A semi-local cartoonist is coming the local funny pages. Next week, the Post-Dispatch will give a trial run to The Pajama Diaries, a comic strip by Wash U graduate Terri Libenson. I’ve never read the strip, but I’ve heard about Libenson before. While in St. Louis, she studied with Steve Edwards, cartoonist for the St. Louis Journalism Review and Mayor Slay and a professor in Webster’s animation department.

I look forward to reading the strip for the first time today. I hope it’s better than Garfield.

The Webster University softball team clenched the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) title for the first time in five years. Their regular season record was an amazing 15 wins and one loss.

The SLIAC Post-Season Tournament is this weekend, and the Gorloks are in the top spot. Webster has won both games they’ve played this weekend, and one more is scheduled for this afternoon.

The first Saturday of May holds a special place in the hearts of those who prefer their stories to be told in illustrations with captions and thought bubbles.  This Saturday May 5th is Free Comic Book Day, in which participating stores offer free (and sometimes exclusive) issues of comic favorites to fans and newcomers alike.

Comic book companies, including Archie, Marvel, and DC sponsor and offer the free issues of some of their most popular comics on this national celebration of all stories told between framed panels.  Of course, with the popularity of graphic novels and films based on comic book characters in recent years, participation in the event has been on the up and up.  Some stores even offer special promotions and discounts on other things in stock.

Local shops participating in Free Comic Book day include Star Clipper in the U City Loop, the Fantasy Shop chain, and All American Collectibles in the St. Louis Hills neighborhood.  And if you’re looking for something a little closer, there’s even a locator to find the store closest to you.

So it’s another Saturday night, and let’s face it, you’ve already played out most of dating opportunities in the same old spots.  What you need is a new option, something to refresh and surprise your date while at the same time letting them see how interesting and hip you really are.  No, seeing an independent film isn’t going to cut it because you’re also short on cash… 

But there is another option, and one that is free: the 2nd annual Webster Student Film Festival.  We know the stereotypes of student film sound more like an academic exercize than pure entertainment, but this festival is a little different.

This film festival is put together by the Webster Film & Video Society, which is open to the general public for membership.  And while only Webster students can submit films to the festival, WFVS president Joshua Hawkins wants to assure you that “length, style, genres, variety, etc” considerations go into selecting from the submitted the films, meaning there will be a little something for everyone who comes.  From the announced list of films it looks like there are plenty of thrills simple and sweet, comples and dark, and maybe even a few that are a little gore-filled.

In all the 24 films presented will show in only a couple of hours between 7 pm and 9:30-45 pm this Saturday, May 5th.  Those who come early to the film fest (say around 6 pm or so) can chow on the craft services table and will also get ballots to vote for the Audience Choice award to be handed out at the end of the night.  Of course by that point your date will doubtlessly be so terrified impressed that they will be clinging to your every word on the way out, even if you didn’t start with a date when you came there.

The Webster Student Film Festival will take place in the Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster University campus (right behind Webster Hall to be exact).  Admission is free, proving that good taste isn’t expensive. 

The graduating broadcast journalism majors have wrapped up their last show at Webster.  The Weekly Report, a weekly student-produced news program, is shown on Charter Cable Channel 18 on Saturdays at 2 pm.  Tune in this weekend to see our last show of the semester!

    A north county community is hosting its 45th annual festival this weekend.  Florissant’s Valley of Flowers Festival is a rich tradition in north St. Louis County.

Geri Debo, chairperson of Florissant’s Valley of Flowers, says this year’s festival will be better than ever, with something for people of all ages.

A schedule of the weekend’s events is available online at www.florissantoldtown.com.

Summer vacation is coming soon, and you may be wondering what to do with your time off. Gas is hovering around $3.00 per gallon right now, and high gas prices are sure to be a deciding factor in planning summer trips. To combat the cost of driving or flying out-of-state, the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission is suggesting that St. Louisans consider their hometown as a vacation destination.

Donna Andrews, a spokesperson for the commission, says we don’t think about St. Louis as a destination to play in because we’re used to living here. “On just a few gallons of gas, you can have a tank full of fun in St. Louis,” she said.

To showcase the cultural offerings of St. Louis, the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission is hosting the “Be A Tourist in Your Own Town” event. The outdoor trade show will feature more than 50 attractions and restaurants including the Missouri Botanical Garden, City Museum, St. Louis Zoo, Butterfly House, and Westport Plaza. It’s going to be held Wednesday, May 9 from 10-2 pm at Kiener Plaza.

St. Louisans can log onto www.beatourist.com to get more information about the event. (Starting May 9, you can register to win a Cardinals Getaway Package on the website, too.)

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke just plain pisses me off. 

I consider myself a religious man, one that tries his hardest to be a good man and to always do the right thing, one that is proud of his Catholic faith, but Burke really gets on my bad side for having a tendency to focus more on his politics than his own damn flock. 

Last week, Burke resigned as head of a children’s medical charity that had booked Crow for a benefit concert.   The former chairman of the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation announced in a press release that he was quitting after its board of governors refused to pull the plug on Crow’s Saturday concert in St. Louis.  But the Archbishop didn’t stop there.  Referring to Crow as “a high profile proponent of the destruction of innocent lives,” and a ”well-known as an abortion activist” in his Wednesday statement, Burke announced to the St. Louis community that one of Missouri’s favorite daughters was an affront to the identity and mission of the medical center, dedicated as it is to the service of life and Christ’s healing mission.

Would you like to hear what makes Madame Sheryl a baby killer in Burke’s book?  Crow came out in support of embrionic stem-cell research when last fall she taped an ad supporting Missouri’s Amendment 2.

Sheryl Crow was ready to roots-rock the Fox Theatre this past weekend for CHILDREN WITH CANCER.  That’s right, Crow was performing in support of the Bob Costas Cancer Center at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center. I think Allen Allred, chairman of the planning committee for the fundraiser and a board member of the Cardinal Glennon’s Children’s Foundation — the fundraising arm of the hospital - said it best:

“This event is about helping sick kids. I’m disappointed and saddened there are people in our community who are attempting to use this event to further a political agenda. If we go down that road, do we start asking doctors for their positions on abortion? Do we quiz every single donor what they think of embryonic stem cell research before accepting their money?”

And then Burke made it even better, describing the decision as his cross to bear: “I have to answer to God for the responsibilities which I have as archbishop. For me to remain silent in this situation would be the gravest scandal, because people would get the impression that their spiritual leader also thinks this is just fine.”

One: Burke, you are a hypocrite and a disgrace to the true Roman Catholic faith. 

This is the same church leader that in 2004 said to not grant presidential candidate John Kerry communion (Kerry is Pro-Choice). Didn’t our Savior say something about casting stones, old man? You are a man, not the judge of man, and as a leader of faith, you pray for what you percieve to be “evil” not excommunicate potential leaders of the Nation. This is also the same church leader that a few years back stripped a priest of his collar for refusing to redirect his parish’s fundraising collection plate for their church to the diocese.

Two: Burke, you are an opportunist. This is not an event for speeches but to try to generate funding to find a cure.

You even pissed off Bob Costas: “I never applied a litmus test, Catholic or otherwise, concerning the political or religious beliefs of any of the generous performers who have come to St. Louis to help this worthy cause; nor do I intend to, now or ever.” A.K.A.: this is NOT a political event. It’s a humanitarian event.

Third: I like Sheryl Crow not because of her varied liberal opinions but because I like her music. So back off.

I am comfortable enough in my manhood to crank her music up and sing along.  I also like the fact that she is against the death penalty, like the Catholic Church, and the Iraq War, which the late Pope John Paul II flat out told President Bush in a news conference that he was WRONG and didn’t support his decision even though Bush was there to present his Holiness an award.  Burke’s response? “That’s his personal view.” When Pope JP II did everything in his power to stop Bush from a war based on lies, including speaking to the UN, Burke ran a series of articles on “The Just War Theory.” Glad to know you’re smarter than the Pope, pompous ass.

Burke, there is something that you need to be aware of: Good is Good and Bad is Bad, and it’s you who should know which one you are before the Church cries, “There Goes the Neighborhood,” over your Favorite Mistake-your arrogance. If it Makes You Happy, fine. Be the Difficult Kind, it doesn’t prove that you are Strong Enough to lead MY church. And All I Wanna Do is take a Picture of Steve McQueen kicking your personal agenda driven self till I can’t see that smug Light in Your Eyes. I Shall Believe that your hypocrisy will be exposed before you go Home. P.S. I’m listening to Sheryl Crow’s Letter to God off her Wildflower album as I write this. 

Don’t insult your flock by playing our spirituality like pawns. Run for mayor if you want to, but don’t pull that crap. Let Sheryl sing her songs to help save the lives of children dying…what are doing to help children dying of cancer, Mr. Archbishop? 

Would Christ bitch about a hippie singer or would He say, “Let the children come to me?” Oh, wait HE did say that. (Mark 10:14)

http://slatts.blogspot.com/2007/04/comment-needing-rebuke-and-correction.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070426/music_nm/religion_crow_dc

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/9343BF529E9E6A17862572C9000FB5A1?OpenDocument

The calendar for the next three months of the Webster Film Series is out. The theme for the upcoming season is “Where the Wild Things Are,” but don’t expect a summer of Sendak docs and nature films. The season starts Wednesday with the Kurt Russell classic Escape From New York showing at the Schlafly Bottleworks.

Other highlights include Air Guitar Nation, Little Miss Sunshine, Tommy, and Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, a shot-for-shot remake of the original Indiana Jones movie. The Adaptation’s director and producer will host a Q&A after the film, which will be shown this Friday at 9:00 PM at Webster.

Also this season marks the return of Thursday night docs and the Celluloid Couch series.

You can view a full calendar at http://www.webster.edu/filmseries/current.html

Ever since we wrote about KWMU meteorologist Ben Abell’s retirement last week we’ve seen more coverage that (ahem) we just can’t rule out as a post of it’s own.  And thanks to our friends in public broadcasting we now know (among other things) that Ben likes to announce snow days that his replacement meteorologist Dave Murray has learned from Mr. Abell (in his own words) how to forecast from the gut instead of computer modeling.

On Wednesday May 2nd, the KWMU radio program St. Louis on the Air will be broadcasting a special interview with Ben Abell (which we alluded to in our previous post).  The show, which airs between 11am-Noon on weekdays, will give us one more chance to submit questions to Mr. Abell live on the air.  You could try sneaking one in now by e-mailing the show or by calling in while the show is being broadcast.  If you can’t hear the show over the air, there’s always the St. Louis on the Air podcast available to download.

If that’s not enough for your Ben Abell fix, there’s a very good interview by any measure (with our Ben Abell ”can’t rule it out” rulers of course) from his last day on NPR’s All Things Considered program.  Not to be left out, KSDK Channel 5’s Mike Roberts also aired a feature piece on Ben’s career.  And KWMU’s site keeps adding to its tribute page having added mp3 downloads of a special feature story and an old fundraising skit.  All of this is to say nothing of the Post-Dispatch’s op-ed tribute to Ben catch-phrases included.   The interest in this man myth meteorologist refuses to die down, so for now we just can’t rule out another update…