A little over a week ago, we were passing out candy and dressing up for Halloween. Once November arrives, most corporations completely overlook Thanksgiving and move right on to Christmas… and Macy’s on State Street is one of those companies.

Last night, Macy’s held its annual lighting of the Great Tree in the Walnut Room and unveiled its holiday-themed windows. Michelle Williams, former member of Destiny’s Child and a Rockford, IL native, sang at the event. The tree, filled with thousands of silver lights and ornaments, stands 45 feet tall, and the windows tell the story of how children’s letters reach the North Pole.

Many Chicagoans have expressed their disgust for the Macy’s brand ever since it took over for Marshall Fields in 2005. And one of their biggest complaints were about the holiday windows. As each year passed, the displays just got worse. Tough times forced Macy’s to cut costs and eventually fire their lead designer. Last year, there wasn’t even a storyline… just a theme called “Believe.”

This year, Macy’s has tried to redeem itself with a cute story about how the kiddes’ letters get to Santa at the North Pole. And, of course, one of these ways includes dropping the letter off at your local Macy’s. Now, for every letter sent, Macy’s will donate $1 to charity. However, are most parents simply going to drive their kid to the store just to drop off a letter? Probably not. They’ll most likely do some shopping.

It seems as though Macy’s has taken a beloved Chicago tradition from Marshall Fields and eventually twisted it to incorporate a marketing campaign. Nowadays, the holiday windows don’t even stretch the entire length of the store’s position on State Street. Perhaps the company should spend less money paying celebrities like Martha Stuart, Donald Trump and Jessica Simpson to appear in their commercials (and sell their perfumes, colognes, clothing and other items) and put a little more thought (and money) into its holiday windows.

The future of 941 Theater is in Jeopardy. But you can help!

Awhile back Culturemob covered how 941 Theater was a strong supporter of cinema, arts, and music in the community. And since that blog it was recognized for it’s dedication and won a Citypaper Choice Award. But unfortunately the theater was forced to shut down by L&I, and is now in a dire situation. From their website:

“As you may know, the 941 Theater was recently forced to shut down, and may stay closed unless we get your help! We’ve worked hard to support the art, film and music communities in Philadelphia by creating a safe and accessible venue everyone can enjoy. But we cannot continue without your support. We need to raise money to re-open the 941 Theater!”

The theater hasn’t given up hope, and as working as hard as they had to open to place in the beginning. They have also pulled their resources together to form the Philadelphia Friends of the Projected Arts, a group that is dedicated that making sure that Philadelphia has places that support independent cinema.

From their main Website -

The PFPA is registered as a non-profit in the state of Pennsylvania, and it is run by professionals in the film and media industries. By making Projected Arts more accessible to Philadelphia, they are enriching the culture of Philadelphia and helping filmmakers make money off their work.

Due to the nonstop trend of media consolidation, it is more important than ever for independent filmmakers to have an outlet for their creations. 25 years ago, there were 50 companies controlling the media in America. Today, there are only six. Media consolidation has made it that much more difficult to get first run independent films out to the viewing public, and this is not okay. While we have access to many so-called “mainstream indies” in Philadelphia, there isn’t a theater that screens the rest of the first-run independent films that come out each week.

While the Internet is the ultimate tool for the unknown to become known, mass exposure on the internet doesn’t automatically help small filmmakers make a profit off of their art. Having their work accessible online can help filmmakers, but in order to make a living and continue to create films, they must be able to monetize their efforts. The PFPA aims to help filmmakers find venues where their work will be displayed and they will share in the revenue generated.

While it takes a few clicks of your mouse to see a movie in the comfort of your own home, you aren’t viewing the film in the way the filmmaker intended it to be seen, and therefore are missing out on the key details you can only see in a theater. PFPA is involved in fundraising in order to provide the city with the entertainment it is lacking and, in collaboration with 941 Theater, a venue that gives the viewer the total movie experience: the picture projected on a screen, excellent sound, and surrounded by strangers.

941 Theater is currently working on organizing a fundraiser at the Starlight Ballroom, that is tentatively slated for Saturday, November 21st from noon – 6pm. If you have any further questions or would like to be involved in some way, please contact us at: BOOKING@941theater.com. They also have a Paypal Account where you can make donations towards saving the theater.

Here are some shows that have opened on Broadway so far this season. Can you identify them?

For clues, check out Broadway 2009 season (or just look at the captions)

When I heard that the Castro was doing a four-day Al Pacino series, I thought I’d finally be able to see “Cruising” on the big screen. I was wrong. But hey, I’m not disappointed, because the movies they do have lined up are equally exciting! The series is called Prime Pacino ‘71-’75. Otherwise known as, Prime Pacino: The Years He Was Really, Really Hot.

It all begins Wednesday, November 11 with a double feature of “Serpico” and “The Panic in Needle Park.” Castro double features are neat, because you get two movies for $10. (Um, I guess that’s the nature of a double feature, but it’s still cool.) On Thursday, you can check out “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Scarecrow.” Friday and Saturday is “The Godfather” and “The Godfather, Part II.”

All of the double features take place in the afternoon and evening, which means people without day jobs (holler!) can attend the earlier shows. Check the Castro website for times.

Denver Chef Eric Chiappetta has been in the food and wine industries for about 20 years.  His first restaurant opened in the swanky Cherry Creek North district; aptly named “3rd Avenue Eclectic Burgers & Cuisine“, and was reviewed favorably by the critics and the food community at large.  After opening another restaurant in Parker, Colorado and consulting on numerous other projects, Eric took a break from behind the knife and pursued his love of wine, receiving his Certification for Beverage Professionals.  He also started Bombshell BBQ, a Colorado BBQ sauce, in 2004.  Eric’s latest venture, the delicious Larimer Hot House, combines his love of food, wine, and entertaining.

Chef Eric recently took some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few interview questions, in order to shed some light on his background, his style, and his thoughts on the Denver culinary culture.

-Can you describe your background?
“I’m a native of Colorado.  So I did a lot of skiing and outdoorsy things when I was younger. I played a lot of sports and sang in a metal band in my teens and 20’s.  I really thought that was going to be my career choice. This industry has many parallels to the music scene.  I’ve been in the food business close to 20 years now.  Several of them spent in an family run Italian restaurant in Littleton.  I decided to attend culinary school in 1996 and graduated in 1997. I really wanted a degree, and it enabled me to see what the business side of the industry looked like. I worked for the Palace Arms in the Brown Palace Hotel and on to the Aubergine Cafe where I stayed until graduation. I learned more about food from Sean Kelly (Aubergine’s chef/owner) than from anyone else since. I sold wine professionally a couple years ago – that really opened my eyes to what food and wine could be.”

-What really made you want to become a chef?
“I actually just wanted to learn how to throw pizzas. The Italian restaurant I went to work for taught me that and more. I really felt I belonged in this business – the more I look back on my personal history, I see food in every part of my life. My mom is a great cook and we have a huge family – so everyone participates in the meal.

-Where did you receive your training?
“The Colorado Institute of Art – School of Culinary Arts”

-If there was ONE word to describe your cooking style, what would it be, and why?
“BIG – I just don’t get off on subtlety. Fine dining is my background but it’s rare that I cook like that for myself or others. I’m glad that I have the skill to cook like that – I just cook like my personality – BIG.”

-What sort of cultures have influenced your cooking style?
“1) French – Technique is EVERYTHING!!!
2) Italian – The rustic and primal nature of Italian cooking means so much to me.  I’m Italian, so I feel an obvious closeness to the cuisine.
3) Mexican – I love to cook Mexican. Especially in the summer – it’s so nice to cook simply.  But simply has never meant dumb.  Mexican food done right is some of the most refined food on the planet.”

-How would you describe the Larimer Hot House experience to someone who has never been?
“We’re a bit surprising. We set up shop on a not-so-very-used part of old Larimer Street – so people are generally surprised by how clean and put together our dining room is.  But all in all – we are a sandwich shop that happens to do the best breakfast burritos in the world. We’re NOT a gourmet-gastro pub-fine dining bistro-foam infused-aioli-bullshit restaurant. We do the best food we can do with the best service we can provide. My partner Jen Reyna is the best front of the house manager I’ve ever worked with – and our customers come back for her as much as for me and the food. We do everything from scratch – the pickles, the three kinds of potato chips, the Krispy treats, the giardiniera, the BBQ sauces – everything. You’d be surprised how far technique can take you in a sandwich shop.”

-What is your personal favorite food that you have on the menu?
“Right now it’s got to be the Chicago Roast Beast or the meatloaf sliders – we end up doing a special sandwich for the week, and it keeps getting thrown on the menu. I’m usually not a trendy ‘Sliders’ kind of guy – but they are really good. Three traditional mom’s-style meatloaf sliders topped with caramelized red onions and smoky chipotle ketchup on egg buns.”

-If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?
“A friggin’ rock star!!!  I really want David Letterman’s job or Charlie Rose’s – his show is the best.”

-There has been a huge surge in the “green” movement these days.  What steps do you take at your restaurant in order to “stay green”?
“We give all of our organic material to our neighbors. They have a composting site and they grow vegetables for people that are in transition. They work the garden and sell and eat what they produce. But as a small business, it forces you to be responsible. We don’t waste anything here.”

-What is your favorite thing about Denver’s culinary scene?  What do you think needs to change?
“I’m actually glad that there’s some real conversation going on among chefs in Denver.  It wasn’t like that 10 years ago.  Everyone was so competitive and secretive about their knowledge.  No one was creating anything new here – everyone was really being too safe.  It may have just been my experience – but that’s how I saw it.  I really see a lot of restaurants going back to basics and showing the world how good of ‘cooks’ they are.  Not showing us what kind of bullshit infused crap they can get away with.  That’s not cooking – it’s hiding.  But i’m glad that there is some real knowledge sharing going on.  Not just cooking styles being shared, but wine, business…everything.”

Many thanks to Chef Eric Chiappetta for giving us food lovers a look “behind the curtain”, and for his insights on the Denver culinary scene!

Be sure to check out the Larimer Hot House located in Denver’s historical 5 Points neighborhood.

Larimer Hot House
Monday – Friday from 7 AM – 3:30 PM
Saturdays from 9 AM – 1 PM
2810 Larimer Street
Denver, CO 80205
www.larimerhothouse.com
303-292-3008

Welcome to New York City, site not just of the Empire State Building, the United Nations headquarters, Broadway, Madison Avenue, and Wall Street, but also of “the craggy highlands of Manhattan, the sea-facing marshes of Brooklyn, the rocky, Maine-like coastline of the Bronx, and the nearly impenetrable forests of Queens and Staten Island,” according to the Museum of the City of New York which is presenting Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks through March 21, an exhibition of the photographs of Joel Meyerowitz, who for the past several years has been exploring the 29,000 acres of official parkland within the borders of the five boroughs of New York City.

The 90 prints include some that are as large as the gallery walls on which they are hung.

The Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival at The American Museum of Natural History is the longest-running documentary film festival in the United States. This year’s almost three dozen films includes on opening night movie, Cooking History, which is without question one of the weirder documentaries ever made. Its motto: “6 wars, 10 recipes, 60, 361,024 dead” Its official description:
“What keeps the armies of the world going? Tanks, submarines, airplanes, bullets, bombs? Actually, bread. Bread and blinis and sausage and coq au vin, even “monkey meat” rations. As one cook puts it, without food, the army would be in a shambles. Taking a tour of 20th century battlefields, Peter Kerekes revisits its mess halls and field kitchens, asking the cooks to recreate the meals they served at the front.”

The closing night documentary three days later is Hair India, which is about how Hindu believers who are poor make a ritual sacrifice of their only possession – not money or jewels (as the Hindu rich do), but…their hair. The filmmakers, we are told “follow the course of this hair as it is sheared in an ancient, sacred ritual, sold at auction to the highest bidder, and ends up strutting down the red carpets on top of the world’s most famous heads.”

Films in-between are set in Austria, Bosnia, Czech Republic, China, Croatia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, The Netherlands, and United States. A theme of six of the films is Love Against The Odds -- and focuses on people who have one disability or another.
My favorite title — The Wondrous World of Laundry

Here’s the day-by-day schedule

There are more than a dozen films at the Third Annual Other Israel Film Festival, among them a satire called “Arab Labor”; a documentary, “City of Borders,” about a gay bar in Jerusalem; a portrait of an Arab-Israeli journalist felt caught in the middle (“The Arabs think he’s a collaborator. The Jews think he’s a drunk”) entitled “Forever Scared.” The “other Israel,” in other words, are Israeli Arabs.

The festival “is not about the conflict -- it is not about taking sides -- this festival is about people,” writes the festival’s founder Carol Zabar (yes, of the Zabar’s food family)

Here is a list of the films in the festival. For times and locations, and to purchase tickets, click here.

Arab Labor
Israel, 2008, 75 minutes
Director:
Roni Ninio
More episodes from the successful groundbreaking satire, following Amjad, a 35-year-old Arab journalist, married to Bushara (a social worker) and father to Maya. Torn between his desire to become the darling of the In-crowd on one hand, and represent the suffering of Arabs at any given forum, he is mocked and criticized by his family and close community. Amjad’s only ally is his friend Meir (an Israeli Jew) -- a photographer who works with him at the newspaper, a sworn bachelor who falls In love with Amal, Bushara’s feminist Arab friend.
trailer

Badal
Israel, 2005, 56 minutes
Director:
Ibtisam Mara’na
‘A Badal deal marriage’ is the common practice of a Muslim tradition where a brother and sister from one family marry a sister and brother from another family -- interlocking the two couples forever. Divorce on the part of one couple will immediately lead to the divorce of the other part of the deal. The film follows a family during the process of putting such a deal together. It portrays the lives of Palestinian women living within Israel, their difficulties and struggle to be a part of their traditional society vs. the quest to maintain their full rights as women, and citizens of a democratic state.

City of Borders
USA, 2009, 67 minutes
Director:
Yun Suh
In the heart of Jerusalem stands an unusual symbol of unity that defies generations of segregation, violence and prejudice: a gay bar called Shushan. This award-winning documentary goes inside this underground sanctuary where people of opposing nationalities, religions and sexual orientations create an island of peace in a land divided by war. Through a coclorful cast of characters from all walks of life, the film explores the effort to find and share a sense of community in spite of differences of religion and nationality.

ID Blues
Israel, 2008, 100 minutes
Director:
Chaim Yavin
Two new episodes from the five-part travel-log by legendary news person Chaim Yavin, examining different sectors of Arabs living in Israel, presenting matters of life, history, and culture in Arab society in Israel.

Jaffa
Israel/France/Germany, 2009, 100 minutes
Director:
Keren Yedaya
In this Cannes Film Festival favorite, Director Keren Yedaya (Or) brings forth the dramatic story of Mali, who lives with her family in Jaffa, and works with her brother and father at the family owned car repair shop. Mali falls in love with Tauffik, a mechanic in the garage. Despite underlying racism and jealousy that surrounds them, their love affair grows. When Mali finds out she is pregnant, the couple decides to run away and get married abroad. On the morning of the flight, a tragic event reshapes this couple’s future.

Laila’s Birthday
Netherlands/Palestine/Tunisia, 2008, 72 minutes
Director:
Rashid Masharawi
A comically existential fable about a day in the life of a former-judge-turned-taxi driver, on the day of his daughter Laila’s seventh birthday. His only goal is to be home early with a present and a cake, but life takes him through many twists and turns before he gets home. His customers include a young Romeo who hires the taxi to have a place “alone” with his lover; a housewife who’ll stop anywhere there’s a free-food giveaway, armed Palestinian militia members, and an ex-convict who leaves his cell phone in the cab.

Sayed Kashua -- Forever Scared
Israel, 2009, 56 minutes
Director:
Dorit Zimbalist
Despite being one of Israel’s leading columnists, novelists and screenwriter, Sayed Kashua feels he doesn’t belong. The Jews don’t like him because he’s an Arab. The Arabs don’t like him because he’s successful. The Arabs think he’s a collaborator. The Jews think he’s a drunk. He’s always the “other” and he’s always scared. This intimate portrait follows Kashua over seven years through the upheavals and events that change his life, wandering from place to place, from nation to nation, belonging neither here nor there.

SAZ -- The Palestinian Rapper for Change
Israel, 2005, 51 minutes
Director:
Gil Karni
An intimate documentary following budding Palestinian-Israeli hip-hop star from Ramlah, Sameh Zakout, a.k.a. Saz. The film follows his transformation from a young unknown rap singer into an international success, as well as his youthful quest for identity transformed into the voice of a struggling nation. The film also focuses on his relationship with his grandfather, an Israeli-Arab communist. Their conversations reveal their differing ideologies: “I don’t see my Palestine being built by blood,” says Saz. “It should be built by negotiations, not bombings. My bullets are my rhymes. My M-16 is my microphone.”

Shorts
60 minutes
A Journey into the next generation of films by and about Arab citizens or Israel.
-Heavy Silence
Director:
Maysaloun Hamoud
Visions and pieces of memory are unveiled through a small crack in Alla’s prison cell. Through these excerpts of memory and fantasy Alla faces the futility of family honor and discovers the fate of the woman he loves.
-Two (Shnaim)
Director:
Shimon Richik
In the midst of the war in Gaza, a mixed Arab and Israeli couple debate the question of military service.
-Bus Station -- Ir-Amim
Director:
Lily Sheffy
Two women, Arab and Jew meet at a bus stop in Jerusalem after a trip to the market. When their bags of tomatoes get confused they begin to understand the similarities and differences of their worlds.
-Tel Aviv -- Jaffa
Director:
Boaz Rosenberg
A look into one of the unifiers of Israeli Jewish and Arab society – Hummus. This short documentary part of the Tel Aviv-100 docu-challenge project follows one of Yafo’s oldest and proudest establishments.
-Oranges
Director:
Maha Assal
A sweet story of friendship and neighbors. A man is angered by his neighbor picking oranges off his tree and decides to seek revenge.

Telling Strings
Switzerland, 2007, 60 minutes
Director:
Anne-Marie Haller
A rare look into the profound workings of the Jubran family, a Palestinian family of musicians from al-Rameh village in the northern Galilee. The Father, Elias, a musician and instructor has been building traditional string instruments such as ouds and bouzouqs in his al-Rameh workshop since 1965. The film connects the history of two generations and questions cultural identity between protest, resignation and hope.

The Invisible
Israel, 2009, 70 minutes
Director:
Gil Karni
A 12-year-long diary of the Bedouin village “Arab al-Na’im” in the Galillee and their struggle for their rights. The people of Arab al-Na’im have inhabited their land for the past 200 years, serve in the Israeli army, yet live in tin huts, without electricity or running water, and in constant struggle with the Israeli administration to be v

Voices from El Sayed
Israel, 2008, 75 minutes
Director:
Oded Adomi Leshem
In the picturesque Israeli Negev desert, the Bedouin village of El-Sayed has the largest percentage of deaf people in the world. Through the generations, a unique sign language has evolved making it the most popular language in this rare society, which accepts deafness as natural as life itself. The village’s tranquility is interrupted by Salim’s decision to change his deaf son’s fate and make him a hearing person using the Cochlear Implant Operation.

Zahara
Israel, 2009, 60 minutes
Director:
Mohammad Bakri
With touching personal style and breathtaking cinematography, Director Mohammad Bakri tells the story of his 78 year old aunt Zahara, from the times of pre-state Palestine to present, leading the family with love and wisdom through the many trials of life.