A-Town Magazine
Feeling a little bleak about the world? There’s a film festival for that
Bleak Week, a film festival celebrating “cinema of despair,” started as a contrarian response to cries for feel good movies after the pandemic. Programmers at the American Cinematheque, a non-profit arts group that curates for several historic theaters in Los Angeles, heard the cries for comedies and thought, well, what if they did the opposite? […]
Tens of thousands are making annual peony pilgrimage to University of Michigan’s garden
ANN ARBOR, Mich. | Nicole Calvin has been visiting the University of Michigan campus annually over the past 16 years to catch a peek — and a whiff — of the school’s sizable peony collection. She even came twice this year. “I just love walking through the gardens,” Calvin said Monday. “I love that they […]
YouTuber box office boom: ‘Backrooms’ and ‘Obsession’ draw Gen Z to theaters
Young audiences turned out in droves to movie theaters around the country this weekend. It wasn’t for the big budget “Star Wars” movie, “The Mandalorian and Grogu, ” which fell sharply in its second weekend, however, but for a small budget horror from a 20-year-old first-time filmmaker that began on the internet. “Backrooms,” released by […]
A mop, a broom and a calmer mind. Why some find mental health benefits in everyday tasks
NEW YORK | Amid spring cleaning season, it can be easy to dismiss housework as drudgery, so dreaded or anxiety-inducing that it’s best delegated to others if at all possible. But experts from Zen monks to psychologists say there are mental health benefits to be found in such manual chores as sweeping, mopping and clearing […]
How do you make vampires fly effortlessly on Broadway? Strong wires, harnesses and lots of practice
NEW YORK | For their third Broadway show, husband-and-wife choreographing team Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher “Cree” Grant faced a high-stakes challenge: They were asked to make vampires fly. Not just fly, but also fight and hang upside-down, 60 feet off the stage. Not just that but also make it effortless, like gliding. And, of course, […]
Flower gardens endure hot, dry summers better if you choose these plants
When summer temperatures soar, we humans can take shelter indoors. Our garden plants, however, have no such respite. Some may droop, wilt or get crispy, while others may simply refuse to bloom. Although there’s not much we can do to counter extreme weather, we can equip our gardens to stand up to it better by […]
Steampunk festival creates an unlikely capital for Victorian style and sci-fi oddity in New Zealand
ŌAMARU, New Zealand | The woman in the pink frock coat announced herself as steam curled from a strange brass contraption on her back. “I am Lady Sarsaparilla Ovabyte, of the Coventry Ovabytes,” she said. “We are purveyors of fine cordials.” Her companion peered through glasses made from fused-together forks. “Captain Bob McSpoon, inventrepreneur,” he […]
Lawyers for Lively and Baldoni battle in a New York court despite settling claims weeks ago
NEW YORK | The legal battle between actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni isn’t quite over yet. Just a month ago, the two announced a settlement that avoided a trial over Lively’s claims that Baldoni led a campaign to smear her reputation after she accused him of sexually harassing her on the set of their […]
In farm country, an old American pickup truck becomes more than a workhorse
EFFINGHAM, Illinois | In Illinois farm country, there’s a 70-year-old pickup truck waiting on a fresh coat of canary yellow paint. It’s the first vehicle my dad learned to drive, as a young boy helping with farm chores during the day and adventuring with friends at night. At the time, the 1956 International Harvester S-130 […]
In a city with an iconic skyline, the Obama presidential museum aims to reshape Chicago architecture
CHICAGO | The granite monolith soars above a leafy stretch of Chicago’s South Side, a nearly windowless exterior more suited to a sci-fi film set than the state-of-the art presidential museum held within. Crews are putting the finishing touches on the Obama Presidential Center ahead of the official public opening on Juneteenth, more than a […]