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Saturday, April 14, 2012
Film / Arts The Don of animation
Posted By Matt Brunson on Sat, Apr 14, 2012 at 7:00 AM
With more than 120 awards to his name (including a 1998 honor from the long-defunct Charlotte Film & Video Festival), one can only assume that Don Hertzfeldt possesses a mantle comparable to that of Meryl Streep. The 35-year-old cult animator has written and directed 11 shorts over the past 17 years, including the Oscar-nominated Rejected and the brilliant YouTube sensation Billy's Balloon.
While Hertzfeldt's drawing style is traditional (created by hand, with no CGI), he employs experimental techniques to produce his surreal, cynical sagas. Hertzfeldt will be in Charlotte to deliver a lecture and host a screening of several of his works, including the aforementioned Billy's Balloon and his latest piece, It's Such a Beautiful Day (pictured).
$12. April 14, 7:30 p.m. Crownpoint Stadium 12, 9630 Monroe Road. For more information, visit www.lightfactory.org. - Matt Brunson
Friday, April 13, 2012
News / Democratic National Convention 2012 DNC protesters still battling with Charlotte over permits
Posted By Ana McKenzie on Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 6:15 PM
A coalition of about 60 local and national organizations that represents workers, students, immigrants, unions and homeowners announced about 10,000 of its members will demonstrate at the Democratic National Convention. There's just one problem: The city hasn't given it permission.
- Grant Baldwin
- About 12 members of the Coalition to Protest at the DNC announced their intent to bring the noise Sunday, Sept. 2 - regardless of whether the city permits them to. About 10,000 members, the Coalition estimates, will protest against the dangerous foreclosure practices of big banks, including Charlotte's brightest star, Bank of America Corp.; North Carolina's treatment of unions; and environmental and immigrant issues.
Film / Film Reviews Weekend Film Reviews: The Cabin in the Woods; The Raid: Redemption; The Three Stooges; Tyrannosaur
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 3:41 PM
- Lionsgate
- The Cabin in the Woods
Click on the title to be taken directly to the review.
Arts Floyd Collins explores CAST
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 2:44 PM
If you're like me and you've never heard of Floyd Collins, then Carolina Actors Studio Theatre's choice for a play about him may come as a surprise. Based on the true story, Floyd Collins is about a cave explorer who gets trapped in a narrow shaft one hundred feet underground in a Kentucky cave, while searching passageways in 1925.
As it was big news at the time, the media went into a frenzy with 'round-the-clock updates on the critical period. (Remember, this was way before anyone had reality TV, so they were tuned in even though there wasn't too much action). And to make matters worse, Collins (played by Jonathan Elliot Coarsey in the CAST staging) didn't even survive the ordeal. So much for a happy ending.
$18-$32. April 13-14, 8 p.m., April 19-21, 8 p.m., April 26-28, 8 p.m., April 29, 2:30 p.m., May 3-5, 8 p.m., May 6, 2:30 p.m., May 10-12, 8 p.m., May 13, 2:30 p.m. Carolina Actors Studio Theatre, 2424 N. Davidson St. 704-455-8542. www.nccast.com.
News Duke Energy CEO (er, Jim Rogers) doesn't support Amendment One
Posted By Ana McKenzie on Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 11:16 AM
At a business breakfast meeting Friday morning, Duke Corp. CEO Jim Rogers hesitated before answering a question from Charlotte Observer columnist Taylor Batten. But his answer was anything but sugar-coated. According to the Observer:
If North Carolinians put the gay marriage ban into the state constitution, Rogers said, "You're sending a message to the world that we're not inclusive."Rogers emphasized that he was sharing his personal view and was not speaking on behalf of Duke Energy. He said "I believe we're all children of God," and that it's wrong to pass measures that discriminate against individuals.
"If this passes, we're going to look back 20 years from now, or 10 years, and think of it like Jim Crow laws" that discriminated against African-Americans. North Carolina is competing with the world for business, he said, and "we have to be inclusive and open."
The story also notes how silent other business men and women across the state have been and that neither the Charlotte Chamber nor the N.C. Chamber have taken a stance on the issue. Let's hope the message from one of the state's most influential men can change that.
News / Democratic National Convention 2012 DNC Notebook: Youth Is Served, and Serves
Posted By Mary C. Curtis on Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 10:32 AM
Young people walk into a bar - not exactly an unusual occurrence. But a gathering at Fitzgerald's Irish Pub Thursday night was about more than partying. If you listened carefully you could make out the message over the barroom din.
Arts Geek out Uptown
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 10:07 AM
Forget lunch, 'cause today you can fill the hunger of your inner geek! From 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Discovery Place is hosting Try On Science, a free outdoor science-themed event with more than 30 demonstrations and activities.
As the press release we received states, demonstrations include:
* Chevy volt car and charging station from Duke Energy (see pic)
* Bicycle e-powered generator from Siemens
* Color-changing reactions, optical illusions and a solar telescope from UNCC
* Model pressurized water reactor from UNCC-Westinghouse
* Robot demonstrations from Johnson C. Smith University, YETI Robotics and UNCC Stars
* Sample STEM programs from the Girl Scouts, Hornets' Nest Council
* Hands-on demonstrations from Discovery Place staff featuring live exotic and native animals, microscopes, liquid nitrogen, a solar tracker and much more.
The science shindig comes as part of a stream of events slated to go down during the North Carolina Science Festival (April 13-29). We're just glad we have the chance to tinker around with things without anything blowing up in our faces. Held at the corner of Trade and Tryon Streets Uptown. For more details on this and other NC Science Fest events, click here.
Arts / Today's Top Five Today's Top 5: Friday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 9:41 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, April 13, 2012 as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
* Clybourne Park at Actor's Theatre of Charlotte
* Cage the Elephant at Amos' Southend
* Lore Emelio hosts Viva Moda~Models at Butter
* Perpetual Groove at Neighborhood Theatre
* Vivian Russell Showcase at Petra's Piano Bar
Thursday, April 12, 2012
News Trayvon Martin-inspired discussion addresses local issues of racism
Community groups ask: Can we talk?
Posted By Ana McKenzie on Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 11:55 AM
A little girl held her mother's hand as they walked through the halls of Little Rock AME Zion Church Wednesday night. She stopped suddenly, looked up and asked, exasperatedly, "What are we really doing here, mom?"
About 200 had gathered at the uptown church to discuss the implications of Trayvon Martin's death and how it has affected Charlotteans of different races and ethnicities. The 17-year-old African American youth was gunned down by George Zimmerman, a Hispanic community watch coordinator, the night of February 26 in Sanford, Fla. The case has opened questions - and stirred outrage - about race relations and institutional discrimination in the U.S.
Charlotte Observer editor Rick Thames opened the discussion, sponsored by Mecklenburg Ministries, the Community Building Initiative and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee. He rehashed the case's reported details, which changed minutes before Thames walked onto the stage when prosecutors in Florida charged Zimmerman with second-degree murder. As Thames closed in on discussion of the struggle that ensued between Zimmerman and Martin just minutes before Martin was shot - a struggle that has been told various ways by witnesses and Martin and Zimmerman's family, leaving prosecutors clueless as to who provoked whom - a woman in the crowd put her arm around a teenage boy in a hoodie sitting next to her.
Film / Film News RiverRun revs up
Posted By Matt Brunson on Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 11:00 AM
The 14th Annual RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem kicks off this weekend for a 10-day run, filling area venues April 13-22. Approximately 60 feature-length works and an equal number of shorts will be screened throughout the festival, which will also serve as home to various panel discussions and parties.
- Magnolia Pictures
- Willem Dafoe (center) in The Hunter
Among the feature narrative films being screened are The Hunter, starring Willem Dafoe; Wuthering Heights, a new version of the Emily Bronte classic from director Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank); and Canada's Monsieur Lazhar, a recent Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. The feature documentary slate includes Love Free or Die: How the Bishop of New Hampshire Is Changing the World, in which filmmaker Macky Alston (whose wonderful documentary Family Name played the now-defunct Charlotte Film & Video Festival many moons ago) focuses on openly gay bishop Gene Robinson; Under African Skies, a look at Paul Simon's Graceland 25 years after its release; and Semper Fi: Always Faithful, an examination of the water-contamination cover-up at Camp Lejeune, NC.
- Apparition
- Paul Schneider in Bright Star
Festival guests include director Hal Needham, whose Smokey and the Bandit will be screened, and Asheville native Paul Schneider, who will receive RiverRun's 2012 Emerging Master Award (Jane Campion's Bright Star, in which Schneider plays a leading role, will be screened). This year's Spotlight series focuses on science fiction films of the 1960s and 1970s; among the seven titles being shown are Woody Allen's Sleeper, Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth and, of course, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
As I did last year, I'll be attending the festival during its final few days, catching as many films as possible and blogging about them for the CLog. You can see the 2011 coverage here (Part 1), here (Part 2) and here (Part 3).
Admission costs vary, with several events (panels and select older films) free. For complete details, go to the festival site here.
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