’s Day this year.…
A new look at Anne Frank
When Benjamin Wolfe learned he had the opportunity to direct the Little Theatre’s upcoming production of The Diary of Anne Frank, he was a little hesitant. “I thought it was a little dated – like, this has been done, we all know it, everybody’s going to walk in knowing how it’s going to end,” laughs…
Best bites: Crystal Beer Parlor, Melting Pot
Crystal Beer Parlor I usually don’t go into a restaurant that’s only been open two day — but I knew the buzz around Crystal Beer Parlor wouldn’t allow a wait. The landmark (1933) restaurant has undergone many transformations and is as much a part of the native culture as the St. Patrick’s Day parade. It…
Life, love and ‘Lemon Lima’
Winner of the Outstanding Narrative Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and the Audience Award at the Woodstock Film Festival, writer/director Suzi Yoonessi’s Dear Lemon Lima is a warm, tender drama about a young girl’s coming of age in Fairbanks, Alaska. It’s one of the competition films at the 2009 Savannah Film Festival. Vanessa…
