You're Getting Warmer

by Bill McKibben

I remember so well the final morning hours of the Kyoto conference. The negotiations had gone on long past their scheduled evening close, and the convention-center management was frantic—a trade show for children’s clothing was about to begin, and every corner of the vast hall still was littered with the carcasses of the sleeping diplomats who had gathered in Japan to draw up a first-ever global treaty to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. But when word finally came that an agreement had been reached, people roused themselves with real enthusiasm—lots of backslapping and hugs.

Chill Out

by R.V. Scheide

Ten years after the Kyoto Protocol first was introduced, the question remains: What can be done about global warming? For the 175 countries that have ratified it so far, the treaty goes into effect next year. While participants from the developing world have agreed to reduce anthropomorphic greenhouse gases by more than half of their total output, the majority of the nations covered by the treaty are under no obligation to actually reduce emissions, and the world’s three largest polluters—the United States, China and India—aren’t participating in the protocol.

Thank you for visiting the homes of the Columbus Park neighborhood, communing with the residents, and meeting to discuss the Peace Bridge Expansion Project. But while we have, again and again, made our position clear, we’ve yet to hear the same from you. When pressed, you stated you want the “process to move forward.” Further, you see yourself in the role of “shepherd.” If you are a shepherd, who is your flock?

by Chuck Shepherd

■ Software engineers told Fortune magazine in November that they are constructing a filter to eliminate stupid messages to online forums and bulletin boards. Lead researcher Gabriel Ortiz said his team had compiled a database of idiotic comments and that the new software would detect unintelligible remarks and either alert the writer to fix them or divert the message to the recipient’s “junk mail.” Easy dumb messages to filter: those with the tacky, immature repetition of a closing consonant, e.g., “That thing is amazinggggg!!!” More difficult: how to treat sarcasm and irony, in that smart writers sometimes deliberately use dumb statements to mock other writers.

Indian Blood

by Anthony Chase

The title may not evoke Christmas trees and visions of sugar plums, but A.R. Gurney’s Indian Blood is a loving Christmas story, set in Buffalo of the 1940s. This is Norman Rockwell in a snow globe. The title refers to 16-year-old Eddie’s belief that his adolescent rebelliousness is due to a Native American ancestor, hidden in his family’s past.

by George Sax

Vincent Gallo Superstar

by Donny Kutzbach

There are not a lot of real artists these days but Vincent Gallo certainly deserves a place among the few.

Ariel Dorfman in Buffalo

by Anthony Chase

Ariel Dorfman, the Chilean novelist, playwright, essayist, journalist and human rights advocate, will speak in Asbury Hall at Babeville, 341 Delaware Avenue, this Friday, December 7 at 8pm, as part of the Just Buffalo Literary Center’s Babel series.

Guts, Guns, and Gusto

by Aaron Lowinger

In the last five years no community institution has been more important to Poetry City’s poetry scene than Rust Belt Books, the used bookstore at the corner of Allen Street and Elmwood Avenue. On any given night of the week, there’s a good chance that somebody is in the back room of the bookstore reading poems from behind the bug-carved podium with an audience numbering anywhere from five to 50 souls. For readings it is something of a public poetry living room: inviting, unassuming and familiar. And it is for these reasons the space remains in high demand for publication launches, reading series, experimental theatre, film screenings and other community arts events. Fitting to Buffalo’s charm, it revels in its nonofficial-arts-center status rather than whining about a lack of funding or attention. Fitting to Buffalo’s big-heartedness, it fosters community as family, not community as demographics or market base. The spirit of the place is warm, even when the store is not. The books are special and replenish often. The environment is cultivated and tended to by Kristianne Meal, who, with a lot of heart and guts, runs the store like a literary drop-in center. She’s a poet, too. And her poems have guts, guns and gusto. She will be reading with Albany poet Matthew Klane this month in the Just Buffalo Small Press Reading Series on December 13.

Beautiful Food

by Patricia Watson

There is a new Italian restaurant in Buffalo. Its name is Bel Cibo (pronounced chee-bo), which means “beautiful food.” Located in the block of Elmwood near Bidwell where Burger King no longer reigns, Bel Cibo has brought life to a building filled with happy memories. Remembered yet in its original incarnation, the Elmwood Soda Bar, in later years the building housed Bistro Vite, known for its small and pricy sandwiches; Sofra’s, one of the area’s rare ventures into Turkish cuisine; and an upscale bistro. The building has sat forlornly empty for years, but today the block is undergoing a renaissance, and restaurateur Martin Palame, also owner of Mode at Elmwood and Utica, is part of its rebirth.

by Rob Brezsny

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): A man in Santiago, Chile won $250,000 in a contest held by his bank. There was only one catch: In accepting the money, Mario Habit had to abide by the bank’s stipulation that he spend all of his winnings in one day. Summoning a manically relaxed concentration, he succeeded, paying off his substantial debts while also buying two cars and three apartments. I believe a comparable opportunity is about to come your way, Sagittarius. You will be offered a new resource or blessing that has to be used quickly in order for it to be fully available and effective.

About two years ago, my girlfriend borrowed my car for the evening. When she came out of the restaurant she was at with friends downtown, she found that the car had been sideswiped while parked on the street. No note, no witnesses. The damage was pretty bad and expensive, but thankfully my insurance paid for it. A month ago she confessed that’s not what happened at all. She was drunk and she hit a parked car on the way home. She made up the story so I wouldn’t get angry, so she wouldn’t get in trouble and so that insurance would cover the damage.