Orlando Weekly | AAN.org

Florida is Stuck on Stupidnew

Here we are again. The earth has orbited the sun. The continents have drifted farther apart. The seasons came and went, as they do. Que sera, sera. But through it all, one ironclad reality remained: Our state is stuck on stupid.

Orlando Weekly | Jeffrey C. Billman | 05-29-2008 | Commentary

Tags: Florida, politics

Blisternew

Billy braves a seedy bar to try and find humor in napkin art.

Orlando Weekly | Billy Manes | 05-22-2008 | Comedy

Tags: humor & satire

This Little Undergroundnew

Review of FMF.

Orlando Weekly | Bao Le-Huu | 05-22-2008 | Music

Tags: FMF, This Little Underground

Be Your Own Pet Meets the Sophmore Cursenew

With Get Awkward, the band's songs are still bracing and efficient and singer Jemina Pearl is still an unhinged, full-throttle screamer who's unashamed to make a shouted "WHOOO!" part of a chorus.

Orlando Weekly | Jason Ferguson | 05-22-2008 | Profiles & Interviews

Tags: Be Your Own Pet, get awkward

The Baby-faced Wunderkinds of Black Tidenew

With their major-label debut, Miami's baby-faced heavy metal savants Black Tide have produced an introduction that should provide the critical mass needed to unleash the hurricane that's been stirring Florida’s music scene for the past few years.

Orlando Weekly | Bao Le-Huu | 05-22-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Black Tide, Light from Above

The Mad World of Miami's Torchenew

The blistering guitar work, the sludge-thick riffs, the hulkingly muscular rhythm section, even the hooks that eschew anthemic power for melodic effectiveness, make a listener feel like a meerkat in the middle of a mammoth stampede: It’s coming, it’s fast, and it will crush you.

Orlando Weekly | Jason Ferguson | 05-22-2008 | Profiles & Interviews

Tags: Meanderthal, Torche

First Shotnew

A decade ago, the big story was every studio's rush to acquire its own boutique indie imprint; now, with the battle of co-optation won and the concept of "independence" thus eradicated in the average moviegoer's mind, those same studios are dropping their junior divisions like they’re hot.

Orlando Weekly | Steve Schneider | 05-22-2008 | Movies

Tags: Indiana Jones, Postal, American drug war:the last white hope, Bomb it, Hearoes of the East/come drink with me, Sex and the City, What would Jesus buy

Amid School Budget Cuts, Parents Want to Save a Nature Preservenew

Like school districts across Florida, Seminole County's has something of a fiscal crisis. Put simply, because of state budget cuts, the board needs to trim $22 million from its $474 million annual budget. But parents are more pissed about the cutting of funding for the Environmental Studies Center than they are about firing teachers.

Orlando Weekly | Deanna Morey | 05-22-2008 | Environment

Tags: Education, environment, budget cuts, mud walk, Seminole County

The Orlando Police Beatnew

May 13, 1:08 a.m.: Swear to God, I once saw a porno that started exactly like this: "On the above date and time, two male suspects entered the residence and duct-taped the victim." No porny goodness here, though. The two guys -- described as "possibly Jamaican," for what it's worth -- just stole "various items" and left. Booooooring.

Orlando Weekly | Jeffrey C. Billman | 05-22-2008 | Crime & Justice

Tags: crime & justice

Council Watch: Paying Attention to Orlando Gov't So You Don't Have Tonew

Perhaps there was something in the water. Unexpectedly and totally off-agenda, this week's slush of boozy boosterism melted down into a perfectly boring discussion of water politics, led ably by the inexplicably enviro-excitable public works director, Alan Oyler.

Orlando Weekly | Billy Manes | 05-22-2008 | Politics

Tags: Orlando, government