A GOOD PLACE TO PLAY DEAD
Say you’re a hotshot Hollywood
producer/director/writer/editor looking for a domestic set that can double
for Palermo, Italy. Obviously you’re gonna head straight for
Springfield, right?
You are if you’re seeking to depict the
embalming of a body as it was done a century ago. Springfield’s
Museum of Funeral Customs (possibly the city’s most underappreciated
museum), stood in for the home and laboratory of Dr. Alfredo Salafia, a chemistry
professor who gained fame around the turn of the century for his fantastic
embalming techniques, for a National Geographic documentary on Salafia.
The local museum provided the set and actors to
re-create the preparation and funeral of Salafia’s most famous
client, a 2-year-old girl named Rosalia
Lombardo. Getting a toddler to play dead was
the trickiest part of the shoot. Local actor Rick
Falzone, playing Salafia, imitated Sesame
Street characters to get the little actress to feign sleep. “I talked
to her like Bert
and Ernie and
made the snoring sound the entire time she was in the box,” Falzone
says. “Turns out, she’s got a [Sing ‘n’ Snore]
Ernie doll. She really did a great job in the end.”
The documentary will air in early 2009.
A CUT ABOVE
Everything we really needed to know about life, art,
and journalism we learned as kindergarteners at Cap City Elementary School.
But our magnum opus, “Principal Waterston Has a Cold — and Eats
His Boogers,” wouldn’t have been possible without the necessary
accoutrements of crayons, glue sticks, glitter, and a presidents of the
United States pencil box (yeah, we were doing multimedia long before it was
en vogue), all
donated to the school by generous local citizens.
Understanding the kindheartedness of Springfield
residents, as well as the correlation between the success and growth of
students and the well-being of our community, the University of Spa &
Cosmetology Arts and the University of Spa & Massage Therapy will
conduct a Cut-a-Thon 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15.
The proceeds benefit Stuff the Bus, District
186’s annual school-supply donation drive. Haircuts cost $5.
Manicures, facials, and half-hour massages range from $5 to $10. From
Mohawks to mullets, patrons can get just about any cut they want, says
director of operations Jamie Kauffman — just “no elaborate hairstyles.”
Kaufman adds that the school hopes to make the Cut-a-Thon an annual event.
WHAT A WASH
Most people wouldn’t touch the city’s
dirty laundry with a 10-foot pole, but two central-Illinois companies went
head to head for the honor at Tuesday’s finance-committee meeting.
UniFirst Corp., based in Bloomington, offered a bid
that was $24,000 lower than that of its competitor ($211,324.50 for two
years), Springfield-based Aramark Uniform Services, and will provide its
services if they are approved by the council on Aug. 19. But Aramark
— which says it’s washed the city’s linens and uniforms
for 50 years — argues that UniFirst’s numbers aren’t
legit and that that company got an unfair advantage from the purchasing
office.
For some aldermen, such as Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson, the case was
open-and-shut: UniFirst turned in the lowest bid and appropriate samples,
so what’s the problem?
Others, like Ward 7 Ald. Debbie
Cimarossa, say the local company deserves a
second chance.
The aldermen will ask the purchasing office to come
clean next week before they make a final decision.
EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION,
RESISTANCE
After exposing Will
Reynolds to such “enhanced
interrogation” tactics as prolonged sleep deprivation, stress
positions, forced nakedness, and waterboarding, we finally got him to cough
up the names the next two Liberty Brew & View films — and a
little bit of blood.
Rendition, which explores
the inner turmoil of a CIA agent (portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal) over the existence
of U.S. government-run secret overseas detention and torture facilities,
will be featured at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19, at Capital City Bar &
Grill (3149 S. Dirksen Pkwy.). The Central Illinois ACLU will lead a
discussion after the film.
Showing in September, which also happens to be the
first anniversary of the monthly movie club, is Meeting Resistance, an account of the
U.S. occupation of Iraq from the perspective of eight insurgents.
This article appears in Aug 7-13, 2008.
