Freaks

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two of the 1960s' most memorable social movements, the hippie commune and the Jesus freaks, are alive and well in America, two religion researchers report.According to a new study on "The Evolution of Hippie Communal Spirituality," hundreds of hip-era communes survived the 1980s and continue to practice and preach a counterculture lifestyle."The Haight-Ashbury is thriving in Tennessee," says Timothy Miller, a professor of religious studies at the University of Kansas, one of hundreds of religion scholars who attended a joint meeting here of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature.

President Obama's re-election has caused right-wingers to become completely unhinged. They are purple-faced and apoplectic, convinced that an ignorant horde of government-dependent social leeches have destroyed traditional America and banished God from the country. The craziest comments came from certifiably loony celebrities. Gun-crazy rocker Ted Nugent tweeted that "Pimps whores and welfare brats and their soulless supporters hav (sic) a president to destroy America," while former "Saturday Night Live" goofball Victoria Jackson let loose a series of tweets, saying in part, "Thanks a lot, Christians, for not showing up. You disgust me ... In the Good vs. Evil battle, today Evil won. " Egomaniacal rich guy Donald Trump simply called for a revolution.

It used to be that whenever guitarist Bryan Harvey and drummer Johnny Hott got onstage, people would wonder where the rest of the group was. After all, the two were billed as a band -- House of Freaks, to be exact -- and most bands rounded out guitar and drums with bass or keyboards."

Tonight's episode, a two-hour slog through 12 YouTube acts, began with Nick Cannon apologizing for the show before it even got started. He made sure to note that Season Five's YouTube shows yielded Jackie Evancho, who ended up being the runner-up that year. The implicit message was, "Hey, these aren't just some bums from the Internet. " Oh, but they are totally bums from the Internet. Let's meet them before the majority of them go away forever, tomorrow night: Clint Carvalho & His Extreme Parrots: A schlubby guy who trained a cockatoo named Kitten to fly into the "AGT" studio from a building across the street.

Freaks, a film that so unnerved 1932 audiences that it was pulled from circulation after only a few weeks and was practically disowned by its studio, MGM, will be shown tomorrow night at the Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave., in the old Patterson Theatre. Directed by Tod Browning, hot off the mega-success of his previous year's Dracula, the film stars Harry Earles (whom Browning had worked with on both the silent and sound versions of The Unholy Three) as Hans, a circus midget performing in a traveling carnival, who falls in love with the conniving (and normal-sized)

Eight Legged Freaks is flimsy goofball entertainment. It's hard not to feel kind toward a giant-arachnid extravaganza in which the spiders chatter like cartoon chipmunks and the soundtrack features "Itsy-Bitsy Spider." But this cheerful homage to rampaging-mutant movies like Them! (1954) would be more amusing if it weren't so scattershot. The filmmakers are so busy adding half-good jokes that they neglect to build on the decent ones. Director Ellory Elkayem and his co-writer, Jesse Alexander, swiftly introduce their two main ingredients for a summer camp spectacular: a chemical spill outside the failed desert mining town of Prosperity, Ariz.

Sure, there's plenty of angst in high school, a fact that's been the centerpiece of some of TV's best dramas in recent years, from "My So-Called Life" to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."But there's also tremendous joy in high school, those special moments when even the simplest act of kindness can make your day, when a smile from a seemingly unattainable girl makes everything right with the world, when a word from a caring teacher can make problems seem suddenly solvable.Few television series capture that mix as well as "Freaks and Geeks," an hourlong drama premiering on NBC tonight that will certainly capture the heart of anyone who came of age in the late '70s and early '80s (it's set in 1980)

Jim Rose's "Freaks Like Me: Real, Raw and Dangerous" and "Freaks, Geeks and Strange Girls: Side Show Banners of the Great American Midway," a collection of essays. Both are new - "instant classic" is written all over them. Rose is the sideshow man for Generation X, his is an autobiography. The second has color plates, beautiful, high gloss reproductions that will knock your eyes out.MA - James Taylor, co-founder and publisher, Dolphin-Moon Press

Comics' monologues nightly have led To a gaggle of gags about Ted; But since he's repented, It's time they relented And reran their Quayle jokes instead. A greeting no chief of state seeks Except perhaps PLO freaks Is that wonderful way To start off the day -- An Arafat buss on both cheeks.

1996 Bogle Petite Sirah ($11).This California red is made for hard-core flavor freaks, not those with sensitive Euro-palates. It's an ultra-concentrated bombshell of a wine with intense blackberry, plum, wood smoke and chocolate flavors, as well as a "dusty" note reminiscent of the Napa Valley's Rutherford Bench cabernets (which it otherwise resembles not in the least). Unlike many petite sirahs, it's a supple wine that doesn't assault you with raging tannins. It will likely age well, but it's so appealing now there's no reason to bother keeping it.Pub Date: 3/08/98

The Woman's Industrial Exchange, famous for its tomato aspic and its no-nonsense waitresses, will reopen in November under the no-nonsense management of food truck owner Irene Smith, who says she is determined to honor the tearoom's traditions that Baltimore held so dear. "The tomato aspic is already on the menu," said Smith, "along with chicken salad. " Smith, who has made her culinary mark with her popular food truck, the Souper Freak, plans to open the day after Thanksgiving, and she hopes to ride the retail wave through Christmas.

With new food trucks rolling out every couple months, it can be hard to keep track of them all. Here are three of the more notable Baltimore food trucks, from burgers to soups. Chowhound Burger Wagon kooperschowhound.com Generally acknowledged as the pace-setter in Baltimore's food truck fleet, Chowhound started serving burgers on the go back in the fall of 2009. Veggie, beef, bison and turkey burgers are cooked on the spot and served alongside regular or sweet potato fries.

Surgery for a Thurmont boy who was speared by a stingray stinger while fishing on a North Carolina pier was postponed after his health declined, according to news reports. Quentin Tokar had been fishing with family and friends on August 16 when they caught a stingray, and a nearby fisherman asked to keep it. The man removed the barb, which flew through the air and struck the boy in the midsection and hit his liver. It worked its way inside with every breath. Quentin was scheduled to have surgery on Thursday, but his family physician told WJZ-TV that it was postponed.

For Jamie Myers, going to the Preakness and letting loose on the infield is a rite of passage, a youthful, bawdy tradition that, for better or worse, will always remind him of growing up in Baltimore. There are real photos and those just in his mind of the mind-boggling consumption, the young women lifting their T-shirts, the epic carousing. He remembers that time when he and his buddies showed up outside Pimlico at 6 a.m. with two cases of beer, but by the time the gates opened at 9, they'd already drained it. Though he's skipped it for a couple of years, the 34-year-old private school administrator will be back this weekend, hoping to find a taste of the wild Preakness of legend — even though race officials, fearing embarrassment and liability, have tamed the modern infield by barring spectators from bringing in drinks.

The injury that knocked out the Houston Texans' leading tackler, Zac Diles, was freakish indeed. Diles was running downfield on a punt coverage drill this week when his left leg snapped. There was no contact involved. The surgery to repair the break to the tibia requires a rod, and Diles is obviously out for the season. Players said they actually heard the break when it happened. ( For more, go to baltimoresun.com/ordine)

For those who want to celebrate All Saint's Day in July, Hellboy II: The Golden Army spills over with goblins, trolls and elves like a Halloween horn of plenty. Guillermo del Toro designs this follow-up to his 2004 Hellboy as a war between the magical and fearsome creatures who roamed J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth and C.S. Lewis' Narnia and a handful of agents from the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, including the burly red demon Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and the female human torch Liz Sherman (Selma Blair)

Grab-bag movie parodies have been bonanzas ever since that slapstick disaster epic Airplane! in 1980. Yet few have matched that film's nonstop hilarity until this week's Walk Hard, starring John C. Reilly as fictional rock-'n'-roller Dewey Cox in an unbuttoned burlesque of musical biopics like Walk the Line. "No woman ever walks into these movies unless the hero is going to make her a mistress or marry her," says the producer and co-writer, Judd Apatow, "because no one can enter a scene in this kind of movie who isn't essential to the story."

THE LOW END THEORYA Tribe Called Quest (Jive) Last year, A Tribe Called Quest helped quell rap's long-held lust for lyrical brutality and rhythmic ferocity. Slow and ambient, their hip-hop style (along with De La Soul's), helped forge a more spacey, contemplative approach to the form. So give 'em a nod for originality, but before their album is through, one is more inclined simply to nod off. With repeated listenings, their easygoing sound verges on the narcoleptic. The problem continues this time around, though here the group has done well in one area.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Jockey Kent Desormeaux never had a clue about what was coming yesterday afternoon. His horse, Big Brown, was eager in the saddling area, almost fresh with the saddle pony before being loaded into the gate and had plenty of run going into the first turn. "I thought when I got outside those horses going into the first turn, I said, `That's it, the race is over, I got it.' Fortunately, there's no popped tires. He's just out of gas. "About the five-eighths pole, I was keeping an eye on the horse in front and I thought, `OK, let's engage and let's at least keep him honest,' and I was done.

Freaks, a film that so unnerved 1932 audiences that it was pulled from circulation after only a few weeks and was practically disowned by its studio, MGM, will be shown tomorrow night at the Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave., in the old Patterson Theatre. Directed by Tod Browning, hot off the mega-success of his previous year's Dracula, the film stars Harry Earles (whom Browning had worked with on both the silent and sound versions of The Unholy Three) as Hans, a circus midget performing in a traveling carnival, who falls in love with the conniving (and normal-sized)