Monthly Archives: December, 2011
More Sweet Treats: Dunkin Donuts’ Iced Coffee Day [Almost Freebies]
We seem to recall Dunkin Donuts just giving us free iced coffee last year, but whatever… This year, it costs $0.50, and a whole $0.05 of the purchase price goes to Homes For Our Troops. As for the other $0.45, gotta cover costs in this economy, right?
In all seriousness, today is Dunkin Donuts’ Iced Coffee Day, and fifty cents for a 16oz iced coffee isn’t bad for a little pick-me-up in the middle of the day. We’re not sure why they decided to hold their promotion on the same day as Free Cone Day, the aforementioned national holiday, but they did… So we’ll have to fit both in. We were really excited when Dunkin Donuts came to town a few years back, and they now have five locations in the Nashville area where we can get our iced coffee fix.
Photo by The Consumerist.
We seem to recall Dunkin Donuts just giving us free iced coffee last year, but whatever… This year, it costs $0.50, and a whole $0.05 of the purchase price goes to Homes For Our Troops. As for the other $0.45, gotta cover costs in this economy, right? In all seriousness, today is Dunkin Donuts’ Iced [...]
Bright & Early: This Is Just A Drill Edition
Good morning, Nashville. Today is the day that the Nashville International Airport will be inciting mass panic by way of a “full-scale disaster exercise” involving a pretend plane crash complete with painted-up victims and emergency vehicles and helicopters and fake news crews and probably smoke bombs galore. Since this will be completely visible from both I-40 and Briley Parkway, they want to make sure you know that it’s just a drill. Since your Nashvillest editor may or may not have played the part of a fake victim in a previous “full-scale disaster exercise,” we can tell you that it’ll probably be quite the spectacle. And you know what that means, Nashvillest operatives: Grab us some pictures and dump them in the pool.
- The 1,600 GM layoffs we mentioned yesterday will definitely be affecting the Spring Hill plant, but we’re still not sure how much. We’ve got our fingers crossed for you, Spring Hill.
- A guy with a carry permit fired four shots out into White Bridge Road across from Target yesterday after a masked man tried to rob him in the parking lot. The suspect was fleeing the scene when the shots were fired and police determined that the shooter was within his rights.
- Bits & pieces. 175 more people have filed lawsuits against the TVA this week for the Kingston ash spill, which the TVA hopes to have dismissed by the feds … Speaking of, here’s a really interesting photo essay about life after the spill … UT spent a few thousand dollars to fly some folks out to Jimmy Naifeh’s infamous Coon Supper and people are angry … The Tennessee House approved a bill that would allow people with permits to carry guns in public parks.
Photo by Rob Young.
Good morning, Nashville. Today is the day that the Nashville International Airport will be inciting mass panic by way of a “full-scale disaster exercise” involving a pretend plane crash complete with painted-up victims and emergency vehicles and helicopters and fake news crews and probably smoke bombs galore. Since this will be completely visible from both [...]
Best Tuesday Ever: Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day [Freebies]
What better way to brighten up a Tuesday than a free ice cream cone from Ben & Jerry’s? Hint: There really isn’t a better way.
Ben & Jerry’s annual Free Cone Day is here, and each of our local shops will be participating from noon to 8pm by dishing out a free scoop of your choosing. Don’t be intimidated by long lines – Our past experience is that Ben & Jerry’s knows what they’re doing, and they’ll have you in and out again in no time.
There’s a Ben & Jerry’s on Main St. in Franklin, and there’s also one on 21st in the Midtown/Vanderbilt area.
Free Cone Day is practically a national holiday by now, and we think we should have the day off work so that we can observe it… But that’s another story.
Photo by nataliej.
What better way to brighten up a Tuesday than a free ice cream cone from Ben & Jerry’s? Hint: There really isn’t a better way. Ben & Jerry’s annual Free Cone Day is here, and each of our local shops will be participating from noon to 8pm by dishing out a free scoop of your [...]
Happy Hour: For The Love
- Hope everyone loves Al Gore because we’ll soon have a Giant Al Gore Statue outside of the state capitol building. Good news is, at least it’s not Elvis and we’re not paying for it. [Post Politics]
- Lipscomb University just opened a center for alumni and unemployed professionals to help them navigate the job market, network, and hear about job opportunities. [WKRN]
- University of Tennessee accidentally overstated their donations by, oh, $6.4 million. State auditors attribute it to accounting errors and lack of oversite. No kidding! [WZTV]
- Coach, Soma Intimates, and Pacific Sunwear (SO five years ago) are coming to the Cool Springs Galleria between May 20th and the end of the year. [Tennessean]
- We’ll be out and about judging the Road to Bonnaroo 8 Off 8th showdown at Mercy Lounge tonight, so come out, cast your votes, and say hey! And hey, it’s free! [Nashville Feed]
Photo by stephenyeargin.
Hope everyone loves Al Gore because we’ll soon have a Giant Al Gore Statue outside of the state capitol building. Good news is, at least it’s not Elvis and we’re not paying for it. [Post Politics] Lipscomb University just opened a center for alumni and unemployed professionals to help them navigate the job market, network, [...]
Nashville Film Festival 2009: 500 Days Of Summer Review [Guest Posts]
Editor’s note: Guest blogger Winston Hearn eschews labeling himself because he’s a dabbler in many trades and an expert in none. When pressed, he’ll admit to being a video editor by day and aspiring filmmaker by dream. He likes road trips, great brews, and finding new ways to make his wife laugh. You can find him on Twitter or occasionally on his blog.
When a romantic relationship begins it can be hard to define; there are a litany of titles and terms to describe burgeoning relationships. What do the terms “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” even mean, and since when is commitment wrapped up in a label? This is one of the many questions subtly examined in Marc Webb’s debut feature 500 Days of Summer, which stars Zooey Deschanel (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, All the Real Girls) as Summer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (10 Things I Hate About You, Brick) as Tom.
The film, in its light-hearted and whimsical style, is concerned with what exactly love is in modern times. Both of the main characters come from homes with divorced parents, but Tom believes in true love and finding “the one” while Summer does not believe that love exists. The story examines the 500 days that Summer is in Tom’s life, from the moment he first sees her on. It is told in a non-linear fashion that cleverly reveals the shape and development of their relationship.
Editor’s note: Guest blogger Winston Hearn eschews labeling himself because he’s a dabbler in many trades and an expert in none. When pressed, he’ll admit to being a video editor by day and aspiring filmmaker by dream. He likes road trips, great brews, and finding new ways to make his wife laugh. You can find [...]
Nashville Staples: Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack Review [Guest Posts]
Editor’s note: Guest blogger Jon Arnold is a loyal contributor to Nashvillest, and has reviewed concerts and coffee for us in the past. You can find him on the web at Fruit Tree Music. Thanks, Jon!
I’m sitting at my desk at work with a strange mix of emotions: indigestion, a little mouth pain, but with an overwhelming sense of contentment and a warm, full feeling. This all makes sense when I say that my stomach sits full to the brim with none other than Prince’s Hot Chicken.
Earlier today several of my coworkers piled into a couple of cars and, with me, made the trek to the heart of East Nashville for some uncomfortable comfort food. We arrived outside of Prince’s right at noon, and were already tenth in line for the lunch rush (keep in mind Prince’s only has 5 tables, so this is a packed house!).
After a long but steady line, we order our food. I get a Medium heat dark quarter (leg and thigh), for an amazing $4. No wonder people come here every day! I get a side of potato salad and fries, plus a drink (and a cup for water, just in case).
Everyone else in the group orders similar plates and we cram the six of us into one of the small booths built for four. We watch those around us get served these gigantic and beautiful cuts of chicken; as the kitchen crew calls out each ticket number, we get more and more antsy. I liken it to a similarly heart-pounding experience: standing in line for a roller coaster and watching those in front of you shoot off into oblivion as you step forward for your place in line.
Each of us finally gets our number called and we crowd our plates onto our table. The chicken is steaming, and my Medium is visibly caked with cayenne and other spices. I dive right in and experience one of the best pieces of fried chicken in my entire life. The chicken is moist, flavorful, and the heat. Oh, the heat. It’s just heavenly; it just burns and burns, making each bite more tolerable than the one before.
As we dig in deeper, we realize something: the bread underneath the chicken is soaking up the wonderful spice, the pickles are covered in it, and we naturally start making little hot sandwiches out of the meat. Incredible. The bread feels hotter than the chicken itself, and we’re all relieved to have ordered starchy cold side items to quench the fire.
We destroy the meal. I’m sucking on bones, this chicken is so good. I can’t say it enough: this is literally a life-changing experience. We finish the meal, wash our hands three times to prevent accidentally burning an eye out or something, and pack the cars back up.
On the ride back, the coma begins to set in. We’re all tired and take notice of how the once dreary and overcast weather now feels cool and wonderful. My tongue is a little burned, more from the temperature of the chicken and the fries than the actual heat of the spice. My stomach is doing somersaults and isn’t quite sure of what’s happening to it.
Now I know what the hype is all about; Prince’s is really one of the gems in Nashville’s food scene. It’s not pretentious, it’s not expensive, it’s not fancy — it’s just awesome. Period. And it’s addictive. I’m already plotting another visit… Maybe tonight. They stay open until 4am most nights, so you never know.
Click here to check out out this excellent documentary about Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack and learn how it was founded on a womanizer and his wife’s revenge.
Editor’s note: Guest blogger Jon Arnold is a loyal contributor to Nashvillest, and has reviewed concerts and coffee for us in the past. You can find him on the web at Fruit Tree Music. Thanks, Jon!
Photo by cgrantham.
Editor’s note: Guest blogger Jon Arnold is a loyal contributor to Nashvillest, and has reviewed concerts and coffee for us in the past. You can find him on the web at Fruit Tree Music. Thanks, Jon! I’m sitting at my desk at work with a strange mix of emotions: indigestion, a little mouth pain, but [...]
Reasons To Be Unhappy [Mixed Reviews By People Who Don't Live Here]
Tennessee ranks 15th in the nation for children born to unmarried parents, which may have something to do with us having the 6th/9th highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation. Just maybe.
We also are the state with the 10th highest number of completed foreclosures [via Post Business]. After all that, no wonder we’re the 10th Most Unhappy State.
But take heart, because Tennessee has the lowest debt per capita of any state, and we have SPIN Magazine’s 8th Best Independent Record Store… Two sure reasons to smile.
Photo by pbo31.
Tennessee ranks 15th in the nation for children born to unmarried parents, which may have something to do with us having the 6th/9th highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation. Just maybe. We also are the state with the 10th highest number of completed foreclosures [via Post Business]. After all that, no wonder we’re the [...]
Bright & Early: Like A Freight Train Edition
Good morning, Nashville. We were pleasantly surprised when we woke up this morning and realized we’d made it through the weekend. While we were off frolicking at the film festival and throwing Wayne Coyne around in a giant hamster ball, some Vanderbilt students braved the rain to build a new playgroud for the kiddos at Murrell School. You may remember reading about these guys back in February, and with the help of about $20K in donations and 250 volunteers, they finished up the project this weekend. A few months ago while tutoring at Murrell, they noticed that the playground was pretty gross and unsafe. So now it’s not!
- Summer work program. The state is trying to help our younger disadvantaged Tennesseans find summer jobs with some of the state agencies. If you or someone you know is interested, the deadline is May 15 and you can call 1-800-255-5872 for more info.
- GM layoffs. As GM gets closer and closer to filing for Chapter 11, they’re saying that 1,600 people will be laid off over the next few days. No word on how this will affect the Spring Hill plant yet.
- Bits & pieces. The TVA finally asked the feds to dismiss all the lawsuits over the Kingston ash spill … Meanwhile, they say that 2011 is too soon to expect them to clean up their coal plants … $2 million and a lot of renovations later, you may like what you see at the Farmer’s Market.
Photo by winnith!.
Good morning, Nashville. We were pleasantly surprised when we woke up this morning and realized we’d made it through the weekend. While we were off frolicking at the film festival and throwing Wayne Coyne around in a giant hamster ball, some Vanderbilt students braved the rain to build a new playgroud for the kiddos at [...]
Nashville Film Festival 2009: Beyond Opening Weekend
We’ve survived Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the Nashville Film Festival, heavy-hitting days packed full of premieres, red carpet events, Q&A sessions and afterparties. So what’s next? Most of the films have already premiered, which leaves their repeat screenings over the next five days. There are several great reasons to be really excited about not catching the first showing of a film – Namely, it will be less crowded, and there’s a giant audience of pre-screeners out there ready to tell you if you’re about to waste your time and money. We can’t claim to be film experts, but from what we’ve seen and heard so far in the first three days, these are our picks for Sunday through Thursday. All tickets can be purchased online or at the box office, but we STRONGLY recommend advance purchase.
SUNDAY
That Evening Sun. 12:15pm. Academy Award nominee Hal Holbrook carries this film at age 84, as an aging farmer who refuses to go down without a fight. That Evening Sun received rave reviews at SXSW this year, and its Eastern Tennessee setting makes it feel like home. [more...]
Sita Sings The Blues. 12:30pm. A delightful animated Hindu story with an equally-delightful soundtrack. And even more delightful, the Creative Commons license that animator Nina Paley has slapped on it, allowing anyone to take the film and share it with friends. [more...]
Noble Things. 2:45pm. So “Nashville” that it hurts, Noble Things tells the story of a country artist struggling to “make it in the biz,” a tale that we’ve seen play out off the screen more times than we’d like to count. Michael Parks (of Kill Bill and Grindhouse fame) stars alongside Ryan Hurst, Brett Moses, Dominique Swain, Lee Ann Womack and Tracy Byrd. [more...]
House of Numbers. 5:00pm; also showing Thursday at 1pm. From the hands of a young Nashville filmmaker, House of Numbers promises to provide a look at the AIDS & HIV epidemic that most will never have access to. [more...]
Films Without Borders: Experimental Shorts. 9:00pm. One can rarely go wrong with a collection of short films, each brief segment of the screening offering something completely different from the next. This particularly interesting-sounding collection features seven shorts from several different countries.
MONDAY
Prodigal Sons. 1:15pm. As indicated by the standing ovation it received at the first screening on Saturday, Prodigal Sons is a powerfully raw and painfully realistic look at families and relationships. [more...]
The Other Side Of The Lens. 3:30pm. Salt Lake City television anchor Reed Cowan directs this autobiographical piece documenting the tragic loss of his 4-year-old son, and follows him as he wrestles with being on “the other side of the lens.” [more...]
Big River Man. 8:30pm; Also showing Tuesday, 5:30pm. Big River Man documents the feats of Marin Strel, a quirky Slovenian swimmer with some incredible accomplishments to his name. Strel is known for downing two bottles of wine a day, and if that gives any indication of the personality of this movie, we don’t want to miss it.
Crossing Borders – Shorts. 9:45pm. With a very self-explanatory title, this collection of short films addresses the ins and outs of immigration, and well, “crossing borders.”
TUESDAY
Pressure Cooker. 1pm. Follow a group of students enrolled in a Careers Through Culinary Arts program at their inner-city high school in Philadelphia, and see a side of competitive cooking that you won’t get from Bobby Flay. [more...]
Prince Of Broadway. 1:15pm. Set in New York, Prince Of Broadway follows two men’s separate, yet intertwined lives. Both are immigrants who skirt around New York’s fashion black market, yet both are more than criminals, with complicated family situations. [more...]
Children Of Invention. 4:45pm. A 2009 Sundance selection, Children Of Invention is bound to be a tear-jerker, as we watch two young immigrant children left to care for themselves when their mother is unable to provide for them. [more...]
Tennessee Film Night 1 – Tennessee Treasures. 6:15pm. Four short documentaries, all with roots in Tennessee. Of notable interest is The Book Lady, a 20-minute documentary on Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
I’m Gonna Explode (Voy a explotar). 7:30pm. A Mexican film featured at the 2008 New York Film Festival, I’m Gonna Explode is a far cry from what you might expect of an American film featuring 15-year-olds in detention. [more...]
Tennessee Film Night 2: Shorts. 8:45pm. Another bunch of shorts, this time from several Tennessee filmmakers.
Any Day Now. 9:30pm; also showing Wednesday at 1pm. For any Nashvillian, Any Day Now is a must-see, following the Ten Out Of Tenn tour documentary-style as they travel the US, and the familiar faces on the big screen are guaranteed to fill you with pride.
WEDNESDAY
Crips & Bloods: Made In America. 6pm. The reality of LA gangs, documentary-style. Crips & Bloods hits some pretty difficult points, even attempting to solve the problems of gang culture. From an outsider’s perspective, Crips & Bloods is as fascinating as it is educational. [more...]
Family Ties: Shorts. 8pm. Nearly everyone can identify with family issues, and there’s really no better way to address it than to grab the bull by the horn and make a short film about it, right?
Big Man Japan. 10pm. The one constant review of Big Man Japan is that it’s weird. Really weird. And we’re usually willing to try something weird, especially when critics can’t stop singing its praise. So if you’re in the mood to try something weird, Big Man Japan is your best bet.
THURSDAY
Living In Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders. 3:45pm. A documentary on Doctors Without Borders volunteers that includes a native Nashvillian, Living In Emergency is an uncomfortably revealing look into the lives that these volunteers live every day. [more...]
We Live In Public. 6:30pm. If winning the 2009 Sundance Grand Jury Prize isn’t convincing enough, a brief glimpse at the synopsis of this film will have you waiting in line immediately. We Live In Public took 10 years to make, and focuses on the bizarre world of the internet, where 10 years can seem more like 100 years. [more...]
$5 Cover. 8:30pm. MTV’s $5 Cover from Craig Brewer, the director of Hustle & Flow, is actually a television show starring real-life young musicians from Memphis, scrounging to make something of themselves. The screening at the Nashville Film Festival features multiple excerpts from the show. [more...]
We’ve survived Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the Nashville Film Festival, heavy-hitting days packed full of premieres, red carpet events, Q&A sessions and afterparties. So what’s next? Most of the films have already premiered, which leaves their repeat screenings over the next five days. There are several great reasons to be really excited about not [...]
Tales From The Nashville Film Fest: How William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet Stole Our Hearts
On Friday night, your Nashvillest editors had the chance to spend the evening with William Shatner at the premiere for William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet–a documentary about, well, ballet and Shatner. Though we’re not the biggest ballet fans in the world, we do remember rocking out to Shatner’s Has Been record in the dorm room when it first came out in 2004 and we were pretty excited when we heard he’d be here in town for the Nashville Film Festival.
The premise for the film is pretty simple: Choreographer Margo Sappington created the ballet Common People set to six of the tracks from William Shatner’s spoken word album Has Been and had it performed by the Milwaukee Ballet. Directors Pat Buckley, Bobby Ciraldo, and Andrew Swant take viewers behind the scenes to figure out why Sappington chose this record as the backdrop for a ballet, how it all came together, and probably most interestingly, what drove Shatner to make such a weird record in the first place. A Ben Folds collaboration? A Pulp cover? An entire track of Shatner and Henry Rollins screaming at each other? With ballet? The explanation has to be good.
On Friday night, your Nashvillest editors had the chance to spend the evening with William Shatner at the premiere for William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet–a documentary about, well, ballet and Shatner. Though we’re not the biggest ballet fans in the world, we do remember rocking out to Shatner’s Has Been record in the dorm room when [...]
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