Entertainment : Buzz

Baltimore Sun film critic Michael Sragow has a blog post explaining Baltimore's connection to the new hit documentary Senna.

From the source:

A year and a half ago we reported that Baltimore born-and-bred Bart Walker, a partner in Cinetic Media, had co-founded the super-specialized Producers Distribution Agency to get "Exit Through the Gift Shop" into the right theaters in the right way.

Well, PDA -- somehow it fits that the acronym also means Public Display of Affection -- released its second movie last weekend, Asif Kapadia's documentary "Senna," and once again scored a great and immediate success ($66,075 from two 2 theaters, one in New York, one in Los Angeles).

Read the full post here.

Plans to expand Baltimore's legendary Senator Theatre by adding a wine bar and new screens have been approved.

From the source:

The Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation approved proposed renovations to the Senator Theatre on Tuesday, according to the Baltimore Sun.

As previously reported, James "Buzz" Cusack and Kathleen Cusack, the Senator's operators, are seeking to add a wine bar and three more theaters to the building.

Read the full story.

Fresh on the heels of the conclusion of the NewsTrust project, the Baltimore City Paper has published an in-depth feature surveying Baltimore's online news landscape.

From the source:

Right now, Baltimore has around eight steady sources of online news, far more than that depending on how you broaden the definition. Some are corporately fed, such as North Baltimore Patch, Charm City Current, Bmore Media, or Baltimore Examiner, and some are independent, such as the Baltimore Brew and Investigative Voice.

For six months, Baltimore was fortunate enough to have an organization here dedicated solely to analyzing the city's journalistic output, NewsTrust Baltimore (the local pilot project of the larger NewsTrust organization). It was a bit like Yelp crossed with the Columbia Journalism Review. The project ceased operations on July 31 (it was always intended as a six-month pilot), leaving behind a collection of reports, one of which is a final comprehensive analysis of sorts. It eventually concludes, "The local news scene is in a state of flux with more than a little creative chaos. But patterns are emerging. As news startups and impassioned individuals become more rigorous and as traditional news organizations become more open and responsive to the public, there is a growing opportunity for collaboration across the local journalistic community."

Read the whole feature here.

Further reading: Bmore's February, 2011 feature on emerging news sites.

For those of us who live here in Baltimore it's no secret that the city offers a wide variety of interesting and entertaining activities. But what does the view look like to an outsider? Elaine Jean, writing for the Fairfax Times, visited the city to find out -- and she liked what she saw.

From the source:

If you're in town to see the Orioles play, Charm City is one hometown host that knows how to please. Side trips illustrate the local history of our national pastime, and a stop at the Heavy Seas Brewery will give you a chance to toast to its good health.

Read the full story here.

U2 guitarist The Edge wouldn't seem a likely candidate to be sending a letter to the editor at the Baltimore Sun but that's exactly what happened last week.

From the source:

In the letter to the Baltimore Sun the guitarist responds to criticism of the band's controversial revenue affairs.

He defended U2's financial practices and rubbished "the possibly libelous accusation that U2 and Bono have, by moving a part of their business activities to Holland, been involved in tax evasion".

"For the record, U2 and the individual band members have a totally clean record with every jurisdiction to which they are required to pay tax and have never been and will never be involved in tax evasion," he said in the letter published on Tuesday.

Read the whole story here.

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh and his brother, Jim, will soon be featured on an episode of the HBO series Real Sports.

Read the full story here.

Baltimore residents are understandably concerned about the logistical impact of the upcoming Grand Prix, and last week the city sought to allay some of the fear.

From the Sun:

The city's transportation director, Khalil Zaied, and his aides outlined a detailed plan for gradually shutting down streets in the area between the Inner Harbor and Camden Yards in the days leading up to the series of races from Sept. 2 to Sept. 4.

The event, the first of its kind in Baltimore, has involved the extensive reconstruction of some downtown streets � much to the chagrin of many residents and commuters. But city officials say the event, which they expect will draw more than 100,000 visitors during a normally slow weekend, will more than make up for whatever aggravation it has caused.

Read the full story here.

If all goes well, visitors to Baltimore's Inner Harbor could soon have a Ripley's Believe It or Not location added to their list of potential stops.

From the source:

"Ripley's, the tourist destination with an Ocean City boardwalk location, has put Baltimore on a shortlist of cities it wants to branch into, including Chicago and Las Vegas, Ripley's spokesman Tim O'Brien said.

Ripley Attractions Worldwide has more than 80 attractions across the globe, including locations in Hollywood, Calif.; Mexico City and New York. The common thread is those are "destination cities" where tourists flock and people wander into Ripley's while there for other attractions, O'Brien said. In Baltimore, for example, the Inner Harbor and National Aquarium fit that type of bill, he said."

Read the full story here.

Soul singer Sade chose Baltimore to kick off her first North American tour in almost a decade and Evan Serpick was there to review it for Rolling Stone.

From the source:

"In many ways, it seemed that little had changed. When the British-Nigerian singer came onstage, her hair was in the familiar tight ponytail, augmented by bright red lipstick, hoop earrings and a sheer black turtleneck. And that luxurious, smoky voice -- the one that earned Sade (the singer, also the name of the band) a reputation as an aural aphrodisiac, the female counterpart to Barry White -- is as glorious as ever."

Read the full review here.

Fans of The Wire, David Simon's Baltimore-based HBO series, can count among their ranks US Attorney General Eric Holder, who recently said that he'd like to see the show continue.

From the source:

"...the series, which was lauded for its accurate portrayal of the war on drugs and poverty in inner-city Baltimore, is still a favorite around the Justice Department. National Drug Control Policy czar Gil Kerlikowske said that episodes of the show are used to educate people about the plight of children caught up in the drug trade, the Washington Examiner reported.

President Obama has also previously said that he's a fan of the show."

Read the full story at the New York Daily News.