07/07/2008

YouTube videos can teach the kids something
Ah, the wonders of YouTube. There’s the latest presidential candidate flub. Music videos that never seem to run on television. And don’t forget the porn. But here’s a tip, compliments of savvy parents: Your computer can serve up more family-friendly content than a thousand DVRs working overtime.

People: R.I.-based film wins Philly award
Filmmaking brothers George and Evangelos Giovanis, originally from Coventry but now living in Los Angeles, have won the best feature film award at the 31st annual Philadelphia International Film Festival and Market for their film, Run It, which was shot last summer on locations across Rhode Island.

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Kit Kittredge style elements still seen today
NEW YORK — Despite her cloche hat, feed-sack dresses and obsession with a relic known as a typewriter, modern girls might see a lot of themselves in Kit Kittredge, the Depression-era living-doll in the new American Girl feature film.

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Summer sounds

07/05/2008

Mark Patinkin: Mini-wind turbines and the Rolling Stones as Muzak
Thoughts at Large:

Cohan’s cousins to attend local show
Two descendants of Providence-born song-and-dance man George M. Cohan are celebrating the Fourth of July weekend today by taking in Theatre by the Sea’s production of George M, which follows the life of the famed Broadway entertainer.

Recognizing a put-down is a complicated thought process
There was nothing very interesting in Dr. Katherine P. Rankin’s study of sarcasm — at least, nothing worth your important time. All she did was use an MRI to find the place in the brain where the ability to detect sarcasm resides. But then, you probably already knew it was in the right parahippocampal gyrus.

07/06/2008

More couples choosing to elope
When Derran Reebel, 35, a family portrait photographer in Toledo, Ohio, proposed to his girlfriend, Jessica, 21, he knew that they would have to pay for the wedding themselves because her parents had died. But the couple would have to save for months, if not years, before they could scrape together anywhere near the average cost of a wedding these days, which is around $25,000.

07/05/2008

Seize Saturday: Watch old-fashioned baseball in Warwick.
Fireworks

Adults face biggest fear: Bikes
SOMERVILLE, Mass. — Michael Lamb is a 44-year-old history teacher with a quiet smile and unusual courage. He’s learning, finally, how to ride a bicycle — despite being nearly four decades older than the usual beginner.

07/06/2008

Sunday Lifebeat July 6: Quick Fix
Problem

Sunday Lifebeat July 6: Surviving summer camp — Helping kids (and, mostly, parents) get through sleep-away separation anxiety
As we bumped down the Vermont road toward Camp Wachusett, my eyes welled up as we came closer to dropping off my 9-year-old son at his first sleep-away camp. I kept my sunglasses on as my husband and I unpacked stacks of T-shirts and new socks, all with name labels. We made up the thin cot mattress with sheets and took a photo of our only child sitting there. We pointed out the pre-addressed stationery he would —we hoped — drop in the mail regaling us with happy tales of hikes and campfires.

Rock Band 2 offers more fun features
A sequel to Rock Band will be released first for the Xbox 360 in September, according to publisher MTV Games and developer Harmonix.

Trend test: Will capri pants for men take off?
When getting ready to leave my apartment on the weekend, I have a basic checklist. Is my fly up? Do my socks match? Have I wiped the breakfast crumbs from my face? On a recent Saturday I added, “Does this polo shirt match these baby blue capri pants?”

Sampling the news 10 years from now
If you were able to peek at the news 10 years from now, I’m guessing these are some of the stories you’d find:

School is out, and nutrition takes a hike
As my 9-year-old daughter began summer day camp last week, we talked about swimming rules, sunscreen and ... cheese fries.

Some ‘guitar heroes’ want to get real

Nintendo and Wii owners get their chance to rock out
Nintendo enthusiasts hit the musical jackpot last week with two new games to release their inner rock stars: Guitar Hero: On Tour ($49.99, Activision) for the Nintendo DS marked the popular series’ first venture onto a portable platform, while Rock Band ($169.99, MTV Games) finally reached the Wii.

07/04/2008

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07/05/2008

You can knock ’em over, or blow ’em up
BOOM BLOX

07/06/2008

Arts and Business Council needs help
tree@artsandbusinessri.org.

Sunday Lifebeat July 6: Sticks make on-the-go nail polish jobs easy
It’s pretty much a given: Treat yourself to a long-awaited mani-pedi, and the minute it’s done you ding your paint job.

Garden sitter; Wayland Square sale; Bastille Day bargains
This time of year, many gardeners are going away on vacation worrying about how their well-meaning but black-thumbed neighbor, or maybe the 11-year-old down the street, will handle watering their precious flowerbeds, veggie gardens and containers while they’re gone. Linda Radin-Damon says she can set their minds at ease with her new garden sitter service.

07/04/2008

Seize the Fourth Take in a July 4th parade
Holiday options

TOP RENTALS
This list of the top rentals nationwide comes from Billboard magazine and is based on data provided by the Video Software Dealers Association.

07/03/2008

Boy George cancels U.S. tour
Boy George’s plans for a North American tour have run into some bad karma.

Seize Thursday: The PawSox play
The PawSox play

Ancients & Horribles Parade has long tradition
Long live the spoof.

Shriners return for Bristol’s big parade
BRISTOL Twenty-one years after they were driven out by rowdy spectators, the Rhode Island Shriners are returning to the annual July Fourth parade — and they’re bringing their clown outfits and wacky scooters with them.“We can sum it up quickly and say we’re going back there because I want to,” says Frank DiMascio, the Shriners’ reigning potentate who also performs as Sparkey the clown, a play on his day job as an electrician.

Fourth of July events schedule
BRISTOL

Rocker Elton John’s Red Piano to visit R.I.
You can hear Elton John sing and play piano in Middletown this month. But you won’t see him.

Plainfolk opens Riverfront Series
The Pawtucket Riverfront Concert Series begins on Sunday, 6 to 8 p.m., in Veterans Amphitheater (next to Pawtucket City Hall) on Roosevelt Avenue. Plainfolk, a six-member folk-music ensemble, kicks off the series, which continues on Sunday, July 13, with longtime Celtic stalwarts Pendragon and on July 20 with the 16-piece Arthur Medeiros Swing Band.

Fox Point architecture subject of summer stroll
Take a walk. See the sights. Learn something along the way.

New South County club offers art and socializing
Art — projected, performed and displayed — has a new home in South County. The Gold Standard Social Club opened last week in the Narragansett Theater.

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07/02/2008

Angelina Jolie resting in French hospital
Brangelina’s twins aren’t here yet, but the big day is drawing closer.

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Gallery hopping in Westerly

Easily distracted? Pay attention to this
CHICAGO — The words are almost absurdly provocative: “Is Google Making Us Stoopid?” reads the title Atlantic Monthly has used to draw attention — successfully — to Nicholas Carr’s new article.

For the Moment by Rita Lussier: Leaders should stop pointing fingers and do something
In a recent column discussing our pain at the pump, I encouraged you to contact Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. Because he serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee that had met with the big oil company executives, I thought maybe he could fill us in on what Congress was doing other than talking about the problem.

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Designer Diane von Furstenberg lives and loves the global life
NEW YORK — Diane von Furstenberg, a Belgian-born, Swiss-educated New Yorker, brought her jet-setter look to Italy last month, staging a fashion show in Florence that showed off her bonafide global style.

07/01/2008

Mark Patinkin: Army admits its critics were right about Iraq
In its five years, the war in Iraq has revealed a remarkable contrast. On the one hand, there’s the impressive performance of the troops on the ground. On the other, there is the incompetence of those who sent them there.

People: David Goryl on ‘Wipeout’ tonight
David Goryl, who grew up in Woonsocket and is now living in California, is to appear on the new ABC reality show Wipeout at 8 tonight. The program involves contestants competing in a series of extreme and elaborate obstacle courses. Goryl is a 1991 graduate of Mount St. Charles Academy and a 1995 graduate of the University of Vermont. He works as a certified massage therapist.

Poor old Mr. Bill pays the bill again
MasterCard executives have found a new poster boy for the angst-ridden economy: Mr. Bill.

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Leading the parade

06/30/2008

Local students winners in Crayola contest
Kids can color. And the artwork of some of the best ones can be seen in a new book, Children’s Visions of the Future ($24.99, 87 pages), published by Crayola. That’s the maker of crayons. So naturally, that medium figures in much of the art.

06/29/2008

Pop tart Katy Perry has a pinup passion
Katy Perry is hunched over a big duffel bag, rifling through printed dresses, retro rompers, hats, turquoise suede heels and other anti-wallflower accessories, deciding what to wear for the second take of her photo shoot. She holds up a red straw hat with a brim the size of a truck tire, then fishes out a beaded red purse shaped like an apple. “See,” Perry says, her huge blue eyes widening. “I love anything fruit.”

06/30/2008

Where you can learn to sail
Here’s a sampling of some other places you can go in and around Rhode Island to learn to sail.

06/29/2008

Keep kids busy with water, sand and play dough
Q. “I’m a college student, and I just started working at the child-care area of a fitness center for the summer. We need some craft ideas for preschoolers besides coloring.”

New international adoption rules keep couples waiting
John and Julie Casserly have been waiting 11 months to complete the adoption of a Guatemalan girl whom they have named Ruby Rosario. But they say they are afraid to check e-mail messages or answer the phone. It’s always some update from their adoption agency regarding the latest suspension of the process or some other bad news.

Beauty experts rate the best products
Beauty products are personal: What works for one oily-skinned woman with brown eyes and thin hair might not work for her dry-skinned friend with blue eyes and thick, color-processed hair.

New artists; rent a chef; Apple Camp
www.emyles.com, by calling (401)816-0000, or visiting the studio at 3879 Main Rd. in Tiverton, Wednesday to Sunday, 10-5.

Katy dishes about fashion

Marshalls retail chain goes mega-big with discount shoes
It was a pair of yellow and gray, patent leather sandals that first caught my eye. The odd color combination was surprisingly fresh, but it was the $18.99 price tag that made the buy a no-brainer. The Datillo sandal is on sale at Nine West for $59.99, but it’s at Marshalls for less than $20.

Glam shades for rent
Bag Borrow or Steal — the Web site that rents out status handbags and gets a glam-cameo in the Sex and the City movie — is getting into the designer sunglass rental biz.

06/28/2008

Mark Patinkin: Now, those were the days. . .
I think I’m becoming my father. He’s constantly saying they don’t make movies like they used to, then launching into a reverie about Stagecoach, the 1939 version; now that was a flick.

Full WaterFire to be held July 19
PROVIDENCE — When organizers announced plans for WaterFire’s 2008 season last month, there was one glaring omission: no WaterFire lightings were scheduled in July, typically one of the slowest months on the city’s arts and entertainment calendar.

In tribute to Carlin, SNL will show its first episode tonight
It’s both a very cool and a very sad thing that Saturday Night Live tonight will re-air its first episode ever because it was hosted by George Carlin.

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Dance like a fool

How to tell if your purse is real
Is that discount purse a great deal or an illegal steal? Here are some telltale signs to watch:

Cracking down on those counterfeit handbags
It was the peeling hologram sticker in her new Fendi bag that made Chrys Reyna suspicious.

06/29/2008

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Bonniepalooza!

06/30/2008

Lara Logan has new assignment
CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan is getting a new title: chief foreign affairs correspondent.

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Butterfly bonanza

Wizards star on Disney road to fame
LOS ANGELES She’s a wizard, but 15-year-old Selena Gomez knows that just waving her wand isn’t going to turn her into the next Miley Cyrus.

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06/29/2008

Penny may become a casualty of change
Critics say they’re inefficient and a drain on the economy. Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama said he doesn’t know why they’re still around. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson hopes to find a way to get rid of them. New Zealand and Australia have abolished them and Canada is now seriously considering doing the same.

Avoid dining that devours your vacation budget
The problem

What empty nest?
In a new twist in U.S. family life, the open nest is replacing the empty nest.

Help young people achieve goals
julie.dibari@rifpa.org.

06/28/2008

Video games: Silly fun with Clank, zippy video golf
Secret Agent Clank, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2