BOOKS AND FOOD
Raking Through Books – Writing About Food
If you pay close attention to The Rake online, you’ll have already noticed the addition of at least one new voice in the vintage and victuals arena. Ann Bauer’s new wine blog, Beyond the Cask, is just one small piece of a much larger project at The Rake. Beginning with the July issues, you’ll see a new and improved food, wine, and dining section both in print and online. Eaters’ Digest brings together Rake writers Stephanie March and Oliver Nicholson with two well-known names in local food writing — Ann Bauer and Jeremy Iggers. Tonight you have a rare opportunity to get to know them both as they team up to talk food, restaurants, writing, and media mega-changes. Get the first glimpse of this dynamic duo in action, along with a taste of their books (20% off at the University of Minnesota Bookstore).
5:30-7 p.m., Kieran’s Irish Pub, 330 2nd Ave. S., Minneapolis; free ($2 parking with Kieran’s voucher at Downtown Auto Park, 4th and Marquette).
BOOKS AND AUTHORS
A Journey Beyond Normal
Less food and decadence; more realism? Follow Jonathan Mooney’s journey on the short bus. Don’t be confused; this is no magic bus, my friends. Mooney took the notion of the short bus rider — a derogatory term used for kids in special eduction — and turned it into a vehicle of triumph over conformity and discrimination. Once called “unteachable” and labeled “dyslexic and profoundly learning disabled with attention and behavior problems,” Mooney was himself a short bus rider. Many years later, he set out on a four-month journey over 35,000 miles in search of others who have come up with insightful ways to overcome the obstacles that separate them from the so-called normal world. In The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal, Mooney describes the people he meets along the way — an eight-year-old deaf and blind girl who likes to curse out her teachers in sign language, the proud owner of the Museum of Wonder, and other people with learning disabilities who share a refreshing irreverence toward social constructs of normalcy. In true anti-hobgobblin fashion, The Short Bus offers an On the Road-style celebration of difference. Despite his disabilities, Mooney lashed back at his alienation by graduating from Brown University with an honors degree in English. A recipient of the Truman Fellowship for graduate study in the field of learning disabilites and special education, he is also the co-author of Learning Outside the Lines.
7:30 p.m., Magers And Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-822-4611.
BOOKS by Brad Zellar
Mere Anarchy
It’s been twenty-five years since a new collection of Woody Allen’s short humor appeared in print. You’re welcome to argue this point until you’re blue in the face, but he hasn’t made a truly great — or at least consistently funny — film in almost as long. It’s easy, then, to forget how truly fresh and funny Allen once was. The material in his early collections (and in his best films) was marked by his trademark neuroses as well as by an ability to blend high and low culture with often inspired and hilarious results. Allen’s work occasionally pops up in The New Yorker (where many of the pieces in Mere Anarchy originally appeared), and while there’s a palpable strain in some of the more uneven selections, the man is still capable of being very funny, very smart, and hyper-literate, often within the same paragraph.
Due in bookstores today, $21.95.
FILM
Infestation and Slaughter — two local wonders
I don’t know what it is about seeing a movie outdoors that just makes it that much better. The darkness is more real perhaps? You tell me. Experience the darkness of the Edison High School amphitheater — a little music as the sun drops, followed by a movie at dusk. Tonight’s show begins with powerpop-rockers the Infestations and finishes off with a film adaptation of the Kurt Vonnegut favorite, Slaughterhouse Five. Discover the world of Vonnegut’s novel through Pilgrim’s eyes as he becomes unstuck in time and experiences his life in a seemingly random order. Apparently, some of the scenes were even shot here in Minnesota. (Thanks to Max for relieving me of some ignorance.)
8 p.m., Edison High School amphitheater, 22nd Ave. N.E. and Quincy St. — opposite the soccer field, Minneapolis; 612-668-1300; free.
Quit Your Bitching, 48-Hours Is A Lot of Time
The Minneapolis/St. Paul 48 Hour Film Project wrapped up this past weekend, and it’s time for the screenings to begin. See what our local filmmakers can do with 48 hours, a selected genre, and a random prop and line of dialogue. Films will be screened at the Riverview Theater over the next three days, and the Audience Award Favorites (voted on by the viewers) will screen at IFP’s Cinema Lounge next Wednesday. Max, over at MNSpeak was kind enough to offer links to previous years’ selections, both nationally and locally.
7 & 9:15 p.m., Riverview Theater, 3800 42nd Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-729-7369; $2 ($3 tomorrow and Thursday).
ART AND LECTURE
A City Sleeps
Enjoy a night of photography and lecture at Gallery 13. The Minnesota Center for Photography will be presenting an artist-led slide lecture and talk with Chris Faust and Joan Rothfuss. Faust will present selections from his new book, Nocturnes, a collection of more than 70 tritone photographs representing our world in the nighttime hours. The slide show will be followed by a conversation with writer, art historian, and former Walker Art Center curator, Joan Rothfuss, a question and answer session, and a book signing. Stick around after the presentation for a reception and exhibit closing.
7 p.m., Gallery 13, 302 13th Ave. N.E., Minneapolis; 651-592-5503; $5 (free for MCP and MIA Photography Council members).
Leave a Reply