Daily Loaf

“Dream Momma, One morning I had a dream about Phelps in the pool with Obama and they were eating smoked turkey.” (sic)

Dream Momma understands why they were together in a pool “swimming” in the limelight. They have a lot on common.

For example, in no particular order:

They are both winners.

They broke records.

They are both known to be very focused.

They are top competitors.

Both wrote memoirs.

They were two of GQ’s Men of the Year and graced the GQ magazine cover together (along with Jon Hamm and DiCaprio).

Both came from broken homes and were raised by single moms.

They were selected by Barbara Walters as two of the top ten most fascinating individuals in 2008.

It was rumored that Phelps would be Obama’s running mate.

Almost hosted SNL together (Obama had to cancel because of Hurricane Ike (guest appearance).

They are both described as “incredibly invested” in the people they care about.

Dream Momma suspects that once one gets the full glare of the media, one must eat a lot of smoked turkey. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this past week:

Reconstructing a historic bat tower in Temple Terrace and how to build your own bat roost- Grant Rimbey investigates efforts in Temple Terrace to reconstruct an historic tower for bats, discusses a large community bat roost he designed for the Florida Bat Conservancy, and tells how you can purchase (or build) your own bat roost for your yard.

Summer Solstice: A brief history- Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, occurs this Sunday- June 21st. Here are a few facts you might not have known about it, from Linda Taylor.

Organics: How to eat well without breaking your budget- With the increase of demand over organic food in the last ten years you would think that a wide range of these products would be easily accessible. Here’s some some advice from Kelly Rothwell on purchasing healthy, organic food in this region without breaking your budget.
Read the rest of this entry »

Below, is an interview I just conducted with Arlen Slobodow, a local filmmaker who just completed a documentary about air pollution caused by fossil fuels in the Tampa Bay area and how it affects our health and the health of our planet. Also, see my last post which goes more in depth about the film.

The following interview was conducted by phone on the evening of Tuesday, June 16, 2009.

Matt De Vlieger (M): How did you get involved in documentary filmmaking?
Arlen Slobodow (A): I have always been interested in social change work and have found mass media a good way to accomplish that. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, I received an email from a local filmmaker, Arlen Slobodow of Public Media Productions, asking me to take a look at a 17-minute video he just completed on public health and the environmental consequences of air pollution in the Tampa Bay area.  Because I am such a supporter of local independent media production, things that inspire action for the public good, and combating big polluters, I thought I’d share it.  Also, be sure to check out my interview with the film’s writer/director/producer, Arlen Slobodow, in my next post.

Video after the jump
Read the rest of this entry »

“I am here to wash those dirty words straight out of your mouth sir,” she lashed out. After their war in the media Governor Sarah Palin had come to surprise David Letterman and get her sweet revenge. She showed up, unannounced, in a move to shock her prey. Her victim had no alternative but to stand there, mouth agape in shock. The angry Queen of Alaska, hair pulled tightly back, eyes blazing behind her studious eye glasses, would not relent.

“You know damn well the trouble you’ve caused and a woman of my position will not stand for it!”

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday afternoon, I put up a post that discussed the fate of Jannus Landing, seeing as the man who runs it, Jack Bodziak, was arrested last week on charges that he failed to pay to the state more than $200,000 in sales tax he collected from customers. Additionally, three concerts were pulled from the venue by outside promoters.

I interviewed several insiders on the local concert scene, who all agreed: It’s highly unlikely that Jannus Landing will close in the near or short term. And concert activity should remain active. Initially, Bodziak did not respond to requests for comment. He has been steadfastly silent with all Bay area media. He did call me a little while ago, and offered a prepared statement. His lawyer had advised him not to talk freely about the tax case or business at Jannus Landing.

Here’s Bodziak’s statement:

Read more

Crossposted from Political Whore blog

Because Creative Loafing Political Editor Wayne Garcia would be far too modest to tell you himself, I’m reporting that “The Political Whore” won first place in the category of Blog-Affiliated last night in the Sunshine State Awards, the Florida-wide prizes given out by the Society of Professional Journalists/ South Florida. New Times Broward Palm Beach’s “The Juice” and the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel’s “Broward Politics” came in second and third, respectively.

And Wayne wasn’t alone in bringing back first-place honors for the Loaf. Food Editor Brian Ries won the top spot in Food/Beverage Writing for “Anywhere But Here,” his story on the lack of healthy food options for Florida families on public assistance. The Miami Herald and MIAMI Modern Luxury took second and third places.

Brian also took a third place in Criticism for his review of MJ’s tapas menu when it was under the direction of Domenica Macchia. And CL’s theater critic, Mark E. Leib, took second place in the same category for his review of the innovative American Stage production of Hamlet. The Naples Daily News‘ Harriet Howard Heithaus took the first-place spot.

Finally, the entire staff of Creative Loafing won kudos for our website, cltampa.com, placing third in the News Web Site category. I like the judges’ citation: This is not your typical news site. cltampa.com represents a new way of presenting news and information to its reader/user. Through a simple design, Creative Loafing offers a wide collection of headlines from just as many distinct sources. (Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers and the Orlando Sentinel took first and second in this category, respectively.)

More judges’ comments follow after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

Time to get caught up. As the T-shirt reminds us, “So many books, so little time.” Let’s hit the road.

AMERICA THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD: We’re all about road trips here at Creative Loafing and so imagine this: The dude who pulls up next to you at the Tastee Freeze parks a little too close. You glance at him when he gets out of the car and I’ll be damned if it isn’t the former president of the United States.

Don’t worry. W isn’t behind the wheel. This is the absolutely true story about a much-more-wonderful time when the president could move out of the White House and on to the highways.

Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure (Chicago Review Press, $24.95) by Matthew Algeo is the thoroughly charming story of how the former president and first lady drove across country in 1953. It was for fun, not publicity. At first, you might think this book is science fiction, since the guy playing the president of the United States is so bullshit-free. But this is an all-true story.

Algeo pulls together the narrative of the trip and retraces the route in his own car. It’s part road-trip meditation and a wonderful morsel of American history. We learn all kinds of things, including that Truman was a shitty driver. He paid off the other drivers in his prolific fender benders, mostly to keep Bess Truman from chewing his ass.

Back then, ex-presidents didn’t have Secret Service protection or even a pension plan. It was, as I say, a different world. This wonderful book allows us the opportunity to get a glimpse of that America.

Read the rest of this entry »

Since the mainstream media has shoved off to cover the last moments of America’s Next Top Model and the finals of the American Idol competitions, I want to bring you up to date on the Swine Flu. 

First of all it is important to understand that in the USA’s rush to make the naming of this virus politically correct and to protect the flagging pork industry, they settled on H1N1 virus. H1N1 is a group of viruses, influenza A(H1N1).

Viruses are not typical and change often so by using this general title for this virus, Public Health has dumbed us down. Other groups of influenza viruses are A(H3N2) and B/Yamagata and B/Victoria viruses but the list is massive and complicated. To call this virus H1N1 is like using the term car to categorize a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. Yes it is a car but, there are many cars and among cars the 612 Scaglietti is most unique.  This “swine flu” is an A(H1N1) but it is not the only A(H1N1) virus. Read the rest of this entry »

A "Mexican Kiss"

The media is having a field day hypnotizing Americans with fear over the impending Porkacolypse, but is this newest incarnation of doomsday  actually keeping us from getting laid?

I realize everyone is tired of the Swine Flu. All my friends roll their eyes at its mere mention. I get it. But trends around my college campus are beginning to shift, and I’m starting to worry. I mean the slutty chicks are still willing to lay any wookie, but the marginally wild women who drink apple martinis on barstools while their thongs creep out the top of their business skirts are becoming even more inaccessible. They are sitting on barstools with their legs crossed, like ladies for God’s sake. My boy Shawn who NEVER has a problem landing a lady had two drinks he bought for prospective partners sent back with a “No thanks.” The girls are turning down free booze now? He’s lucky I like girly drinks.

(READER POLE AFTER THE JUMP) Read the rest of this entry »

[Editor's Note: Jennifer Huntsman is a US Army Reserve Signal Captain stationed at MacDill Air Force Base with Joint Communication Support Element (JCSE). She has just returned from deployment in Qatar. Jenny writes for The Daily Loaf about life in the military.]

I am home.  I have been back in Tampa for about a week now, but it feels as though I have never left.  Our flight was long and we first arrived in the U.S. through the Baltimore-Maryland International Airport (BWI).  A military flight to Maryland is a humbling experience.  I smelled very bad and I slept on a toy train at BWI’s Observation Deck.  There was a large homecoming at the Tampa International Airport.  Balloons, banners, friends, families, coworkers, even news crews were all waiting for our arrival.  I had so many strangers come up to me to tell me thank you, God Bless, and welcome back home.  When I saw my loved one my heart skipped a beat, I missed him so much.  Coming home is what we’d wished for throughout the whole deployment.

Just a week ago I remember talking with my coworkers of what we were excited about when we arrived back home. Read the rest of this entry »

Jon Stewart thinks Twitter is a silly waste of time, according to yesterday’s Daily Show segment of “Jon Stewart shakes his fist at _____.”

Reporter Samantha Bee plays the Twitter enthusiast. Or is she a desperate member of the media, clinging to Twitter like a branch on the bank of a raging river? You make the call.

When I was growing up, the motto on the editorial page of my hometown paper was that famous quote of Voltaire’s: “I disagree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Anyone out there today willing to go balls-to-the-wall for a dissenting point of view? Didn’t think so.

We’ve turned into a nation of shouters, whiners and complainers. When someone starts spouting a point of view that we don’t like, we start the no-nodding and the condescending smirking, and we don’t even let the spouter finish a sentence before we inform him he is a repulsive dumb ass.

So much for civil discourse or “free, robust and wide-open” debate. John Milton and John Locke would shit their philosophical pants if they cruised deep cable and saw Keith Olbermann off on one of his operatic rants, or if they happened on Bill Maher jumping down the throat of someone who dared to disagree with him. If they saw the jabbering heads exploding with rage and cross talk that turned hours of digitized signals into gibberish, they would run for the next available time machine.

So here comes Bernard Goldberg with A Slobbering Love Affair (Regnery, $25.95), which will never reach the audience that could most benefit from it. As with Bias, his earlier best-seller, Goldberg makes some strong points – and does so very entertainingly. But many will condemn the book without cracking the cover or even glancing at Goldberg’s arguments. Read the rest of this entry »

Our Media Watch vote for the top useless story of the news cycle goes to the tragic demise of Travis the fun-loving-but-human-attacking chimp. It was prominent on the morning news shows, it will be replayed over and over again on the cable nets and expect it to show up no lower than the B-block on the evening news shows.

I’ll save you the trouble of watching it on those outlets:

For most of the Tampa Bay media, it is all hands on deck for Super Bowl coverage as we near the game on Sunday. This has been building for weeks, with the crescendo in newsprint, online sites, video and audio over the past week.

The Super Bowl website on tampabay.com

Overall, though, my main thought about the coverage is: Damn! It would take a normal human being 237 years to read all of this. Most of it is ephemeral; on a blog or website front one minute, lost in the archives the next. You imagined that if the local media paid this much attention to our economy and government we would be the only metro area in the nation not suffering from a recession or corruption.

Given that caveat, here is a look at how they did, from worst to best, among the major media players in the Tampa Bay Market:

Read the rest of this entry »

The NPR program On Point spent an hour this morning trying to decide: “Can Bloggers Save Journalism?” Most of it was fairly on point (heh) but it quickly became apparent that a more apt name for the show would have been “No One Knows Shit About The Future Of Journalism.”

Andrew Sullivan — editor at the Atlantic, popular blogger of The Daily Dish, and writer of pro-blogging articles like “Why I Blog” — acted as the voice of optimism, which makes sense when you realize that his blog gets more hits than the Christian Science Monitor. Dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism Nicholas Lemann (author of the seminal anti-citizen journalist piece “Amateur Hour”), served as party-pooper and realist. They also threw in Tina Brown — journalism’s kid-genius of the ’70s who recently started The Daily Beast — to add a few moderating tidbits. In the end, though no one could come up with an answer to what journalism is going to look like in 20 years. Or five, for that matter.

The death of traditional journalism has been on the minds of reporters for years now, brought about by a synergy of falling ad revenue and the inevitable migration of readers to the great, democratizing power of the internet. Likely, it’s a little too inside baseball for many of our readers, at least until the news that CL filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a month ago. Even then, the average Joe the Reader probably can’t summon up much concern, since he can find News of the Weird and local events listings on a number of other sites.

For us — journalists, editors and media moguls — it’s about all we can think about. I started writing for CL a little over five years ago as little more than a hobby that happened to bring in extra dough and some free meals. Last year, I made journalism my sole source of income. Great timing.

Now, CL — and every traditional media outlet in the nation, from alt-weeklies to national dailies to broadcast news — is bumbling along the muddled and obscured path to the future of journalism. Don’t think that we’re just not adapting quickly or are innovative enough to make the switch, ’cause we’re smart, and trying to forge ahead. Truth is, the entire industry is desperately grasping for the elusive business model that makes bringing you the news (and criticism and local flavor) profitable over the long haul. No one’s found it, yet. Read the rest of this entry »