The Free Press is bringing back a Reviews section after some absence. We hope to review plenty of events around town. Check back frequently and if what\'s going on is any good.
Arts & Culture
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For a hot minute, it looked like Eastern European food was going to be The Next Big Thing in Columbus. There was Babushka’s on the north end, Yogi Perogi in Grandview and another ethnic eatery at the North Market.
Today, only the North Market remains in the game with Hubert’s Polish Kitchen.
There are good reasons why Hubert’s survives. It’s got a lush array of colorful treats, all proudly displayed at its counter in big buffet burners. And the service is personable and lightening fast.
Since Eastern European food is the topic, it seems best to get the inevitable pirogi discussion out of the way first. Pirogi is/are on the menu (there’s always some difficulty in working with pirogi in plural form and there are at least three spelling variations: pirogi, perogi and pierogi). Frankly, the local obsession with the pasta has always been puzzling. It seems an awful lot like ravioli, and you don’t see people fussing over ravioli.
But, as far as the pirogi culinary art form goes, it’s good at Hubert’s. A sturdy pasta crescent holds a rich, oniony cheese and potato filling ($1.50). It is what it is.
I've changed. I've gone sane. Ain't no king of mean no mo'.
My inner Leona Helmsey has been replaced by a kinder, gentler bitch, uh, I mean, PERSON. I am now a Stepford Wife with a by-line, a crowd-pleasing zombie with faraway eyes, a veritable and charitable dork of love saying only nice things nicely so nice readers sleep nicely in their nice houses and preserve their nice delusions of their nice neighborhood. Isn't this what you wanted, Clintonville?
Thanks to a weeks-long, Comfest-ordered stint in summer re-education camp (hate speech wing), I am now, ahem, safe. Neutered of doing violence to others' self-esteem, like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, I am but a thesaurus of only praise most positive. The life of abusive honesty has been lobotomized right out of my head like Nicholson's Mac MacMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I could no more write a negative review than spank a cute little puppy, drown a kitten, eat at McDonald's or shop at Wal-Mart. I am correct politically. Though technically I am for all practical purposes dead as a door nail, I have seen the light. Yes, lord. And the light is good. For it let's me eat.
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Big comic book events, both on the page and the big screen, have traditionally been a Summer thing, but with an impressive list of upcoming films, comic crossover events and even a TV show, this year Marvel Comics has a Fall line-up that's just as exciting as any June.
The biggest event is the release of Thor 2: The Dark World, coming to theaters on November 8. In the second post-Avengers Marvel Studios movie, the God of Thunder will be facing elves that make the ones in The Hobbit movies look like a bunch of peace-loving hippies. Played by Doctor Who's Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston, the villainous Malekith leads his dark elf army to attack both Asgard and Earth and Thor will need the help of all of Asgard's warriors, including his brother Loki, if he's going to defeat them. Tom Hiddleston's Loki is a major fan favorite after the first Thor movie and Marvel's The Avengers and they couldn't have done the sequel without him. The filmmakers even went back and shot more scenes with him because they felt there just wasn’t enough Loki!
Michael Moore and his team of volunteers has again wowed the film industry and viewers with more films, film panels, film school, and film parties than ever before. Moore is committed to making the festival more accessible to all viewing guests and had several free film screenings as well as free panels and discussions. As Moore described, "This year we worked harder than ever to provide a fun and affordable festival for everyone, no matter their budget. We want everyone to be able to enjoy just great movies in the one of the most beautiful areas of the country."
And "Just Great Movies" were exactly that. From documentaries on Afghanistan, Gore Vidal, Nixon, and Nuclear Energy, the film festival viewers were changed and intrigued by the in-depth and thoughtful presentations. Narrative films such as "Kon Tiki", "Much Ado About Nothing," and "Bypass" among many others thrilled the viewers with their humor and sexy style.
And "Just Great Movies" were exactly that. From documentaries on Afghanistan, Gore Vidal, Nixon, and Nuclear Energy, the film festival viewers were changed and intrigued by the in-depth and thoughtful presentations. Narrative films such as "Kon Tiki", "Much Ado About Nothing," and "Bypass" among many others thrilled the viewers with their humor and sexy style.
Fifty years ago was a tumultuous time in America. A spirit of change pulsed throughout the country. Major problems afflicting the country were once again being rediscovered. Poverty and inequality in all their facets – social, political and economic – rose higher and higher on the national agenda.
At the beginning of the 1960s, many Americans – including their leaders – looked at their country and saw what they wanted to see: a Post-World War II America brimming with affluence, a land where poverty – especially the poverty of the Great Depression – had finally been left behind and where everyone who wanted to could participate in the American Dream. Then, in 1962, Michael Harrington’s The Other America put the lie to that vision. What he found in his travels was a nation still struggling with deep poverty, some 40 to 50 million poor out of a total population of about 180 million (or 22% to 28%).
At the beginning of the 1960s, many Americans – including their leaders – looked at their country and saw what they wanted to see: a Post-World War II America brimming with affluence, a land where poverty – especially the poverty of the Great Depression – had finally been left behind and where everyone who wanted to could participate in the American Dream. Then, in 1962, Michael Harrington’s The Other America put the lie to that vision. What he found in his travels was a nation still struggling with deep poverty, some 40 to 50 million poor out of a total population of about 180 million (or 22% to 28%).
The Eve of Destruction: How 1965 Transformed
America
James T. Patterson
When I think of “the Sixties,” I think of two dates: 1963, the year President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and 1968, the year of Tet and the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. James T. Patterson, author of the critically acclaimed The Eve of Destruction: How 1965 Transformed America, posits that what we call the Sixties really began in 1965, the year after Lyndon B. Johnson won the presidency in his own right by a landslide.
James T. Patterson
When I think of “the Sixties,” I think of two dates: 1963, the year President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and 1968, the year of Tet and the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. James T. Patterson, author of the critically acclaimed The Eve of Destruction: How 1965 Transformed America, posits that what we call the Sixties really began in 1965, the year after Lyndon B. Johnson won the presidency in his own right by a landslide.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Southeast Asian sex workers, supported by the
United Nations, exhibited their paintings, photographs and multimedia
depicting violence, oral sex, repression under Islamic sharia law and
other personal experiences.
"Here in the corner, you see a scene of a blowjob," Vanessa Ho said in an interview, pointing at a complex painting created by a sex worker named Dhivithra in Singapore.
"In the second scene, you see someone negotiating money as well as safe sex," said Ms. Ho, program coordinator of Project X, which she described as a "human rights-based organization for sex workers in Singapore."
The painting also displays "handcuffs on a pair of arms, symbolizing how the sex workers are constantly being criminalized," she said.
"You see some sex workers who just focus on money, and other sex workers keen to find love in their life. And in the bigger story here, on the [painting's] right-hand side, is of the wedding."
The solo Singaporean entry at the art exhibition was painted by a sex worker "inspired" by an older prostitute's true story.
"Here in the corner, you see a scene of a blowjob," Vanessa Ho said in an interview, pointing at a complex painting created by a sex worker named Dhivithra in Singapore.
"In the second scene, you see someone negotiating money as well as safe sex," said Ms. Ho, program coordinator of Project X, which she described as a "human rights-based organization for sex workers in Singapore."
The painting also displays "handcuffs on a pair of arms, symbolizing how the sex workers are constantly being criminalized," she said.
"You see some sex workers who just focus on money, and other sex workers keen to find love in their life. And in the bigger story here, on the [painting's] right-hand side, is of the wedding."
The solo Singaporean entry at the art exhibition was painted by a sex worker "inspired" by an older prostitute's true story.
"Turn off the lights!" My dad would remind us. For the 1000th time. Yes, we took it for granted. But that was our way of life. Saving energy, saving electricity, saving the world — one light at a time.
Tofu or fish every night for dinner with a huge, huge bowl of salad and brown rice. Same dinner, every night.
Drive? Why not walk, or bike? It wasn't even a question. If we could walk there, we would. If it was only an hour bike ride away, we were biking it. The longer one could go without being in a car, the better. The more we saved, preserved, reserved, the better we were doing our jobs as daughters of Mother Earth.
As an actual hippy child, not just one of the 60s, I got to attend social action camps, political rallies, political conventions and speeches, and best of all – political concerts.
A hippy child did not have a television. If they did, it was placed sneakily in front of the treadmill for exercise or in the basement for movies, only.
If I ever ate meat it was not in the sight of my father. I didn't even learn how to cook it until I was 25.
Tofu or fish every night for dinner with a huge, huge bowl of salad and brown rice. Same dinner, every night.
Drive? Why not walk, or bike? It wasn't even a question. If we could walk there, we would. If it was only an hour bike ride away, we were biking it. The longer one could go without being in a car, the better. The more we saved, preserved, reserved, the better we were doing our jobs as daughters of Mother Earth.
As an actual hippy child, not just one of the 60s, I got to attend social action camps, political rallies, political conventions and speeches, and best of all – political concerts.
A hippy child did not have a television. If they did, it was placed sneakily in front of the treadmill for exercise or in the basement for movies, only.
If I ever ate meat it was not in the sight of my father. I didn't even learn how to cook it until I was 25.
“War’s lingering phantoms haunt every society.”
As two hellish, costly and needless wars struggle toward collapse, this is the time — now, right this minute, before the next false alarm goes off — for us to look honestly at the cost and quality of national security based on militarism. It’s time to squeeze the romance out of war and get it through our heads that war is not inevitable.
War is just another form of mass murder. Its core principle is dehumanization — of all participants, the enemy and the good guys. This is because you can’t hate, dehumanize and train to kill “the other” without dehumanizing yourself and damaging your soul.
“Kill! Kill! Kill, without mercy, Sergeant! . . . Blood! Blood! Bright red blood, Sergeant!”
The dehumanization happens at an individual level, to soldiers who, in basic training, go through an intense process of overriding their humanity and establishing “muscle memory” that allows them to kill on command; and who then participate in the killing of the enemy — often enough, in our current wars, the killing of civilians, including children — in battle situations.
As two hellish, costly and needless wars struggle toward collapse, this is the time — now, right this minute, before the next false alarm goes off — for us to look honestly at the cost and quality of national security based on militarism. It’s time to squeeze the romance out of war and get it through our heads that war is not inevitable.
War is just another form of mass murder. Its core principle is dehumanization — of all participants, the enemy and the good guys. This is because you can’t hate, dehumanize and train to kill “the other” without dehumanizing yourself and damaging your soul.
“Kill! Kill! Kill, without mercy, Sergeant! . . . Blood! Blood! Bright red blood, Sergeant!”
The dehumanization happens at an individual level, to soldiers who, in basic training, go through an intense process of overriding their humanity and establishing “muscle memory” that allows them to kill on command; and who then participate in the killing of the enemy — often enough, in our current wars, the killing of civilians, including children — in battle situations.
A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings
and the Madisons
Written by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
There have been few times in American history when such a glittering array of men stood on the public stage. George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison are part of that august group known as the Founding Fathers. So impressed was Jefferson with his colleagues that in a letter he wrote to Adams in August of 1787, he described them as “an assembly of demigods.”
Written by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
There have been few times in American history when such a glittering array of men stood on the public stage. George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison are part of that august group known as the Founding Fathers. So impressed was Jefferson with his colleagues that in a letter he wrote to Adams in August of 1787, he described them as “an assembly of demigods.”