Daily Loaf

While a live news crew interviewed an Australian banker about recent interest rate changes, an unsuspecting coworker was caught flipping between spreadsheets and a naked photo shoot of Victoria Secret model Miranda Kerr for GQ. While the pictures are safe for work, at least for work spaces where it’s permissible to flip through fashion and style magazines, the live feed is priceless. The banker seems to be hiding his internet inquiry when a fellow co-worker approaches to chat. Wait for the “Oh shit!” moment when he turns, sees the camera, and realizes his scavenger hunt for nude photos has been captured on live TV.

(video after break) Read the rest of this entry »

Ecopolitology is an informative site that focuses on the politics of energy and the environment and gives readers acute and in-depth analysis on a wide range of current issues. They keep you up-to-date with the latest news in green policy regarding climate issues, clean energy, genetically engineered food, the environment and the economy.

The site was founded in 2007 by Timothy B. Hurst, the executive editor of Live Oak Media, “as a creative outlet and informal repository for some of his graduate research ideas, ecopolitology has grown into a much larger project than he ever anticipated.”
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The Creative Loafing team prides itself on producing more Daily Loaf content each week than any individual could ever possibly comprehend. As such, you’re bound to have missed at least one worthwhile story from the pages of this blog over the last few days. Here’s a “greatest hits” list from the week that was, broken down by section:

NEWS

MUSIC

Movies, food, sex and Punky Brewster after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

Gratzzi’s not dead yet! CineBistro ups the ante on beer and fries theaters! The Table will not be The Spot, or will it? Primi changes owners, but not much else!

Read on for all the details!

Gratzzi closed up shop in Baywatch a few weeks back, right around the same time that Pacific Wave closed on the other side of Downtown St. Pete. For Pacific Wave, the closure was about revenue, and the economy, and being tired of struggling in an industry that’s tough in the best of times. For Gratzzi, though, it was more about the fact that Baywalk is on life-support, with relatives eager to pull the plug and divide its meager posessions. Don’t count Gratzzi out. The Italian restaurant is planning to re-open in the former home of Pacific Wave before the end of the year, if things go well. Owner Domenic D’Angelo will scale back his upscale menu to concentrate on homier dishes that cater to diners’ reduced budgets, with the smaller space a better match for the more casual fare. Read the rest of this entry »

This Monday, September 21, Creative Loafing will be hosting a political roundtable here at our office. It is free to attend and open to the public. We will be recording the event and serving light refreshments. More information below, hope to see you there!

The Patel Center for Global Solutions at USF and Creative Loafing cordially invite you to participate in

A NATIONAL DIALOGUE: AMERICA IN THE WORLD

to discuss the below issues and more!

· What are our true national interests—what are our values as we act?

· What goals should we have for the world—how do we go about achieving them?

· How do world events affect you—and how will you influence world events?

Monday, September 21
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Creative Loafing Offices
810 N. Howard Avenue, Tampa

Feel free to share this opportunity with friends & colleagues in your community. To RSVP for this FREE event, please email Bessie Skoures at bskoures@cas.usf.edu

For more information about the event, click here.

The Tampa Bay region has been selected as one of several cities across the U.S. to hold Na­tional Dialogue forums sponsored by the Fund for Peace in Washington, DC and funded by the Ford Foundation. Ideas and themes discussed at these Dialogues will be published in a national report and pre­sented at a major news conference in Washington, DC prior to the State of the Union Address in January 2010.

• The Table is in the midst of another shake-up, with 717 South Michael Stewart, former GM Joe Moledo out and Andrew Wilkins (formerly of Mad Fish and Ceviche) in as GM. This comes after a long history of turmoil, including the loss of chef Pedro Flores earlier this year. Looks like the restaurant’s new thrust will be for lower price points and fewer staff changes. (Mouth)

• Ella’s Folk Art Cafe, the first of a new generation of restaurant slated to open in Tampa and Seminole Heights, started serving this past weekend.

The Columbia, OktoBEERfest, Domenica Macchia, and Grattzi’s after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

This week, life threw a massive curve ball at Creative Loafing Media. Taken over by the NYC-based hedge fund to whom we owed a ton of money, each employee processed the news in a different way: sadness, optimism, relief. Me? I got shit-faced. On great wine. I figured if my family’s legacy is going down [my parents founded Creative Loafing and my brother was CEO until last Tuesday], I should consume voluminous amounts of quality juice. Fast. However, the questioned remained … which ones? So many choices, so little time to race and get to the promised land.

Obviously, I needed something high in alcohol. These sorts of wines emerge from hot areas, where the grapes grow fat with sugar and the resulting wine has more punch (sugar converts to alcohol in fermentation). Napa, Sonoma, Barossa Valley (Australia), Washington State (yes, there are areas where it isn’t miserably rainy), and a host of other delicious choices for the perfect Zen state of non-thought. Read the rest of this entry »

Online surveys are all the rage. CL is even busy running our own for Best of the Bay. Particularly with sex surveys, you can’t help but wonder how accurate the findings are. For the most part, the sample group is composed of the same people who sign up for enter-to-win-contests on pop-up ads or who repost annoying Facebook surveys that describe what A-Team member or Golden Girl you would be.  Still, sex surveys are interesting because they reassure us that we’re not alone in our deviant addictions.

After reviewing several online sex surveys, I’ve included the results of two below. The first is shocking because of how tame it is. The other will make your sex life seem about as adventurous as that of an Amish widow. Read the rest of this entry »

James Cameron’s Avatar doesn’t hit theaters until December, but that hasn’t stopped hyped-up fan boys and girls from getting excited now. With a wall of secrecy around the project, the desire to see something (anything!) from the flick is at such a fever pitch that a free ticket giveaway today for a special preview of the film throttled the Avatar website.

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DNA tests have confirmed that former Presidential candidate, John Edwards, is the father of Rielle Hunters’s 18-month-old daughter, Frances. Even more surprisingly, National Enquirer broke the story.

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Are you a dude?  Are you a married dude?  Then pay attention. For far too long you’ve let your wife, your life partner, your everything, sit alone on the sidelines. Well it’s time to wake your ass up and get your head back in the game–the game of being in a good relationship. You can start by telling your wife to stop sending me naked pictures of herself.

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The most popular film series since Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is subject to controversy even where none exists. Some religious groups see the film as corrupting the morals of children by depicting magic, which is the enterprise of devil. Others believe the series contains a hidden gay agenda.  Are homophobes just desperate for a new children’s movie to attack,  or does the world’s most popular wizard enjoy both being naked with horses and wand waggling boys?

Read the rest of this entry »

Journalist Walter Cronkite is dead at 92.

The word for “anchorman” in Swedish is kronkiter. That tells you an awful lot about how important Walter Cronkite was to broadcast journalism. He so thoroughly defined a role that the job took its name from him.

I believe his genius as a broadcaster was in coverage of the live event. He gathered information — as a reporter — then knew precisely when to use it (or, rather, download it). He learned how to talk over pictures and not insult the intelligence of viewers by explaining the obvious. He always knew the background, the interesting personal histories, of the people he was covering. And that’s what made his broadcasts superior to those of the other networks. 

He also was a great student. In the late 1950s, when he realized that the space race was coming, he learned everything he could about the tools and the technology. And that’s why he beat the socks off of all the other networks during the coverage of the space program in the 1960s. When the inevitable launch delays occurred, all the other networks could say was, “Well . . . there appears to be some delay. The rocket is still on the launching pad . . . .” But Walter not only knew the problem, he could tell us about it in terms we could understand. 

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She’s not, seriously.  However, the pop princess DID sit down with Cosmopolitan, the magazine that knows more orgasm secrets than professional sex workers, for a fun little interview and photo shoot.  And, as you may have already guessed, The Rabid One would love to wear Ms. Perry’s cherry chapstick.

Here are some lovely excerpts from the piece: 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 »

If you’ve been looking forward to getting your Sim on later this month, I’m afraid EA has some bad news for you. The February 20th release date originally announced last year at the Leipzig Games Convention has now been pushed back to June 2nd.

Several interesting changes are coming to Sims 3, evolving the game play from previous iterations. According to Ben Bell, Executive Producer of the game:

“The Sims 3 is an incredible game that lets you play with life, create art and show off your creations. In the game, players are inspired by endless creative possibilities like the new Traits and Lifetime Wish features which allow players to create Sims with real personalities and destinies. Players can then take their Sim into town to interact with other Sims in the game and capture the action on video to show off online.”

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I had a dream the other night that I was on a transatlantic flight on its way to Africa. I was sitting next to a man in a brown jacket, clown pants and Jesus sandals who kept repeating, “Down we go.” That should have given me a clue to the unfortunate end to my dream, or nightmare, but it didn’t. Suddenly, the no-smoking sign started flashing a blood-red color and the pilot got on the intercom and said something along the lines of, “We are going down, hold on to your fucking hats.” I couldn’t really make out what he said, but I’ve always thought that would be the best way to break the news to the passengers. If we’re going to die, I don’t want to hear, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to bring an unfortunate situation to your attention. Blah, blah, blah.” Cut to the chase, man! Anyway, to make a long story short, we plummeted thousands of feet into an island and, magically, I was the only survivor. That is the point when I woke up. And for some batshit crazy reason, the first thing I thought of was an episode of The Office when the employees play Desert Island. This taught me something about myself: Apparently, if I were the sole survivor of a plane crash on a deserted island, the most important thing to me would be what movies I was carrying on me and how I could watch them. So, if that were to happen, and if there were a television and DVD player on this said island, these are the movies I would take… Read the rest of this entry »