A Working Journalist's no-frills blog featuring my stories about people, their passions, and their magnificent obsessions.
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A South Omaha Best-Kept Secret: American GI Forum Mexican Restaurant
Published on 2012-02-10 07:06:26
The unpretentious, homey American GI Forum restaurant at 2002 N Street is a Tex-Mex bargain whose popular specials make this a busy joint. But unless you're a South Omahan or get tipped off to the place by someone, this best-kept-secret is likely to remain unknown outside its loyal following. After all, it has no website or Facebook page. You won't find ads for it anywhere. It's low profile is a shame, not because it starves for business – quite the opposite is true. But proceeds from this no
Payne Delivers Another Screen Gem with ‘The Descendants’and Further Enhances His Cinema Standing
Published on 2012-02-09 23:10:24
Until The Descendants opened to golden reviews last fall, seven years elapsed between feature films for its celebrated writer-director Alexander Payne. The Omaha native and Creighton Prep grad came of age as a film buff here. He made his first three features (Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt) in his hometown, each moving him up the ranks of elite moviemakers. His surprise 2004 hit, Sideways, took him to Southern California's wine country. The combination road-buddy picture and unconventio
SkyVu Entertainment Pushes ‘Battle Bears’Brand to Sky’s-the-Limit Vision of Mobile Games, TV, Film, Toys, Etc.
Published on 2012-02-09 15:20:31
With Battle Bears reaching 14 million downloads and counting, maker SkyVu Entertainment is a Player in the mobile games world. "We created an entertainment distribution platform through not something like Facebook or Twitter but something like a brand. We like to see ourselves as the Pixar of mobile games. A mini-Disney," says Ben Vu, co-founder of SkyVu with his brother Hoa. The transmedia company, which launched here rather than Asia thanks to Nebraska Angels support, has designs on making
Joan Micklin Silver’s Classic ‘Hester Street’Included in National Film Registry
Published on 2012-02-08 19:36:47
Long before Kathryn Bigelow struck a blow for women filmmakers by capturing the Best Director Oscar, Omaha native Joan Micklin Silver made her own Hollywood inroads as a feminist cinema pioneer. With her 1975 directorial debut Hester Street she joined a mere handful of women directors then. Just completing the film and getting it released was a major feat. The low budget, black-and-white independent told a period Jewish immigrant story partly in Yiddish with English subtitles. "With great e
Nick and Brook Hudson, Their YP Match Made in Heaven Yields a Bevy of Creative-Cultural-Style Results – from Omaha Fashion Week to La Fleur Academy to Masstige Beauty and Beyond
Published on 2012-02-04 12:32:10
As fabulous Omaha young professional couples go, Brook and Nick Hudson are stars. The former Brook Matthews won the 2004 Miss Nebraska crown. The Blair native and University of Arkansas graduate completed her MBA in 2010 at Creighton University, where she's marketing director in the College of Business. She was honored as the school’s graduate woman of the year and the Omaha Jaycees have named her an Outstanding Young Omahan. She volunteers with the American Heart Association, the Omaha YMCA
Nancy Bounds, A Timeless Arbiter of Fashion Beauty, Glamour, Poise
Published on 2012-02-04 10:24:27
For 40 years, Nancy Bounds was Omaha’s saucy arbiter and symbol for good looks and social graces. The owner of a string of modeling/finishing schools bearing her name, she applied her tastemaker’s role as television host, magazine columnist, pageant director and self-improvement guru. This former model, singer, dancer and actress best embodied her own beauty ethos. Whatever the gala, she was always the stylish, well-turned-out fashion plate looking like she was poured into her haute-couture
Omaha Fashion Past
Published on 2012-02-04 08:49:10
Just as fashion is of the times, so is the infrastructure supporting it, which is why the Omaha fashion scene once looked quite different. It used to be fashionistas frequented multi-story fine department or apparel stores. Attentive customer service ruled the day. The same way boutiques do, box stores employed a fashion arbiter to select the latest seasonal looks in men's and women's clothing and accessories from the major American and European fashion centers. The area's penultimate arbiter
The Mastercraft Revival: A Building Dedicated to Craftsmanship Finds New Life as a Creatives Den
Published on 2012-02-02 11:34:32
Mastercraft has joined Saddle Creek Records, Slowdown, Film Streams, Hot Shops and Creighton University as North Downtown anchors turning a once forlorn urban terrain into a vital creative class corridor. Since its flex-spaces opened two years ago the renovated Mastercraft Building, 1111 North 13th Street, has become home to 20 mostly creative-based small businesses. For decades the three-block long, circa 1941 structure housed the Mastercraft Furniture manufacturing company. The loft-style mod
House of Loom Weaves a New Cultural-Social Dynamic for Omaha
Published on 2012-02-02 11:01:26
For a startup bar, House of Loom at 1012 South 10th St. is generating mucho buzz. The reasons for its popularity are as eclectic as the place and the young creatives behind it. Start with the name. It's both a brand and a social theory that co-owner and music director Brent Crampton, a DJ by trade, conceived with business partner Jay Kline. Five years ago they launched loom, with a small l, as a roaming multicultural dance party aimed at getting people who normally don't mix to meet, experience
Omaha Film Festival Celebrates Seven Years of Growing the Local Film Culture
Published on 2012-02-01 07:43:32
The Omaha Film Festival has become a go-to staple on the local culture scene for its premiere screenings, top-notch panels and special events In 2005 three filmmakers frustrated by the metro's sparse independent cinema offerings took matters in their own hands to launch the Omaha Film Festival. As the March 7-11, 2012 event approached, the founders expressed satisfaction at having made it this far and growing the area's film culture. It's expected OFF will screen as many as 90 films from dozen