Actors wanted at Goddard tomorrow at noon for Occupy video

MONTPELIER — "Actors" are needed for a "doo-occupy music video."

Apparently, on Tuesday at noon at Goddard College, Ben Cohen, of Ben and Jerry's, will be handing out fake diplomas at a fake graduation and filmed for a music video.

"There will be food and fun and a great video for an occupy action on the student debt crisis," according to the announcement tapped to the wall outside Bagitos. 

In Doo-occupy videos, Doo-wap songs are rewritten with Occupy Wall Street movement topical lyrics.

In a previous video, for example, "Wake Up Little Susie" is rewritten to "Break Up BofA."

Crystal Zevon, a video producer, said that the fake graduation video will tackle the topic of student debt.

Caps and gowns will be provided.

Call or email Zevon if planning to attend at 802-254-1333 or [email protected].

The dude did it

MONTPELIER — On Friday, Bo Muller-Moore, the Eat More Kale guy, hit his goal to raise $75,000 to make a documentary about his legal fight with Chick-fil-A.

Chick-fil-A has threatened to shut down Muller-Moore's Eat More Kale t-shirt and sticker business. Lawyers for the chicken sandwich company claim that his "Eat More Kale" design infringes on their "Eat Mor Chikin" trademark.

But Muller-Moore's not just going to roll over for a big corporation. He's fighting back with his own lawyer, and now a documentary film titled "A Defiant Dude."

He had until Sunday night to hit his fundraising target of $75,000. While it seemed like he might not make it, Muller-Moore broke $75,000 this afternoon — two days before the deadline.

Donations are still be accepted here.

Montpelier This Week: Movies, music, politics and birding

MONTPELIER — Here are some of the things happening around town this week. It’s a mixed bag of movies, music, politics, and birding.

Tonight at Kellogg-Hubbard Library at 7 p.m. the film “Heima” will be shown. It’s a film documenting a series of free, unannounced concerts by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós in out-of-the-way Icelandic communities. Michael Moynihan will introduce the film and lead a discussion about it.

On Wednesday, the Montpelier Board of School Commissioners is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. The agenda for the meeting has yet to be published.

However, one item that’s supposed to be on the agenda is a discussion, and possible vote, regarding the Recreation Department.

The City Council formed a committee to look into possibly changing how the Recreation Department functions, and perhaps whether it makes sense for the department to continue reporting to the School Board or whether the City Council should take it over.

As it is now, the Recreation Department is sort of its own separate entity with its own un-elected board that reports to the School Board.

Some city councilors, mainly Tom Golonka and Angela Timpone, are concerned the City Council is not doing enough in terms of oversight of the Recreation Department.

While the Recreation Department reports to the School Board, its nearly $600,000 budget comes from the municipal tax rate rather the school tax rate.

At last week’s City Council meeting School Board Chair Sue Aldrich, School Board Commissioner Ken Jones and folks from the Recreation Department discussed the council’s concerns.

Emotions ran high as Jones and Aldrich think that the current system is working fine and fail to see the need for the City Council to stick their nose into it. Golonka and Timpone think more oversight by the City Council is warranted.

“I think this department needs some direction,” Timpone said.

Aldrich said that the department is healthy and functions well. She said that it’s insulting to imply that the Recreation Department and the School Board aren’t functioning as they should.

In an interview Thursday, Timpone said that there’s not enough tracking of the department’s finances. “It seems too fuzzy to me,” she said.

“It’s the only city department,” Timpone said, “that’s outside city oversight.”

“We asked the School Board and the Recreation Department to take this seriously and they didn’t,” Timpone said. “They came (to the meeting) with sticky notes.”

By just continuing with the status quo, Timpone said, “We’re not being good leaders.”

“I don’t understand their motives,” Aldrich said of the City Council in an interview Thursday. “The budgets are always coming through well.”

On Thursday at Bagitos, Allison Mann and Ira Friedman are scheduled to perform jazz and blues standards from 6 to 8 p.m.

On Sunday at the North Branch Nature Center at 9 a.m. there’s a “Great Backyard Bird Count” scheduled. It’s part of a nationwide science project in which participants can both get some birding in and collect data for scientists studying bird populations.

Also on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. there’s dramatic reading of the play “The Con Artist” on the schedule at Bethany Church. The cast is to include Jack Bradt, Ron Lay-Sleeper, Peter Young, Jon Glascoe, Stephen Falbel, Vince Rossano and Vince Broderick.

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20120213/NEWS02/702139896

‘Death with dignity’ film tonight at Savoy

MONTPELIER — Tonight at 6 p.m., the Savoy Theater is showing the documentary film “How to Die in Oregon.” Admission is free.

In his film, director Peter Richardson, of Oregon, delves into the controversial issue of Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, which allows terminally ill people to choose to die by ingesting a lethal overdose of medication.

The documentary opens with cancer patient Roger Sagner drinking a deadly dose of Seconal. Before he dies, Sagner thanks his family, friends and the voters of Oregon for allowing him to end his life on his own terms.

According to the film’s website, “Richardson examines both sides of this complex, emotionally charged issue.”

After the film at the Savoy, a discussion session is planned to give people the chance to express their thoughts on the topic.

No nukes, craft fair and talk of regional public safety agency

MONTPELIER — Offerings this week in the Capital City range from the serious to the political, from the creative to the whimsical: There’s an anti-nuclear power documentary filmmaker in town from Japan, a craft fair, a storytelling competition and more talk of a regional police and fire department for Montpelier, Berlin, Barre and Barre Town.

Read this story online in The Times Argus

Anti-nuclear power documentary filmmaker coming to The Savoy

MONTPELIER — Filmmaker and anti-nuclear advocate Hitomi Kamanaka is on the schedule at The Savoy for a screening of her film "Ashes to Honey: Toward a Sustainable Future" which will be followed by a question and answer session with Kamanaka.

Her latest film was released last year, but following the tsunami in Japan and the subsequent catastrophe at the Fukushima's Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, there's been a renewed effort to see Kamanaka's film and to speak with her about nuclear power.

According to her bio, Kamanaka was first exposed to the effects of radiation in 1998 when she went to Iraq and saw children dying of luekemia caused by the depleted uranium weapons used in the first Gulf War in 1990.

This experience led Kamanaka to look at the effects of nuclear energy on human body. She studied the downwinders of the Hanover nuclear facility in Washington State and the victims of Hiroshima.

The Savoy owner Terry Youk said Kamanaka is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and "sort of the Ken Burns of Japan."

She's also a leader in the anti-nuclear energy grassroots movement in Japan.

The doors at The Savoy will open at 5 p.m., with the movie to start at six and the question and answer session with Kamanaka to follow the film. Tickets are the usual price of $8. Reservations are available by calling 802-229-0598.

 

 

"Name That Movie" tonight at The Savoy

MONTPELIER — From 5 to 6:30 p.m. tonight is "Name that Movie" Downstairs at The Savoy theater on Main Street.

Watch a short clip of film and see if you can name it.

Admission is $2.50 and it includes free popcorn, drink specials and prizes.

The Savoy Theater

No more weekday matinees at The Savoy

MONTPELIER — The Savoy Theater will no longer have weekday matinees due to low attendance.

The weekend matinees will continue.

On Friday, the "The Whistleblower" starring Rachel Weisz starts showing at The Savoy.

Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles says of the film, "Inspired by true events, The Whistleblower asks a viewer to consider the depths of depravity one human can inflict upon another, and it almost goes without saying that Weisz brings intelligence, grace and wily, unexpectedly sultry earthiness to her role."

Watch the trailer for "The Whistleblower."

Downstairs at The Savoy, also on Friday, "Life, Above All" begins a run.

View London's Matthew Turner describes the film, "Directed by Oliver Schmitz, Life, Above All is set in a dusty South African village and stars Khomotso Manyaka as Chanda, a 12 year-old girl whose family are reeling from the recent death of her infant sister. While her distraught mother (Lerato Mvelase) succumbs to illness and the baby's drunken father (Aubrey Poolo) spirals into bitter accusations, Chanda attempts to keep the news of their sister's death from her two younger siblings."

Watch the trailer for "Life, Above All."

Also on Friday, "Name that Movie" is back. This month's sponsor is VT Roller Derby's TWIN CITY RIOT!. It starts at 5:30 p.m.