Sylvia Toth has a problem. People love the cookies she bakes, but they don’t want to eat them. “My main frustration is that people will look at the cookies and go, ‘This looks too good to eat,’” Toth says, during a break from baking at her Chapel Hill apartment. “And then I hear people go, […]
Zack Smith
Link: http://zacksmithwriter.wordpress.comTwitter: http://twitter.com/thezacksmith
Posted inCulture
UNC School of the Arts graduate Craig Zobel gets under your skin with Compliance, now out on DVD
Photo by Ben EngebrethCraig Zobel It’s not every Hollywood résumé that includes multiple Southern art films, a flash animation about a tiny Luchador and an award-winning feature about an interrogation in the back room of a fast-food restaurant, but UNC School of the Arts graduate Craig Zobel is not your typical filmmaker—and his latest film […]
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The spirit of Christmas specials, conclusion: Beyond Charlie Brown and the Grinch!
It is my great belief that the two most important gifts one can give others are new moments of happiness, and a chance to relive moments of happiness from the past. (I suppose organ donations and tickets out of soul-crushing poverty are good as well, but there’s only so much you can do with a […]
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The Spirit of Christmas Specials, Part 1: The Realm of Rankin-Bass
screen capture from ABC Family airingThe Flamboyant Snow Miser from Rankin-Bass’ “The Year Without a Santa Claus” Peter Jackson’s new film version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit might have broken box-office records despite mixed (and in the case of this paper, excoriating) reviews, but I myself am still reluctant to see it and weigh in. […]
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Black Hawk Down author Mark Bowden talks The Finish: The Killing of Osama bin Laden
Journalist Mark Bowden’s books have covered everything from D-Day to cyber war to NFL football to the intense military action of Black Hawk Down, the basis for the Oscar-winning film of the same name. Now, he’s chronicled a recent and harrowing event in international history with The Finish: The Killing of Osama bin Laden (Atlantic […]
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At 28, bestselling author Christopher Paolini is ready to move on
Christopher Paolini will be at the Cary Barnes & Noble at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26. The store is located at Cary Commons, 760 SE Maynard Road. Signing line tickets will be given away at the store beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday. Call 919-467-3866. Visit the store’s website for more guidelines. Christopher Paolini spent nearly […]
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A valentine to the craft and challenges of acting in Paul Rudnick’s I Hate Hamlet
I Hate Hamlet North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre Through Nov. 4 It’s somewhat difficult to sympathize with a main character whose biggest decision is whether to take $3 million to do a TV series or star in a Central Park production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This might be the ultimate iteration of the “First World […]
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Omigod you guys: NC Theatre’s Legally Blonde—The Musical is fun but thin
LEGALLY BLONDE—THE MUSICAL* * * starsNC Theatre@ Raleigh Memorial AuditoriumThrough Oct. 14 Of the approximately nine billion theatrical films rebranded onto Broadway, Legally Blonde is a smoother translation than most—it’s easy to envision Judy Holliday or Kristin Chenoweth in their younger years as Elle Woods, the smarter-than-she-looks sorority queen who brings her pink wardrobe to […]
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Award-winning NCSU alum Kij Johnson returns to Triangle with new book
Kij Johnson’s appearance Tuesday night at Quail Ridge Books & Music to promote her new short story collection At the Mouth of the River of Bees (Small Beer Press, $16) is something of a homecoming for the award-winning writer of science fiction and fantasy — it’s a return to the city where she recently completed […]
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Stephan Pastis talks Pearls Before Swine and the future of newspaper comic strips
Provided by Andrews McMeel PublishingPearls Before Swine Cover As the mind behind the hit newspaper comic Pearls Before Swine, Stephan Pastis appreciates the time he’s able to get away from the drawing board and interact with his fans. “When you’re a cartoonist, you basically see nobody,” says Pastis, who appears at Quail Ridge Books and […]
