Rihanna is Looking for a Rude Boy
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Archive for the ‘Entertainment’ Category
Will You be Our Soldier of Love?
This Valentine’s, almost everything can go wrong but if you have geniuses like Sade, Marvin Gaye or Barry White on heavy rotation, the universe will realign itself and love will conquer all. “Soldier of Love” is Sade’s first album since “Lover’s Rock” in 2000, and you better cop this before Valentine’s Day if you know what’s good for you.
Williamsburg’s Gutter a Great Cheap Date
Broke but in love? Bowling at the Gutter in Williamsburg might be your best cheap date move for Valentine’s Day. At least Time Out NY thinks so:
Early (love) birds have a better chance of scoring thanks to the retro rates at Williamsburg’s first bowling alley in nearly half a century, The Gutter (200 North 14th St between Berry St and Wythe Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 718-387-3585, thegutterbrooklyn.com). Before 8pm, don rented lace-ups ($4 for two pairs) and hone your stance at one of eight ’70s-style lanes ($6 per game)—snapped up from a Midwestern factory—all while swigging $5 Genesee Cream Ales. Treat the night’s winner to a pizza party at Fornino (187 Bedford Ave between North 6th and 7th Sts, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 718-384-6004), seven streets away. Nosh on a large bianca pie ($19), draped in ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, and chug Peroni beers ($10 for two) before gamely asking for a rematch.
Lady Gaga on Oprah
Lady Gaga knows more about media than any of us poor souls but we can’t help but wonder, with her recent appearance on Oprah, a new position as creative director of Polaroid, unrepentant product placement in her videos and generous collabos with just about anybody, is she (gasp) blowing up too fast? After all, when stay at home moms, who are Oprah’s bread and butter demographic, start oohing and ahhing for you like they do for Dr. Oz, doesn’t that mean that your edgy styles are headed to Target soon? Let’s hope not. The woman has talent, but not hearing ‘Bad Romance’ at Duane Reade is the best way to keep us longing for more.
‘Crazy Heart’ Loaded with Talent
Veteran film actor Jeff Bridges must have licked his lips when he read the script for “Crazy Heart.”
The film offers him up the saucy role of protagonist Bad Blake, a fallen country music legend who hop-scotches the Southwest to perform in small-town bars and guzzle down his anguish with shots of whiskey from plastic cups. Bridges’ voice finds the character’s charm with a ragged Southern twang, even as his bloodshot eyes and flat-heeled gait beg for oblivion.
It’s the lovable loser kind of role that Bridges has nailed before in such films as “The Big Lebowski” and “The Fisher King” but in “Crazy Heart” it’s writ large with the archetypal drive of song lyrics and Oscar chases. The role screams for a best actor award. Quite frankly it’s worthy of one.
But much has been made of Bridges’ performance, and not nearly enough of that of his co-star Maggie Gyllenhaal. She plays Jean, a reporter who manages to fall in love with Blake during a two-night stop in Santa Fe, despite their 20-odd year difference in age and the grotesquerie of Blake’s alcoholic sweats.
Their love affair is believable for Jean’s almost childlike crush on Blake and his musical gifts that she has nurtured for years from afar. But it’s also believable for Gyllenhaal’s restraint. One moment she gazes up at Bridges like a little girl. The next she tempers that gaze with the experience of past affairs gone awry.
Jean is a single mother with a four-year-old child and a lot to lose if Blake tanks out on her. In the performance of a lesser actress, the character could easily become too weepy and scared to believably engage the danger that Blake and his lifestyle represent, or else too bitchy and overprotective when Jean starts to hold back.
Gyllenhaal stands toe to toe with Bridges. She adds wisdom and intelligence to Jean’s reluctance to follow Blake on the road or to immediately accept his invitation to visit him at his home in Houston.
This hard edge has a softness, too, that allows Bridges to establish a warm chemistry with her. This chemistry, of quick and restrained passion, takes their characters towards a more mature relationship than is commonly seen in love films and to a conclusion that reflects satisfying growth in both characters.
Yes, Bridges’ performance makes “Crazy Heart” a very moving experience. But the strength of Gyllenhaal’s, paired with his, is what makes it memorable.
“Crazy Heart” merits three-and-a-half out of four stars.
photo: Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal in CRAZY HEART (Photo by Lorey Sebastian)
Christopher Walken Back on Broadway
Celebrated actor Christopher Walken makes his return to Broadway after ten years away with a new role in “A Behanding in Spokane” co-starring Sam Rockwell, Zoe Kazan and Anthony Mackie. The Martin McDonagh black comedy is scheduled for 16 weeks with previews starting February 16 and opening March 4th at the Schoenfeld Theater. If you’re a Christopher Walken fan, this is a great opportunity to watch him do his thing in a genre made for him.
Video Phone: Lady Gaga, Beyoncé
Lady Gaga didn’t win the best new artist award last night at the AMAs but it looks like her influence is spreading faster than H1N1. “Brooklyn and Atlanta, Houston to New Orleans..” smart girl that Beyoncé.
Cormega Breaks Down Hip Hop Classic ‘The Realness’
Cormega is one of our favorite rappers from the old school. He’s still doing his thing and as part of the promotion for his new album, “Born and Raised”, he breaks down his classic ‘The Realness” track by track, courtesy ClassicRhymes.com. Below that is a video for “Journey” off his latest.
Save the Pool Party!
Word is spreading fast around the ‘hood that the Jelly Pool Party, originally, famously held at McCarren Park, and unceremoniously moved to the redeveloped East River State Park, is now in danger of happening at all next summer. This according to the organizers themselves in a sky-is-falling email to their subscribers. They write:
The future of the Pool Parties at the East River State Park could be in jeopardy. After a very successful 2009 season with 8 weeks of free performances including Grizzly Bear, Girl Talk, The Black Lips, Dirty Projectors, Deerhunter, Dan Deacon, No Age, Mission of Burma, Beach House, and Simian Mobile Disco, news came from the New York State Parks Department and the Open Space Alliance that the East River State Park may not be available to JELLY for the 2010 season. This will ultimately put an end to the flourishing free summer series.
Senator Schumer rallies the folks at the Pool Party, photo Tim Griffith
Like a good blockbuster, there’s a hero emerging and he’s got juice. It’s Senator Schumer, a native of Brooklyn who’s already been quoted by the ‘Times with kind words for the pool party and a promise he’ll try his darndest to have it return to the waterfront in 2010. He also apparently rides his bike through Williamsburg.
“I happened to pass by the Jelly concerts when I was riding my bike through Williamsburg and was amazed at the thousands of people who lined the streets to come to the concerts,” the senator said on Wednesday. “People from every part of the country who had made their way to Brooklyn, enjoying music and one another’s company – it’s the best of New York. When I heard that the concerts might be canceled, I couldn’t understand why, given that this is exactly what our parks are supposed to be for, and I am going to do everything I can to see that they continue.”
If you’ve been a fan of the pool parties at both McCarren Park and most recently East River State Park, you owe it to yourself and your fellow music lovers to remind the good Senator how much fun it is to have that music blasting all summer.
You can Contact Senator Charles Schumer via his Senate Contact Page.
photo: (top) Jay Z, Beyonce Knowles and Senator Chuck Schumer credit: Michael Rusch
photo: Jay Z attends the Pool Party with Beyonce Knowles, Senator Chuck Schumer rallies the crowd. credit: Tim Griffith, BrooklynVegan.com
video: Beyonce and Solange Knowles rocks out to the Grizzly Bears performing at East River State Park, August 30, 2009
Free Bowling at Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn Bowl (map) is a gem of a venue for Williamsburg, what with the Blue Ribbon chicken, live music and top shelf bowling lanes, but sheesh, it can get expensive fast. That’s why we’re pysched to pass along a tweet they made offering free bowling Monday-Thursday 6p-7p, yes, happy hour. By the sound of it, the promo won’t last forever (through November) so get it while its hot. Here’s the tweet:
FREE BOWLING ALERT! All November, Mon – Thurs :: 6pm-7pm :: It’s a Very Happy Hour at Brooklyn Bowl! :: Come Early, Stay Late.
