Apr 16-22, 2014

Apr 16-22, 2014 / Vol. 28 / No. 8

Cover Story

One late bloomer flies high for the first time

Most women my age looking to de-stress turn to yoga, running or some other hobby — something legal. Those are all fantastic ways to roll stress off one’s shoulders. But after several particularly hectic weeks at work, when I’d come home crying to my fiancé about the burdens of being in a job that was…

Nancy Stoner*

Garden State, Grudge Match, Used Cars among new home entertainment titles

(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray and DVD.) BLACK NATIVITY (2013). The art of the edit could be seen throughout the original theatrical trailer for Black Nativity, writer-director Kasi Lemmons’ radical reworking of Langston Hughes’ celebrated 1961 play. An expertly cut two minutes, this preview made the…

Matt Brunson

Bizarre crime from Charlotte police files (April 17)

Teased and taken: A 70-year-old man must have thought it was his lucky day when a pretty girl knocked on his back door to ask about vacant properties nearby. After inviting the woman inside, she began asking him personal questions. He stepped out of the room for a few moments. By the time he returned,…

Ryan Pitkin

Nymphomaniac: Volumes I & II: Gone limp

NYMPHOMANIAC: VOLUME I ** DIRECTED BY Lars von Trier STARS Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård NYMPHOMANIAC: VOLUME II *1/2 DIRECTED BY Lars von Trier STARS Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård Cinema needs its misanthropes as much as it needs its Pollyannas. In a multiplex landscape in which happy endings are almost always preordained, there’s something to be…

Matt Brunson

Dom Hemingway: Dom capers

DOM HEMINGWAY *** DIRECTED BY Richard Shepherd STARS Jude Law, Richard E. Grant We can always expect to see sequels to action flicks or superhero sagas or animated efforts, but where’s the continued love for comparatively small-scale character studies? There have been countless movies with a dazzling protagonist at the center, but because they’re not…

Matt Brunson

Breathe In: The film equivalent of halitosis

BREATHE IN *1/2 DIRECTED BY Drake Doremus STARS Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones Writer-director Drake Doremus’ 2011 effort Like Crazy won the Grand Jury Prize at that year’s Sundance Film Festival, even though it was (as I wrote in my original review) “three-quarters twee and one quarter Glee.” Breathe In, which Doremus co-scripted with Ben York…

Matt Brunson

Pot pics

You want to own your high; you don’t want it to own you. Therefore, choosing the right movie to watch as you remain dazed and confused is of paramount importance, as you don’t want any feelings of fear or paranoia to interfere with your good vibes. An animated feature? A sound choice. A slasher flick?…

Matt Brunson

A Key revelation

The first time I visited Key West, I got busted with a fake ID at Sloppy Joe’s, a Duval Street fixture since the 1930s. I spent the next day picking up trash, tiptoeing between sunbathing spring breakers while wearing an orange vest with the word “INMATE” emblazoned across the back. I was just a few…

Jennifer Justus

CD review: L’Orange’s The Orchid Days

Mainstream hip-hop is all about trends these days — acronyms like YOLO, Facebook likes, Twitter beefs and guest verses for shimmery starlets. To say L’Orange is different would be a staggering understatement. The North Carolina underground producer not only avoids such fads, he also doesn’t sample ’70s soul, ’80s pop or any other nostalgically hip…

Kyle Mullin

CD review: Kevin Drew’s Darlings

Of all the acts that have orbited Toronto’s Broken Social Scene, none have embodied the home planet’s sprawling, humanist collective ethic better than Kevin Drew’s solo work. Along with co-founder Brendan Canning, Drew is the only other member to have had a solo LP — 2010’s Spirit If — bear the official “Broken Social Scene…

John Schacht

Weekly horoscope (April 17-23)

For All Signs: The ongoing tension between Uranus (the people) and Pluto (the Plutocrats) is punctuated this week by a transiting Jupiter, which is creating a triangle among the three. Jupiter represents meaning and might bring difficult circumstances together by creating a joint purpose that everyone can agree upon. At worst, this combination could create…

Vivian Carol

Schoolboy Q: street scholar

Growing up in L.A.’s drug and gang heyday, it was easy for Quincy Hanley to find himself in that culture. It was as simple as joining a friend on a walk to the park to join the 52 Hoover Crips, and it didn’t take a lot of effort to make as much as $80 a…

Mike McCray

Puff, puff, pass a marijuana-legalization bill

A year after the N.C. General Assembly killed House Bill 84 — The Medical Cannabis Act — after only 20 minutes of consideration, the future is looking somewhat brighter for sick North Carolinians who want to ease their suffering with marijuana. Rep. Kelly Alexander (D-Mecklenburg), who sponsored HB 84, has indicated he will propose an…

Erin Tracy-Blackwood

Tupelo Honey is more like a B movie

The excitement leading up to the opening of Tupelo Honey Cafe in South End took on a life of its own on social media and in the local press. One would have thought renowned restaurateur Danny Meyer or chef Thomas Keller were setting up shop. After opening last December, the ensuing popularity has caused the…

Tricia Childress

The Battle for the 12th District

On a warm evening last July, the Young Democrats of N.C. sponsored an event to honor Harvey Gantt and Mel Watt. Watt, the only congressman to ever serve the 12th District since it was re-established in the ’90s, had just been nominated to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Every major black politician from Charlotte…

Michael A. Cooper Jr.

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