BOO 2011
Photo by Jason Greene
Local Color - Staff Picks
Published: July 13, 2011
Best playground for insane international warlords
All of Central Florida
What is it about Central Florida that makes us so irresistible to murderous villains? Could it be that our delicious humidity reminds them of their warm-climed homelands? Gen. Eugenio Vides Casanova, recently charged by the Department of Homeland Security with torturing civilians during his tenure as defense minister of El Salvador, turns out to be a Central Florida resident, having retired to Palm Coast, Fla., in 1989. Deportation hearings are being held here in Orlando. This comes on the heels of last year’s conviction of Charles “Chuckie” Taylor Jr., erstwhile Evans High School student and son of former Liberian thug-president Charles Taylor, for stomach-turning acts of torture against his father’s opponents. Shouldn’t these guys be in Miami? It really seems more like the hot spot for violent fugitives from justice. But maybe we watch too much TV.
STILL GREAT: Flashback to Best of Orlando, 1997
Best dumb idea of the year
Central Florida News 13
WE SAID THEN: Local TV news sucks bad … so bad that we'll watch the Gardening Channel or between-station static to avoid it. You too? Well, come this autumn, we're getting Central Florida News 13, a 24-hour all-local news channel brought to you by the Tribune Co. and Time-Warner. Get ready for live coverage of store openings and wacky mini-features about irascible locals who bring color to our otherwise mundane lives. For us, the math is simple. Local news, in half-hour blocks, is unviewable. A station broadcasting local news 24 hours a day will be ... mmmm ... 48 times worse than the current model. Unless News 13 provides something useful (like up-to-the-second wait times for Space Mountain and other attractions), we predict ex-News 13 employees will be sending out résumés by spring of 1999.
WE SAY NOW: We never did get up-to-the-second Space Mountain wait times, but we did get up-to-the-second Casey Anthony trial coverage. That must count for something.
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