entertainment : Buzz

It was a good month for Baltimore baseball. The Baltimore Orioles defeated the Minnesota Twins on Opening Day. Camden Yards celebrated 20 years of operation. 

Things couldn't get any better. 

But wait -- they can!

USAToday.com featured Camden Yards as an example of an urban baseball stadium that has boosted business for area shops, bars and restaurants. The article was originally featured on CNBC.com.

"The Orioles' success with Camden Yards spawned downtown stadiums in Cleveland, San Francisco, Denver and elsewhere," the article says. You can read the rest of the story here. 

Sure, you might own every episode on DVD. But if you ever meet David Simon, don't go waxing poetic about "the Wire."

That's according the New York Times ArtsBeat blog. Writer Jeremy Egner explains:

"Before Mr. Simon went Hollywood, creating the endlessly exalted “Wire” and the current HBO series “Treme,” he was a longtime crime reporter for The Baltimore Sun, and he often evinces that breed’s hard-bitten outlook and allergy to cheap sentimentality."

Simon also tells the Times that he wrote the series for the city of Baltimore. You can read the Q&A with David Simon here.

Baltimore's favorite famous and quirky film director John Waters is featured in the April 1 issue of the Wall Street Journal Magazine.

No it's not an April Fool's Joke.

The director, 65, talks about a lot of things -- why he doesn't lie about his age, his childhood in suburban Baltimore where stood out from the other kids (you don't say?) and that he's mellow now because it's not cool to be his age and be angry. 

He also says he likes rap music. 

"I like rap music. But bragging about being rich to poor people is really offensive," Waters says. "I want to hear a gangsta rap song about buying a Cy Twombly painting or dating a museum curator. I want to hear about that kind of rich." 

Read the entire article here. 

"Maria. I once knew a girl named Maria."

Oh wait, wrong West Side Story.

Hutzlers. I once knew a store named Hutzlers. 

A new play that tells the story of Baltimore's west side retail history premiered March 25 at the Hippodrome. 

"The performers, part of Fluid Movement, a Baltimore group best known for its elaborate and creative water ballets, staged a play on skates commemorating the area's history as "The Hub," the center of city shopping in the era before malls," writes the Baltimore Sun in its review. 

The performances for "HOWARD & LEX: The Way We Roll!" continue March 31 and April 1. Westside Renaissance Development, PNC Bank, the Weinberg Foundation, and the office of Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake are sponsoring the show.

The Washington Post has called the Evergreen Museum & Library a "Gilded Age beauty" in a recent review. 

"The cozy warmth of the reading room didn’t prepare us for the jaw-dropping elegance of the Great Library, a stunning room with floor-to-ceiling walnut bookshelves, reading areas and statuary," the Post writes. "I half-expected to see Lord Grantham from “Downtown Abbey” reading his newspaper there."

The Huffington Post recently checked out the National Aquarium in Baltimore. 

But it didn't see the usual sharks and stingrays at the downtown attraction. Instead, it went behind the scenes at the aquarium's Fells Point facility known as the Warehouse. The spot, which isn't open to the public, houses resources needed to take care of the aquarium's building and its animals. 

You can read the review and slideshow here. 

It's no secret that Woodberry Kitchen is one of the most popular restaurants in Baltimore. 

But it turns out that the city's original farm-to-table restaurants is a hit among Washingtonians. 

"The third time I was asked whether I had been to Woodberry Kitchen, the Baltimore restaurant where chef-restaurateur Spike Gjerde walks the talk of locally sourced cooking, I took note," David Hagedorn writes. "All this buzz from Washingtonians, a people who launch into lengthy negotiations just to cross the Potomac for dinner, had to mean something."

Baltimore Fishbowl took note of the Washington Post article, decrying the fact that Charm City residents now have to "fight with the Washington crowd for a table at the hip Woodberry eatery."

But at least owners Spike and Amy Gjerde are expanding their culinary empire with a new cafe and fast-casual restaurant. 

Broadway World has previewed an upcoming play at Pumpkin Theatre titled "Clever Rachel." The play by Towson children's theater company's is based on a children's book by Debby Waldman. 

"Rachel is smart, maybe the smartest child in the entire village, and she loves to solve riddle," Broadway World writes. "But Jacob, the smartest boy in the boys school, shows up to challenge Rachel. Will they fight each other and become enemies or find a way to work together to make their village a better place?"

The play debuts March 24.

You can read the rest of the preview here. 

HBO has released two new trailers of its comedy about a female vice president starring Julia Louis Dreyfus. "Veep" was shot in Maryland and was one of the beneficiaries of the state's expanded film incentive budget. 

"Julia Louis-Dreyfus is returning to TV in HBO's "Veep," writes the Huffington Post. "And she's doing it with style and power as Selina Meyer, the new vice president of the United States."

You can read the rest of the review here. 

HBO aired the movie "Game Change" -- the shot-in-Maryland movie starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson -- and it was a hit for several reviewers, including Variety. 

The movie tells the story behind the 2008 election, focusing on Sarah Palin teaming up with John McCain.

"'Game Change; is a home run: a big, smart, entertaining and extremely promotable showcase for marquee stars, generating tons of attention (flattering and otherwise) from political and media strongholds in D.C. and New York," Variety writes. You can read the rest of the review here. 

Like HBO's "Veep," "Game Change" received tax incentives to shoot in Maryland. 

The American Visionary Art Museum has gotten plenty of national attention for being one of Baltimore's cool, quirky and offbeat attractions. 

But the Washington Post has also declared the Federal Hill site a great museum for kids, citing pieces like a dinosaur made of trash, carved plastic foam cups and a sculpture made of 100,000 toothpicks. 

"The American Visionary Art Museum has a sense of humor," the Post writes. "Kids wouldn’t want to miss some of the non-art elements at the museum, such as the flatulence machine by the restrooms downstairs, the fun-house mirrors upstairs near the restaurant and the wacky and inexpensive gift shop where someone is almost always walking around doing magic tricks."

You can read the rest here. 

The future of Baltimore's Grand Prix seemed uncertain a little while ago as former organizers are saddled in debts, leaving many creditors unpaid.

But now Baltimore City has selected Downforce Racing, which has a five-year deal with the city.  

Promoter Dale "Dillon, an Indianapolis-based developer and team owner whose company has helped promote events in Toronto and St. Petersburg, Fla., hopes to allay financial concerns while staging another successful race," writes USA Today, sourcing some of its material from the Baltimore Sun. 

You can read the rest of the story here. 

The James Beard Foundation Awards are known as the Oscars of the culinary world.

And this year the foundation has honored three restaurant stars in Maryland. 

The foundation recognized Woodberry Kitchen's Spike Gjerde, Charleston's Cindy Wolf and Volt's Bryan Voltaggio among the best chefs in the mid-Atlantic. Charleston was also honored for its wine program and as an outstanding restaurant. You can see the entire list of nominees here. 

Construction began this month on the nation's largest museum devoted to African American history. 

And the $500 million Smithsonian museum will feature a number of Maryland artifacts, writes the Baltimore Sun. This includes a Harriet Tubman's silk shawl and a long house built by freed slaves from Montgomery County. 

"These are among 20,000 objects collected by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which will open on the National Mall in 2015 as the 19th Smithsonian Institution museum," the Sun writes.

"Local experts on African-American history say it's appropriate that Maryland will be featured prominently, since many key figures come from the state."

You can read more about the museum here. 

Baltimoreans finally got to see the long-awaited "Kitchen Nightmares" episode featuring Cafe Hon Owner Denise Whiting and her controversial move of claiming ownership of the word "Hon."

And it was as dramatic as expected. 

Whiting was stuck with a public relations nightmare after the trademark. Critics said she was trying to profit from a word that has become synonymous with Charm City itself. 

It was all documented on the show hosted by British chef Gordon Ramsay, who convinced Whiting to give up her trademark.

"In the show’s final segment, Television Chef Gordon Ramsay and his 'team' of culinary experts literally snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, transforming the iconic 36th St. restaurant and 'persuading' its insufferable proprietor Denise Whiting to give up her claim to ownership of the trademark 'Hon,'" writes Alan Z. Forman in his Voice of Baltimore news site. You can read the rest of his summary and analysis of the show here.