The Maryland Film Festival programmer on film marathons, his unlikely alter ego, and frat boys with cameras.
As he gears up for the May 5-8 film-a-palooza, MFF director of programming Eric Hatch rubs his weary eyes, steps away from the screening room, and submits himself to The Baltimore Grill.
What book or film most changed your life?Reading Crime and Punishment in high school made me want to be a writer, the '90s rereleases of The Conformist and Le Samourai suggested that film might take over, and...
Baltimore was William Donald Schaefer’s one true love—and we loved him right back.
On one of his earliest days as mayor of Baltimore, William Donald Schaefer marched into City Hall and offered cheerful greetings to the veteran WJZ-TV reporter George Baumann.
"You're looking well today, George," said Schaefer.
"So are you, Mr. Mayor," said Baumann.
"Nope, nope. No, I don't," said Schaefer. "My head's too big, and I walk like a duck."
Well, he was a kind of odd duck, wasn't he?...
Ramona Diaz looked through the lens as Filipino teachers learned the ABC’s of Baltimore’s public schools.
Documentary filmmaker Ramona Diaz has always loved looking through a lens. "In high school, I had a camera at all times and was the photo editor of my yearbook," she says. "Even then, I loved the documentary sensibility. Friends would say, 'Can you just take a nice posed picture of us smiling?' I'd say, 'I don't want that picture.' I love vérité. I have always been after those moments that tell...
As the final new episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show airs this month, Oprah Winfrey, her friends, and colleagues look back at her years in the city that launched her into the stratosphere.
In 1976, when Baltimore's WJZ-TV decided to expand its six o'clock news format to an hour, the station couldn't have possibly known that it was about to make history.
At the time, the news was anchored by Jerry Turner, arguably the most beloved broadcaster in Baltimore. But the one-hour format was deemed too long for a single person to handle, so then-news director Gary Elion conducted an...
Navigating life in a Canton row house when babies make six.
There we were—the hubby and me—in the sonogram room at our obstetrician’s office waiting to see that little eight-week-old blob that would be our baby in 32 short weeks. The tech kept looking at the screen and moving the wand around my goopy belly. Finally, she uttered the words you never want to hear—especially from your sonographer—“How are you with surprises?”
Let’s take a pregnant...
Under Armour’s Kevin Plank has his mind set on winning the Triple Crown. Smart money shouldn’t bet against him.
Six horses come barreling around the rail at Churchill Downs, a cacophony of thundering hooves and screaming fans providing the soundtrack to one of the most astonishing finishes in recent horse racing history.
At the 16th pole, Shared Account surges from the inside into the lead. She’s carrying famed jockey Edgar Prado and odds longer than the lunchtime line at Faidley’s. But there’s even...
The Incredibly True Adventures of the Baltimore Bachelorette
My dating life has a lot in common with Taco Bell. Yes, I said Taco Bell. (Work with me here. . . .)
You know how you read all those stories about how Taco Bell supposedly doesn't use real beef in its food and you think, "How gross, I am so never going to eat there again?" But then 3 a.m. rolls around, you've had a few drinks, and suddenly that chalupa starts to seem a whole lot more appealing. I...
A veteran cop faces his toughest opponent: City Hall.
The Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 in Hampden is part clubhouse, part HR office. In one room, officers go over paperwork regarding leave time and benefits. In the next, a neon police car hangs over a bar where off-duty cops swig beer and watch SportsCenter.
Upstairs, FOP president Bob Cherry toils in a busy but tidy office. A Norman Rockwell poster that shows a kind cop stooping...
Duff Goldman’s right-hand woman has a new role at the bakery as her boss heads west.
On a dreary day in late February, Mary Alice Yeskey attends her first Charm City Cakes staff meeting since going on maternity leave. When she officially returns to work this spring (with two-month-old son Spencer in tow), her new office will be in the former equipment storeroom for Ace of Cakes, the Food Network reality show that was filmed at the Remington bakery.
Now that the show has ended its...
The news anchor on her fear of bridges, doggie desk droppings, and her BFF Deborah Weiner.
WBAL’s Lisa Robinson, one of the hardest working women in news, shares some of the spiky wit and wisdom that gets her through the day.
What book or film most changed your life?I cannot stop reflecting on the book I just finished called Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill. He got his master’s in writing from Johns Hopkins. They taught him well. It’s inspired by the Book of Negroes, which...
