Support Local News
To The Editor:
Most American cities and suburbs are down to one local daily or weekly newspaper (“All the News That’s Fit To Print,” Dec. 9). Newspapers have to deal with increasing costs for newsprint, delivery and distribution along with reduced advertising revenues and declining readership due to competition from the Internet and other new information sources. Read more
Fear and Loathing in New York
Why dating in the city has lost its fun
By Baccus G’ues
It was a cold winter’s day in New York and I was behind a bar in the heart of the Upper East Side, serving bloody Marys and Bud Light drafts to men in their mid- to late-twenties as they watched football and talked shop, belching and bragging about which girl they had hooked up with the night before. Freshly plunged back into the dating game, it was all I could do to not jump across the bar and take them by their unshowered necks and shake some gentlemanly-ness (and proper tipping etiquette) into them. And this was just one of many reasons why I was both fearing and loathing jumping back into the dating “game” of New York. Read more
Hadewijch
By Armond White
Bruno Dumont is not into virtuousness. His studies of spiritual struggle in the gang movie The Life of Jesus, the murder mystery Humanité and now Hadewijch—the name taken by Celine (Julie Sokolowski), a middle-class French girl who enters a convent to pursue her faith—pushes spirituality to the extreme. His characters do startling, unnerving things before achieving grace; nearly lost, they confound traditional Christian expectation. This isn’t an era that rewards devout popular culture, yet Dumont’s approach also challenges skeptics; they cannot indulge their lack of faith when Dumont’s epiphanies eventually do arrive. The most unlikely—and sometimes unlikable—characters receive the ultimate manifestation of love. Read more
Somewhere & Little Fockers
By Armond White
Sofia Coppola is the authentic Little Focker. As the child of a Hollywood mogul, she makes movies that pamper her own pamperedness. For example: Somewhere, the wan new drama about apathetic movie star Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), who drags his teenage daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) with him to a press junket in Italy. It’s an illustration of how movie people use their children as appendages, exploiting parenthood without truly connecting with their own offspring. Coincidentally, Little Fockers demonstrates the same exploitation, catching up with Greg Focker (Ben Stiller), now the father of twins, as a pretext to continue one of the lamest franchises in contemporary Hollywood history. Read more
True Grit
By Armond White
Violence and sarcasm are overvalued in the Coen Brothers’ reputation. Shallow evaluations of the Minnesota-born filmmaking team always, mistakenly, refer to Blood Simple, Fargo and Miller’s Crossing as career highpoints, as if to turn the Coens into elegantly acerbic hipsters, the Steely Dan of filmmakers. But their new film, a non-sarcastic remake of the 1969 Western True Grit, confirms the Coens’ underappreciated seriousness and their ongoing winning streak. True Grit’s neo-folktale follows Mattie Ross, a 15-year-old girl out to avenge her father’s death by bringing his killer to justice or final judgment. It’s a sincere story on the personal costs of retribution; too good to be cheapened by those who want the Coens to ratify their own smart-ass cynicism. Read more
20TH ANNUAL NEW YORK JEWISH FILM FEST
The Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center will present the 20th annual New York Jewish Film Festival Jan. 12–27. The festival’s 36 films come to New York from 14 countries, providing a global perspective on Jewish culture and history. In celebration of the festival’s 20th anniversary, several screenings will be followed by onstage discussions and performances. Read more
CARTER BURDEN 31st ANNUAL AWARDS
Supporters and friends of The Carter Burden Center for the Aging gathered Nov. 29 at Guastavino’s, 409 E. 59th St., for the nonprofit’s 31st Annual Awards Ceremony. Read more
CENTRAL PARK BIRD COUNT RESULTS
A final tally of the 111th annual Christmas Bird Count in Central Park that took place last weekend reveals that there are 59 species and 6,220 individual birds in the park. Read more
RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES LAW SIGNED
Legislation created by State Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh that requires battery manufacturers to work with retailers to set up free recycling programs for rechargeable batteries was recently signed into law by Governor David Paterson. Read more
BORO PREZ SEARCHING FOR NEW BOARD MEMBERS
By Dan Rivoli
Borough President Scott Stringer is accepting applications to join local community boards in Manhattan. One of the borough presidents’ few responsibilities is appointing new board members. Stringer’s reforms to the process were to accept applications and make appointments based on merit. Read more
