December 22nd, 2011 issue #1051

December 22nd, 2011

This is our special Year-in-Review "double" issue. There's no issue next Thursday. Publishing resumes on Thursday, January 5.

  • Unclouded: Sabato predicts for 2012

    Political pundit and Crystal Ball-meister Larry Sabato is the go-to guy in an election year, but as much as the Hook tried to lure him into some early prognosticating, Sabato likens any predictions at this point to flipping coins. He did give us some dish about the 2012 election, but where we really got the dirt was about fireplaces in pavilions on the Lawn– and whether the world will end.

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  • Year in music: Avett Brothers twice, Lucinda Williams, and the Civil Wars

    Despite its small size, Charlottesville has long held its well-deserved reputation as a music town. For its size and scope, the sheer amount of musical talent that resides (and stops through) town is unrivaled, and 2011 saw a rejuvenation of all that made Cville a haven for musicians and music fans, as fresh talent broke out onto the scene, while big names making waves across the world dropped in to enjoy Central Virginia audiences. In these photographs and capsule reviews, we look back at an excellent year.

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  • Year in review: The best and worst of 2011

    December 22, 2011 Since the Hook started doing a year-in-review issue 10 years ago, we've always wanted to say that this is the best year ever: The economy is on a roll, employers are hiring as fast as they can, partisanship is passé, elected officials value compromise to make our country a better place to live, people feel optimistic about their future, and that of their kids. Alas, that would not be 2011.

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4Better Or Worse

  • The week in review

    Biggest breakthrough in water wars: The city and county reach an agreement on how they'll split the costs of the mega-dam at Ragged Mountain Natural Area and the nine-mile-...

Editor's Note

  • Double issue now: No issue next Thursday

    As we've done for ten years, the Hook produces a special, glossy-covered double issue at the end of the year, and you have it in your hands! However... a double dose this w...

The Dish

  • Hungry for stories: The 2011 food round-up

    The past year was a rough one economically, but that didn't stop some brave souls from opening up restaurants and eateries. We counted 28 new places that opened this past y...

Essays

  • My minute with Hitch

    I got word this morning, December 16, that the most iconoclastic journalist of his time, Christopher Hitchens, died yesterday. I thought you might like to hear of my one in...

Question of the Week

Real Estate - $old

Real Estate - On the Block

Real Estate Property auctions

  • Property auctions

    December 28 at 9am at the Albemarle Courthouse Property: 216 Barnsdale Road Debtor: Gloria R. Allen Original amount owing: $166,500 Bidder brings: $10,000 Info: Nectar Proj...

Art Features

  • Art-a-licious '11

    In 2011, the art world continued to quake in fear at the effects of economic climate change, leading to extended show runs and shuttered gallery doors. Charlottesville, how...

DR. HooK

Movie Reviews

News

The Brazen Careerist

Strange But True

Online only

  • Autumn light rocks

    A Hook photographer was out (along with other light-savvy photographers) on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 23, the day before Thanksgiving, when the afternoon light s...

  • On top of the pyre

    Six boys celebrate on top of a burning brush pile at an undisclosed location in Western Albemarle.

  • Table of contents

    COVER Year in reviewIf 2012 is where it all ends, as some fear, at least we can say our last year here on earth wasn't boring! From Occupy movements to natural disasters, m...

  • Under wraps: VMFA has bodies in the basement

    A small pewter lion reclines on my desk. It’s a souvenir from the British Museum’s traveling exhibition, “The Treasures of Tutankhamun,” which sparked Egypt-o-mania...

Letters

  • Essayist misunderstood Occupy and its fingers

    I don’t mind criticism of the Occupy movement except when it is based on misrepresentations of the sort in the essay ["Great people? Steve Jobs, the Occupy movement, and ...

  • Thanks for disinfecting the Biscuit

    Thanks for the reporting on Biscuit Run shenanigans. [November 10 cover story: "The flip that flopped: Biscuit Run men want $20 million more from taxpayers"]. I sincerely a...

Black and White

  • Magnolia grandiflora

    I visited the Rotunda to see the doomed magnolias that have occupied the gardens flanking that structure for a century. The fate of the trees appears sealed.~Commentator Bi...

Cultural preview


Full Stories List for December 22nd, 2011 issue #1051

Art Features

4Better Or Worse

Black and White

Question of the Week

Real Estate Property auctions