Friday 8/31
Bust a gut
Having built a comedy career around fat jokes, Ralphie May’s Too Big to Ignore tour follows suit. Beyond his notable physique, May grabs wanted attention on the gossip wire along with his comedienne wife Lahana Turner through punchy sarcasm and eye-popping antics—from the marginally famous marijuana arrest and the release of their first “porn tape,” to the names of their children—April June May and August May. $40, 8pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., 979-1333.
President Barack Obama made a campaign stop in Charlottesville, Virginia yesterday afternoon. Here are photos from his visit, which was targeted at young voters. Click here for a recap of the event.
From UVA students to senior citizens, from volunteers to the guys selling Obama rocks—local stones with “Obama rocks” etched into them—nobody seemed to mind waiting around for the President yesterday. President Barack Obama made a stop in Charlottesville, and supporters from all over the region began lining up on the Downtown Mall hours before the rally. The gates opened at 1pm, and inside the Pavilion, the air of excitement was palpable.
Ralliers waited patiently, chatting with one another and reporters about what they expected to hear from the President. Former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine received a warm welcome from the audience, despite the building anticipation for Obama’s arrival. With a short speech emphasizing the “doom and gloom and negativity” of the GOP, Kaine got the crowd revved up for Obama’s brand of optimism.
And optimistic he was. An estimated 7,500 people greeted President Obama with deafening screams and cheers when he walked onto stage, sleeves rolled up, smiling and waving to his supporters. Upon reaching the podium, Obama turned and acknowledged the hundreds of orange and blue clad students on the risers behind him, and said into the microphone, “I still don’t know what a Wahoo is!”
The President’s smile and charisma seemed infectious, as thousands of adoring fans hung on his every word. Some in attendance were, evidently, less impressed, as a small group began yelling overtop of him early into his speech. The rest of the crowd quickly drowned out the apparent protestors by chanting “Obama! Obama! Obama!” Though he couldn’t hear what the group was yelling, Obama laughed and said he was glad to see young people getting involved.
“But don’t just chant,” he said. “Vote!”
Eighteen-year-old high school graduate Tessa Diehl said she was impressed with Obama’s positivity and poise throughout the entire speech.
“I tend to get really discouraged by negative politics,” she said after the rally. What spoke to her the most, she said, was when Obama discouraged any booing from his supporters at the mention of the Republican National Convention.
The President did not likely surprise anyone with his speech—he hit the hot-ticket items: health care, women’s rights, immigration, veterans’ rights, the economy, and affordable education. But even though the event’s focus was on students and young voters, the diverse crowd of families, students, and senior citizens seemed to react the most strongly to two topics: women’s rights and the treatment of veterans returning home.
At the end of his speech, Obama immediately turned to the Wahoos behind him and walked up and down the front of the bleachers, shaking hands with anyone who was lucky enough to sit up front or bold enough to shove their way through. He then stepped off the stage into the crowd, which welcomed him with open arms, full of fans who had waited in line for hours just for a shot at seeing the President up close and personal.
Once Obama finally left, his supporters filed out of the Pavilion, grinning and chattering with an air of anticipation and hope for this fall, as Brooks and Dunn’s “Only in America” rang out over the speakers.
As if his speech weren’t enough, President Obama made his way to the campaign office on the Downtown Mall for an unscheduled stop to meet with local volunteers after the rally. Hundreds gathered at the intersection of East Main and Fourth Streets, many standing on tables and chairs, even climbing lampposts, to catch one last glimpse of the nation’s leader. The President had a brief exchange with Sissy Spacek, exchanging compliments, and with members of Gallatin Canyon, the bluegrass band that opened for him, outside of Positively 4th Street restaurant.
The day ended on a high note when Obama emerged from the office and, smiling ear to ear, waved goodbye to Charlottesville and climbed into one of the tinted federal vehicles to take him home.
Click here for photos from the event!
The BLT, that divine triumvirate that defines the taste of summer, makes good use of the late season tomato whose flesh isn’t quite as taut as it used to be and whose juices need little coaxing before they’re dripping down your arms. These eight places have their own takes on this glorious sandwich that’s a whole lot greater than the sum of its parts.
Ask for a BLT at the Barbeque Exchange and you’ll need to decide between “chewy” and “crispy.” If you think it’s a no-brainer, think again. Chewy’s the only answer if you want Craig Hartman’s housemade red-eye bacon—pork belly dry-cured with a spicy, Shenandoah Joe coffee rub then hickory smoked for 18 hours.
Blue Moon Diner serves up the tasty trifecta on your choice of bread, with regular or artisan bacon, and a heaping of regular (or Old Bay-dusted sweet potato) fries. Or, get your fix in liquid form with the bacon-garnished BLTini.
You get two Bs for the very low price of one at Bodo’s Bagels, where the standard trio of ingredients is piled atop your bagel of choice.
At Boylan Heights, the B is thick-cut, the L is bibb, and the T can be classic sliced beefsteaks or fried green ones. A generous swipe of Hellmann’s seals the deal.
Catch the BLT when it’s on special at Calvino Café and you’ll be one happy luncher. Nueske’s bacon joins house-roasted tomatoes, arugula, and lemon aioli on Albemarle Baking Company’s pain au levain before hitting the grill.
There’s nothing fancy about the BLT at the Cavalier Diner and that’s precisely why we like it. It’s just crispy bacon, crunchy iceberg, ’mater slices, and mayo on white bread—plain and simple.
The late night menu at C&O offers a lily-gilded, open-faced version with smoky bacon, bibb lettuce, aioli, gruyère cheese, tomato, and a fried farm egg.
Toasted sourdough from Breadworks provides the foundation for Rapture’s BLT that’s built with house-cured and smoked Rock Barn bacon, green leaf lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, and roasted garlic aioli.
Rich sammy, poor sammy
When money’s no object, a BLT gets fancy when pancetta subs for bacon, lettuce is traded for arugula, a rainbow of heirlooms replace just red ones, and a spread of burrata (cream-injected mozzarella) stands in for mayo.
If you’re not exactly bringing home the bacon, skip the B and even the L. A straight up T can be divine as long as you toast your bread, salt and pepper your slices, and don’t skimp on the mayo.
Put up your Duke’s
Whether you consider Charlottesville Southern or not, our mayonnaise of choice certainly is. The Duke’s mayonnaise production facility relocated from Greenville, South Carolina to Richmond in 1929 (12 years after the company’s inception), and has everyone from top chefs to home cooks hooked on its distinctively tangy, no-sugar-added recipe ever since.
Pickin’ pig
The BLT’s America’s second favorite sammy losing out only to the humble ham.
According to the Albemarle County Police Department, our co-worker and friend, Elizabeth Walton, was killed in an apparent murder-suicide around 11:45pm on Tuesday, August 28, at her home in the 3800 block of Stony Point Road. Also killed were her children: Noah Philip Romando, Lily Catherine Romando, and Andrew Ross Romando.
According to the police, three people were found dead at the scene, and a fourth was transported to UVA Medical Center and died shortly after arrival. A gun was involved in the killing, and police believe the suspect is among the deceased.
Beth, who grew up in Lewisburg, West Virginia, began working at C-VILLE Weekly as an account executive in our advertising department April 30, 2012. She was married in June to Don Walton, but kept the name Beth McLaughlin professionally. Prior to working at C-VILLE, Beth worked at Charlottesville Family and Charlottesville Catholic School.
The death of Beth and her children is a devastating tragedy we are only just beginning to process. Our hearts and minds are with her family and friends, and out of respect for their privacy, we have no more information to contribute at this time. We understand that Albemarle County Police Department investigators are still working on the case, and we respect their processes.
The line to enter the pavilion for President Obama’s rally, which formed hours before the gates opened today at 1pm, stretched as far as Christian’s Pizza on the Downtown Mall. The President has traveled to Virginia 12 times since January, and today marks his 40th visit to the Commonwealth since the beginning of his presidency.
As part of a two-day college tour, today’s rally will target young voters and the importance of registering to vote. According to this morning’s press release, UVA student Mathias Wondwosen will introduce the President, who will discuss his vision for growing the national economy, particularly by ensuring that a college degree is affordable to future generations.
According to Charlottesville’s Fire Chief, the crowd count is 7,500.
5:35pm—After the rally, UVA students Jordan Jackson and Lyndzey Elliott made their way through the crowd to Five Guys, expecting the excitement of the afternoon to be over. But as they finished up their burgers, a fleet of federal vehicles parked at the intersection of East Main and Fourth Street to collect President Obama, who stopped at the local campaign office to greet volunteers. The girls said they jumped up onto their tables to catch a glimpse of the President—whom, Jackson said, looked straight at them through the window and waved.
Jackson is a third year Wahoo, and Obama’s stance on funding higher education was what brought her out to the pavilion today.
“It’s not like UVA is inexpensive,” she said.
Jackson said even if Obama’s plans don’t go into effect during her time as a student, she’s encouraged that future generations will have access to affordable education.
“I have a little sister who’s a first year at [the University of North Carolina],” she said. “Thinking about those things coming into play for her is really really exciting.”
UVA second year Lyndzey Elliott said she came out today because it’s important for students to get out there and rally.
“This is in our hands, you know?” Elliott said. “We’re the people that are voting, we’re the young people. We’ve got to support ourselves and our future.”
Elliott said shewas proud to come out and support President Obama, and she said women’s rights are the hot ticket item for her.
“Especially as an African American woman, we’ve come really far. Especially being at this university, where African Americans weren’t allowed, where women weren’t allowed—just being able to come out and support moving forward was a big part of why I came out here.”
5:15pm—The excitement isn’t over yet! Hundreds are gathered on the Downtown Mall outside Five Guys, hoping to get one last glimpse of the President as he is escorted into his vehicle.
4:36pm—Eighteen-year-old high school graduate Tessa Diehl couldn’t have been more thrilled when she was offered a spot in the bleachers on stage behind President Obama. Diehl said she has supported Obama since 2008, and she can’t wait to cast her first legal vote this November.
Maddy Cohen, also 18, has been a friend and fellow Obama supporter for years.
“I think it’s really important to keep everyone informed and put the right information out there,” Cohen said.
Cohen will begin her first college semester at Princeton University in two days. Casting a vote for the first time “won’t be quite as cool” on an absentee ballot, but she was all smiles when talking about voting—even if it means not pushing the button.
Cohen’s brother Aaron is only 15, but happily joined the girls at today’s rally. Aaron was inspired by his sister’s involvement at such a young age, and is currently an intern at the Obama For America office.
“Here’s to four more years!” he said.
4:10pm—Country group Brooks and Dunn’s “Only in America” rings out through the pavilion as President Barack Obama enters the crowd to meet and greet his adoring audience. Nothing but smiles as Obama supporters, young and old, file out of the pavilion.
4:09pm—The President was barely audible over the screaming crowd during his closing remarks. “We’ve got more schools to build, we’ve got more troops to bring home; we’ve got more young people to send to college; we’ve got more doors of opportunity to everybody who’s willing to work hard and walk through them. And it all depends on you! So don’t worry about letting me down—don’t let America down. Go out there, register, stand up, and if you do, we will win Virginia, and if we win Virginia we will win this election—we will finish what we started!”
4:02pm—Passionate cheers and tears abounded and everyone jumped to their feet when Obama began discussing the wars in the Middle East and the treatment of United States veterans. He said 30,000 troops will come home from Afghanistan next week, and promised that as long as he is Commander in Chief, he will continue to take care of those who serve the country. “Nobody should have to fight for a job or a roof over their heads when they come home after they’ve been fighting for our freedom!”
3:58pm—“In this century, women should be trusted to make their own health care choices.” Said opponent Mitt Romney “wants to go backwards” with almost all of his ideas.
3:57pm—Returns to discussion of Obamacare, calls opponent’s healthcare platform “Romneydoesn’tcare.”
3:54pm—The President said he and his wife only finished paying off their own student loans eight years ago. “We shouldn’t be making it harder for young people, we should be making it easier.”
3:50pm—On Mitt Romney’s proposed tax plan: “Now many of you are too young to remember this, but we tried this for about a decade before I came into office. It didn’t work then, it won’t work now.”
3:49pm—Obama describes the Republican National Convention as “a pretty entertaining show.” Crowd boos; “Don’t boo—vote!”
3:48pm—”Virginia, your vote mattered. You made a difference…so you can’t et tired now, ’cause we’ve got more work to do.”
3:43pm—“We knew that solving our biggest challenges would take longer than one year, one term, or one President. We know we’ve still got a lot of work to do but we are determined to get it done. We are determined to finish the job.”
3:41pm—“Are we going to make sure that more young people are prepared to attend colleges like UVA?”
3:39pm—A nearby group began chanting, seemingly angrily, while the President was speaking. The rest of the crowd drowned them out with “Obama! Obama! Obama!” President Obama said he couldn’t really hear what they were saying, but he was glad to see young people getting involved. “But don’t just chant—you gotta vote!”
3:38pm—Already addressing students and young voters: “For the first time in many of your lives, you’ll get to pick the next President of the United States.”
3:36pm—Obama discusses Hurricane Isaac: ” We are going to make sure we’re doing every single thing we need to do to ensure the folks down there are taken care of and have the support and the love of the rest of this country. When things like this happen, there are no democrats or republicans.”
3:32pm—President Barack Obama takes the stage! First comment: “I still don’t know what a Wahoo is!”
3:29pm—UVA student Mathias Wondwosen has taken the stage to introduce President Barack Obama! “For the first time in a long time, we turned Virginia blue! Now it’s time to speak up again….We can’t win Virginia without wining Charlottesville.”
3:27pm—Palmyra resident Valerie, 48, saw President Obama four years ago, and said she couldn’t be happier to be back here to listen to him speak again. She spoke passionately about the progress she has seen since Obama was elected, and said she is endlessly frustrated by those who say nothing has changed over the past four years. “Do you not remember when gas was six dollars a gallon?” she said. “When companies were laying people off daily? People on the streets going hungry? Did you forget when all those car companies collapsed? What about the banks and housing market?”
3:12pm—False alarm? Front half of the crowd just stood up to cheer; everyone whipped out their cameras and excitement built, but no President yet. Country music is blaring over the speakers, but is almost drowned out by the chanting of “Obama! Obama! Obama!”
3:10pm—Kaine’s closing remarks: “If you are ready to do what you have already done four years ago, if you are ready to stand with that optimistic spirit and with that optimistic president who has stood with you…Virginia will make sure that our president has a second term!” Crowd went nuts and exploded in applause at the suggestion that Virginia may be the state to determine the outcome of election day this November.
3:03pm—Kaine on the Republican National Convention: “I’ve heard a lot of doom and gloom and negativity.” But President Barack Obama is optimistic, he said.
3:00pm—Tim Kaine: “If I am elected Virginia’s next Senator, Virginia will not go back, and the country will not go back.”
2:57pm—President Barack Obama has touched down and is en route to the nTelos Wireless Pavilion!
2:55pm—Former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine takes the stage.
2:50pm—Boos at mention of Paul Ryan, “the intellectual feeder of this Congress” and the Republican National Convention.
2:49pm—UVA student and Charlottesville Field Organizer Peter Slag on democracy: “It shouldn’t happen at lavish fundraisers or in corporate board rooms…it happens right here on the Downtown Mall!”
2:44pm—UVA student Camilla Griffifths: “As an African American and as a woman, i know that every day president Barack Obama is fighting for me and my rights.”
2:41pm—And we’re rollin’! No President yet, but retired Air Force colonel Lettie Bien just led us in the Pledge, and the Virginia Gentlemen are singing an a capella Star Spangled Banner.
2:26pm—Haywood Pace is a Social Security recipient who drove to Charlottesville from Goochland to see the President, whom he describes as a “humble, smart, and clever man.” Pace has supported Obama since day one, and said it was a “joyful wait” of almost a hour when he arrived at the pavilion this morning. Social Security and healthcare are Pace’s top concerns in this year’s campaign, and he said he has faith in the President’s ability to carry the country through “another successful four years.”
2:15pm—Jeff Varnadore, 25, of Tampa Bay, Florida, follows the Obama campaign selling buttons, t-shirts, etc. He was recently along for the Iowa bus tour, which meant three events per day. He does it for the money and to see the country. “It’s a nice trip and it’s a cause I believe in.” Varnadore said health care and jobs were his priorities.
2:06pm—Daniel Milner has been a supporter of the Obama campaign for a long time, he said, and is excited to see the President in person for the first time since 2008. Milner has a lot of faith in the President and said he hopes to see him and his followers “keep chugging along.”
2pm– An air of excitement and anticipation at the Pavilion. Most people have already waited in line for close to two hours and we still could be an hour and a half away from Obama’s arrival. Circulating now to see what’s on people’s minds.
Race to the bottom
“Abby & Brittany”
Tuesday 10pm, TLC
There is a growing sentiment that TLC—which originally stood for The Learning Channel—has now become the modern-day equivalent to the circus freak show. An endless parade of extreme human behaviors are put on the airwaves—families with 19 children, teenage gypsy brides, extreme couponers and hoarders. While some of their stories are treated with respect, the redneck minstrel show that is “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” suggests a much more insidious tone. Here’s hoping that this new show is more sensitive to its subjects, 22-year-old conjoined twins Abigail and Brittany Hensel. The Hensels share a single body fused at the torso, with Abby controlling the right side and Brittany the left. They have completely different personalities, which viewers will get to know in this series as the girls graduate from college, travel through Europe, and embark on a job search.
“Gigolos”
Thursday 11pm, Showtime
If the big screen’s recent Magic Mike had you fuming, “Too much talking, not enough ass shaking,” allow me to present “Gigolos.” It is exactly what you think: a reality show that follows five male prostitutes working in Las Vegas. Questions about its legitimacy have plagued the show—allegations are that the female clients are actresses, and that none of the footage features actual prostitution (although it does feature sex, meaning people were paid to copulate on camera—that seems like a very fine distinction to me). Season 3 begins this week, and there’s a new gigolo in town, plus a familiar face goes gay for pay.
“Girlfriend Confidential: LA”
Monday 11pm, Oxygen
While that whole “international high-fashion supermodel” thing hasn’t worked out for any of the 18 winners of “America’s Next Top Model,” reality TV has been a friend to several of its alumni. Season 1 winner Adrianne Curry went on to star in multiple VH1 reality shows, Season 2 winner Yoanna House has done some TV hosting, and Season 3 winner Eva Marcille (formerly Pigford) is doing a bit of both, as the former host of Oxygen’s “Hair Battle Spectacular” and now the star of this reality soap. “Girlfriend Confidential” is basically just another iteration of the “___ Wives” or “Real Housewives” formula, with a pack of gal pals living the big life (or “big life”) and squabbling amongst themselves. In addition to Eva the show features her friends, a Buddhist interior decorator, a music talent manager, and an actress. But which one is the Samantha?
Virgo
(August 23-September 22): In the creation myths of Easter Island’s native inhabitants, the god who made humanity was named Makemake. He was also their fertility deity. Today the name Makemake also belongs to a dwarf planet that was discovered beyond the orbit of Neptune in 2005. It’s currently traveling through the sign of Virgo. I regard it as being the heavenly body that best symbolizes your own destiny in the coming months. In the spirit of the original Makemake, you will have the potential to be a powerful maker. In a sense you could even be the architect and founder of your own new world. Here’s a suggestion: Look up the word “creator” in a thesaurus, write the words you find there on the back of your business card, and keep the card in a special place until May 2013.
Libra
(September 23-October 22): When novelist James Joyce began to suspect that his adult daughter Lucia was mentally ill, he sought advice from psychologist Carl Jung. After a few sessions with her, Jung told her father that she was schizophrenic. How did he know? A telltale sign was her obsessive tendency to make puns, many of which were quite clever. Joyce reported that he, too, enjoyed the art of punning. “You are a deep-sea diver,” Jung replied. “She is drowning.” I’m going to apply a comparable distinction to you, Libra. These days you may sometimes worry that you’re in over your head in the bottomless abyss. But I’m here to tell you that in all the important ways, you’re like a deep-sea diver. (The Joyce-Jung story comes from Edward Hoagland’s Learning to Eat Soup.)
Scorpio
(October 23-November 21): No false advertising this week, Scorpio. Don’t pretend to be a purebred if you’re actually a mutt, and don’t act like you know it all when you really don’t. For that matter, you shouldn’t portray yourself as an unambitious amateur if you’re actually an aggressive pro, and you should avoid giving the impression that you want very little when in fact you’re a burning churning throb of longing. I realize it may be tempting to believe that a bit of creative deceit would serve a holy cause, but it won’t. As much as you possibly can, make outer appearances reflect inner truths.
Sagittarius
(November 22-December 21): In Christian lore, the serpent is the bad guy that’s the cause of all humanity’s problems. He coaxes Adam and Eve to disobey God, which gets them expelled from Paradise. But in Hindu and Buddhist mythology, there are snake gods that sometimes do good deeds and perform epic services. They’re called Nagas. In one Hindu myth, a Naga prince carries the world on his head. And in a Buddhist tale, the Naga king uses his seven heads to give the Buddha shelter from a storm just after the great one has achieved enlightenment. In regards to your immediate future, Sagittarius, I foresee you having a relationship to the serpent power that’s more like the Hindu and Buddhist version than the Christian. Expect vitality, fertility, and healing.
Capricorn
(December 22-January 19): In Lewis Carroll’s book Through the Looking Glass, the Red Queen tells Alice that she is an expert at believing in impossible things. She brags that there was one morning when she managed to embrace six improbable ideas before she even ate breakfast. I encourage you to experiment with this approach, Capricorn. Have fun entertaining all sorts of crazy notions and unruly fantasies. Please note that I am not urging you to actually put those beliefs into action. The point is to give your imagination a good work-out.
Aquarius
(January 20-February 18): I’m not necessarily advising you to become best friends with the dark side of your psyche. I’m merely requesting that the two of you cultivate a more open connection. The fact of the matter is that if you can keep a dialogue going with this shadowy character, it’s far less likely to trip you up or kick your ass at inopportune moments. In time you might even come to think of its chaos as being more invigorating than disorienting. You may regard it as a worthy adversary and even an interesting teacher.
Pisces
(February 19-March 20): You need more magic in your life, Pisces. You’re suffering from a lack of sublimely irrational adventures and eccentrically miraculous epiphanies and inexplicably delightful interventions. At the same time, I think it’s important that the magic you attract into your life is not pure fluff. It needs some grit. It’s got to have a kick that keeps you honest. That’s why I suggest that you consider getting the process started by baking some unicorn poop cookies. They’re sparkly, enchanting, rainbow-colored sweets, but with an edge. Ingredients include sparkle gel, disco dust, star sprinkles—and a distinctly roguish attitude. Recipe is here: tinyurl.com/UnicornPoopCookies.
Aries
(March 21-April 19): I’m afraid your vibes are slightly out of tune. Can you do something about that, please? Meanwhile, your invisible friend could really use a Tarot reading, and your houseplants would benefit from a dose of Mozart. Plus—and I hope I’m not being too forward here—your charmingly cluttered spots are spiraling into chaotic sprawl, and your slight tendency to overreact is threatening to devolve into a major proclivity. As for that rather shabby emotional baggage of yours: Would you consider hauling it to the dump? In conclusion, my dear Ram, you’re due for a few adjustments.
Taurus
(April 20-May 20): Is happiness mostly just an absence of pain? If so, I bet you’ve been pretty content lately. But what if a more enchanting and exciting kind of bliss were available? Would you have the courage to go after it? Could you summon the chutzpah and the zeal and the visionary confidence to head out in the direction of a new frontier of joy? I completely understand if you feel shy about asking for more. You might worry that to do so would be greedy, or put you at risk of losing what you have already scored. But I feel it’s my duty to cheer you on. The potential rewards looming just over the hump are magnificent.
Gemini
(May 21-June 20): I’ve got some medicine for you to try, Gemini. It’s advice from the writer Thomas Merton. “To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns,” he wrote, “to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to the violence of our times.” It’s always a good idea to heed that warning, of course. But it’s especially crucial for you right now. The best healing work you can do is to shield your attention from the din of the outside world and tune in reverently to the glimmers of the inside world.
Cancer
(June 21-July 22): I dreamed you were a magnanimous taskmaster nudging the people you care about to treat themselves with more conscientious tenderness. You were pestering them to raise their expectations and hew to higher standards of excellence. Your persistence was admirable! You coaxed them to waste less time and make long-range educational plans and express themselves with more confidence and precision. You encouraged them to give themselves a gift now and then and take regular walks by bodies of water. They were suspicious of your efforts to make them feel good, at least in the early going. But eventually they gave in and let you help them.
Leo
(July 23-August 22): In the spirit of “Sesame Street,” I’m happy to announce that this week is brought to you by the letter T, the number 2, and the color blue. Here are some of the “T” words you should put extra emphasis on: togetherness, trade-offs, tact, timeliness, tapestry, testability, thoroughness, teamwork, and Themis (goddess of order and justice). To bolster your mastery of the number 2, meditate on interdependence, balance, and collaboration. As for blue, remember that its presence tends to bring stability and depth.—Rob Breszny
The best way to enjoy The Bourne Legacy is by not having seen the other three Bourne films. (Oops.) That way, those trilogy tidbits which play out again here, as a sort of instigating background action, won’t seem redundant but instead like alluring ads for the better and more adroitly managed movies that still await you.
This time inspired by the books of Robert Ludlum rather than adapted from them, The Bourne Legacy was written and directed by a writer of its three predecessors, Tony Gilroy, along with his brother Dan. Matt Damon isn’t around—except in a passport photo, fittingly enough—but Jeremy Renner is here as another secret super agent ducking out on his dubious federal employers and consequently dodging extreme prejudice termination.
Alert, affable, and only violent when absolutely necessary, Renner gets across the plot-driving idea that he was a regular grunt once, and his extraordinary mental and physical sharpness actually is a matter of pharmacological enhancement. Indeed, drama is derived not just from his rescue/abduction of a research scientist (and requisite nursemaid) played by Rachel Weisz, but also from the perpetual worry that he’ll run out of pills to pop.
Like Damon before him, he’s presented as the product of a sinister intelligence division that’s desperate to protect its own secrecy and ominously adept at surveilling, controlling, and shutting people down. The chief operator there is a steely-eyed Edward Norton, looking quite at home in dark rooms full of video monitors, chewing out his subordinates or supervising drone strikes against them. It’s thanks to the actual Bourne having blown the division’s cover, and Norton’s scorched-earth response, that Renner’s guy becomes a target.
The Bourne legacy, then, is a military-industrial complex in lethal bureaucratic panic. And Gilroy, the shady-dealings enthusiast, also of Michael Clayton fame, goes about his business like an espionage wonk. His idea of suspense is cross-cutting between fairly boring scenes that swear they’ll build to something eventually. But he’s good at earnest, jargony banter, and those portentous moments when characters face off and size each other up, thinking or saying, “How do I know that you’re even cleared for this conversation?” Maybe the best thing about this movie is its commitment to an authentic aura of agitated bureaucratese.
Maybe the worst thing, and likely proof that three films really was enough, is its nervous urge toward demystification. Chemically abetted gene tweaking seems like comic-book superhero stuff, and ordinarily that’s fine, but where this otherwise proudly plausible franchise is concerned, it’s disappointing—dangerously close to that ruinous moment in the Star Wars prequel when the Force was explained away as something precisely measurable and molecular.
It is intriguing to think that without his mental-boosting dope our hero is sort of a dummy—and frustrating, therefore, that Renner doesn’t get a real regression to play with, unless you count the entirety of this movie.
The Bourne Legacy /PG-13, 135 minutes/Regal Downtown Mall 6
Playing this week
2016 Obama’s America
Regal Downtown Mall 6
The Bourne Legacy
Carmike Cinema 6
Brave
Regal Seminole Square 4
The Campaign
Carmike Cinema 6
The Dark Knight Rises
Regal Seminole Square 4
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Regal Seminole Square 4
The Expendables 2
Carmike Cinema 6
Hit and Run
Regal Downtown Mall 6
Hope Springs
Regal Downtown Mall 6
Ice Age: Continental Drift
Regal Downtown Mall 6
Moonrise Kingdom
Regal Downtown Mall 6
The Odd Life of
Timothy Green
Carmike Cinema 6
ParaNorman
Carmike Cinema 6
Premium Rush
Regal Downtown Mall 6
Ruby Sparks
Regal Downtown Mall 6
Sparkle
Carmike Cinema 6
Ted
Regal Seminole
Square 4
Total Recall
Regal Seminole
Square 4
Beasts of the
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Tuesday night’s Faculty Senate town hall meeting with UVA President Teresa Sullivan at Darden’s Abbot Auditorium started on a light note.
Faculty Senate Chair George Cohen, a vocal and visible representative of his colleagues’ support of Sullivan throughout the summer’s attempted ouster, welcomed the crowd of hundreds and then brought out a special guest.
“I’d like to introduce my friend, the elephant in the room,” he said, and placed a small plush elephant on the podium.
The move got a lot of laughs, and set the tone for the evening: There were heavy topics to address—including some surprising new takes on faculty compensation—but the speeches and question-and-answer session, which together lasted more than an hour and a half, were woven together into an informal, straight-talk affair.
After Faculty Senate members gave brief updates on the task forces convened over the summer to address Board relations, online learning, and more, Sullivan gave an address that laid out the University’s top priorities: building the faculty, defining a strong curriculum, and supporting research. She emphasized it was time to work toward rebuilding trust with the Board of Visitors that tried to push her out—”That’s what public institutions do”—and she praised the faculty’s passion in speaking up before and after her reinstatement.
Not every topic was one guaranteed to warm faculty hearts.
Sullivan used her time onstage to emphasize her support for merit-based pay based on peer reviews. It’s a system that many in higher education shrink from, but one she said was necessary to strengthen the faculty in a time when UVA is facing a wave of new boomer retirements.
“The peer review system here works very well in the tenure process, but I believe that we use peer review too little over the course of the academic career,” she said. In part, that’s because they take time. “But if we are able to secure more substantial funds for merit increases, as I propose to do, we need to see a major change in the way departments evaluate their faculty and distribute the money.”
She got some pushback. During the Q&A, a reader offered a question that had been passed along by an audience member who wanted to know if supporting merit raises during a salary freeze meant Sullivan thought only the best and brightest deserve pay that keeps up with cost of living increases. “As a labor scholar, do you really think that at UVA, (a professor) who might be average in terms of merits deserves to see his or her salary decline in real terms?” the questioner asked.
“I think the assumption there is that I think merit is relatively sparsely distributed among the faculty,” Sullivan fired back. “Because it’s a merit increase doesn’t mean it has to go to a tiny fraction of the faculty. What I don’t want is a system in which administrators only make that decision, which is what happens in many cases right now. So I’m looking for a situation in which we realize and appreciate one another’s merit, and also understand that it’s multivalent, it comes in many forms, and many people possess it.”
Despite some wariness of the push for a new compensation system, the attitude among attendees as the crowd filed out was largely positive, and Sullivan scored points for her willingness to talk directly to faculty. It was a powerful counterpoint to the lack of transparency demonstrated by UVA’s Board of Visitors over the summer, said Curry School of Education professor Walt Heinecke, who starts teaching an oral history class tomorrow focused on the failed ouster.
“The fact that she’s willing to sit in the hot seat and take questions is pretty important. She’s serious about taking opportunities and events and learning from it,” he said. And that speaks well for the future of the University.
“I’m as optimistic as I’ve ever been,” he said.