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Monday, March 23, 2009
Boomer with Attitude / News Observer suffers even more cuts
Posted By John Grooms on Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 10:57 AM
OK, this stuff is getting scary.
It wasn't a secret that the Charlotte Observer was going to announce more cuts today, but the scope of the paper's slashing still comes as a rude surprise. The daily paper will lay off 82 employees — nearly 15 percent of its workforce — including 30 newsroom positions (19 full-time, 11 part-time). If that's not bad enough, 14 other fulltime newsroom folks have been "offered" reduced hours, according to managing editor Cheryl Carpenter, as reported on the Big O's website.
We've lampooned the Observer over the years, and at times we've blasted them for various shortcomings, but the bottom line is this: you cannot have a democracy without the solid reporting and investigations that only a serious news outlet with adequate funds can provide. As the American newspaper industry crisis not only shrinks the size of papers, but also threatens their very existence, there's more at stake than where you'll go to find your favorite comic strips, sports columnist, or local obits. There's the little question of who, or what, will be fill the role of public watchdog.
If newspapers really do fade away eventually, and with TV news reaching ever-lower levels of blood-soaked triviality, good luck finding out what's going on behind the scenes in your own city.
News The Coffee Cup is Alive!
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 10:28 AM
Yeah, they closed. But now they're open again. Stop rolling your eyes and go get some grub.
Like the killer in a bad horror movie, the Coffee Cup restaurant is never quite dead, or so it seems.Less than two months after owner Gardine Wilson said the historic eatery was closed for good, it apparently has found new life -- this time in NoDa.
Wilson told Qcitymetro.com today that a revised version of the Coffee Cup would open April 1 at 2909 North Davidson St., inside the building that houses Alive. He sent out online invitations Saturday offering a sneak peek to a select group he characterized as “community leaders.”
“I want the community’s input,” he said today in an interview.
Wilson said the new location will offer its own coffee blend (developed in Puerto Rico) for $7 and feature a “classic organic menu.” It also will have wireless Internet access.
But much of the down-home cooking that made the Coffee Cup famous, he said, will still be available.
Read the rest of this QCityMetro.com article here.
News Got gas? Some don't
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 10:14 AM
So many people are reaching out to non-profits, like Crisis Ministry, for help that the gas company sent a customer service representative to their offices to assist Piedmont Natural Gas customers in dire straights. They estimate he helped over 1,000 people in November and December of 2008.
Piedmont Natural Gas shut-offs have surged around Charlotte and the state in the cold-weather months, as some consumers struggle with deciding what bills they can pay in a deteriorating economy.From November through February, shut-offs in the Charlotte region increased by 86 percent compared with the same time a year ago, an Observer analysis of state data shows. The utility's shut-off rate also increased statewide, even as other utilities' rates for shut-offs dropped statewide.
State officials say Piedmont, which is the dominant gas provider in Charlotte and the state, is doing nothing wrong in its shut-off procedures. And company officials say that they believe the increase is due both to the economy and to internal changes that delayed some cutoffs until last fall. They also say that overall, shut-offs declined slightly last year.
“We are very concerned for our customers,” said June Moore, Piedmont's customer service vice president. “We hate to do (shut-offs) but sometimes it becomes necessary.”
Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article here.
Film / Film News / News Two free docs at Main Library
Posted By Matt Brunson on Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 9:20 AM
The Main Library will host two free screenings over the next couple of days. Tonight, the venue will offer A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory, a documentary focusing on Warhol's central creative hub in the 1960s and, specifically, one of the ill-fated members of the icon's clique. The film will be screened at 7 p.m.
Tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m., the Library will showcase the nonfiction feature Knowledge Is the Beginning, about an orchestra in which Jews and Arabs put aside their differences and perform together.
For more information on either showing, call 704-416-0252.
The Wack List / News The Wack List: March 23
Posted By Carlton Hargro on Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 8:45 AM
Five people, places and things we really ain’t digging today.
• The fascination with Gossip Girl. Damn, I hate that show.
• Piedmont Natural Gas for shutting off folks' gas when it's cold. Bastards.
• Charlotte's unemployment rate
• Dwindling donations to charities
Arts / Today's Top Five / News Today's Top 5: Monday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 8:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, March 23, 2009 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Southern Memoirs exhibition at Providence Gallery
• Dodgeball at Tremont Music Hall
• Charlotte Checkers Annual Chariety Golf Classic at Old Sycamore Golf Plantation
• Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk at Discovery Place's IMAX
• Bar Wars Mondays with DJ Tommy Dee at Phil's Tavern
Friday, March 20, 2009
Boomer with Attitude / News Joe the Plumber to GOP: 'You're making me horny'
Posted By John Grooms on Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 2:07 PM
Here's how pitiful the Republican Party has become: they're inviting fake celebrity Joe the Plumber — who isn't named Joe and isn't a plumber — to its national events. And then they're regretting it.
Last night, the GOP held an event in Washington, D.C. called the DisHonors Awards, which disses liberal media groups. Invitees included former Attorney General Ed Meese, talk show host G. Gordon Liddy and former House Speaker Bob Livingston (you remember him, he was Speaker for about 10 minutes before they found out he had run around on his wife and he had to resign).
Anyhow, Joe the Non-plumber received a standing ovation from the crowd, at which point he embarrassed the tightly wound Repubs by telling them, "God, all this love and everything in the room — I'm getting horny." The noise in the crowd died down immediately, replaced by nervous coughing. Luckily, there were no reports of offended GOP belles fainting.
So much for the party opening its arms to "regular Joes."
Film / News I Love You, Man: Male pattern badness
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 2:02 PM
Trying to be just one of the guys in sweet comedy
By Matt Brunson
I LOVE YOU, MAN
DIRECTED BY John Hamburg
STARS Paul Rudd, Jason Segel
I Love You, Man comes dangerously close to striking out before it even steps up to the plate. First off, the basic premise, about a guy who goes off in search of a male friend to call his own, sounds imbecilic even on paper. Strike one. And then there's the trailer, which, continuing an alarming trend these days, is cut in a shrill fashion to make the movie itself seem like a complete waste of time. Strike two.
Film / News Not Knowing is better than Knowing
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 2:02 PM
Prepare for another Nicolas Cage dud
By Matt Brunson
KNOWING
*1/2
DIRECTED BY Alex Proyas
STARS Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne
It's unlikely that Knowing will become a classic YouTube howler like The Wicker Man (go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6i2WRreARo to enjoy the hilarity), but this latest dud starring Nicolas Cage does bring to mind the title of MAD magazine's Close Encounters of the Third Kind spoof. With its plotline involving extraterrestrials, a kid in potential peril, and a man obsessed with uncovering the truth behind unexplained phenomena, this could easily have been tagged Clod Encounters of the Absurd Kind.
The N Word / News Don't cry for me Rihanna
Posted By Nsenga Burton on Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 1:11 PM
It's times like this that we remember that some pop stars are children.
Rihanna is sticking by Chris Brown, event though the entire free world has told her to leave. There is the old adage that a hard head makes a soft behind. Well, it looks like this statement is applicable to Rihanna, pun intended.
Hopefully, she'll get it together for her sake and ours, because I'm tired of hearing about it.
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Knight and Day: Plot eclipsed by stars 1
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