Visions From Madanapalle

Martin Goodman
At 2,000 feet, Madanapalle’s summer temperature is cooler than in other towns in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. This is a green part of India. The Indian mystic Mother Meera, considered by many to be a feminine incarnation of God on Earth, owns a farm about 20 minutes’......

Beer, BBQ and Bullock

Paul Malcolm
For at least one young filmmaker, the thought of industry attention at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival and Conference in Austin, Texas, proved too much to handle. Three days into the fest, at the end of a program featuring student films from the University of Texas, a festival......

Oy!

Manohla Dargis
Being Jewish on the American screen has always meant suffering indignities, whether historical, as in The Life of Emile Zola, or hysterical, as when Sam Goldwyn (né Goldfish) forced Danny Kaye (né Kaminsky) to bleach his hair blond because, "Let’s face it, Jews are funny looking." Tough as it’s been......
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Third Ear – Mar 25, 1998

John Payne
Holger Czukay vs. Dr. Walker: Clash (Tone Casualties) Basically, the editing of spontaneity marks the separating point of the new way of making music from the old, and Clash’s shaped explosions of freestyle electronics and beats are absolutely state of the art; each and every note counts, as in the......
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The Prime Minister of Culture

George Scialabba
ERRATA: An Examined Life By GEORGE STEINER Yale University Press 172 pages 25 hardcover A little learning is a dangerous thing, though not nearly as dangerous as a lot of it. George Steiner, for example, would probably write twice as well if he knew half as much. Or better, he’d......
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Grill Crazy

Jonathan Gold
Quest for fire? Grate expectations? Sear bliss? Old King Coal? Stripes? When protein meets the bonfire, cuisine starts to happen - cuisine, or an auto-da-fe. Still, we wish they all could be California . . . you know. By Brazil No. 2 While By Brazil's buffet - which is to......

Myanmar's Friend at City Hall?

LA Weekly
UNOCAL Corp., the oil-and-gas giant, has brought out the heavy guns to combat a measure before the Los Angeles City Council that would prohibit it, and other companies doing business in Burma, from contracting with the city. Earlier this month, the company flew its top New York lobbyist, Jack Rafuse,......
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Finnish Touches

Alan Rich
It was Magnus Lindberg's week: music long awaited, handsomely produced, agreeably if not ecstatically received. Finnish-born in 1958 - three days older than Esa-Pekka Salonen - Lindberg is already known here for some extraordinary works on disc, music of intense, raw energy, its dusky instrumental colors pierced now and then......

Dope Dealer to the Stars

Johnny Angel
Deep in the Hollywood Hills, there's a party goin' on. Mercs and Jags spill out of the driveway, up and down the undulating curbside for more than a block. The guests, who effortlessly flaunt their Melrose "disheveled chic," are the creme de la creme of Hollywood Gen-X society: models, up-and-coming......

Upgrades on the Gravy Train

Marc B. Haefele
The Daily News had fun lately with the aftermath of the "triumphant" Riordan Far East junket. The News found plenty of witnesses to several cases of upgrading the mayor's party's airline accommodations from business to first class. The upgraded included Mr. and Mrs. Riordan (though the mayor later claimed he'd......