Selling soulcraft Despite the effort to build a sense of community, there is still a lot of solitude in the artisan game. Allan Sandy, a maker of heirloom-quality flintlock firearms, has to know that solitude intimately. It’s now approaching noon on the day of our road trip, and Sandy is opening his gun safe and […]
The two-body problem NRAO refers to its data management hurdle as an “infoglut.” Astronomers are not alone in dealing with this issue. But for ALMA, the difficulty is particularly acute right now, as the systems come together for handling the data and massaging it into something that scientists can use. They call it “the pipeline,” […]
Early February. Three and a half weeks before the opening of Live Arts’ new main stage production, In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), and a major scenic element for the climax of the play was not coming together well at all. The design called for the climactic sequence to be played in front […]
There’s a moment in Not Fade Away, the new film by “The Sopranos” creator David Chase that’s screening as the opening night feature at the Virginia Film Festival, that will simultaneously cause a chill to walk up your spine and a smirk to slide across your face. That reaction is well-known to fans of “The […]
The phrase “calm like a duck” comes to mind. It is late September, 11 days before the announcement of the lineup for this year’s 25th Anniversary Virginia Film Festival, and festival director Jody Kielbasa and his staff are scrambling to pin down films and featured guests. Kielbasa is a pretty high-octane guy. Former Virginia Governor […]
When he steps out on the stage of the Paramount on July 30, with just a guitar and a harmonica, Kris Kristofferson will be 76 years old. He’ll be singing songs that draw a picture of a man who has looked with a boxer’s stare and a poet’s soul right into the face of life […]
Sissy Spacek recalls her Texas childhood and staying grounded by staying away from Hollywood in her new memoir, My Extraordinary Ordinary Life. (Photo by Lynne Brubaker) If there’s a Dorian Gray trade-off that comes with being Sissy Spacek, it must go something like this. Even in recent films like Get Low, where she plays her […]