Photo by Shellia Dee Bailey

Andrew Spear

 

Best medicine

Orlando Improv
9101 International Drive; 407-480-5233; theimprovorlando.com

Stand-up comedy comes in waves, and while nothing will probably ever approach the torrent of talent that came out of nightclubs and lounges in the 1980s, the emergence of a fresh alt-comedy world in the form of Patton Oswalt, Louis C.K. and the Upright Citizens Brigade, to name a few, had us feeling thirsty for a scene of our own. The reopening of the Orlando Improv late last year is a step in the right direction. Although still heavy on has-beens like Pauly Shore, Rob Schneider and Bill Bellamy, affordable, locally minded nights like the Comedy School Showcase can only help.

 

Best example of talking over a movie being a good thing

Movies Out Loud
Plaza Cinema Cafe; 189 S. Orange Ave., 321-558-2878

Nobody appreciates the twisting of candy wrappers, the cell-phone noise, the audible swapping of spit or the know-it-all chatter of misanthropes imprisoned in the great social experiment known as the movie theater; it’s uncomfortable to sit next to somebody, much less have to hear them. But over the past year, our gay stepsister Watermark has turned the tables on cinematic rudeness, placing the talking-out-of-turn at center stage while some of Hollywood’s biggest disasters crumble before your very eyes. Comedian Jeff Jones and everygal Miss Sammy emcee the proceedings like a warped version of the grumpy old Muppet men sneering from the balcony. The movies, well, they practically parody themselves: Showgirls, Xanadu and Mommie Dearest have all received the snark treatment at the downtown Plaza Cinema Café, as well they should. These were not films made to be watched; they were made to be picked apart.

 

Best unappetizing art show displayed in a restaurant

Earl Funk’s Ink-Cidental Bio-Blots show, November 2010
Pom Pom’s Teahouse & Sandwicheria; 67 N. Bumby Ave., 407-894-0865

Who doesn’t love their lunchtime sandwiches served up with a slice of taxidermied, tattooed flesh? For one month late last year, that was the side dish at Pom Pom’s. Longwood tattoo artist Earl Funk’s works, including framed blood/ink/sweat-stained tattoo towels and dried tattooed skins stretched between fishhooks, hung on the walls of the popular sandwich shop. Props to Pom Pom’s for pushing the boundaries and to Funk for coming up with some really stellar pieces, but it was tough to chow down on a Mama Ling Ling’s Thanksgiving special while looking at pieces of skin on the wall.

 

Best cat blanket

Hoard by Tess Bonacci
Displayed Dec. 16, 2010; TheDailyCity Mobile Art Show

The hand-sewn cat blanket created by artist Tess Bonacci for The Daily City’s Third Thursday mobile art show was by far the most intricate, artistic representation of animal hoarding we’ve ever seen. The blanket, made from stuffed-animal cats sewn together into a twin-bed-sized blanket, was inspired by the story of an elderly New Smyrna woman who was caught living with cats, turkeys, ducks and gerbils in her tiny mobile home. She allegedly let more than 60 cats pile up on top of her in bed at night because her home did not have heat.

> Email Orlando Weekly Staff

comments powered by Disqus