Gary Kamiya at Salon has as thorough an indictment and theory for how all levels of the mainstream American press screwed up after 9/11 and before the invasion of Iraq. It’s a long-ish read, but both cogent and provocative. The mainstream press — your local newspaper, the local TV news and all the national outlets … Read more
The upside to every one of these Don Imus-style broadcast faux pas is the “national dialogue” we get for a few days afterward. Everyone reports and weighs in, usually expressing dismay at the blunder and/or condemnation at the commonplace nature of this kind of stuff. It’ll disappear with the next Anna Nicole DNA report, but … Read more
THEATER AND PERFORMANCE Talk about Dark Humor Tonight is the opening — or rather, re-opening — of Jeune Lune’s Figaro. If you didn’t see it last time around, don’t miss it. And if you did see it last time around, you already know — don’t miss it. First presented in 2003, Jeune Lune’s Figaro is … Read more
I have been thinking, talking and looking at alot of Audis lately. Not too long ago someone mentioned on The Road Rake that Audis were pieces of crap (no need for literary flourish here). This is true. The early model A6s with the 2.8 liter engine were prone to electrical gremlins and leaks. Today, however, … Read more
Goodness gracious, as my mother would say. Goodness fucking gracious. What the hell can you say about a ballgame like that? Well… It only counts as one. It’s still early. Tomorrow’s another day. It’s a long season. It’s a marathon not a sprint. The sun ain’t gonna shine on the same dog’s ass every day. … Read more
THEATER AND PERFORMANCE High Art Meets Low Art Who would have thought that The Simpsons and Shakespeare would ever come together? You really have to see it to believe it. MacHomer, written and performed by Rick Miller, is a one-man show featuring over 50 voices from TV’s favorite dysfunctional family, the Simpsons, in a comedic … Read more
Regular Season Game #77, Home Game #38: Toronto 111, Minnesota 100 1. The Kids Are Alright, Part 729 For a variety of reasons I wasn’t able to make it to the Target Center until 4 minutes were left in the third period tonight and the Wolves were up four. Since there was no television coverage, … Read more
The horror. It’s always a dozen different kinds of bad omen when Big Sid takes the hill. We all knew going in there was no way in hell the ball club was going to get through this day without incurring casualties. Thing was, though, was that there was really no way any of us could … Read more
I’d like to hope there is something precedent-setting in CBS Radio and MSNBC suspending veteran talk jock Don Imus for two weeks … (with or without pay, I’m not sure.) What with the current administration’s 3-to-2 advantage on the FCC we’ve sat through three fairly ridiculous years since Janet Jackson’s “boobgate” at the 2004 Super … Read more
Saturday afternoon I was approached outside my house by a down-on-his-luck character who told me he was trying to buy a used car over on Pillsbury Avenue and had found himself fifty bucks short. He’d taken the bus from St. Paul to look at this car, he explained. He’d just gotten a job in Maplewood … Read more