The Bridges between film and photography
An intimate exhibition of black-and-white photographs by Jeff Bridges opened at the George Eastman House in July. Whether entirely intentional or not, the exhibit is a subtle companion to Site Seeing: Photographic Excursions in Tourism. It continues to foster our ongoing romance with photographs, and perhaps more importantly, with photographic memory. Pictures is a…
Walking scorched earth
August and September mark the 225th anniversary of a campaign of destruction and death that came through Upstate New York. The year was 1779 and our newly declared independent country was at war with England. Colonists were fighting the British Army and British Loyalists on many fronts. Added to these two foes, in the…
Dealing with drivel
When he was interviewed by Jerome Holtzman for No Cheering in the Press Box in 1973, former Chicago Tribune sportswriter Ed Prell said, “The sportswriters today depend too much on quotes from the dressing rooms. They’ve become nothing more than messenger boys.” Thirty-one years later, they’re still messenger boys. Unfortunately, that’s what sports journalism…
An odyssey of murder
The major publicity approach to the new Michael Mann film revolves around the fact that in Collateral Tom Cruise, his trim beard and hair dyed gray, undertakes a role very different from most of his previous star turns. In a departure from such previous work as the engaging title character of Jerry Maguire, the…
Playing the replay game
Taking a scene and replaying it from different perspectives is, if not exactly common, not exactly new, either. Films from Rashomon to Pulp Fiction have employed the trick to mine both novelty and depth out of a single scene. But The Trilogy, a new set of films from French director (and mainly actor) Lucas Belvaux,…
From green space to gathering place
It’s a rare day when citizens approach their government and ask to be taxed. But that’s exactly what the South Wedge Planning Committee is doing. The group has approached Rochester City Council with a petition and a proposal to create a special tax assessment district. The extra revenue from the district — located around…
Reader feedback 8.11.04
MEDIA WATCH By the time WRUR completes all the program changes and personnel, they will have lost their listenership (“Anything but Static,” July 14). For the past six years, I’ve enjoyed listening to the Friday nights Blues programs by Scott Wallace and Doug Curry. My husband and I would arrange our evening around their programs…
Body count 8.11.04
To honor the war dead and fill an information gap in US mass media, City Newspaper will run weekly lists of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians killed during the occupation of Iraq. The totals: 928 American soldiers, 124 Coalition soldiers, and approximately 11,487 to 13,458 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq from the beginning…
It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world
To many New Yorkers, it was no shock to hear that their state legislature is dysfunctional. And not just dysfunctional, but the most dysfunctional in the nation. To the Democratic and Republican leaders of the legislature, though, the indictment — contained in a study by the BrennanCenter for Justice at New YorkUniversity’s School of…
Lesson plan
Next time a city school closes, critics will be harder pressed to cry foul. At least that’s what RochesterCitySchool District officials are hoping. In an effort to diminish the affect of politics on school operation — especially as the school closing process gets underway — district officials are cooking up a strategic plan. Or, to…
But seriously, folks
Barret Hanson’s music roots run deep. He learned the piano at an early age and found himself gravitating to the family phonograph. He began collecting 78s at the age of 12 and by 1957 was DJing for high-school sock hops. Graduating with a major in classical music from UCLA, he wrote his thesis on the…
Calendar girl
Northeast Naturist Festival, Friday, August 6, EmpireHavenNudistPark This past weekend was the perfect demonstration of Naturist Rochester’s slogan: “Nude when possible, clothed when practical.” Temperatures in the mid-60s forced most of the campers at EmpireHavenNudistPark in Moravia to cover up (at least partially), leaving only the hardiest among them clothes-free. Many of the Park’s more…
Family valued 8.11.04
Stompin’ at the Planetarium When Princess Diaries 2 opens this week, there will finally be a G-rated movie playing in town. Two weeks ago, the fact that there wasn’t infuriated us when we tried to take a mess of kids under 10 to a movie. Good thing we remembered Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey, playing at…
