Review Fix’s Top Ten Features/Profiles of 2011

If you come to this site everyday, you know we’re so much more than a review website. Our writers travel all over the place to find interesting people and things to write about. Here is our list of the best pieces we’ve written/produced this year that aren’t “reviews.”

10: Brooklyn Aviators Live Together and Win Together: It’s not exactly an entertainment story, but there’s something thoroughly entertaining about a bunch of minor league hockey players living in the same house and trying to make their dreams come true.

To check out the piece, click here.

9: Morgan James: A fresh face on Broadway, we expect to hear big things from her in the future. This piece was also special because it was one of the site’s first thoroughly produced video features.

To check out the piece, click here.

8: Liat Ron Has Guts: Ron has been many things in her life. She’s been an actress, a dancer and a teacher. However, she’s also something of a private investigator. No, she won’t be able to help you locate your long-lost birth parents. She probably won’t be able to confirm if your husband is cheating on you with his secretary, either. Make no mistake, however. For much of her life, Ron has been trying to solve one of man’s greatest mysteries; investigating the most private of matters: “who am I?”

To check out the piece, click here.

7: Raves Prove “It Gets Better”: In 1995, 21-year-old Robert Rave was in New York City, hundreds of miles away from his home in suburban Illinois. He needed to talk to his mother. Rather than call or email, he decided to write her a letter – one that would change their lives forever. Rave told his mother he was gay.

“I still cringe when I read that letter,” he said. “I had to do it that way though. It was too emotional a topic for me to speak about. I wanted to make sure I got everything out.”

The letter became a springboard to “Conversations and Cosmopolitans: Awkward Moments, Mixed Drinks, and How a Mother and Son Finally Shared Who They Really Are,” a book written by both Rave and his mother Jane, that chronicles their journey after the letter was written.

To check out the piece, click here.

6: Off-Off Broadway on No Budget: An amusement park, a storage facility and a dollar store are all within walking distance of the Block Institute on a near desolate stretch of space on Bay 44 street and Shore Parkway in Brooklyn. It’s the last place you’d expect to see an Off-Off Broadway performance. Nevertheless, “The Block” is the home of the Genesis Repertory, a theatre company focused on the development of classical theatre in Brooklyn. The company performed “Romeo and Juliet” last spring and just finished a run of “Guys and Dolls” this month.

With less grants and smaller budgets, it’s never been more difficult to put on a production in New York City. This is a problem that many independent theatre companies face today. Genesis is different however. They do it all without a dime in their expense account.

To check out the piece, click here.

5: George Santiago: The Wrestler: George Santiago always wanted to be a professional wrestler. As a kid, every week, he’d scurry to his brown fluffy couch of the living room from his home in Borough Park, Brooklyn and watch the Monday night wars. His 42-inch television often acted up and often absorbed Ric Flair-esque chops to maintain a decent picture. He dreamed that one day, after a strong whack of course, that the TV would show him, crystal clearly, flexing his biceps as thousands of fans cheered his name.

To check out the piece, click here.

4: Sons of Anarchy’s Theo Rossi: It started as a brief conversation with a stranger on a Manhattan train. This conversation would unveil itself to be the catalyst to a whole new path for a man, now quite recognizable as the tattooed, yet troubled character, “Juice,” on the show, “Sons of Anarchy.” For Theo Rossi, success has allowed him to not only dedicate himself to his craft, but also demonstrate a love and respect for not only fans of the show, but for people who he considers true heroes.

Thanks to a few good conversations, a few life experiences and a few good friends willing to jump in feet first with him, the 36-year-old has not only made his way across the US to pursue his loves, he has made his way around the world on an ongoing mission to appreciate and recognize those he admires.

To check out the piece, click here.

3: Earl Gray, Master of Kung Fu Kintae: To Earl Gray, absolutely nothing is sacred.

“I’ve learned to make everything as funny as possible,” says Gray. “I see humor in everything. I think every situation, even the most tragic situation, has some humor in it.”

There is evidence enough of this sentiment within his racy, one-man-show Youtube production under the username “BrushLimbaux.” It’s steeped to the gills with political incorrectness, video games, hate speech and pop-culture references. It looks like PaRappa the Rapper, if the “punches” and “kicks” of the 1996 video game were actual punches and kicks—and PaRappa wore a Bob Marley shirt—and fought against people named Soul Glo-bot and Hadiq N. Uranus.

To check out the piece, click here.

2: Video Game Company Founded and Thriving in the Village: As a video game designer, East Village-native Dave Gilbert creates brand new worlds, full of weird and interesting characters.
He prefers to keep them on his doorstep.

The founder of Wadjet Eye Games, Gilbert and his wife Janet, earn a living making games based on their neighborhood.

You write what you know,” David said.

To check out the piece, click here.

1: Susan-Kate Heaney-Kelly and Her Mops: While this article wasn’t written on the site, as it was picked up by the New York Daily News, it was a bi-product of Editor-In-Chief Patrick Hickey Jr’s belief in Heaney-Kelly’s uniqueness and talent. It also proves that our writing is good enough to land in a major newspaper.

To check out the piece, click here.