DISNEY MAKES A PORNO, WHILE KEVIN SMITH LAYS AN EGG
THE VULGARITIES OF CONSUMERISM AND SEX ENJOY THEIR ORGY OF POWER
By Armond White
Both High School Musical 3 and Zack and Miri Make a Porno set out to corrupt our youth. The Disney film, second sequel to the 2006 cable TV and CD blockbuster, aims capitalist tripe at unsuspecting teenagers, while Kevin Smith’s extended sex skit trashes whatever is left of adult romantic innocence.
Each film is a peculiar example of Hollywood gone wrong. High School Musical at least started as a good idea: The original film was a genuinely amusing fable about American plurality and teen division. Cute, multiracial kids at an Arizona high Read more
TACTICAL RETREAT
HORROR FANS SAVED FROM MEDIOCRITY BY FRINGE FILMGOING
By Simon Abrams
There I was: Ten minutes before midnight this past Saturday at a packed downtown multiplex auditorium, right before the coming attractions to Saw V, and not one pair of seats could be found together. Any way you sliced it, it was a lose-lose situation. Anyone else might have sucked it up and sat down, but A) I hate the Saw franchise pretty fiercely B) so did my buddy Bill, who had got me into watching the films for reasons I still can’t justify to myself and C) I was planning on attending The Craving, a cheesy 1980s werewolf pic starring Paul Naschy (think Spain’s Bela Lugosi) the following evening, fulfilling my taste for bad horror films for one weekend. I walked out, relieved. Read more
DIARY OF A SWING STATE VOLUNTEER
TWO NEW YORKERS TELL US WHAT IT\'S LIKE ON THE FRONTLINES OF A BATTLEGROUND STATE
STUMPING FOR OBAMA IN BUCKS COUNTY, PA.
By Jeff Williams
As a political junkie, one of the downsides of living in New York is that our state is never contested in presidential elections. In an attempt to do my part, I’ve made two trips to Bucks County, Penn. to knock on doors and canvass voters for the Obama campaign. My first trip in September took me to Quakertown, a small town with many working class retirees. Recently I traveled to Bristol, a more economically diverse area with both McMansion-filled cul-de-sacs and trailer parks. Read more
PREPPING FOR FLU SEASON
STOP RESPIRATORY VIRUS DURING PRIME VACCINATION TIME BEFORE IT\'S TOO LATE
By Fred Cicetti
It’s time for a flu shot.
Flu season in the northern hemisphere can range from as early as November to as late as May. The peak month usually is February.
The vaccine can be administered anytime during flu season. However, the best time to get inoculated is October-November. The protection provided by the vaccine lasts about a year. Adults older than 50 are prime candidates for the vaccine because the flu can be fatal for people in this age group. Read more
THE FRACTURED SELVES OF BILL AYERS
FUGITIVE BOMBER STILL GLEEFUL, NO DOUBT, ABOUT MAKING THE HEADLINES
By Susan Braudy
Bill Ayers is a has-been terrorist, a man with a fractured sense of self who’s associated with hundreds of do-gooders, such as Sen. Barack Obama.
For my book, Family Circle, the Boudins and the Aristocracy of the Left, I spent 10 years interviewing ex-terrorists and poring over FBI reports, as well as Ayers press releases taking credit for bombing places like our Pentagon, our Capitol and a Manhattan police station.
Three thousand academics recently Read more
START A TREND OF THE MOST NEEDED KIND
SMALL STEPS TAKEN TOGETHER CAN PREVENT "DEATH OF A NEIGHBORHOOD" CHANGES
By Bette Dewing
“Dewing Things Better” is the name of this column, in case you don’t remember or notice (the font is pretty small, dear editor). Anyway, we all need reminding, “even more than being informed,” advised wise man Dr. Samuel Johnson. Both are essential, “but to be more informed, read more than one newspaper,” I was told when granted this column by then publisher Ed Kayatt and then editor, Arlene Kayatt. Too much? Then alternate sometimes, change channels and stations, too—except every policy maker/pundit must regularly watch the role-model series, Read more
GETTING READY TO RUN
FESTIVITIES AND ACTIVITIES IN ANTICIPATION OF THE BIG NOV. 2 RACE
By Adam Bloch
With the 39th New York City Marathon right around the corner, New York Road Runners launched its week of festivities with a Marathon Kickoff on Sunday morning, a five-miler through Central Park that drew more than 6,400 competitors. Mohammed Awol (25:14) of the powerful Westchester Track Club, and Manhattanite Christine Hoffman (28:59) were the top male and female finishers.
The schedule for the days ahead is fairly packed. Thursday begins with a “Run with Champions” event in Central Park at 9 a.m., a one-mile gallop for schoolchildren. Read more
FRENCH COOKERY WITH AN ASIAN FLAIR
MAVERICK MOVES PAY OFF FOR FIRST-TIME RESTAURATEUR CARLOS SUAREZ
By Tom Steele
It takes a certain amount of confidence to set your restaurant in an utterly unmarked brownstone, but Bobo is all about confidence, and with good reason. This yearling restaurant, owned by maverick restaurateur Carlos Suarez, has a brand-new executive chef, the James Beard Award-winning Patrick Connolly. He is fresh from the four-star Radius in Boston, and his French cookery is the perfect fit for this deeply romantic, homey setting.
That hominess is accentuated by the charming bric-a-brac Read more
NEW THAI RISING STAR
By Nancy J. Brandwein
While most people associate comfort foods with blandness, Pad Thai makes it into the comfort food pantheon with its incredible balance of sweet and tangy, crunchy and slippery. As recognizable to Americans as Chinese moo-shu pork, Pad Thai consists of stir-fried rice noodles, fish sauce, tamarind, peanuts, egg, bean curd and cilantro. Sura’s sprightly version, with little cubes of smoked tofu, comes in a seemingly bottomless black bowl and does not disappoint, especially for $5 during the new restaurant’s BYOB “Happy Read more
A LOOK AT LOCAL RACES
MEET THE CANDIDATES
We asked each of the candidates running for Congress and State Legislature to tell us their top three priorities for the district. And, to make things a little more fun, we also asked them to pick a campaign theme song. Responses have been edited for style and brevity. Read more
