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LIFESTYLE
Godless godfather questions faith in himself
By ERIK VOSS | Oct. 22, 2008In a bold and risky move, my sister asked me to be godfather to her child.
The Avenue
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FASHION
A Gainesville clubbing clothes critique
By REGINA STUZIN | Oct. 22, 2008The Gainesville club scene is not my favorite crowd. I'm much more of a small, pretentious boutique club girl myself, but my loving friends and roommates have dragged me out to my share of Gainesville clubs, and I have not been impressed by what I've seen. Maybe it's because my taste in going-out attire is just different than most, but some of the outfits I've seen out on Friday and Saturday nights in Gainesville are beyond wretched. In my tradition of trying to better the taste of the Gainesville population, I'll describe some outfits I don't think you should wear out.
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FASHION
Fake fashion faux pas
By REGINA STUZIN | Oct. 15, 2008Last week I wrote about the fashion rules that you can (and probably should) break, especially in Florida. This week, I'm writing about the rules that you can bend. I emphasize the word bend because if you break them, you could end up looking like a hot fashion mess, but if you bend them the right way, you could break new fashion ground.
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NIGHTLIFE
So you think you can pass for 21?
By GABRIELLE FALCONEIRI | Oct. 15, 2008Much to Bernie Machen's dismay, Gainesville is a town that loves to party. Most people who grew up here or go to UF get into the party atmosphere early and try to figure out ways to get around that pesky drinking age.
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MOVIES AND TV
'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People' wins audience
By DAVID STUZIN | Oct. 15, 2008"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" is a strikingly clever movie title; not only because of its length but also because it manages to be somewhat ironic. The funny and friendly movie certainly doesn't alienate the audience but draws them into a big, warm bear hug of romantic humor.
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MUSIC
Album review: Oasis – "Dig Out Your Soul"
By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008If the Cubs ever won a World Series, the universe would collapse on itself. Likewise if Oasis ever made another classic album -some things just aren't meant to happen. But Noel Gallagher has a go at greatness anyway, and on "Dig Out Your Soul," he comes very close before little brother Liam and friends set him back another hundred years. The first four songs, penned by the older, more talented sibling, make up a bristling suite channeling the sounds of London, circa 1969. "Bag It Up" and "The Shock of the Lightning" strut to quintessential Oasis - swaggering guitar rock, pissed off and brash. And too good to be true. Liam and the rotating cast of sidemen promptly pull a Steve Bartman: distracting the professional from accomplishing something special.
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MUSIC
Album review: Mercury Rev – "Snowflake Midnight"
By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008There's a place in the market for white noise, and nobody knows this better than Mercury Rev. With "Snowflake Midnight," the veteran space-rockers piece together an orthopedic pillow of an album that's not only as serenely unexciting as its name suggests but could likely accompany "trickling stream" and "rainforest animals" as the third setting on a Sleep Mate sound machine. Each of the few engaging moments scattered throughout - the soft-loud dynamic in "People Are So Unpredictable (There's No Bliss Like Home)," the Little-Drummer-Boy-learns-techno choral passage of "Dream of a Young Girl as a Flower" - is promptly smothered to death by an extended ambient interlude. This is the sonic equivalent of turkey: it's pretty bland by itself, and after consumption, all you want to do is take a nap.
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MUSIC
Album review: Rise Against – "Appeal To Reason"
By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008The boys in Rise Against could probably take out David Blaine in a breath-holding contest. How do I know? Because "Appeal To Reason" is a 47-minute, make-your-cheeks-turn red scream-a-thon, somehow peppered with enough actual words to resemble something of a concept album bemoaning the collapse of Western civilization. Exhale. "Kotov Syndrome" pegs the formula - hey! hey! backing vocals, mosh-inducing chord progressions and anger. Lots of anger. Not a great deal of range here, unless the scale runs from "'roid rage" to "where's the baseball bat?" "Collapse (Post-Amerika)" tactfully depicts a doomsday scenario. Spoiler alert - we spell America with a K. It all tries to sound grave and important, but through it all, your mind will wonder: Can these guys belch the alphabet?
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MUSIC
Album review: The Streets – "Everything Is Borrowed"
By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008Intellectualism isn't completely dead in America, but it's plugged to a ventilator. If The Streets are any indication, the academic inquisition hasn't yet crossed the pond. "Everything Is Borrowed," everything except the ideas, sounds like a particularly intelligent Black Eyed Peas spin-off, genre-hopping from English R&B to pop-laden beat poetry. Be this as it may, "Heaven for the Weather" jumps and jives on a piano-tambourine combo dolled up for mass consumption. No elitist claims here: this is freaking catchy, mate. "The Way of the Dodo," though, is problematic Al Gore hip-hop - smart, smug, warning human extinction. And it's kind of hard to dance to music about the end of the world.
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MUSIC
Q&A with David Banner
By ZACH SEYMOUR | Oct. 15, 2008As he hung out on his tour bus with rapper Talib Kweli, David Banner talked to the Avenue about his Friday show at The Venue, hip-hop, politics and life in general. Since the success of his song "Play," Banner said he has been "working hard on the music, enjoying life - trying to get through."
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MUSIC
Q&A with Brett Dennen
By ROBERT HILSON | Oct. 15, 2008Brett Dennen said his desert island food of choice is sushi. After all, raw fish is already on the menu. This clever California folkie, who releases his third album "Hope for the Hopeless" on Oct. 21, is a man of sound judgment. Supports Barack Obama? Check. Keeps his childhood friends? Check. Huge Ween fan? Obviously.
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LIFESTYLE
Imitation not really the sincerest form of flattery
By ERIK VOSS | Oct. 15, 2008I never realized how generic my taste in fashion is until I spent more time on campus. It seems like every other day that I spot some dope in Turlington wearing a shirt I have somewhere in my closet, or worse, one I'm currently wearing.
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LIFESTYLE
Heavy metal bands team up to raise money for breast cancer
By CASEY BROOKE LAWSON | Oct. 15, 2008With a microphone in his hand, Validus vocalist Justin Kalvin will sing Friday for Save Second Base - a breast cancer benefit concert at Gainesville's Backstage Lounge, 1315 S. Main St.
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ART AND THEATER
Beauty is in the eye of the artist
By MEGAN HERON | Oct. 15, 2008"Beauty" is a word that often refers to something that gives pleasure to the senses, mind and spirit. But not according to local artist Erik Jones.
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FASHION
Don't be a fashion 'don't'
By REGINA STUZIN | Oct. 8, 2008I'll bet your mother told you a lot of things when she was teaching you how to dress: Don't wear white after Labor Day, match your shoes to your purse, wear everything in moderation. But did it ever occur to you that maybe your mom was wrong? Well, not wrong so much as dated. Mom grew up in another time period all together. And grandma? Doubly true. So I think it's time to go back, reanalyze those cardinal fashion sins and decide which ones need to be cast aside.
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NIGHTLIFE
Who's 'that guy' in the bar?
By GABRIELLE FALCONEIRI | Oct. 8, 2008Just as the 21st birthday girl has become a fixture in Gainesville nightlife, so has "that guy," the one who ends up getting kicked out of the bar every time he goes out.
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SEX
Put taboo sex talk behind us
By STEPHANIE DUNN | Oct. 8, 2008Anal sex. There, I said it. If the notion makes you clench up, I suggest you stop reading. Like, now.
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LIFESTYLE
Why you should love the '90s
By DEVIN CULCLASURE | Oct. 8, 2008Whether it's another commercial-free '70s rock block on the radio or '80s night at XS, people love to celebrate decades past, and I can dig that.
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LIFESTYLE
Sarah Silverman Q&A
By CARLY FAIN | Oct. 8, 2008In a national phone conference, comedian Sarah Silverman schleped over to a phone to discuss the season two premiere of "The Sarah Silverman Program" on Comedy Central and her voting campaign called "The Great Schlep," which favors Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. For more information, check out sarahsilverman.comedycentral.com and thegreatschlep.com.
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LIFESTYLE
Airing out smelly, dirty habits not easy
By ERIK VOSS | Oct. 8, 2008I'm a clean guy with dirty habits.
