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Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Arts / Today's Top Five / News Today's Top 5: Wednesday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 8:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Oct. 20, 2010 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Stone Temple Pilots at Road Runner Mobile Amphitheatre
• Bellydance Superstars Present Bombay Bellywood at McGlohon Theatre
• Grace Potter & The Nocturnals at Visulite Theatre
• Basic Training at Stage Door Theater
• Pop Life at Luna Lounge
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Film / Film News / News Complete schedule for New German Cinema series
Posted By Matt Brunson on Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 4:02 PM
The Light Factory will take Charlotte film fans to the cutting edge of international cinema with their latest ambitious series, Wunderkinder: The Directors of New German Cinema. Running Oct. 25-31, the event will showcase acclaimed imports from such envelope-pushing directors as Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Wim Wenders. Yet the festival’s big news is the presence of German helmer Volker Schlondorff, who will be in attendance at all five screenings of his films, including the new director's cut of 1979’s Oscar-winning The Tin Drum. Look below for photos, titles, times, venues and costs for all of the movies. And for other info, go to The Light Factory website here.
News We're not No. 1! (Or even No. 2!)
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 3:55 PM
Americans have big egos, though I realize this isn't new news. We like to think we're the richest, the brightest and the best. But, back in reality land, the truth is that we're not. In fact, we're not even close.
Here are some stats to consider:
America ranks 49th when it comes to life expectancy, according to The Raw Story.
Our country ranked 28th in the world when it comes to infant mortality rates in 1998, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But by 2006, we were experiencing more infant deaths than nearly every other country studied, according to MedicalNewsToday.com. We were ranked just behind Latvia. Latvia! Can you even find that on a map?
Brazil may soon overtake America in wheat production, according to The Washington Post.
America also ranks 13th in "economic freedom," according to the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom.
We rank 22nd when it comes to education spending, according to The Yale Daily News.
We rank 12th worldwide when it comes to high school graduation rates, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
And that's just a few stats. For more surprising stats, check out the Ranking America blog.
Here's my point: We've got to stop blowing smoke up our own asses and start looking realistically at our country's issues. We've got to stop treating politics like a sporting event. We've got to talk to each other, reach compromises and look out for our children's futures.
There's no reason why we can't be No. 1 in every category, but we can't keep telling ourselves and each other that we're the best when we really aren't.
America is full of ingenious, creative people. Together, we can get this country on track. "Together," being the key word.
Here's Bill Maher talking about this very thing four years ago:
Rhiannon "Rhi" Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes snarky commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
Arts / News Play about domestic violence at CPCC
Posted By Anita Overcash on Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 1:24 PM
In honor of domestic violence month, Performing Arts and Literary Society presents performances of A Change Is Gonna Come, a play written by Vickie L. Evans — a Charlotte resident and child witness of domestic violence — on Saturday, Oct. 23 at Central Piedmont Community College's Pease Auditorium. The production aims to educate the community about domestic violence and its ability to fall upon folks in all social classes. In the play, a well-to-do woman puts on a front to the public while living with the secret pains of both physical and emotional abuse. Tickets are $20. Starts at 6 p.m. CPCC’S Pease Auditorium, 1200 Elizabeth Ave. For more information, call 704-330-6534 or visit http://tix.cpcc.edu.
Boomer with Attitude / News Stimulus hypocrites and forgotten Obama tax cuts
Posted By John Grooms on Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 12:18 PM
It’s funny how many Congressional conservatives, both Republicans and Democrats, voted against the federal stimulus package, but came back later with their hands out, asking for all the stimulation their local economies could handle. Thanks to the folks at NC Policy Watch, we found out about a new investigative report from The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit journalism group. Their report reveals that Rep. Sue Myrick and Sen. Richard Burr, two of the strongest foes of the stimulus, at least according to their campaign ads, asked for millions of federal dollars for local and state projects. Luckily, the online investigative report includes a search feature that lets you see the actual letters sent to various agencies asking for stimulus money.
Myrick sent several letters asking for funding for rail facilities in Charlotte, the North Corridor transit project, as well as for multiple “green” projects in Gaston County. Myrick’s campaign ads, of course, tout her opposition to the “failed stimulus.”
Burr signed on to several letters, along with the rest of the state’s Congressional delegation, asking for stimulus money to replace the famous aging I-85 bridge across the Yadkin River. Also included are letters from the entire delegation, as well as separate letters from Burr and Sen. Kay Hagan, in support of various projects wishing to take advantage of stimulus money for extending broadband coverage in rural areas of the state. Burr, you remember, has already been criticized for showing up at public events, taking credit for stimulus-funded projects he had voted against. You expect professional politicians to be cynical (remember Myrick’s “pledge” to quit after two terms), but it seems unusually hypocritical, to put it mildly, to both condemn and take credit for projects at the same time.
In a similar vein, there’s a great story on the front page of the New York Times today, set at the Pig Pickin’ rally last week at Northstone Country Club in Huntersville. The thrust of the story is that Americans seem to have completely forgotten that the Obama administration, as part of the stimulus package, cut taxes for 95 percent of working families by changing withholding rates. Those cuts totaled $116 billion, but a recent New York Times/CBS poll showed that fewer than one in 10 people know the Obama administration had lowered taxes for most Americans. This isn’t primarily a problem of people’s bad memory, nor of the press not doing its job; it seems to this writer that the biggest problem is inept political strategizing by the White House and the national Democratic organization.
News Trees are the earth's lungs
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 12:13 PM
We've known this for some time. In fact, when the subject comes up, people usually point to the Amazon's rain forest. But, even though we understand vegetation sucks up carbon and returns oxygen to the atmosphere, we seem to forget that fact.
Take, for instance, North Carolina's utility regulators deciding it is A-OK for power plants, like Duke Energy, to cut down trees and burn them — an act that returns carbon to the air — for fuel. That's how we used trees thousands of years ago. Eventually we learned our lesson and moved on to better technologies. But, humans have short memories ... so, here we go again. Tag this one as #dumbfuckery.
Something else to consider: We create massive amounts of carbon while cutting down trees. Eventually, the trees — the earth's lungs — simply won't be able to keep up and our air quality will suffer more than it currently does.
From DailyClimate.org:
U.S. forests offset roughly 11 percent of the nation's industrial greenhouse gas emissions, storing "significant amounts" of carbon that would otherwise pollute the atmosphere, according to new government data.The findings, released last week, estimate the nation's expanding forests sequester an additional 192 million metric tons of carbon annually due to increases in both the total area of forest land and the amount of carbon stored per acre.
That's the equivalent of removing about half the cars on the roads nationwide, or almost 135 million vehicles.
But as emissions increase and the planet warms, that storage capacity could be compromised, scientists warn.
Warmer summers, changing precipitation patterns and a thinning snow pack are already "aridifying" Western forests, University of Montana Professor Steven Running said during a conference here last week. The combination imperils the health of vast swathes of the western landscape, he warned.
"We think of range as having a 'carrying capacity' - you put too many cows on a pasture and they all get skinny because they don't have enough to eat," he said at a meeting of the Society of Environmental Journalists. "It's the same principle for our forests."
Read the rest of this article, by Douglas Fischer, here.
Further reading:
- Africa 'needs practical advice from climate scientists' — Science and Development Network
- Amazon Deforestation: Earth's Heart and Lungs Dismembered — Live Science
Here's musician Rich Wyman on trees being the lungs of the earth: "I think we all have to be responsible."
Rhiannon "Rhi" Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes snarky commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
News / Biz Worried about our water? Speak up at tonight's hearing.
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 11:14 AM
The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources is holding a public hearing in Mooresville tonight. The topic: Pollution discharge permits for three Duke Energy coal plants — one is on Lake Norman, one is on Mountain Island Lake and the other is on Lake Wylie. All three, by way of everyday operating procedures, heat the water in the lakes (which lowers the amount of oxygen in the water and can kill fish) and discharge pollutants into the lakes.
The hearing follows news from Mecklenburg County that they have, again, detected arsenic levels exceeding state water quality standards in Mountain Island Lake — our area's main drinking water reservoir.
You should know, the permit for the two Duke Energy unlined, high-hazard coal ash ponds on that lake expired in February of this year, and the one proposed to take its place doesn't limit the amount of arsenic that can be discharged into the lake.
Again, this isn't just any body of water ... it's our drinking water. When you turn on your taps, there's a high probability that Mountain Island Lake is what flows out of it.
If you'd like to attend the hearing, here are the details:
- You’ll need to arrive by 6 p.m. to register to speak at the hearing.
- Include I-77’s daily traffic congestion in your planning. Get there early and enjoy one of Mooresville's great restaurants.
- You’ll have three minutes to speak, so come prepared.
- The location: Charles Mack Citizen Center, 215 N. Main Street, Mooresville, N.C. (map)
- Review the proposed permits here.
Read more about what the county found in our water, and why they've asked NCDENR to limit the amount of arsenic — and 13 other heavy metals — Duke Energy can discharge, from The Charlotte Observer's Bruce Henderson here.
Find out what the Catawba Riverkeeper thinks about the permits for the three coal plants here.
Further reading:
The future of coal: Old energy source under new pressures, but it’s not dust yet — Knoxville News Sentinel
Learn more about arsenic:
Rhiannon "Rhi" Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes snarky commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
Arts / Today's Top Five / News Today's Top 5: Tuesday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 10:42 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Oct. 19, 2010 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Author Olivia deBelle Byrd at Joseph-Beth Booksellers
• Reefer Madness: The Musical at Duke Energy Theatre
• Trivia Night at Kylie's Sports Bar & Grill
• Los Campesinos with Johnny Foreigner at Visulite Theatre
• Taboo Tuesday at The Mill at Boudreaux's
Monday, October 18, 2010
Film / Arts / News 15 Short Film Festival winners
Posted By Anita Overcash on Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 5:08 PM
In its fourth year, The 15 Short Film Festival — created by Charlotte natives Ryan Walker, Antonio Diaz and Keith Whatley — returned to The Evening Muse last night. Award-winning shorts (15 minutes or less) from around the globe were screened in categories that included, documentary, experimental, drama/narrative, animation and comedy. This year's batch was enjoyable — so much so that I (as well as probably the majority of the attendees who stayed until the bitter end) can overlook the aftermath of a super sore ass from sitting for around four hours straight.
Now, onto the winners. For the audience pick for 'Best Of Show,' there was a tie between the films Ana's Playground and Madagascar-Travel Diary. Ana's Playground (see trailer below) also won the 'Special Jury Prize.' For more information (including a list of featured films) on the 15 Short Film Festival, visit www.15shortfilmfestival.com.
Arts / Debbie Millwater / News Best bets in Charlotte comedy, Oct. 18-24
Posted By Anita Overcash on Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 2:58 PM
As the headline suggests, here are a few of the best places to find comedy events in Charlotte — from stand-up to improv to sketch comedy and more. For a complete listing of all comedy visit www.CharlotteComedyLIVE.com.
Monday, Oct. 18
Jamie Kennedy at 7 p.m.
Jamie Kennedy, a multi-talented comedian-actor-writer-producer, is a true hyphenate. He has gone on to work with some of Hollywood's biggest names, including George Clooney, Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, and Will Smith.
Lake Norman Comedy Zone at Galway Hooker Irish Pub ~ 17044 Kenton Drive, Cornelius ~ $25
Daniel Tosh at 7:30 p.m.
Host of Tosh.0 on Comedy Central, you've seen Daniel on The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The kids love him and we do too.
The Fillmore ~ 1000 Seaboard St., Charlotte
Tuesday, Oct. 19
Taboo Tuesday Stand-up Open Mic at 8 p.m.
Taboo Tuesday is the way open mic was meant to be: without content or language restrictions. Rated R. Comics come out for your five minutes. Hosted by Olie.
The Mill at Boudreaux's ~ 3306A N. Davidson St., Charlotte ~ $5
Wednesday, Oct. 20
Explicit Content Stand-up Showcase at 9:30 p.m.
Hosted by Ryan Van Genderen. Charlotte's comics break out their hardest hitting, edgiest humor that's too bold for other stages. This show is not for the easily offended. On stage this week Katie Hughes, Zach Claywell, Brian Zarbock, Noah Lemmons, Steve Price, Tyler Cox, Bill "The Thrill" Cleveland, Nick Shaheen, Michael Robinette, Chris Weathers, Cody Hughes, and Big Daddy Mike.
Closet Nightclub ~ 1202 Charlottetown Ave. Charlotte ~ $5
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Question the Queen City: The haunting of Love’s Pass
The railroad pass has claimed at least 14 lives
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More on the United Way 1
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Theater review: Fly by Night
