This zine rules in hell!
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…
Unkl Moe’s grill of dreams
“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, they…
Way below radar
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. We hereby begin our…
The ultimate cop flick
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…
A neat look at inheriting a mess
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 Château (which screens Saturday, March…
The struggle for arts and minds
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 the arts so our humanity, sensitivity, and generosity can stay alive. …
News Briefs 3.5.03
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. The preserve is Island Cottage Woods, close…
Reader Feedback 3.5.03
Cons and pros on our Spring Porn coverage
Organics and the law: the purity pureed
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 funded vital federal programs from A-Z, but in line with past practice,…
Live forever… or die trying
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, and…
Good news unravels fast
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. “While any change can be…
