Acting Up in Class

Actor/director Lee Kitts has taught acting since 1987 in California, Oregon, Hawaii and Kentucky and has recently relocated to Albuquerque. Kitts will be teaching a series titled “Acting Technique 1” early next year. The 10-week course starts on Jan. 14 and is now enrolling adults of all skills and levels. Classes will take place in the afternoon or evening (call for schedule) and will run three hours per week. Total cost is $295 with a $100 deposit to enroll. Kitts’ class is decribed as “an in-depth, step-by-step approach for the beginning student or the experienced actor, which translates to authentic, organic behavior for stage and film with focus in the following areas: Acting as action, focus outside the self, clarity and specificity of intention, theatre ethics/ensemble.” For more information, call 872-2349.

Sweeping romantic drama has nothing to apologize for

Atonement presents viewers with the kind of sweeping romance and epic storytelling that hasn’t been seen since the likes of Reds or Doctor Zhivago or Gone with the Wind. (Yes, I consciously left The English Patient off that list--it’s highly overrated.) Admittedly, that’s a mighty bold statement to make. It’s not merely a reflection on the film’s quality, which is impeccable, but a description of the classic cinematic style for which Atonement is reaching. So many modern Hollywood love stories are obsessed with the petty and the miniscule (mistaken identities, ridiculous lies and other formulaic contrivances). When lunkheaded dirty jokes like The Heartbreak Kid pass for romance, we’re in serious need of some old-fashioned affairs of the heart.

Sam Cullman

Corn-based documentary unearths America’s No. 1 crop

Corn: It’s everywhere, though most of us probably don't realize it. During the past 30 years, the New World plant has become absolutely pervasive in the United States, turning up in everything from soda to meat to jokes (just joking), and contributing to cheap foods that have negative effects on our health. Hence, the documentary King Corn. Without calls to action or divisive language, this artistic little piece of investigative journalism explores the hand-in-hand transformation of corn and the American food supply.

Anime: Drawing a Revolution on Starz

Is it possible you’ve lived for the past seven years amid the wreckage of post-20th-century pop culture and you still don’t know what the hell anime is? Well, if that’s the case, Starz is coming to your rescue with Anime: Drawing a Revolution, a documentary primer on this wacky new thing called Japanese animation.

Week in Sloth

The Week in Sloth