Charlottesville Street Style

I came across VICTORIA, membership and development coordinator for Second Street Gallery, walking down Water Street. I love her vintage-inflected ensemble and striking Victorian beauty. She’s wearing a jacket by Tulle, tights and a t-shirt from American Apparel and vintage boots. She picked up her button-down at a Uniqlo in Japan, where she lived last […]

This week in TV

“Cougar Town”  Tuesday 8:30pm, ABC Things are not looking good for our favorite penny can enthusiasts. “Cougar Town” got off to a rough start, bedeviled by that controversial name and a first season that struggled to find its voice, like so many sitcoms. The second season was utterly hilarious, and for me inspired way more […]

Review: Safe House

Safe House seems like as good a name as any for a movie with the apathetic tagline “No One Is Safe,” although it doesn’t quite nail the derivative-jittery-spy-thriller vibe. If only this thing weren’t so earnest, it might have the good self-spoofing grace to say what it really is: The Bourne I Wannabe.   In Safe House, […]

This week in TV

“The River”  Tuesday 9pm, ABC You might recognize the name Oren Pell if you’re a fan of the Paranormal Activity series of films. Inspired by The Blair Witch Project, writer-director Pell took a modest budget and made a fortune out of “found-footage” film. He’s taking a similar approach with this new drama/horror series about a […]

Review: The Grey

Meet Joe Carnahan, survivalist. Drop this guy unprotected into the lethal tundra of a January release slot and what does he do? Turns it into $20 million, an opening weekend’s top box-office take. Could any other director seem so right for a movie about a group of bruiser oil drillers led by Liam Neeson starving, […]

This week in T.V.

“I Just Want My Pants Back” Thursday 11pm, MTV They may act like they’re too cool for it, but hipsters need love too. Thus this new so-clever-it-hurts sitcom. The attention-grabbing title stems from lead character Jason (Peter Vack, basically an amalgam of Owen and Luke Wilson), whose favorite pair of jeans go missing after a one-night […]

Review: The Iron Lady

The latest Meryl Streep showpiece of biographical impersonation is not a Marvel Comics property, mercifully, but a portrait of the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who took that office, as the first woman ever to do so, in 1979. Meryl Streep was nominated for a best actress Oscar for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher […]

UVA Art Museum’s new run covers ground

The UVA Art Museum unveiled four new shows earlier this month that cover a breathtaking expanse of ground and make for an enjoyable afternoon of fine art. Curated by Paul Barolsky, Commonwealth Professor of Italian Renaissance Art and Literature, “Master Printmakers: The Italian Renaissance and its Modern Legacy” features engravings, woodcuts, and etchings by artists […]

Review: Richard III at Blackfriars

William Shakespeare’s Richard III is the study of how a politician’s over-developed ego drives the dark deeds he executes towards the attainment of high position. The play itself is a tidy piece of propaganda, according to Ralph Cohen, American Shakespeare Center’s director of mission, who described it as a reinforcement of Queen Elizabeth I’s legitimacy […]