AltWeeklies Wire
Movie Buzz: The Year in Review
A look back at the best and worst movies of 2009.
Metro Spirit |
Mariah Gardner |
12-23-2009 |
Movies
Obama's 'Good Enough' Revolution
In the world of ideas, President Obama has come to symbolize the triumph of Good Enough. Obama, along with his PR flacks and Congressional allies, loves to paraphrase Voltaire: "Let not the perfect be the enemy of the good." Better to move forward incrementally than not at all.
Maui Time |
Ted Rall |
12-22-2009 |
Commentary
Plants Along the Houston Ship Channel Loose Tons of Toxic Gases and Face Little Penaltynew
Out of seven toxic leaks, only the smallest received an enforcement citation from the state's regulatory agency, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. It penalized the plant $20,900 but then reduced the fine to $8,000.
Houston Press |
Chris Vogel |
12-22-2009 |
Environment
Greetings From Crown Center at 40: Hallmark's Island of Misfit Ideasnew
Hallmark Cards broke ground on this "city within a city" on September 16, 1968. Company founder Joyce C. Hall had spent the previous decade meeting with architects, industrial designers and real-estate men. Walt Disney, a friend, had even contributed a few ideas. Hall envisioned Crown Center as a sort of monument to corporate benevolence.
A Massive Free Clinic Takes the Pulse of Health Care in Americanew
Familiar rhetoric: "We have the best health care in the world!" Anyone who has actually said that in the last year is probably not at Bartle Hall December 10. The weather hasn't kept away a couple of thousand people who need help. It has just made it harder for some to get here.
Suicidal Tendencies: The Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections Is a Bloody Messnew
The Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections is supposed to educate and rehabilitate juvenile delinquents. Instead, the agency has become the state's adolescent mental hospital, a job it's clearly not equipped to handle.
Phoenix New Times |
Amy Silverman |
12-22-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon Is Paying His Girlfriend, Elissa Mullany, Big Bucksnew
Since his re-election campaign wrapped up in December 2007, Gordon has paid Mullany's two-person limited liability company a total of $140,000. He's paid her through his campaign finance committee, even though she hasn't raised any money for it since the election.
Phoenix New Times |
Sarah Fenske |
12-22-2009 |
Politics
The Aftermath of Copenhagennew
"The city of Copenhagen is a crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport”, said John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, on Friday night (December 18). "There are no targets for carbon cuts and no agreement on a legally binding treaty.”
The Georgia Straight |
Gwynne Dyer |
12-22-2009 |
Environment
UCSB Scholar Advocates Humane Treatment of Detained Immigrantsnew
Professor Manuel Casas traveled from UCSB to Washington in early November to speak on behalf of illegal immigrants. At a Congressional hearing, he supported two bills in the House of Representatives that promoted what Casas refers to as “common sense.”
Santa Barbara Independent |
Rebecca Bachman |
12-22-2009 |
Civil Liberties
Irish Music, Dance Hit Santa Barbara for the Holidaysnew
Last Wednesday, Tomáseen Foley and his troupe of four transformed the Granada into an Irish “rambling house,” sharing stories, traditional music, and dance. Throughout the show, Foley shared traditions that went back before “the quills inked history,” as his grandmother put it, creating an intimate ambiance.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Michelle Drown |
12-22-2009 |
Performance
The Myth of the BPA-Free Diet: Seven Days of Trying to Evade a Chemicalnew
Though reports of its potential health effects and presence in the linings of containers and cans have long been reported in science journals and the media, an article in the December issue of Consumer Reports brought concerns over BPA to a broad audience.
Reno News & Review |
Kat Kerlin |
12-22-2009 |
Culture
The Cost of Repairing the Murals at St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Churchnew
Painted in the Depression era, the church's murals go well beyond standard religious iconography. Along with traditional Catholic imagery of angels and the Virgin Mary, they include World War I-era soldiers killing Christ, crowned with barbed wire; a worker killed in a mining accident.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
KATE GIAMMARISE |
12-22-2009 |
Art
