Month: March 2008

Categories
News

It might be legal, but there’s still a stigma

More features:

Up in smoke
Practically unknown, salvia will soon become the latest casualty in the War on Drugs

Salvia 101
What is it?

In the name of God, leave salvia alone!
The Rutherford Institute’s John Whitehead weighs in

Recently the editorial board of the school’s newspaper shut down Western Albemarle senior Scot Masselli when he tried to write a story about salvia use among students there. We asked him to share his experience.—Ed.

Illegal drugs make for tense conversations, no question, but what about when the substance in question is legal? Enter Salvia divinorum.

When I first got the idea to write for my school newspaper about salvia, a potent hallucinogenic that is legal in Virginia (for a while longer, anyway), it started as a joke. While we were brainstorming stories, one editor facetiously suggested that one of the seniors could use salvia and write about the experience, noting that the drug was legal for adults. Everyone chuckled and then forgot the matter, except for me. Days later, I mentioned the topic to my advisor, Jill Williams. Ms. Williams focused me in another direction, challenging me to develop a feature package about people at WAHS using salvia. I instantly accepted: This was the hard-hitting story I’d been looking for all year. A legal drug that was comparatively unknown; it would be a journalistic gold mine, the perfect storm. Unfortunately, that perfect storm hit at the board meeting.
 
Though I cannot disclose the arguments that ensued at that meeting, I can attest to the high emotion and the strong feelings that the story provoked. Once everyone had spoken their piece, the board killed the story on a 6-2 vote, leaving me to feel the effects of the stigma surrounding salvia. Though in researching the story I had taken precautions to protect my sources and myself, at no point did I waver in my desire to report on the subject. Unfortunately, the board wasn’t as firm. Their reasoning to quit the story came down to this: It would be unethical to print it, and we did not want to be seen as promoting salvia. The board couldn’t even be persuaded by a proposed article about the health risks involved in using salvia, not to mention its legality; the most I could get was a page in the Student Life section, a major step down from Feature. While it was never my intent to glorify salvia, my colleagues feared this would be the result. The decision to not run it as a feature was made without even consulting the Western Albemarle principal, Mr. Chris Dyer, about his feelings on the story. Beyond a doubt, whether you seek to condone or condemn, the topic of drugs is sensitive. Obviously legality means nothing and the stigma surrounding the substance means everything. With that said, it was not censorship by the school, but stigmas and tensions surrounding the word “drug” among my teenage colleagues that have silenced my paper.

Categories
News

Will my taxes go up?

Local budget season has come early this season, in case you haven’t noticed. Thanks to a change in the law, the city and county officials have had to scratch together a proposal much earlier than they did last year. So here at C-VILLE, we’ve cast a dutiful eye to the budget situation.

The city budget looks like it will go up 5.7 percent to $151.7 million and the county budget is recommended to increase 8.5 percent to $331.4 million. Like last year, the topic is more contentious on the county side, with the Board of Supervisors considering whether to raise the tax rate to pay for schools and other services.

You’ll get your fill of local budget talk before it’s all over in mid-April, but before we throw you into the minutiae: questions anyone?

I thought I wasn’t supposed to care about the budget until April.

That’s not a question, but I’ll answer: Those suits in the General Assembly changed the law. Now, localities have to advertise a tax rate 30 days in advance of a public hearing, which gives us Joe Citizens enough time to pore over the figures and decide whether it’s worth it to whine and complain.

There is an exception to this new law—localities only have to give seven days notice if the average assessment increased less than 1 percent—and Albemarle County fits the bill. However, the Board of Supervisors is still trying to stick to the schedule and will try to set a high bar for the tax rate at its March 5 meeting. The trick with setting that rate is that it can go down but not up.

I own a house. Are my taxes going up?

Depends on where you live. Remember that your taxes depend on two numbers: your house’s assessment, which depends on factors like neighborhood housing sales and the location of your house, and the tax rate, which local government sets every year. Multiply your assessment by the tax rate and you’ve got the amount you have to pay in taxes. For example:

Assessment of house: $300,000

Assessment increase: 5%

Tax rate: 68 cents per $100 of assessed value

300,000 * 1.05 / 100 * 0.68 = $2,142

If one of those numbers goes up, even if the other one doesn’t change, then your taxes will go up. Here’s how much the same taxpayer’s bill would go up if the Board returns to the 74 cent tax rate:

300,000 * 1.05 / 100 * 0.74 = $2,331, an increase of $189

Quit giving me math lessons. Will my taxes go up?

O.K., O.K. Your taxes will almost definitely go up if you live in city working class neighborhoods like Belmont or Ridge Street, where assessments went up 8 to 14 percent. Chances are that if you live in already gentrified city neighborhoods, your taxes are going to stay about the same. Regardless, there’s little you can do about it: City Council hasn’t shown any signs that it will lower the tax rate.

But that’s not true of county residents. The Board of Supervisors is having serious discussions about possibly raising the tax rate. Right now, it’s 68 cents, which was lowered from 74 cents last year because assessments went up 30 percent over two years. But since assessments didn’t go up this year, the county might raise the rate a couple of pennies, primarily to pay for schools. The big hearings are March 5 and April 2, with plenty of work sessions in between on March 10, 12, 17 and 19.

I don’t own a house. Why should I care?

I could come up with a bunch of reasons, explaining how local funding affects quality of life stuff like parks and police forces, but I’ll assume you care only about your wallet. All right then. If you’re paying rent, the taxes that your landlord pays probably affect how much rent he or she charges you. Perhaps more directly, when government doesn’t get enough money from property taxes, it often comes up with other ways to make ends meet. As an example, last year, the Board opted to raise personal property taxes (a.k.a. the car tax), which affects just about everybody in the county, in order to help offset the decrease in the real estate tax.

Where does all my money go anyway?

In the city, 31 percent of the general fund goes to the school system, while 44 percent of it does in the county. The rest pays for stuff like police, fire fighters, social services, parks, libraries and debt. Theoretically, the state is paying for most of road maintenance and construction costs, but many local leaders have found that funding woefully inadequate. For the full listing of expenditures, visit the budget websites for the city and for the county.

I need a pet issue to work myself into a frothy frenzy about. Where’s the fat?

So far, no big rallying points like the $1 million ambulance in the city last year. As a category, city infrastructure and transportation spending is increasing $1 million, or 7.8 percent. Public safety spending in the county is recommended to rise $1.3 million, or 4.7 percent over last year. Budget hawks haven’t settled on an issue to serve as the scapegoat of bloated bureaucracy, but look to the new county fire station at Hollymead as a possible candidate.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

Categories
Arts

The C-VILLE Minute! [video]

Brendan Fitzgerald also writes Curtain Calls, C-VILLE’s weekly arts column. Read this week’s column here.

Categories
News

UVA punt returner tackled by the law [March 4]

Just two-and-a-half years ago, Michael Antwain Brown, Jr. came to UVA to cover receivers and evade would be tacklers as the punt returner for the football team. Then he tore his ACL in last summer’s workouts and missed the 2007 season. Now, Brown has the long arm of the law to contest with. According to a March 3 press release, University Police have charged the junior cornerback with one count each of grand larceny, possession of stolen property with intent to sell, altering serial numbers and possession of marijuana in connection to a February 6 report of larceny from a vehicle at the Central Grounds Parking Garage. The victim reported four items stolen from his vehicle valued at more than $3,400. Brown was released on a secured bond.

Categories
News

Cirque du Soleil’s Saltimbanco

I spend the first five minutes of Cirque du Soleil’s opening night at the John Paul Jones Arena, the first performance in a five-night stand by the Canadian-spectacle-gone-Vegas-glitz-fest, not writing a thing. Instead, I mutter awed syllables with the people around me, cutting phrases like “Did you see that?” and “How’d those trapeze artists pull that stunt off?” into nonsense: “Di?…How?”

Each time I lower my eyes to my notebook in the dark, it feels like an exercise for the attention deficient—how long can someone keep from gawking at a cast of just-shorter-than-lifesize neon highlighters that flip and spin in front of him? The whole of Saltimbanco, Cirque’s oldest touring show (launched in 1992), skips along so brightly and colorfully that it rewards the bedazzled spectator while refuting the critic’s attention; the moment I start paying close attention, I get sidetracked or sidestepped by something else. It’s a three-ring circus with a lax immigration policy, everyone jumping borders.

As a play, the show hangs loosely together. There are acts, but they’re organized more by type of stunt and the degree to which they thrill or terrify the audience; there are characters, but they seem to be differentiated solely by costume and skill, and they all speak in a gloppy babble of sounds.

But as a musical circus, Saltimbanco is wildly entertaining—a collection of electrified pinks and blues that bungee jump from trapeze bars to cross paths and flip like flaming pinwheels, men and women in Bozo paint and “Smurf” uniforms catapulting from swingsets onto mattresses, and a few hilariously syncopated mime scenes. Cirque’s live band sounds like Genesis playing the b-sides of Andrew Lloyd Webber, a lunar soundscape with the occasional jagged shard of fanfare, to match the quick-flipping pace of a bicycle daredevil one moment and the slow formation of body sculptures by two muscle-heaped men in spandex and suspenders.

Most impressive is Saltimbanco’s use of the stage’s periphery. With a cast of a couple dozen characters in front of a crowd of a few thousand, there almost seems to be too many performers; they slink, masked and rainbow-slapped, to the borders of their stage and act out smaller dramas ranging from infantile jokes to naive flirtation to sex-savvy suggestion. When I lose interest in the sensational main course, I pick and choose among the smaller, colorful side dishes. And when they turn their heads back to the big, shimmering spectacle at center, I have a hard time not doing the same.

Categories
Arts

Movies playing in town

Movies playing in town

10,000 B.C. (PG-13, 109 minutes) Roland Emmerich (Stargate, Independence Day) directs this big-budget SPFX extravaganza. It’s, well, 10,000 B.C., and a hairy, mammoth-hunting hero (unknown Steven Strait) is prevailed upon to rescue his tribe from a civilization of pyramid-dwelling slavers. Omar Sharif is in there, doing his best prehistoric work since The 13th Warrior. Opening Friday; check local listings

The Bank Job (R, 110 minutes) Jason Statham (The Italian Job, The Transporter) is in familiar territory, starring in this early-’70s crime caper about a would-be bankrobber targeting a London bank stuffed full of cash and jewelry. Unbenownst to our protagonist and his crew, the bank’s safety deposit boxes are also packed with secrets revealing a web of corruption stretching from London’s criminal underworld to the highest echelons of the British government. The mechanics are awfuly familiar, but director Roger Donaldson (Cocktail, Species) keeps things lively. Opening Friday; check local listings

Be Kind Rewind (PG-13) With Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) at the helm, you know you’re in for a weird ride. Jack Black and Mos Def play a couple of video store employees who accidentally erase every videotape in the store. In order to retain the store’s one loyal customer, an elderly lady with a shaky grip on reality, they set out to recreate every film in stock, armed with only a cheap video camera. The result is a two-man tour-de-force, covering The Lion King, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Driving Miss Daisy, Robocop and more. Soon, the whole town is getting in on the filmmaking action. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Charlie Bartlett (R) Recalling the fast-and-loose teen comedies of the ’80s, this high school-set film finds the rich, new kid in town (Anton Yelchin from “Huff”)  appointing himself the school’s psychiatrist. Setting up shop in the boy’s lavatory, our titular fast-talker dispenses advice (and the occasional pharmaceutical drug) to his screwed-up fellow students. A blackly comic mixture of Rushmore and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

College Road Trip (G, 83 minutes) Plump ex-“Cosby” kid Raven-Symoné continues to wish upon a star that she’ll morph into Miley Cyrus (Disney Channel show? Check. Recording career? Check. Nintendo DS videogame? Check. Tween-targeted movie? Check.) Here, Raven plays an overachieving high school student who decides to travel the country looking for the perfect college. Naturally, her overprotective dad (Martin Lawrence) insists on going with her. Oh, and there’s also a wacky pet pig in the car. Hijinks—you guessed it—ensue. Opening Friday; check local listings

Definitely, Maybe (PG-13) Ryan Reynolds stars in what looks like a feature film version of “How I Met Your Mother.” He plays a Manhattan political consultant in the midst of a divorce who recounts his past relationships to his 10-year-old daughter (precocious kid du jour Abigail Breslin). But which of these past relationships actually ended up as his wife? That’s a secret…for some reason. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Fool’s Gold (PG-13, 110 minutes) An estranged couple’s sense of adventure is rekindled when sunken treasure-hunting hubby (Matthew McConaughey, finding a valid excuse to act without a shirt) discovers the possible whereabouts of a fortune in gold. Naturally, he drags along his doubting ex (Kate Hudson, in no apparent hurry to land another Oscar nomination). Think Romancing the Stone with a bad case of swimmer’s ear. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4

Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour (G, 74 minutes) OMG! Tween goddess Miley Cyrus and her Disney Channel alter ego, Hannah Montana, sing their biggest hits on screen! In 3-D! Whether or not this actually counts as the “best” depends largely on gender and age. If you’re a girl under the age of 12, you’ll probably be there screaming along. Did I mention the Jonas Brothers will be performing as well? Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Jumper (PG-13, 90 minutes) The bestselling sci-fi series by Stephen Gould gets the action movie treatment by director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith). Hayden Christensen is a confused young man born with the ability to teleport anywhere in the world. Eventually, he discovers a secret order of people with identical abilities and becomes embroiled in a superpowered war that has been raging for thousands of years. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Juno (PG-13, 91 minutes) A labor of love from stripper-turned-writer Diablo Cody (author of Candy Girl) and director Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking), this sweet, smart and very funny flick easily earns a spot as one of the best films of the year. Snarky, cynical 16-year-old Juno (Ellen Page, Hard Candy) gets pregnant after a bout of boredom-induced sex with her best friend Bleeker (Michael Cera from Superbad). Ruling out abortion, Juno decides to have the kid and give it away to "some lady with a bum ovary or a couple nice lesbos." The pitch-perfect dialogue, the lo-fi soundtrack, the spectacular cast and the perceptive story make this the cult comedy to beat. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

The Other Boleyn Girl (PG-13, 115 minutes) Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson star in this glitzy adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s best-selling novel. The historical storyline finds siblings Anne and Mary competing for the affections of England’s King Henry VIII. As any halfway decent Anglophile knows, neither girl kept her head on her neck for very long—which is part of the film’s problem. It looks good, but it’s notably glum. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Penelope (PG, 102 minutes) Christina Ricci stars in this modern romantic fantasy about a young, aristocratic heiress born under a curse. Seems she’s stuck with the nose of a pig until she finds true love with “one who will love her faithfully.” This whimsical ugly-duckling tale is obviously striving for Tim Burton territory. The results are cute and visually vibrant but somewhat erratic. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Semi-Pro (R, 90 minutes) Reviewed here. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4

The Spiderwick Chronicles (PG, 97 minutes) The popular young adult fantasy series comes to the big screen with hardly a whiff of Harry Potter about it. Three young children (including Freddie Highmore playing twins) move to a remote country mansion with their recently divorced mother (Mary Louise-Parker). There, they discover their great uncle’s legacy, a book detailing the lives of the fairies, goblins, brownies and other magical creatures that inhabit our world. Unfortunately, an evil goblin wants to get his hands on that book, forcing our young heroes to defend themselves. The cast is quite good (Nick Nolte, Joan Plowright and David Strathairn are among the adults), and the script (partially credited to John Sayles) is surprisingly mature. Way too scary for the little ones, though. Full review here. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4

Step Up 2 the Streets (PG-13, 98 minutes) Apparently Step Up, You Got Served, Feel the Noise, Honey, Stomp the Yard, Save the Last Dance and How She Move weren’t enough for you people. So here’s another hip hop dance film about kids at a prestigious dance academy who shock the establishment with their “radical” street moves. In real life, your college dance instructor probably wrote her thesis on breakdancing. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4

There Will Be Blood (R, 158 minutes) Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) ditches his ensemble style to (loosely and magnificently) adapt an obscure Upton Sinclair novel. Daniel Day-Lewis eats up the screen as  Daniel Plainview, a scrappy misanthrope who builds an oil empire with his bare hands in turn-of-the-last-century Texas. Like Citizen Kane and Giant before it, this is epic American mythmaking. Unlikable as he may be, Plainview is an icon. There Will Be Blood follows him throughout the decades as he amasses his fortune, adopts a son, founds a town and makes an enemy of the church. A gritty, roughnecked portrait of American industry, religion and politics. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre

Vantage Point (PG-13, 90 minutes) Taking its inpiration, as so many other films have, from Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, this political thriller presents a crime as seen from five different viewpoints. Seems that some terrorists (or are they?) have tried to assassinate the President of the United States (or have they?). A host of witnesses (or are they?), each present their own perspective on the crime, allowing us to see the damn thing again and again and again (and again and again). Starry cast includes Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, Dennis Quaid, William Hurt and Matthew Fox. Full review here. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4

Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins (PG-13, 114 minutes) Martin Lawrence stars as Roscoe, a successful Los Angeles talk show host who reluctantly returns to his rural roots in the Deep South for a family reunion. James Earl Jones, Mike Epps, Cedric the Entertainer and Mo’Nique are among the relatives he’s trying to avoid. In the end, you can be sure lessons are learned. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Witless Protection (PG-13, 97 minutes) Somebody allowed Larry the Cable Guy to make another movie? Have we learned nothing from Delta Farce and Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector? How many more innocent Americans must suffer? Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Categories
News

Car business ain’t booming [March 1]

Auto sales are down, but not at Colonial Auto Center. That’s according to an AP story that quotes Colonial’s president Kip Rowe, who says that sales of foreign brands will save his company from lower February numbers than it posted in the same month last year. (Ford and GM models are selling much worse for Rowe, and nationally.) Overall the auto business is expected to be down 7 percent compared with a year ago—one more piece of evidence that a recession is indeed upon us.

Previous "This Just In" articles from this week:

UVA ranks No. 2 in undergrad business schools [February 29]
Money makes second place not so bad

Van Halen reschedules concert [February 28]
Band will play JPJ on March 11

National angst clouds our “sound” local economy [February 28]
Annual Chamber of Commerce survey reveals business owners are both positive and uneasy

Mountain lion terrorizes Crozet [February 27]
Women and children fear

NFL backs down from Jesus [February 26]
Churches can show 2009 Super Bowl on large screens

Categories
News

“Whitest Kids” and greenest booze [March 2]

Back with a castmate from a trip to Los Angeles, 27-year-old Trevor Moore, former host of local public access comedy show “The Trevor Moore Show” and currently one of five members of New York-based sketch comedy troupe the Whitest Kids U’ Know, decided to introduce his colleagues (and New York Times columnist Amanda Stern) to the green fairy with a few rounds of absinthe. What Moore forgot is that, in the U.S., the hallucinogenic drink is sold without grande wormwood, which robs it of its mystical effects. Cue the laugh track. The Whitest Kids’ second season runs currently on the Independent Film Channel.

Previous "This Just In" articles from this week:

Car business ain’t booming [March 1]
But local dealership is doing fine

UVA ranks No. 2 in undergrad business schools [February 29]
Money makes second place not so bad

Van Halen reschedules concert [February 28]
Band will play JPJ on March 11

National angst clouds our “sound” local economy [February 28]
Annual Chamber of Commerce survey reveals business owners are both positive and uneasy

Mountain lion terrorizes Crozet [February 27]
Women and children fear

NFL backs down from Jesus [February 26]
Churches can show 2009 Super Bowl on large screens

Categories
News

Post visits UVA’s JuicyCampus [March 3]

The national media spent much of February expressing its shock (and titillation) about JuicyCampus.com, a website started by a Duke grad to air dorm room gossip publicly and anonymously. But the hits keep coming as lurkers scope the site following a Washington Post column by Marc Fisher. Fisher contacted several UVA students labeled promiscuous by anonymous posts, and he discovered that none of them “saw any purpose in trying to silence the site.” Another reason the UVA students may not care: Even though the website promises “Always Anonymous…Always Juicy…,” most topics get few replies, and the only posting for “Faculty/Administration” is a one-word post: “poop.”


The juice is loose: The Washington Post looked into JuicyCampus.com’s effect on UVA students.

Previous "This Just In" articles from this week:

“Whitest Kids” and greenest booze [March 2]
Former local comedian drinks deep

Car business ain’t booming [March 1]
But local dealership is doing fine

UVA ranks No. 2 in undergrad business schools [February 29]
Money makes second place not so bad

Van Halen reschedules concert [February 28]
Band will play JPJ on March 11

National angst clouds our “sound” local economy [February 28]
Annual Chamber of Commerce survey reveals business owners are both positive and uneasy

Mountain lion terrorizes Crozet [February 27]
Women and children fear

NFL backs down from Jesus [February 26]
Churches can show 2009 Super Bowl on large screens

Categories
Arts

Hello, Goodbye

“New Amsterdam”
Tuesday 9pm, Fox

This supernatural cop drama was initially slated as part of Fox’s fall schedule, but it got unceremoniously dumped to midseason before it ever aired. The show has a couple things working against it, specifically a no-name cast and a fairly out-there concept. It’s like something Anne Rice would’ve cooked up before she found Jesus. John Amsterdam is a New York City homicide detective. He’s also more than 300 years old, having been gifted with immortality after he saved a Native American girl from being killed while he served as a Dutch soldier in the 1600s. Since then, he’s watched his family and friends grow old and die while he remains young and beautiful, until he meets his true love. (Pretty specific spell…) Shades of “Angel” and “Buffy,” to be sure, and the lead actor’s resemblance doesn’t help the matter.

“Project Runway”
Wednesday 10pm, Bravo

It’s the end of the catwalk for Season 4. I’ve read a lot of criticism of this season—it was boring, the designers were the weakest bunch yet. But I totally disagree. “Project Runway” doesn’t need to rely on cheap drama to keep me interested; somehow, someway, I find watching talented people create sometimes-incredible works out of almost nothing totally compelling. At this point, I like everyone left in the final three. Yes, Rami is somewhat boring (but so hot!) and his constant draping goes beyond tired, but he makes gorgeous clothes. Jillian has surprised me almost every week, and I’m eager to see what she can do without time constraints. But it’s elfin fashion prodigy Christian who truly deserves the title. If he doesn’t win, it will be—in his now-famous words—a “tranny mess.” Don’t make us wait so long for Season 5, Klum!

“Lost”
Thursday 9pm, ABC

I have been a “Lost” hater since the latter half of Season 1. I just found it maddening: the inconsistencies, the delays, the plethora of going-nowhere mysteries, the total lack of any forward momentum. I just didn’t believe that the showrunners had a clue about what they were doing. This current season, its fourth, has proved me wrong. So much is happening! A new group has come into play, a freighter crew supposedly sent to rescue the crash survivors, but they’re obviously not what they claim to be. The flashbacks have largely turned into flash-forwards, in which the rescued “Oceanic Six” (which include Kate, Hurley, Jack and Sayid so far) have returned to regular civilian life in the States, but continue to be haunted by what happened, and seem compelled to return to the island. So good!