Local

Are you kicking yourself for missing this year’s Telluride Film Festival? Not to mention Sundance, Tribeca and Cannes?

  Have no fear. You can still catch a film festival—in fact, two of them. And you don’t even have to leave town to do it.

  Every November, a pair of festivals vie for local film lovers’ attention. True, you aren’t likely to see Hollywood celebs at either of them, but if you happen to like non-mainstream films—especially those with a Jewish, LGBT and/or Ohio connection—you’re in luck.

  First up is the Columbus Jewish Film Festival, running Nov. 1-15 at various venues. Just how Jewish is it?

  “We don’t really have strict criteria,” said festival director Emily Schuss, explaining that a film might be chosen simply because it has a Jewish director or touches on Jewish themes.

People say to me, write some damn previews. Spread the word. These are music events that Columbus will be hosting in the next month.

The Game

Xclusive Elite

October 31st

$30-50

  The Game just dropped the Documentary 2 and The Documentary 2.5 for the 10 Year history of his classic album the documentary. The Game is known to be hyper-referential in his lyrics.

  Well,the Documentary 2 both shows that  1) Game has personal history that can be -self-referenced and 2) also takes routes into 91-96 East Coast Hip Hop in addition to Game’s usual Dr. Dre’s cultural impact in the flesh existence.
   “The Documentary 2” allows a slew of guests like Diddy, Kanye, Will-Iam, Dre, Kendrick Lamar and others to present a history of “Hip Hop” through a Compton lens, then and now.

In the increasingly rare moments that I spend on Facebook, I have been seeing a bunch of articles about what bartenders think of you based on your drink order. These are all purportedly written by real bartenders, most of whom seem to have a healthy talent for plagiarism (which I support). Some of these are actually pretty good – the “Patron Margarita: I wish to spend $12 on a drink that will taste exactly the same as its $8 counterpart” appears in most of them.
  But it does get me thinking about the rampant on-stage boozing engaged in by many local bands, an activity in which I have at times enthusiastically engaged. Whether subsidized – in whole or in part – by live music venues or paid for in precious band cash, it’s a fact of life. A local act playing a local bar has an absolute right to shamelessly indulge in the drink of their choice, and if you don’t like it the Palace Theatre is right down the street.

Brassica, a new comer in the Short North, hands down, gets my vote for “best falafel sandwich” in Columbus. If the custom opportunity of building the sandwich myself wasn’t enough reason to love it, the care they put into making every component downright delicious sealed the deal. Sumac and paprika seasoned fries was a fresh twist (though I rarely eat fries). Truth-be-told they had me at fresh baked pita, house made baba ganoush, “crispy” onions and that roasted red pepper sauce. They ensure you can get a robust infusion of healthy nutrients with fresh pressed juice that is fairly affordable.  Brassica continues to strive with their organic, local and sustainable packaging standards typical of their sister establishments, Northstar Café and Third and Hollywood.

The Drug War has been a forty-year lynching….
…the corporate/GOP response to the peace and civil rights movements.  

It’s used the Drug Enforcement Administration and other policing operations as a high-tech Ku Klux Klan, meant to gut America’s communities of youth and color.  

It has never been about suppressing drugs. Quite the opposite.

And now that it may be winding down, the focus on suppressing minority votes will shift even stronger to electronic election theft.

The Drug War was officially born June 17, 1971, (http://www.drugpolicy.org/new-solutions-drug-policy/brief-history-drug-war) when Richard Nixon pronounced drugs to be “Public Enemy Number One.” In a nation wracked by poverty, racial tension, injustice, civil strife, ecological disaster, corporate domination, a hated Vietnam War and much more, drugs seemed an odd choice.
In fact, the Drug War’s primary target was black and young voters.

Demonstrators showed their solidarity with the people of Palestine at the Ohio Statehouse on Saturday, October 24.

Photos by Connie Gadell Newton

The Columbus Coalition of Reason (Columbus CoR) is hosting their fourth annual “Flying Spaghetti Monster Benefit Dinner,” featuring -what else - a delicious spaghetti dinner with vegetarian, gluten-free and take-out options. The event will take place Thursday, November 5 from 6 until 8:30 pm (serving food until 8:00) at the First UU Church, 93 West Weisheimer Road in Clintonville.
Admission is $10.00 for adults, $5.00 for children aged fourteen and under, with proceeds going to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. In addition, there will be people collecting canned and boxed goods for the Foodbank. Guests can also participate in both a silent auction of handmade pieces by local artists, and a raffle for items donated by community members and local businesses.
Entertainment for the evening will include live music and brief comments from community members. For the children there will be a variety of supervised games and activities.

There are those who believe that African American women have “come a long way baby” in regards to the world of movies and television. It appears that they have evolved from being just maids and cooks on film.  They no longer are seen standing quietly with their heads bowed down, eyes looking downwards at the ground, never giving eye contact to their white co-actors.
  In 1939 Hattie McDaniel was the first African American woman to win an Academy Award for “Best Supporting Actress” in Gone with the Wind. The story takes place in the South during the era of the end of slavery and, of course, Hattie played the devoted Black maid who would never leave her mistress. What do people most remember about the Black women in Gone with the Wind? The high squeaky voice of Butterfly McQueen claiming “I don’t know nothing ‘bout birthin' babies!”

A bipartisan group of Columbus residents, led by Whitney Scott, unveiled citizens’ latest effort to reform Columbus City Council. The group, Represent Columbus, seeks to move Columbus City Council from its current setup with seven members, all elected in citywide elections (at large), and form a 13 member council, with three members elected at large and 10 elected by their neighbors in each of ten districts to be created and revised every ten years by an independent apportionment board.

What does Issue 3 say?
  It is understandable that people want concrete answers concerning what will happen if Issue 3 passes. To help clear up a few misconceptions concerning ResponsibleOhio’s ballot language – assuage some of the uncertainty surrounding it – we have consulted experts and attorneys to answer these commonly heard and often misunderstood questions:
  Does Issue 3 have a clause about medical marijuana?
  Yes. The use of marijuana for medical conditions leads off the amendment. Patients who have been certified by a doctor to have defined medical conditions can use, possess and purchase cannabis from non-profit dispensaries. These are mandated to be operational no later than May 30, 2016.
  Will there be caregivers?
  Yes. They will need to be licensed by the Commission and serve their patients for purposes more than just acquiring marijuana. They can purchase, possess and transport it on behalf of those patients.
  What are the rules for homegrown marijuana?