Thursday, July 28, 2016
Friedlander has been performing standup since 1989 and is known for roles in films such as Zoolander and Wet Hot American Summer and the TV comedies "30 Rock" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm." He developed his World Champ schtick as a pointed satire of narcissism and braggadocio in modern culture. But over the years, Friedlander has shifted his critiques of American and global exceptionalism and begun to use his excellence at everything for good. He's become not merely the champion of the world, but a champion for it, a gruff voice of reason and righteousness in increasingly uncertain times.
Friedlander performs a two-night, four-show run this Friday and Saturday, July 29 and 30, at the Vermont Comedy Club in Burlington . Seven Days spoke with the Champ by phone to play a quick round of Seven Questions.
Tags: Judah Friedlander , standup comedy , Vermont Comedy Club , Image , Video , Web Only
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
First of all, the Skinner is not just another renovated barn. Peter Boyton, actor/singer, proprietor and artistic director, kicked it up a notch when he transformed this classic beauty from a cow place to a people place. No doubt he was inspired by this location, on Common Road in Waitsfield, which is so lovely it almost takes your breath away. For me, a summer must-do is a picnic on the grass before the show, taking in the impossibly green and glorious landscape along with my plastic cup of rosé and takeout whatever.
When it's time to go in for the show, I'm so chill that the Skinner Barn theater troupe would have to really blow it to ruin my mood. But, in all the years I've been attending, that's never happened.
Tags: musical theater , Gilbert & Sullivan , summer theater , barns , Image , Web Only
Monday, July 25, 2016
His story began in the backwoods of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.
In the fall of 1999 Axelrod, then 25, posted his handwritten wish on bulletin boards outside general stores and laundromats in Peacham, Johnson, Jay, Barton, Newport, Morrisville and Eden: “Wanted: a cabin or house set in the woods, with good light, very solitary. Proximity to a stream or brook. Running water and electricity preferred.”
Only one man replied: Lev, the owner of a remote house resembling “a battered pirate ship run aground,” as Axelrod later described it. Thus began his transformative two years alone at the end of a dirt road in Barton.
Tags: author , memoir , literary festival , words , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Funded projects include theater, music, media and visual and interdisciplinary art, and most contain a strong element of direct community engagement. "There was definitely a desire to ensure that disciplines were represented from across the board," said Katz, "and to ensure that there were as many people as possible benefiting from each project."
Tags: burlington city arts , burlington , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
The smartphone augmented-reality game, released last week, uses the phone's GPS to show players a map of their real-world surroundings — with the Pokémon world layered on top. Landmarks and local businesses become "Pokéstops" where nearby players can check in to collect items, or virtual "gyms," where players can train their Pokémon. While walking around in the real world, players may encounter Pokemon, which appear on screen and can be captured using the phone's camera.
This combination of real and virtual reality is proving to be addictive — in less than a week, the game has reportedly been downloaded some 15 million times; its players now outnumber active daily Twitter users. Reports abound of Poképlayers across the country crashing cars, walking into things while staring at their screens and getting lured to PokeStops where they've been robbed.
In Burlington, local Poképlayers have headed to central locations to battle, collect items and socialize. Kids VT intern Andie Pinga found some of them wandering the Church Street Marketplace on Tuesday afternoon.
Elsewhere in Vermont, park rangers had some fun in the field:
The folks at My Little Cupcake spotted a Meowth in their ingredients:Trying #PokemonGO and admit it's pretty fun. Anyone finding any Pokemon on summits or in parks? #VT #Vermont pic.twitter.com/F1NsBxMzDm
— Vermont State Parks (@VTStateParks) July 12, 2016
The Vermont Secretary of State is hoping to lure gamers to the voting booth with the promise of Pokémon:
Rumor has it many #PokemonGO characters will be found in Vermont voting booths on Aug 9 and Nov 8. Be there. pic.twitter.com/Ff7GB47Kbc
— VT Sec. of State (@VermontSOS) July 13, 2016
And the organizers behind Vermont Comic Con have already added a Pokémon Go meet-up to their schedule of events in late August.
So is the app a fun diversion or have we reached the Poképocalypse? You decide — and please, don't walk into traffic while you're staring at your screens.
Tags: Pokémon Go , gaming , Burlington , Church Street , apps , technology , Image , Video , Web Only
Monday, July 11, 2016
The “here” in question is a hamlet in New York’s Hudson Valley, haunted and isolated for centuries by the ghost of a witch who has a disturbing habit of standing at children’s bedsides, her eyes and mouth sewn shut.
That’s just one of the "Mid-Summer Nightmares” that Bear Pond Books in Montpelier will present on Tuesday, July 12, at 7 p.m. (More info here.) Olde Heuvelt will read from his work — his only Vermont stop on a national tour — along with three other authors of dark fiction, two of them local.
Tags: horror , fiction , gothic , thomas olde heuvelt , daniel mills , kristin dearborn , paul tremblay , hex , bear pond books , Image , Web Only
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Fike, 35, is a full-time, active-duty member of the Vermont National Guard and the founder of Purple Hearts Reunited. The St. Albans-based nonprofit is committed to returning those military medals, which are awarded to combat veterans wounded or killed in action, to their rightful owners or the owners' next of kin.
Tags: Purple Hearts Reunited , World War I , military service , soldier , medal , Purple Heart , St. Albans , Zachariah Fike , Military Times , Image , Web Only
Friday, July 8, 2016
Tags: frog hollow , waterwheel foundation , james bellizia , david welker , arts grant , Image , Web Only
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Moore earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of
HDAC has made public its intention to hire a director of advancement to support Moore's work and "to focus on growing the organization’s capacity and sustainability into the future."
Tags: art gallery , visual art , arts nonprofit , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
My review of his new film appears July 6, online and in the paper. You can read my interview with this fascinating, one-of-a-kind filmmaker right now.
Tags: Todd Solondz , movies , Wiener-Dog , Amazon , 3D movies , Image , Web Only