Thursday, August 31, 2006
A New Car
Posted by Steve Haruch on Thu, Aug 31, 2006 at 6:02 PM
This is one of the sadder stories you're likely to hear: a 500-pound woman whose caretakers have been charged with "willful abuse, neglect and exploitation of an adult" because they stopped feeding and caring for her. Worse, her caretakers were her husband and daughter. Even worse than that, her husband and daughter have been charged with incest for allegedly having sex with each other.
I did not know that incest is a Class C felony in Tennessee. (For a moment, I thought that Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn could be arrested if they moved to Nashville, but soon realized that wasn't true). According to the article linked above:
I did not know that incest is a Class C felony in Tennessee. (For a moment, I thought that Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn could be arrested if they moved to Nashville, but soon realized that wasn't true). According to the article linked above:
If you're wondering what classifies incest, Tennessee state law says step-parents and even adopted parents can be charged with incest, even though they are not blood relatives.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
come on down!
Posted by Jim Ridley on Wed, Aug 30, 2006 at 5:00 PM
As a child of the 1970s—the golden age of quasi-celebrities trading quips before a studio audience for Cracker Jack-level prizes—I got all misty-eyed reading my colleague Noel Murray's remembrance of game shows past in the Onion AV Club today. It reminded me of everything that makes the shows so great: public humiliation, forced jocularity, colon-clenching scrutiny and the chance to sacrifice your dignity before a tribunal of Dick Gautiers and Jaye P. Morgans. What is today's American Idol but yesterday's The Gong Show, with fame and embarrassment adjusted for inflation?
But not even Chuck Barris—the man who pitted wives against their husbands' secretaries in the memorably appalling 3's a Crowd—would have hit upon the masterstroke of setting various ethnicities at each other's throats, as on this coming season's Survivor. Sure, Dork Nation disapproves—leave it to him to read something racial into a contest between segregated groups of whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians. But even I must confess that the idea lacks the old Game Show Network...pizzazz. Taking a cue from Noel's article, here are some tips to lively up Survivor's coming race war.
But not even Chuck Barris—the man who pitted wives against their husbands' secretaries in the memorably appalling 3's a Crowd—would have hit upon the masterstroke of setting various ethnicities at each other's throats, as on this coming season's Survivor. Sure, Dork Nation disapproves—leave it to him to read something racial into a contest between segregated groups of whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians. But even I must confess that the idea lacks the old Game Show Network...pizzazz. Taking a cue from Noel's article, here are some tips to lively up Survivor's coming race war.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Doctored?
Posted by Steve Haruch on Tue, Aug 29, 2006 at 5:20 PM
The Associated Press reports:
Read the complete article here.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist acknowledged Tuesday that he may not have met all the requirements needed to keep his medical license active—even though he gave paperwork to Tennessee officials indicating that he had.
Read the complete article here.
Harold Ford, Jr. at Mercy Lounge
Posted by Steve Haruch on Tue, Aug 29, 2006 at 12:10 AM
According to a 2003 Gallup poll, hip-hoppers tend to skew Democratic, country fans skew Republican, and rockers constitute the swing vote. (Not sure where fans of swing music fall). Considering that 4.6 million more voters aged 18-29 turned out in 2004 than in 2000, I suppose this is smart stumping, though I've always wondered about the efficacy of the rock show/political rally. I played a similar event once, and I will say this: it really ups the ante for your stage banter.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Coolest place in town. (Seriously. It's like 62 degrees in there.)
Posted by Lindsay Ferrier on Sat, Aug 26, 2006 at 2:54 PM
If you were wondering why there were only two shoppers today at Bellevue Center Mall instead of 12, blame the new YMCA on Highway 100.
The Grand Opening is going on now and I swear, I think every single person living within a 25-mile radius of the joint is there. With the triple temptations of free food, free refrigerator magnets and free balloon animals, what self-respecting Bellevuian could stay away? Competition for freebies had already reached staggering proportions while we were there; I was disturbed to see that the Sawyer Brown Road seniors had formed a human chain around the baked beans stand that even the hardest-bellied bidnessman couldn't hope to penetrate.
The Grand Opening is going on now and I swear, I think every single person living within a 25-mile radius of the joint is there. With the triple temptations of free food, free refrigerator magnets and free balloon animals, what self-respecting Bellevuian could stay away? Competition for freebies had already reached staggering proportions while we were there; I was disturbed to see that the Sawyer Brown Road seniors had formed a human chain around the baked beans stand that even the hardest-bellied bidnessman couldn't hope to penetrate.
Friday, August 25, 2006
gitmo for your dollar
Posted by Jim Ridley on Fri, Aug 25, 2006 at 12:48 PM
Bruce Barry, frequent Pith contributor and periwigged Jeffersonian man of democracy, will introduce tonight's screening of The Road to Guantanamo at the Belcourt. The movie, co-directed by man-of-all-styles Michael Winterbottom, sounds blistering: an account of the Tipton Three scandal involving British Muslims who were detained and tortured for years at Guantanamo by U.S. guards. Screening time tonight is 7:30.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Net points
Posted by Carrington Fox on Thu, Aug 24, 2006 at 1:50 PM
Feel like Comcast has you hamstrung with 100 feet of black cord, limited selection and/or customer service and ever-escalating rates? If so, you might want to chime in with support for telecom reform bill HR5252. The bill, which passed the House 321 to 101 and is currently awaiting consideration by the Senate, would open local markets to multiple providers of cable, video and phone services. For Nashville, which sold its soul to Comcast nee Viacom decades ago, HR5252 could ultimately mean more channels, lower bills, shorter hold times when you get a blue screen, who knows.... Congressman Jim Cooper voted in favor of the bill, but with reservations regarding the concept of Network Neutrality. (Pay attention, here's where it gets interesting...)
beerfest II: the revenge
Posted by Jim Ridley on Thu, Aug 24, 2006 at 1:02 PM
Check out "Of Beer and Yazoo," a cool ad for Nashville's Yazoo Brewing Company made by writer-director-songwriter Davis Watson, DP/editor David Poag and audio engineer Alex Altman. Shot largely in one impressively choreographed long take (a Satantango homage?), it's a toe-tapping mini-musical tribute to Linus Hall and company in the style of an early talkie, projector noise included.
If it catches on, there's talk of theatrical screenings and TV spots. Catch it screened outside 8:30 p.m. Sunday at McDougal's Village Coop across from the Belcourt. Arrive around 6 p.m. for the premiere party and hoist a Yazoo or two.
If it catches on, there's talk of theatrical screenings and TV spots. Catch it screened outside 8:30 p.m. Sunday at McDougal's Village Coop across from the Belcourt. Arrive around 6 p.m. for the premiere party and hoist a Yazoo or two.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
the story of ricky b.
Posted by Jim Ridley on Wed, Aug 23, 2006 at 2:30 PM
Hey, how come nobody told me how good Talladega Nights is? (Nobody except Lee Walker, that is, and his comments seem to be MIA.) I went in expecting another Anchorman—i.e., another occasionally hilarious but scattershot serving of DVD extras disguised as a movie. Instead, it's a consistently funny summer comedy that actually has a look and a point of view. It made me laugh more than The 40 Year Old Virgin and Kicking and Screaming combined, and if it never quite reaches the high spots that Old School hits—I'll never hear "Total Eclipse of the Heart" again without convulsing—it doesn't have that movie's many slow stretches either.
Will Ferrell so far hasn't shown the demand to be loved that turns a good comic actor into a royal ass-pain, and John C. Reilly as his loyal bud gets laughs with pure gung-ho cluelessness—the scene where he describes his velvet-painting concept of Jesus is one for the ages. But the actor who kept cracking me up is Gary Cole, who plays Ricky Bobby's deadbeat dad. Best known as the bovine Lumbergh from Office Space, Cole does a dead-on parody of beer-stoked belligerence: he's like a cross between Burt Reynolds in White Lightning and David Cross' Mr. Show trailer-trash fugitive Ronnie Dobbs.
Why did I enjoy this movie so much? For one thing, it kept surprising me. It's cool that Ricky Bobby's gay French-existential rival (Sacha Baron Cohen) becomes something more complex than a goofy stereotype and earns the movie's respect. It's also not the anti-intellectual sucking-up-to-Bubba movie you might expect. (Stay after the closing credits for a gag that will gladden the heart of your freshman high-school English teacher.) And its satire of red-state religious pandering and the obsession with being No. 1 or nothing seems affectionate—unlike the inexplicably popular Little Miss Sunshine, which spends much of its running time yanking the wings off flies. If Ricky Bobby, Cal and Jean Girard had action figures, I'd display 'em proudly on the same shelf with my beloved J. Jonah Jameson and Mr. Pink.
Will Ferrell so far hasn't shown the demand to be loved that turns a good comic actor into a royal ass-pain, and John C. Reilly as his loyal bud gets laughs with pure gung-ho cluelessness—the scene where he describes his velvet-painting concept of Jesus is one for the ages. But the actor who kept cracking me up is Gary Cole, who plays Ricky Bobby's deadbeat dad. Best known as the bovine Lumbergh from Office Space, Cole does a dead-on parody of beer-stoked belligerence: he's like a cross between Burt Reynolds in White Lightning and David Cross' Mr. Show trailer-trash fugitive Ronnie Dobbs.
Why did I enjoy this movie so much? For one thing, it kept surprising me. It's cool that Ricky Bobby's gay French-existential rival (Sacha Baron Cohen) becomes something more complex than a goofy stereotype and earns the movie's respect. It's also not the anti-intellectual sucking-up-to-Bubba movie you might expect. (Stay after the closing credits for a gag that will gladden the heart of your freshman high-school English teacher.) And its satire of red-state religious pandering and the obsession with being No. 1 or nothing seems affectionate—unlike the inexplicably popular Little Miss Sunshine, which spends much of its running time yanking the wings off flies. If Ricky Bobby, Cal and Jean Girard had action figures, I'd display 'em proudly on the same shelf with my beloved J. Jonah Jameson and Mr. Pink.
There's a new music blog in town!
Posted by Tracy Moore on Wed, Aug 23, 2006 at 10:57 AM
As long as Pith's been around, we've tried incorporating music discussions into this forum, but we haven't managed to attract the wonderful linguistic hairsplitting readers bring to the politically charged posts here. Or rather, that's all we've attracted. So we've decided to expand our offerings by creating a group music blog, Nashville Cream, which launches today. Sure, the world may not need more blogs, but we're hard pressed to find any that deal consistently with Nashville's musical happenings and that update as often as we'd like. We have a broad range of writers contributing, most of whom write for the print version of the paper, so expect posts about the new Montgomery Gentry record alongside reminders to check out the upcoming Rocket From the Tombs show, and all the local news, reviews and gossip we can scrounge up in between. Remember, today's revolution is digital.
