Be one of the first to catch a glimpse of the beautifully restored historic Foshay Tower, now operating as the W Hotel! Dust off your fringe dress and go garçonne at this gala affair to benefit the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota
featuring a Roaring ’20s theme in honor of the original 1929 opening
of the Tower. Hobnob with other glammed-up flappers and get a special
behind-the-scenes VIP tour of the W’s new digs while sippin’ upscale
hooch (no moonshine here) and nibbling fancy apps. Not sure how to do
the Charleston? No prob! The Swing Cats will be on hand to school you
in proper ’20s dance etiquette while Robert Bell’s Hot Swing Combo
featuring Maude Hixson plays on. Beef up on your Roaring Twenties lingo HERE and get some fittingly cute hair and makeup tips HERE.
You
know it, you love it, and you’ll totally be there. The Minnesota State
Fair is here again in all its "consume 300 grams of fat in 3 hours"
glory. No need to feel guilty, that’s what the Fair is here for! Well,
that, 3.2 beer, carnies
and mullet-counting. In other words, a rockin’ good time! This year
we’ve even got our own State Fair Correspondent, Miz Kathryn Savage!
Read Jill’s piece below and be sure to comment on the linked article about what you want to see us cover at the Fair this year!
The Rake‘s own local Olympian. A true athlete dedicated to
her calling. A hometown hero back at it again. Special oh-so-brave
correspondent Kathryn Savage will be making her rounds at the Minnesota State Fair. Graciously offering to spend more man-hours in attendance than you’d
ever want to, our gal-on-the-scene is primed to try just about
anything. Hotdish
on a stick, whatever. Porcupine wild rice meatballs? We can do better
than that. This year’s fair offerings include plum wine ice cream and
chocolate covered bacon. Now things are getting interesting. Propose
your wildest fair desires to Kathryn in our comments section HERE. She’ll not only take your suggestions, but
she’ll carry them out with a level of enthusiasm never before seen in
these here parts. – Jill Yablonski
Now through September 1st, 6am-Midnight, MN State Fair Grounds, St.Paul, $11 adults, $8 children
MUSIC Rift Magazine Issue Release Party
After a long hiatus, the local, independently published music rag, Rift Magazine
is back on its feet and hitting the ground running! Come celebrate Rift‘s triumphant return to the news stands tonight with a wild party
at the Hexagon Bar featuring the red-hotness of Tendercakes, electro rockers Solid Gold,
and a couple super-special surprise guests you definitely won’t
want to miss. This evening will be a veritable who’s who of the hipster
elite with magazine contributors, writers, artists, and musicians from
all corners of the city coming out to give props to the man himself, Rich Horton, editor and publisher of Rift, who, for many years has been working to ensure you know what’s happenin’ in the scene.
While you’re there, look for the birthday girl, local music writer
Robyn Lewis, who turns the big 3-0 today! Buy her a drink and she might
even listen to your band’s demo!
Saturday, 10pm, Hexagon Bar, 2600 27th Avenue S, Minneapolis, Free
COMEDY Laughing Liberally
Join some of the most clever and progressive comedians in America at the Ordway tonight for Laughing Liberally, a hilarious and politically-driven comedy show. Just in time for the RNC, Laughing Liberally will
help take the serious edge off the state of politics – at least for one
night – with talents such as Jim David, Julie Goldman, James Adomian,
Baratunde Thurston, Jamie Jackson and more. Make an evening of it with
a swanky and romantic meal at the nearby Saint Paul Grill in the Saint Paul Hotel, or go fun-n-cheap with a short jaunt down West 7th Street to the ever-popular Cosetta for a little pre-show chaos and a slice of pizza as big as your head.
Saturday, 8pm, The Ordway, 345 Washington Street, St. Paul, $35-$40
ART Important If True (Hootenanny in E)
The Chambers’ Burnet Gallery will be awash in multimedia and color tonight as it opens its latest exhibit Important If True (Hootenany in E).
Seven national artists take on the theme of politics (if ever so
abstractly) in the forms of photography, painting, neon, and video
installation. As always, the Burnet Gallery, while having an air of pretension, (with good wine served in actual stemware)
continually produces thoughtfully curated and eclectic shows packed with fantastic
contemporary art. After soaking up the scenery in the gallery, take a siesta in
the courtyard for awesome people watching and fancy cocktail
consumption. Exhibit runs through November 2nd.
Take in a healthy helping of beauty and grace this Sunday at Lake Harriet Bandshell. The enthralling La Danse Fatale Ballet Company of the Dance Arts Centre in Eden Prairie showcases an expressive and talented troupe of young dancers at this 5th Annual Summer Performance. House of Dreams weaves
the whimsical tale of a young girl traveling through a series of vivid
dreams, as told through dance. The company will also perform the tragic piece "Story of the Broken Heart" and their acclaimed
"Ukrainian Dance." Get there early, enjoy a picnic with the fam before the show, and bask in the summer sun while it lasts!
It’s all too rare that college presidents, a group often
collectively known as "The Man," are celebrated on college campuses. But today, MPR’s
college audience raised bottles of Boone’s
and boxes of refreshing
Franzia in a toast to the 114 college presidents, including Minnesota’s own
Jack Ohle – president of Gustavus Adolphus, who signed on to the Amethyst Initiative. The
initiative calls for a renewed debate on the legal drinking age and advocates dropping
the legal age to 18.
Of course, it’s a logical argument. Eighteen year olds can already
cast a vote for the future of our country. They can buy a gun and go off to war
where, if they’re lucky, they’ll have the opportunity to use high explosives to solve
vexing diplomatic problems. They can even buy a toxic slurry of flammable
carcinogens and stimulants without resorting to offering that hormonally gifted
kid in their English class who can grow facial hair "extra credit" behind the
dumpsters, in return for his assistance at SuperUSA.
And yet, upon heading off to college, they have to dangle
those same goodies in front of frat boys and McLovin wannabes,
though at this point they’ve become wise enough to realize that they don’t
actually have to give it up in order to get exactly what they want. It seems a
bizarre set of circumstances, to say the least.
Despite this three year safeguard against the judgment
impairing joy of alcohol, a culture of binge drinking still pervades college
campuses. So it’s unsurprising college presidents would be interested in
bringing drinking and drunken hook-ups off the futons, twin beds and bean bag
chairs of dorm rooms and run-down rental housing and into the relative safety
of licensed establishments complete with bouncers and bartenders happy to cut-off a drunken lush or
curb stomp the more obnoxious inebriates.
But despite the obvious risk management benefits of such an
initiative, not to mention addressing one of American society’s many
hypocrisies, it’s plain to see that these officials have not done their due
diligence on the true cost of raising the legal drinking age – the complete and
utter destruction of the modern college experience.
For what is college if not a place to furtively sneak
alcohol into dorm rooms and engage in frantic slurred shushing so as not to attract the
attention of the dread cyclopean RA? Whither stories of roommates piddling
in shoes and crapping in dresser drawers as their booze-addled senses
inform them that closets are bathrooms? How can the collegiate economy survive
if the fake ID industry collapses?
And most importantly – how will anyone get laid? Sure, those
precocious few in meaningful long-term relationships will still exchange sweet
nothings after engaging in futon-borne quickies between classes. But, as all
the world knows, the average college freshman male is an insipid creature,
capable neither of sustained conversation nor sustained coitus. To coax the
fabled coed into his lair requires enticement, generally in the form of
illicitly obtained alcoholic beverages. To lower the drinking age is to negate
the only weapon in the 18 year old male’s arsenal.
Do we really want to consign the future leaders of America to a
youth of sexual frustration and disappointment? To do so is to admit to ourselves
that yes, the terrorists, and possibly the Quakers, have won.
Drive down Eat Street – Nicollet Avenue – and you can see
the whole drama of restaurant existence in a block or two – life, death, and
sometimes renewal.
Last night, we headed out for dinner at one of my favorite
Chinese restaurants, Relax (a really unfortunate choice of name), and
discovered that Relax wasn’t relaxing, it was dead. (Sometimes, with the fish
and crabs in the restaurant’s live seafood tanks, it wasn’t easy to tell.)
The Relax signage was gone, replaced by signs for Pho Hoa
Vietnamese Noodle House, and a note in the door promising that the new
Vietnamese restaurant would be opening soon. Relax may be gone, but I will
treasure my memories of their Peking duck.
Just down the block,
empty storefronts house the mortal remains of two more favorite eateries –
Sinbad’s
Market and Café, and the Saigon Express, which used to serve terrific banh mi
sandwiches, steamed pork puns and assorted Vietnamese snacks and sweets. Rumor
had it that the building would be torn down to make way for a hotel, but I
haven’t noticed any progress on that front.
Across the street,
Vinh Loi, a Vietnamese BBQ and deli has a sign in its window saying that it is
"closed for remodeling" from August 17-31. "Closed for remodeling" is sometimes
a euphemism, but I am keeping my fingers crossed – Vinh Loi offers great banh
mi sandwiches (the roast pork is especially good), plus a nice assortment of
noodle soups and vegetarian fare.
But the best news from my recent tours of Eat Street is the
opening of another terrific little Vietnamese eatery – Hoang Thien Y Deli,
hidden away in the little strip mall at 2738 Nicollet – across the parking lot
from El Mariachi and Marissa’s Bakery.
The counter-top looked very familiar – the same rainbow display of
snacks and sweets that Saigon express used to offer: steamed rice and pork
wrapped in banana leaf, bright purple and neon green desserts of sticky rice,
slender egg rolls and packets of coconut rice, and all the ingredients for
making sandwiches, smoothies and che desserts. The face behind the counter
looked familiar, too – it was Chee, one of the women who had worked behind the
counter at the Saigon Express.
But Hoang Thien Y has some added features that Saigon
Express lacked, including half a dozen tables, and a much bigger menu, with a
big variety of rice plates, noodle soups, salads and more. Chee recommended a
durian smoothie – made from the notoriously stinky/ pungent/ sexy tropical
fruit ($3.50), and the Hanoi style pork, a plate piled high with rice noodles,
topped with succulent rolls of grilled marinated pork stuffed with onion,
accompanied by fresh herbs and marinated carrots, cucumber and radish, and a
pungent nuoc mam (fermented fish) dipping sauce – very light, and yet filling –
perfect summer fare. I can also recommend the bun rieu, a savory soup of rice
noodles, minced crab, tofu and tomatoes ($6.50).
And speaking of delis, I noticed as I was leaving the strip
mall that Marissa’s, across the street has added a cafeteria, offering a big
selection of authentic Mexican fare – I haven’t had a chance to check it out
yet, so if you get there before I do, drop me a line (iggers@rakemag.com) or post a comment below to let me how you
liked it.
ART The Rake’s Gallery Grooves For those of you who missed our bonus edition of Gallery Grooves earlier this month, here’s your chance to make it up to us! The Rake, KBEM Jazz 88 and Artisan Vineyards
join forces for yet another installment of our monthly art, jazz and
wine party – this time taking you on a foray into the world of graphic
design and typography at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. Face the Nation: How National Identity Shaped Modern Typeface Design 1900-1960, curated by University of St. Thomas art history professor Dr. Craig
Eliason, explores how politics and cultural transition helped shape modern typeface design. The exhibition includes a number of beautiful original prints, memorabilia from the printing trade, and free
commemorative keepsakes you can hand-print yourself! Enjoy the musical stylings of Wallace Hill with the Progressive Percussion Ensemble, sip some amazing wines, and chat it up with like-minded arty folks in one of the
most gorgeous spaces in the Twin Cities – which also just so happens to be my favorite spot to get wired on coffee and wi-fi multiple times a
week!
Join the super-hotness that is DJ St. Croix
for a special evening of funk, disco, soul, new wave and the unexpected,
tonight at King and I Thai. Accompanying St. Croix on the turntables
are his cohorts in art, the avant neo-dadaist artist collective Hardland/Heartland (whom I like to call the DIY Matthew Barneys
of Minneapolis), spinning their favorite tunes in the cool, cool
ambiance of the King and I. Max and relax with your pals while
indulging in cocktails carefully crafted with boozy infusions of thai
chili, lime, basil, and pineapple (not necessarily in that combination)
and enjoying the view – because on top of having stellar musical taste,
this crew is equally easy on the eyes! DJ St. Croix takes over the King
and I every third Thursday of the month, so mark your calendars, and
click HERE to download a free music mix ala Croix that will keep your last few weeks of summer soulfully sizzlin’!
10pm, King and I Thai, 1346 LaSalle Avenue, Minneapolis, Free
SPECIAL EVENT Smitten Kitten 5th Birthday
It seems like just yesterday Smitten Kitten
rolled into Uptown to sate the needs of the sexually challenged far and
wide. Minus the usual creepy sex shop stigma, the lady-focused Kitten
is still sexy and going strong after five successful years of liberating
closet perverts and educating lovers – and winning a string of "best
of" awards along the way. Help kick off this weekend-long celebration
of the Smitten Kitten’s sexiest milestone yet with, (what else?) Dildo Bingo at Pi Bar. Bust out those phallic bingo daubers and win yourself a shiny new "toy," then stick around for the Live! Nude! Drag! show,
a gender-bending burlesque experience you’ll definitely get a major kick out
of. The party continues all weekend with in-store events and an
additional party on Saturday night at Pi featuring director Tristan
Taormino screening clips from her new film. Hot!
7pm, Pi Bar, 2532 25th Avenue South, Minneapolis, free
“Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, ‘Because it is there.’ Well, space is there, and we’re going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God’s blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.”
-John F. Kennedy, Rice University, Sept. 12, 1962
ONE INTRIGUING OCCASIONAL AFTER-EFFECT OF ART is that it can, when conditions are right, be a means to break through the time-space continuum. Case in point: I was recently, upon seeing a recent work of local public art, transported back in time to the year 1962.
1962, at its lowest, was tense, tumultuous, and treacherous. It was, of course, a year of near nuclear oblivion, but it was also a year of massive military movements across the globe in places like Burma, the Dominican Republic, the Congo, and Indonesia; military buildups in East Germany and Vietnam; a military conflict between China and India; and violent civil conflicts in the South.
Despite this atmosphere of warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, or perhaps because of it, 1962 was also a year of great cultural highs. The Beatles released their first single in 1962. Andy Warhol painted his first Marilyn Monroes, Elvises, Campbell soup cans, and Coca Cola bottles, and the Sidney Janis Gallery mounted the first group exhibition of Pop artists (“The New Realists”). The Rolling Stones, James Bond, Andrei Tarkovsky (perhaps the best filmmaker no one’s ever heard of) all made their first appearance in 1962, and Lawrence of Arabia, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Manchurian Candidate became instant film classics — notable each for the innovative story-telling risks they took. And among the great and innovative books published in 1962 were A Clockwork Orange, The Man in the High Castle, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, A Wrinkle in Time, The Golden Notebook, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Pale Fire, Silent Spring, and Travels with Charley.
Two events in particular in 1962 had arguably the deepest, most lasting impact on the culture — at least for the decade or two that followed. This was when John Glenn and Scott Carpenter risked all to be the first Americans to orbit the earth. A resulting national frenzy for all things space culminated in September of 1962, when the president uttered his immortal pledge — “We choose to go to the Moon” — in a speech in Houston. Suddenly, kids of all ages were learning how to make junior cadet space helmets, buying Marx mystery space ships and toy rocket launchers, and, if they lived anywhere near Brackett Park in Minneapolis, climbing up a newly installed 30-foot rocket to take imaginary trips to the stars.
Thanks to art, the Brackett Rocket survives to this day — nearly a half-century later — reminding us of what 1962 was about. Though I’d seen last summer’s reports about the installation of the above work of public sculpture, called “Return Journey” and fabricated in 2007 by Randy Walker, it wasn’t until I saw it recently — passing by on my way to lunch at the Birchwood Café — that I realized the old rocket that once stood in Brackett Park, and that now survived thanks to Forecast Public Art, was similar to the one I had climbed on in the 1960s and 70s as a kid growing up in California. Originally installed in 1962, according to the Minneapolis Parks website, the Brackett Rocket was “a children’s climbing structure symbolic of the entrance of the United States into the ‘space race.’” The rocket was basically a semi-enclosed, upwardly built clubhouse-like structure, with a exterior comprised of a series of metal slats that bowed out gracefully with a kind of classic raygun-like convexity. This allowed children to frolic inside the rocket while still remaining visible to parents. Entry to the rocket was gained by climbing a ladder through a hole cut into a bottom circle of rigidized (RSS.3) sheet-metal. Once inside, a child could decide how much further to climb: into a second, even larger, stage; then into a third stage, wherein lay the rocket’s steering apparatus; and finally into the final stage, the rocket’s claustrophobic, but lofty, nose cone.
The joy of this particular piece of playground equipment — as I remember it from my own childhood playing at Victory Park in Pasadena, California — came not only because it allowed for imaginary star roaming, but because entering, and climbing, the rocket was, at least superficially, a risky act — much like the ones embraced by people like Glenn, Carpenter, Mallory, and Kennedy. You wanted to climb the rocket, because it was there, and it was the tallest thing you’d ever seen on any playground. There was particularly something frightening, exhilarating, perhaps even breathtaking, about attempting to visit the nose cone, mostly because of the height of the ascent, but also because of the likelihood that you’d bump into a kid much bigger and meaner than yourself who wanted the highest spot for himself. And there was also the fact that the thing was damn rickety. The see-through walls, the narrow ladders, the rough metal, the vertigo-inducing open walls — all implied an enter-at-your-own-risk kind of ethos that was a larger part of American life in the 1960s and 1970s.
"Please, dear God, don’t let me fuck up."
–Words spoken by Alan Shepard just before launch of the world’s second manned spaceflight mission; this has become known among aviators as “Shepard’s Prayer”
OVER TIME, THE EUPHORIC FRENZY of the 1962 American race-to-space subsided. Some space missions succeeded, and other space missions failed (some spectacularly), as did other missions. Perhaps affected by these failures, the culture grew, over time, subtly more risk-averse. In the late 1990s, safety concerns shuttered, at least partially, the rocket in Brackett Park. Stories circulated at the time that an influential local parent watched in terror as her daughter lodged her head in the rocket’s slat sidewalls. “I cringe when she goes in it,” another parent was quoted in 2004, regarding her own two-year-old daughter. “Aesthetically, it’s nice, but it’s not a safe piece of equipment.” Still, k
ids have a natural curiosity about danger that will ever go against parental risk-aversion — perhaps, in a vicious cycle, leading to ever more parental protectionism. As this story described, local kids loved the Brackett rocket up until the end despite parental fears: “Even on a chilly afternoon, it was worth the trip. From [a local boy’s] perch high above the park, the 10-year-old could grab a makeshift steering wheel and imagine soaring above the clouds… he had few complaints about the 42-year-old rocket.” But no matter; in 2004, the Brackett rocket was completely removed as part of park renovation efforts.
The Brackett rocket, having been built before an age of seatbelts, bike helmets, child safety seats, anti-bacterial soap, children-at-play signs, toy recalls, and anything else we can think to do to protect our children (short of locking them in a padded room), was doomed. Its age was one of risk-taking of the sort that won us the space race but that took a toll on the physical body. Back then, playgrounds looked like they’d been fabricated out of the spare parts of WW II battle cruisers, and they were nearly as dangerous to youthful fingers, knees, elbows, and wrists. The Brackett rocket eventually became victim to changing cultural values that worked to remove the danger, and fun, from the nation’s playgrounds.
The downward slide in playground design, which began in the 1980s, came about specifically from concerns about child fragility that had begun to affect trends in parenting and education. According to a 1989 story in the New York Times, parents were fixated that year on Consumer Safety Commission stats citing 15 deaths and 185,000 serious injuries on playgrounds across the U.S. With such parental watchdogs on the prowl, not only were Brackett-style rockets being examined as unsafe by well-meaning local park boards, but so were old-style jungle gyms and other climbing equipment, traditional monkey bar arrangements, swings, playground surfaces, merry-go-rounds, and any number of playground toys that had served several generations of happily banged-up kids. (Victory Park removed its rocket some time in the 1990s, while parks in other towns, such as Scott Carpenter’s home town of Boulder and the rough western outpost of Dallas, have been taking down their rockets in more recent years). Compounding the situation, playground equipment designers, concerned about increasing ligitiousness in the late 1980s, grew increasingly wary of innovating and exploring new ideas about play. Parents, perhaps due to overstressed, overscheduled lives — and worry about losing control over their children’s safety — began taking kids less often to playgrounds (even as they worked to diminish creative design of playgrounds), and schools began limiting playground time, even to the extreme of canceling recess altogether in some areas.
What’s most ironic, of course — and somewhat depressing — about this playgound protectionism and irrational fear is it occurred just as child-development experts were becoming, according the Times article, “increasingly vocal about the importance of imaginative outdoor play for children.” The playground, explained the experts, was an “arena for physical, mental and social challenge,” a place vital to children’s development. And, according to experts, the new safe and “uninspiring” play spaces were exactly what kids needed least. “Playgrounds,” said David Belfield, a playground design expert, “by their very nature need to be challenging and risky in order to attract children to go back again and keep trying. It is fine for kids to fall over! Government intervention and our nanny state is damaging our children’s development. This will have a lasting impact as they go through life. If we are not careful, we will become a completely risk averse country to the detriment of our growth and prosperity.”
Danger and risk-taking — especially in the relatively controlled, but unsupervised, atmosphere of the playground — is a crucial teacher of children. Putting oneself in (reasonable) harm’s way imparts to a child the importance of approaching risky problems with creativity and chutzpah and style. Again, according to the experts, “… today’s children are missing out on unsupervised play, a critical part of their mental and physical development. Incorporating risk is an important aspect of growing up. We develop from learning by our mistakes and pushing our boundaries and this has to start in childhood.” The fact is a few banged knees, twisted ankles, and split nails or jammed fingers may be among the best teachers we can have in life.
It is all too telling — and in many ways tragic — that, today, playgrounds look less like dangerous, war-surplus scrap metal than something from the back warehouses of IKEA: all designer polyvinyl and off-centric, trapezoidal, globalist shapes meant to nestle perfectly atop a polyfill, low-impact, modern play surfaces. These plastic pre-fab products of the Euro-designer’s imagination offer about as much opportunity for real imaginative play — and real danger — as, well, spending an afternoon stuck in IKEA.
Certainly, the Brackett rocket offered an important object-lesson to any kid who managed to mount the exalted, rarified nose cone: If you overcame your fears and dared to make the climb, then you were rewarded — especially if you lived to tell the tale without too much personal damage. I wonder if the same could be said today about a country too long pampered and protected, about privileged citizens living ever-cushier lifestyles, about politicians who fear administering any sort of necessary, but vote-draining, pills — have we simply grown afraid to face the numerous challenges of the future? Does anyone other than me wonder how John F. Kennedy might have suggested we deal with any of our sundry contemporary dilemmas: Unaffordable housing and health-care, a devaluing currency and ever-ballooning trade deficit, a looming energy crisis, rising ocean levels and increasing environmental stress, loss of industry and job, growing inflation, a widening divide between haves and have-nots, and on and on?
What’s great about this new incarnation of the Brackett rocket is that the sculpture has the power to evoke the spirit of a bygone era and point out every important difference between then and now. It hints at a better version of ourselves — the nation of risk-takers and achievers who made, despite the great dangers surrounding the country, “know how” and “can do” everyday expressions, and an everyday approach to living life.
Still, at the same time, “Return Journey” only hints at the former glory of the year it was erected. Mounted on a pole now, removed from its launch position on the ground, it does not allow us truly to go back to that time, just as it blocks any curious child from entering it. Today, outlined against the sky, frozen in mid-act of an impossible lift off, tethered with dozens of guy-wires — the sculpture is a tribute to a million risks taken by a hundred million kids through the years (who once climbed the rocket), but it’s also a mockery of our raging cultural trepidation and
mutual risk-avoidance. Thanks to artist’s anchoring of the structure — whether intentional or not — the Brackett rocket has become nothing more than an outdoor museum piece, removed from its past energy and potential and a sad commentary on our own contemporary cultural ineffectuality.
In the end, we can only marvel that in the much more dangerous year of 1962 the country’s citizens became united in ways that seem impossible now — its creativity focused on one project, its inspiration whetted by one young president enough to make the sacrifices (to the tune of between $20 and $25.4 billion in 1969 dollars in sum for the Apollo project, which amounts to approximately $135 billion in 2005 dollars) necessary to get the job done.
If only we could choose to go to the moon all over again…
Landmark Theatres (Uptown Theatre, Edina Cinema and Lagoon Cinema) does a wonderful job presenting series of short films. One ticket buys you several stories in a single package, a sort-of kid-in-a-candy-store vibe for devoted cinephiles. Paris, Je T’aime (coming soon in February 2009, the sequel New York, I Love You) and the collection of 2007 Academy Award nominated short films–both animated and live action–were all quite enjoyable theater experiences.
It’s amazing what filmmakers can do with a limited running time; shorts typically clock in anywhere from two minutes to forty. Some are hindered by the restrictions. Others thrive, telling stories free of filler like a well-cut steak without an ounce of fat. It’s an interesting viewing experience, and a great way for a filmmaker to sharpen his or her craft. After all, nearly every filmmaker’s early works are done in short story format. And if you’re a fan of film podcasts, check out The Hollywood Saloon’s episode titled "Early Works," a nearly four-hour program discussing some well-known filmmakers’ first films.
Some of my favorite film moments of the past few years have been shorts. The best segment in Paris, Je T’aime was Tom Tykwer’s (writer/director of the fantastic Run Lola Run) titled "Faubourg Saint-Deniss." This is the definition of pure cinema: using fast cuts, time-lapse photography and strong imagery to tell the story of an entire relationship between a man and woman–something that usually takes directors at least 90 minutes–in only five. It’s breathtaking to watch, and extremely creative. I enjoyed all five of the 2007 Oscar-nominated collection of animated shorts: most notably Josh Raskin’s I Met the Walrus, a brilliant combination of guerilla-style reporting/interviewing with inspired graphic-design elements; Suzie Templeton’s nostalgic stop-motion recreation of the beloved Sergei Prokofiev composition Peter & the Wolf (it won the Oscar) transported me back to my childhood in all the right ways; and Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s Madame Tutli-Putli is 17 minutes of pure brilliance, with the most impressive stop-motion animation I have ever seen. Their painstaking work creates an animated character so expressive I have to constantly remind myself she isn’t real. Madame Tutli-Putli is so transfixing, telling the story of a woman with literal and metaphorical baggage getting onto a train and confronting this baggage head-on as the film devolves in to a creepy, David Lynch-style descent in to hell.
The Lagoon Theatre is currently screening a new collection of animated shorts. Mike Judge’s (of Office Space and Beavis and Butthead fame) The Animation Show 4 is a mostly-enjoyable gathering of animators’ work from around the world. The best thing about Animation Show 4 is the pacing. If one short fails (which several do) it’s on to the next story within five to ten minutes.
According to the official website, The Animation Show was started as an annual feature-length theatrical compilation of short films from around the world, exclusively curated by Mike Judge and Academy Award-nominated animator Don Hertzfeldt (Billy’s Balloon, Rejected, The Meaning of Life).
The site states, "As animation continues to be plagued as the single most misunderstood film medium, the animated short film is sadly undervalued and underexposed in American cinema, despite widespread appreciation throughout the rest of the world. With luck, popular animated shorts may see limited theatrical play, but most are relegated to the dungeons of the internet, or with luck, DVD.
"The theatrical animation festival was born in 1976 with the launch of the Fantastic Animation Festival. This was the first show to create the now-universal "program on a flyer" and the first to receive a first-run 35mm theatrical release. The Fantastic Festival‘s popularity helped pave the way shortly thereafter for similar commercial programs throughout the 80s and 90s, including Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation, The Tournee of Animation, and several others that came and went with varying success.
"The Animation Show launched in 2003, making it the first festival of animation created and produced with actual animators at the helm. A sister series of high quality Animation Show DVDs now supplement the theatrical tour with additional insights and brand new lineups of films – while the main Show remains a unique and unforgettable annual program that is usually gone forever once it is out of theaters. Every year the Show works diligently to put animated shorts into more theaters than any festival in American history, giving these filmmakers the wide exposure their work deserves and sharing their short masterpieces on the big screen, where they belong."
While I agree with almost all of that sentiment, I do take issue with the offhand use of the word masterpiece. The good certainly outweigh the bad in this collection. However, several shorts cracked under the weight of mediocre, one-joke premises. The first episode of Yompi the Crotch-Biting Sloup featuring Corky Quakenbush (that has to be a made-up name) made me laugh; by the third episode I was annoyed. The name says it all. Yompi is a yellow, Gumby-styled character with what looks like a crown of shit on his head who, wait for it, bites unsuspecting people in the crotch. I initially embraced its low-brow aspirations, and giggled because the characters’ voices are hysterical in their Charlie Brown-esque mumble with a more high-pitched tinge. Nothing is added with each episode of Yompi rendering it completely unnecessary after the first. I had a similar reaction to Satoshi Tomioka’s Usavich.
Some of the repeating animators’ works were more hit-or-miss. I loved French production company Gobelins’ deranged and violent Blind Spot (written and directed by Johanna Bessiere, Cecile Dubois Herry, Simon Rouby, Nicolas Chauvelot, Olivier Clert, Yvon Jardel), about a holdup of a convenience store that goes horribly wrong and ends on a dark-as-midnight note. The other three entries from Gobelins–Voodoo, Cocotte Minute and Burning Safari–were just okay. Dave Carter’s Psychotown from Australia was amusing but tiresome as well.
My favorites in the program really stick out as great works. Stefan Mueller’s Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Hazen, Mr. Horlocker from Germany used a hybrid of live-action, 2D and computer animation to give life to the story of a cop going to an apartment complex to check on a noise complaint. The tale is told from several points of view, literally rewinding to bring us inside all the tenants’ apartments. It is very funny and twisted. Love Sport: Paintballing was like watching an Atari version of a paintball war which worked wonderfully. Jeu was a fascinating, expressionistic moving painting with a labyrinthine take on modern life.
Key Lime Pie by Trevor Jiminiz crafted a welcome mix of 40’s style black-and-white film noir, Night of the Hunter (the lead character has ‘love’ and ‘hate’ tattooed on his knuckles) and Edward Hopper paintings to tell the Homer Simpson-like story of a guy selling his soul for a piece of key lime pie. Other shorts I enjoyed included This Way Up, Hot Dog, Forgetfulness and John and Karen.
The crowning achievement in this program is Western Spaghetti by PES. This is two minutes of pure brilliance with Michel Gondry-inspired DIY effects. Think Science of Sleep but with cooking. The entire short is watching a disembodied hand as it prepares and cooks spaghetti. No rea
l food was used, though. Instead this incredibly talented and creative animator (or animators, it’s not made entirely clear) uses everyday household items to create the dish: a set of multi-colored pick-up sticks are the noodles, yarn as grated cheese, a red pin cushion is the tomato which is sliced up to make the sauce and chess pieces are salt and pepper shakers. Sounds pedestrian as hell, but this little short held the audience in awe more than any of the other stories (I heard several proclamations of "oh that’s so cool" coming from the audience). Go to PES’s website to see more incredible work.
So support this small group of animators. It makes for a different, fun movie-going experience, which we need more of at our cinemas. You won’t be disappointed, I venture, and you might see the beginnings of a future filmmaker who will wow us all with a full-length feature someday. You never know.
RainTini, the newest libation of choice among discerning literary Twin Citians. Not to be confused with any Sex in the City über-hip cocktail, the RainTini is but one of the attractions at tonight’s Rain Taxi 50th Issue Celebration. The big 5-0 party will be held at The Keg House, located in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. While there, you’ll also be able to check out local book distributor Consortium‘s new digs. Rain Taxi has long been heralded as a quarterly magazine "unabashedly dedicated to reviewing and commenting on the finest writing in America." For the past twelve plus years, Rain Taxi has garnered accolades from across the state and nationwide for its "feisty, determined, iconoclastic" ways and having "no university affiliation or corporate sugar daddy behind it." The quarterly has promoted authors who may not otherwise get a nod through its book festivals, reading series, and brainstorm collections. Visit the quarterly’s website to easily RSVP for tonight’s event which will include hors d’oeuvres, drinks, local music by Bill Mike and Dreamland Faces, plus a silent auction. Tip back a RainTini, bid on some killer art pieces, and feel good about supporting "the little lit-mag that could." -Jill Yablonski
5:30 to 8:30pm, The Keg House, 34 13th Ave. NE, Suite 101, Minneapolis, Suggested Donation $10
READINGS Lourdes Lozano Lauber: Summer Love in Bergen Norway
Author Lourdes Lozano Lauber takes us on a magical and descriptive journey to a beautiful land in her book Summer Love in Bergen Norway. As Lauber put it best, “The
beauty of Bergen, Norway is inescapable. Each summer,
waterfalls that in winter are cathedrals of ice melt to make mountain
passes lush. Cobblestones soften, the fjord welcomes swimmers. Skis and
snowshoes give way to bicycles on Mount Floien and Ulriken. The
sweetness of the summer permeates the air and when it shines, the sun
makes the world glisten.” A description like that is apt to inspire day
dreams of moving to Norway to take up some sort of storybook-esque
career like milk maid, shepard, or even mountain nymph. Tonight
Lourdes Lozano Lauber will wax poetic about her love for this alluring
little corner of the world at Magers & Quinn, and may even sign a
copy of the book for you if you’re nice. Afterwards, make a spicy
evening of it with dinner on the pretty-pretty patio at Amazing Thai, just a few storefronts down from M&Q!
Every other Wednesday, local cool cat Sean "Twinkie Jiggles" McPherson of Heiruspecs brings a fresh lineup of hip-hop, jazz and R&B musicians to the charmingly grungy Turf Club
in St. Paul. Kick back with a strong drink (signature to the Turf) and
soak of the sounds of Pungee, a troupe of Twin Cities playas of
high-repute featuring Bill Mike, Toby Marshall, Graham O’Brien and
Casey O’Brien. Stick around for hot hip-hoppers Eff’ed Up as well as
beats by resident record-spinner DJ Anton. And if the smokin’ music
lineup isn’t enough for you, there will also be a spirited "drunken Jenga" tournament – and who can argue with Jenga?
9pm, Turf Club, 1601 University Avenue, St. Paul, $4
District 6 is a bizarre creature. Stretching in a "C" around
the metro area from Stillwater all the way to St. Cloud, the district
encompasses a huge range of incomes, lifestyles, political philosophies, albeit
a rather narrow range of races – remaining 95 percent white according to census
data. One might assume this variety would mean the region would trend toward
moderation, but like a Coon Rapids-dweller wobbling his way to the F-150 after
bar close, the district has teetered between conservative and liberal
candidates in the last several elections.
For the last eight years, this electoral St. Vitus’ Dance has had a profoundly polarizing effect on Minnesota politics –
Michelle Bachmann. From her position as a Minnesota State Senator, she gave us
a glimpse of the legend that would soon beget the frothing hatred of the
liberally-minded, with vitriol, bile and impotent rage spewing forth across the internet, spilling on to the fabled YouTube and
dripping in a wholly unsavory way upon Larry
King’s already scabrous and soiled lap.
Now, as District 6’s representative in Congress, she’s
baffled many with her slavish devotion to the administration, even in its
declining years, not to mention made some question her sanity with questionable
interpretations of intelligence reports, crusade for freedom of choice in
lighting and firm conviction that Jesus
died for our carbon credits. So it should come as no surprise that she has
some serious opposition in the upcoming race for the District 6 congressional
seat in the form of former Minnesota Commissioner of Transportation Elwyn
Tinklenberg.
Tinklenberg, who also served as mayor of Blaine, consented
to speak with us about why the hell he was willing to risk the fires of Hades
by contesting Bachmann’s
divine right to a congressional seat, as well as what he plans to do in the
short time before he’s struck down for defying the Lord’s mandate if he wins.
The Rake: Why, after watching a better funded Patty
Wetterling lose the last election to Bachmann, did you decide to step in the
ring?
Tinklenberg: I think there are a number of
differences from that time to this time. The biggest one is that they now know
who Bachmann is. They know how she votes, how she behaves, what she says. And
all that is demonstrated, in a way that the last campaign wasn’t able to, how
out of touch she is with the values and concerns of the district.
For example, obviously from almost the beginning – her
embrace of the president at the State of the Union, her vote on the childrens’
health initiative, to her defense of the incandescent light bulb. Everything
that people have come to know about her has demonstrated that. She’s voted
against veterans’ benefits, the farm bill, funding for the bridge replacement
in Minneapolis. Every vote has demonstrated that.
The Rake:So why do people keep sending
her back if she’s so completely out of touch?
Tinklenberg: I don’t think the last campaign
succeeded in helping people understand who Michelle Bachmann was. I don’t think
the people of the district understood or knew that much about her. She built
her career on wedge issues and divisive partisan politics. I don’t think that
came out that well in the last campaign. Now on a broader scale they’ve seen
the stories and the votes. I think now it’s different, people are sitting back
and saying "That’s not what we bargained for." And Patty Wetterling won in
Bachmann’s home town. The more they knew about her, the less likely they were
to vote for her.
And I think the other part of this too is that I have some
experience in government, in the district, and with campaigning that are real
assets to my campaign. That helps as well. And the fact that I have the DFL and
independent party endorsements are reflective of the kind of support we have.
It’s her record, and my own, that give me an advantage over the last campaign.
The Rake: Are you
worried that the district demos lend themselves to those wedge issues being
important? Do folks in Anoka sit up at night scared to death of the looming
specter of man-donkey marriage?
Tinklenberg: As long as we leave those issues in a
kind of polarizing debate we’re not going to make any progress. There are other
issues the district is concerned about as well. Especially the economy and
what’s happening in the economy. We saw that when labor stats and employment
stats came out yesterday. Unemployment in Minnesota is at a 25 year high and people
are concerned about what’s going on in the economy and in their own lives. So
there are a lot of issues at play now that weren’t in campaigns of the last few
years. People are looking for solutions and help and a stop to the endless
partisan debate. That’s a huge advantage for what I bring to the campaign. My
experience has been as mayor and commissioner and I bring people together and
build coalitions. I think that’s what the voters are looking for.
Take a look at our records. In the last campaign, Bachmann
talked about things she proposed and introduced in the state legislature, but
what did she accomplish there. Or in the Congress? I can point to things that
we built. The National Sports Center. Light rail. I can point to things that
happened when I was working for Anoka County. I think that stands in pretty
sharp contrast to her record, or lack of it. She’s talked about a couple
issues, but really what has she gotten done that has created jobs or built a
better future for the Sixth District?
She hasn’t wanted to bring any federal dollars for
transportation projects and agriculture continues to be a huge issue. She voted
against the energy bill. What can she actually point to? She voted against the
GI bill and support for our veterans. For so long the Republicans talked about
accountability and results. How about some accountability from them? Look at
what the policies of the administration, which Bachmann supported, have done.
Look at the results. If there was ever a time to ask yourself if you’re better
off for the policies of the Bush administration and Michelle Bachmann, now is
the time.
The Rake: Whyare you drawing so much
less money than Bachmann? Maybe Bachmann’s god-fearing supporters are already
used to tithing?
Tinklenberg: We’re seeing this all over. The
presidential campaigns have sucked a lot of money out of the system, but we’re
seeing a lot of increase in fundraising recently. The DCCC put 19 Demo candidates on an emerging
races list. Last quarter we outraised all but four of the 19. Two of the four
only outraised us by a couple thousand dollars. And they were all in larger
states where the potential to raise money is greater. It’s an area we continue
to work hard on, and we need to keep pressing on. Patty Wetterling outraised
Bachmann significantly, but she lost. We need to have the funding, but also
need the other things to run a strong campaign. We are seeing more and more
reports that are calling this race competitive.
The Rake: District 6 is one of the fastest growing
districts in the state, and also home to more SUVs per capita than any other
area in the state – causing some growing pains due to the commutes. Got any
answers that don’t involve drilling in Alaska and riding dinosaurs to
work?
Tinklenberg: There are a bunch of things we need to
do. The energy bill that looked at improving CAFÉ standards; we need to
continue moving forward with that. Those standards didn’t increase for 30
years. We’re only achieving in our fleet average in 2025 what Europe is today.
We need to be more aggressive. There are things we can do
with transit. The Northstar corridor goes through the heart of the district,
and 82 percent approve of it. People there will spend less time on the roads as
a result. Providing alternatives like Northstar and bus rapid transit and
investing in our roads will mean less time wasted in traffic and on the roads.
And if we’re advancing research and development of biofuels, hybrids and
alternative fuel vehicles, plus increasing mileage of traditional vehicles, we
can ease the commutes for lots of people. And all of those things will help
bring down the price of oil. Just a 20 percent reduction of demand in June led
to a 50 cent drop in the price of gas. Reducing demand makes a huge impact.
Individual consumers have a significant role they can play. Everyone making
small changes can make a huge impact.
The Rake: How do you make that difference in
Congress when you’re not only just one guy, but you have to cooperate with
asshats from Mississippi? I mean, Chip
Pickering is kind of a dick.
Tinklenberg: I think I have a unique opportunity to
do that. For example, Mr. Oberstar says he will appoint me to the
transportation and infrastructure committee. It’s a large committee, but I’ll
be the only person on the committee who has run a state department of
transportation. And the committee will be taking up the reauthorization of the
Fed transportation bill and there will be a great opportunity there. I’ll get
to have a disproportionate influence because of my background.
I know the system nationwide, I know people in the city, in
the state. I can bring that experience to congress and provide the change,
options and opportunities people need for transit. The Sixth District has the
longest average commutes in MN. These are critical issues for people. I’ll be
able to address that in ways that the incumbent has shown no interest in doing,
nor does she have the background or expertise to do so.
The Rake:Any debates planned?
Tinklenberg: We’ve proposed a bunch of them, but she
has yet to accept them. We have one scheduled at the Monticello Chamber of
Commerce, but that’s the only one currently scheduled. We were supposed to do a
forum style debate at Farm Fest a week ago, but she didn’t go. She didn’t
bother to show up. She doesn’t want to talk about these issues because she
doesn’t have much positive to say about what she has done or what we should be
doing.
The Rake:Your opponent seems to have become Larry
King’s go-to conservative, especially on energy issues. You have any plans to
save the world? Or at least drop gas prices?
Tinklenberg: Well let me ask you, why do you think that
is? It’s certainly not because she’s proven herself to be an articulate
or amazing speaker on these issues. The frontlines of these issues are right
here in the district. She doesn’t need to go all over the country to learn
about it.
There’re some fabulous things going on in the district.
There’s a company in the district called Blattner – they make wind turbines.
There’s another company called Sartec in Anoka that has developed a process to
harvest algae to make biodiesel. They’ve got a plant under construction in
Isanti. It’s showing great promise. There have been visits from 40 different countries
to the plant and it’s in the Sixth District.
The greatest energy resource in the country is the
innovation of the American people. We need to start tapping into that and
that’s what’s going on here. She’s missing that because she’s stuck on an oil-centered
approach and has voted against everything else.
The Rake:Despite mounds of overblown rhetoric during
the last election about bringing the troops home and making a difference in
national security policy, Democrats in Congress have rolled over and wet
themselves every time the administration comes calling – The Patriot Act,
wiretapping, funding the war in Iraq. What do you plan on doing differently?
Tinklenberg: I think that the initiatives that were
put forward were stymied by the threat of a veto and the lack of votes to
override it. Until we can address that with a new administration and a stronger
majority, the Democrats are kind of stuck. But we do need to push a lot harder
on that agenda.
In terms of Iraq, we’ve got to have a plan for getting out
and getting more support from the region to secure the area. Our presence there
is actually contributing to the instability. That’s why the government there
wants a timetable for withdrawal and the administration has agreed. But it was
disappointing for me to see the vote on the FISA legislation and the exceptions
for the telecommunications industry. I have great concerns for what the
administration has done to civil liberties and the rule of law in the country.
Oversight in congress was severely mismanaged for the entire term in office. We
need to reestablish that and I support doing that.
The Rake:Earlier this summer, approval of Congress polled at 9 percent. Michael Richards would
probably manage to poll better than that, even if you took the survey in
Compton. People’s faith in their government is at an all time low. And why do
you think you can fix it? What do you think you can do.
Tinklenberg: Let me use this as an example. In Blaine
we started talking about what we could do to build a stronger future for the
community. The biggest obstacle was people’s low expectations. That was the
biggest challenge we faced – getting people to believe we could accomplish
something and work together to change our future for the better. That we could
pursue a vision and accomplish it. That’s what we need in Congress and that’s
why our tagline is rebuilding optimism in America. We need to restore people’s
faith that things can be better and tap into people’s vision and hope for the
future. If we do that, we can accomplish remarkable things.
One of the most damaging aspects of this idea that
government is the problem, is the government is actually the way things get
done together. It undercuts having common goals and objectives. Anything that’s
done to downplay what we can achieve in a public project really hurts the
country and our ability to use our government as a way of working together for
the common good and improve.
The Rake: And it may have something to do with government
officials acting like idiots?
Tinklenberg: Well there’s no shortage of that. But I
don’t know that there is any more of that now than any other time in history.
But now that that’s seen as exemplary acts of a bad system they just contribute
to people’s lack of faith.
The Rake: Congress has been trying to regulate
financial markets for decades, and all they’ve managed to accomplish is demonstrating
that the smart people go into the private sector and find ways around
legislation. Given that record, how do you plan on regulating the mortgage
industry, as you mention in your platform, without turning the finance sector
into a complete and utter clusterfuck that will drag the economy down even
further?
Tinklenberg: I think what we’ve seen is that the
regulation of the banking industry has, in general, brought some of the
stability we wanted to see after the fiascos of the 20s and the S&L crisis.
But after that we had these pseudo banking institutions that grew up and didn’t
fall under that legislation. And when you combine that with large amounts of
capital looking for greater amounts of return–you had an environment where
finances were getting more and more complex, mortgages were used as collateral
and sold off again and again. I think there’s a role for regulation in that.
That’s an area that expanded outside of the regulatory framework and we need to
bring it back in. Some of the proposals by people like Barney Frank have been
moderate and continued to support a strong and growing economy, but eliminate
some of the abuses we’ve seen. That’s an appropriate role for government.
It’s why I got involved in government in the first place–the people I worked with in the community. The largest stress in the early 80s
was finding a good job – a job that provided for the family and provided a
chance to get involved in the community. I think we’ve come back to that.
We can see in this the results of the Bush economic and tax
policies. This notion that if we aggregate large amounts of wealth in a smaller
and smaller portion of the population and that it will trickle down to the rest
of the population and provide more and more benefits. But instead we’re seeing
schemes that are about manipulating markets and pursuing more wealth. We need
to get back to policies that support actual production. That’s why I was
disappointed by the economic stimulus plan that was approved. It didn’t build
anything. There was no long-term plan. It was more of the same – buy something
and it’ll be okay. I think if we had taken some of that money and invested it in
our roads and waterways and infrastructure, it would’ve created jobs and
opportunity.
One statistic I remember from my time at the DOT: every
billion we invest in infrastructure creates 47,500 jobs. That’s a Federal
Highway Administration statistic. And we borrowed $160 billion and sent it to
people and encouraged them to buy a TV. I think we need a longer term, more
robust economic strategy than that.
The Rake: Do you think it would’ve been a different
plan if it wasn’t an election year?
Tinklenberg: I don’t know. I think it could’ve been a
better plan. I did a press conference a while back and called for a second
stimulus plan that would make the kind of investments I’m talking about. The
best economic stimulus is a good job. We need to get back to building an
economy that provides good jobs for people.
The Rake: We’re staring at a $900 billion budget
deficit. What the hell do you do with that? Just give in and hand the Chinese a
couple movie studios, a few hundred thousand copies of Windows XP and some DVD
porn and call it even?
Tinklenberg: You have to fix it slowly. It’s not
something that’s going to happen overnight. The first thing you do when you
find yourself in a hole is stop digging. We need to take seriously the fiscal
responsibility we have as elected officials and start being serious about
setting priorities and how we fund those. It’s going to be hard. I’ve been
endorsed by the Blue Dogs.
They’ve been talking about this, pushing responses to this – both on the
spending side and the revenue side. McCain called Bush’s tax cuts, especially
to the wealthy, abominable. I think the tax cuts to people making over $250,000
need to be allowed to expire. And we need to refocus tax incentives around job
creation, research and development, infrastructure – create the jobs of the
future. Growth needs to be a part of the strategy as well.
The Rake: But is growth actually a strategy?
Our esteemed leader has been talking about growing our way out of this mess for
years…
Tinklenberg: We have to be proactive about this. We
need to put policies in place that grow the economy. The Bush economic plan has
been a colossal failure. The idea that doing a little more of it will somehow
be better is the definition of insanity. We have to do those things that will
support growth in the economy. We’ve had two straight years of job losses in
the manufacturing sector so we need to do what we can to support growth there
and put policies in place to support the housing sector as well.
One of the places the Bush administration policies has
really failed the future is in research and development. When he talked about
the importance of switch grass and renewables and a hydrogen economy, he cut
funding to the research. The role of government in innovation is critical for
our economy. When you don’t fund that you put yourself way behind. Those things
take years to develop. We’ll be making up for the failures of this
administration to invest in innovation for years to come. The way we build the
energy and economy of the future is the innovation and R&D funding of the
government.
The Rake: On healthcare, it looks a little like you
want to have your morphine and take it too — a low-priced public option
available to everyone while keeping private insurers around? A lot of
economists seem to think you can’t have universal coverage via a public plan
without having single payer – what conservatives and those odd creatures known
as Canadians call socialized medicine.
What makes you think otherwise?
Tinklenberg: Some of the work that John Edwards did was
good work. Some of what’s going on in Massachusetts is a good starting point.
We saw what happened to the Clinton proposal several years ago. We didn’t move
forward on that. So I think you need to continue to allow private companies to
make insurance available, but there’s a public backstop. I think that’s a good
option and a way for us to get moving on universal coverage. The idea is that
you can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I thought the Edwards
proposal offered a way forward. And that provided the option of a government
backstop.
While I think business needs to share the cost of
healthcare, I think it needs to be portable. It has to go with the person, not
the job.
The Rake: How do you pay for that sort of backstop?
Tinklenberg: How do you pay now? People still get
sick now. We just pay for emergency room visits instead of doing preventive
care. The money is still being sunk into the system, we’re just rationalizing
it. We’re paying for it in higher premiums, various welfare programs, medical
assistance programs. It’s not about bringing more money to the table. The
system is currently as expensive as it can be.
The Rake:Here in the U.S., we still generally regard
ourselves as the world’s greatest superpower. But the conflict in Georgia has
made it seem that we’re actually somewhat powerless on the world stage. Where
once we stood proudly erect, we now slump limply – weak and impotent.
Tinklenberg: I think it’s true. We have, on a number
of different fronts, undermined our strength. We’ve undermined our moral
authority because of Guantanamo. We’ve undermined our strength because of the
drain in Iraq and our economic policies. Because of the fact that we are so
much in debt to so many foreign governments – in terms of energy, of currency.
It’s made us vulnerable. It has undermined our security and I think that’s
going to be problematic in terms of the strength of our response – militarily
and diplomatically, if people see us as a paper tiger because we’re vulnerable
militarily or economically or from a global perspective/reputation. And that’s
a direct result of the Bush foreign policy.
This is the thing that amazes me. I was in D.C. on Sept 11.
We were stuck there and out on the Mall looking at the smoke coming up from the Pentagon. And one of the things that provided comfort in the aftermath was what
we were hearing from around the world. The French president actually said,
"Today we are all Americans." There was incredible strength in that. And we
lost it in no time at all. All of a sudden we were talking about freedom
fries and lost so many of our allies and pursuing a unilateralist policy. That
was a part of the erosion of our strength. And then following on that the
exhaustion of our military deployment in the Iraq war.
That’s going to be an important issue for the next Congress.
Rebuilding that strength, militarily and diplomatically is a huge thing to
tackle for the next administration and Congress.
The Rake: Michelle Bachmann – direct connection to God
or just bat-shit crazy?
Tinklenberg: Ah, I don’t know. As someone who started
my life as a United Methodist minister, that old advice about walking humbly
applies to me. I’ve tried to heed that. So I try to be careful about implying
that somehow I’m able to define God’s will for everyone else. I do it badly
enough for myself, so that advice to walk humbly is important.
Come chill out at North Loop sweet-spot Clubhouse Jager
every Tuesday at this subtle and sassy singles party! Enjoy 2-4-1 drink
specials all night long, prepared by red-haired hottie and resident
bartender Angie,
who is a mixologist of epic proportions (ask her to make you one of her
famous "surprise" drinks or shots, you won’t be disappointed). Grab a
private booth, belly up to the bar, or take in the summer breeze on
Jager’s awesome outdoor patio while enjoying the eclectic beats
of one Jonathan Ackerman, whose Tuesday night repertoire ranges from Kanye West to David Byrne. Ok, I know what you’re thinking: singles night =
lame. Not so, especially considering that yours truly co-hosts the night! Honestly, Jager is a great neighborhood bar with a classy
ambiance and friendly patrons and staff, so single or not, Tuesday, (or
any night for that matter) at the Clubhouse is always a good bet. Not to mention, I’ll
be there on my laptop all night, so come down and say hi, or hit on me
– it is singles night after all!
Bonus: Don’t forget to leave a secret note for your crush on l’etoile’s Text Connections
website the next day!
9pm, Clubhouse Jager, 923 Washington Ave N., Minneapolis, Free
THEATER
American Buffalo
Head to the Bedlam tonight for a spot of violence and vulgarity as David Mamet and Mike Rasmussen debut American Buffalo,
the gritty tale of Don, Teach and Bobby – three criminals involved in a
plot to rip off a valuable coin collection from a junk shop. As the
heist progresses, so does the tension between the characters who
eventually resort to real violence against each other in the battle for
alpha-crook. Make a date of it, with a pre-show happy hour cocktail at
the Bedlam’s cute bar, or share one of their "Polish-fusion" thin crust
pizzas which are a definite must-try for anyone with tastebuds! And if
you’re looking to get rowdy after the play, stop by the
nearby Triple Rock Social Club for some late-night dance-action at Triple Double featuring Mike the 2600 King, DJ Espada, and Paper Tiger.
7pm (Nightly through August 24th), Bedlam Theater, 1501 S. 6th Street, West Bank, $5
SHOPPING
Rewind
This week’s hot shoppin’ tip comes to you from the outer fringe
of lovely Northeast Minneapolis! Darling vintage clothing shop, Rewind, is tucked away in a tiny blink-or-you’ll-miss-it storefront on Johnson Street.
One of THE best places to shop for quirky retro accessories and unique
duds, this gem of a shop should definitely be on your shopping hit
list. Each time I venture into Rewind’s crowded and cozy fashion haven,
I am immediately fixated on the jewelry displays, which are crammed
full of funky beaded necklaces, weird brooches, sparkly baubles,
trinkets and do-dads of all shapes and sizes. Like owls? Their
owl-related accessory collection is probably the biggest you’ll find in
the city, outside your crazy neighbor lady’s house that is. Top off
your vintage shopping spree with a pop-in to the always delightful Crafty Planet for some kitshy-cool crafting inspiration, or treat yourself to dinner at any one of the yummy little restaurants located within walking distance of the shop.
Open Mon-Sat, Noon-7pm; Sun, Noon-4pm, Rewind, 2829 Johnson Street, Northeast Minneapolis
In 2005 Woody Allen made a triumphant comeback to critical glory with Match Point, which earned him his first Academy Award nomination in eight years. Well, it turns out that was only a warm-up. Allen saved his true comeback for the summer of 2008 with Vicky Cristina Barcelona, an honest tragicomedy that switches out Allen’s intellectual musings with a compelling study of the complexities of love. Featuring one of Allen’s strongest ensembles in years, the film hearkens back to Allen’s greatest days and ranks another "must see" addition to his filmography.
American students Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) travel to Barcelona to spend the summer with a friend of Vicky’s family (Patricia Clarkson). They are there only a few weeks when Cristina spots a sexy Spanish painter across an art gallery. He is Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), who made circles through the art world by way of his wild and violent divorce to Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz). After only a few glances, Juan Antonio invites the girls to a weekend away for sightseeing, wining, dining and sex. Free-spirited Cristina jumps at the chance, but Vicky, who’s about to be married to one of those boring-young-businessmen types, is extremely reluctant. Still, the magical weekend that follows sends the trio spinning into a mess of romance and violence. And the love affairs entangle even more when suicidal Maria Elena arrives on the scene.
Allen has fashioned a sun-soaked fairy tale vision of Barcelona, a place where truly anything can happen. It is as much of a travelogue as one can make; every setting tops itself with its sheer intricacy and beauty. Allen and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe fill every day with soft sunlight and every night with passionate candlelight. Woody Allen’s Barcelona truly is paradise, and the rest of the film doesn’t disappoint. Utilizing a dry-voiced narrator that recalls high school health videos, the film unfolds as a document for audiences to ponder. Many perspectives on love and sex are thrown at us, and none of them perfect. Most telling is the relationship between Juan Antonio and Maria Elena, violent and vindictive yet they cannot stay away from each other. Maria Elena tells Cristina that it cannot be any other way; their love is missing something and must go unfilled and so it will always be romantic.
All the musings about love appear to have had an effect on Allen. The sex scenes (yes, they’re there) are tender and intimate. Yet throughout all the lovemaking, he remains restrained and tasteful. A tender embrace between Johansson and Cruz, shot in the penetrable redness of a dark room, is tantalizing and intense but not graphic. You gradually become aware that Allen is going somewhere he’s never gone before with an easy and assured hand. How odd it seems that the year’s sexiest movie comes courtesy of the world’s most famous neurotic, but that’s simply the way it is.
This marks Allen’s third collaboration with Scarlett Johansson, a pairing that has received much attention. But it is a match that suits Allen well; Johansson has never been more comfortable on screen, settling into her Cristina’s freewheeling but conflicted ways perfectly. Bardem eschews all the creepiness that brought him to public attention in last year’s No Country for Old Men by transforming into the kind of sexy Spaniard women dream of.
But the real story belongs to Rebecca Hall and Penelope Cruz. In what should be her breakout role, Hall is simply remarkable; she could easily have become the trademark Woody Allen neurotic character in the hands of a lesser actress. But as Vicky’s conflicted feelings towards Juan Antonio and her upcoming marriage collide, Hall’s quiet turmoil makes the film real. And Cruz revels in her role as the wildly chaotic, self-destructive Maria Elena. She careens between violent rampages and gentle lovemaking as often as she switches languages. Maria Elena is a mess of a person, but with Cruz’s assured performance there are no doubts about her sincerity, however brutal it may be.
When the film comes to a close and Vicky and Cristina post-Barcelona are compared with Vicky and Cristina pre-Barcelona, Allen makes his final, mature statement by avoiding making statements. He concedes that it is impossible to understand the complexities of love, no matter how many perspectives you observe. In telling the story of two girls who couldn’t be more different, Allen has found his voice in a way he hasn’t in decades. And if Johansson is Allen’s new Diane Keaton or Mia Farrow, so be it. If these are the results we get, we should all be thankful.
and go garçonne at this gala affair to benefit the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota
No need to feel guilty, that’s what the Fair is here for! Well,
party
politically-driven comedy show. Just in time for the RNC, Laughing Liberally will
the Dance Arts Centre in Eden Prairie showcases an expressive and talented troupe of young dancers at this 5th Annual Summer Performance. House of Dreams weaves
But Hoang Thien Y has some added features that Saigon
on a foray into the world of graphic
Accompanying St. Croix on the turntables
going strong after five successful years of liberating
located in the 
musicians to the charmingly grungy 
make you one of her
Don, Teach and Bobby – three criminals involved in a
Street
