FILM The Orphanage After falling more and more in love with Pan’s Labyrinth every day for the past year, I’m fairly certain I’d go see anything with Guillermo del Toro’s name behind it. Yet I do have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed when I finally realized that he didn’t actually direct the soon-to-be-released … Read more
Bonding. Its something that women tend to fret about with men, as in "go and do your male bonding thing." While I am sure men like me are essentially Pavlovian and conditioned to do what women say, it gets more complicated when I think about cars. I don’t need to bond with my buddies, but … Read more
By now, it’s fairly well established that Beowulf is an irredeemable, gawd-awful film. As if moviegoers needed another reason to hate the thing, I noticed something truly heinous about the animation: While the male characters were rendered in the spirit of realism, left with fairly expressive human faces, the female characters were idealized to the … Read more
Let us consider this waiter in the cafe. His movement is quick and forward, a little too precise, a little too rapid. He bends forward a little too eagerly; his voice, his eyes express an interest a little too solicitous for the order of the customer. He is playing, he is amusing himself. But … Read more
BOOKS & AUTHORS, AND MUSIC TOOMuldoon Rocks the House Paul Muldoon is a curious character, even by artistic standards, and he’s been on a serious roll of late. To his growing list of accomplishments — including ten collections of smart, allusive, and often very funny poetry, as well as a Pulitzer Prize — he recently … Read more
If only I’d known when I posted my last entry about White Burgundy and Fall Out Boy! Suddenly, everyone in the wine world seems to be talking about Clark Smith who — along with his wife, Dr. Susan Mayer-Smith — has been conducting "research" into the relationship between wine and music. The owners of GrapeCraft … Read more
Our former editorial assistant, the lovely Ms. Laura Puckett, returned from her Fulbright-funded year in Mongolia recently. Yesterday she stopped by the office to show off these boots, a traditional Mongol variety often worn, she said, to horse races and such. Of course, the soles are made of leather, and so young Laura … Read more
Road Game #5: Minnesota 103, New Orleans 94 Season record: 2-10 1. Revolt of the Back-Up Point Guards While would-be Wolves cornerstones Al Jefferson, Rashad McCants and Ryan Gomes had performances ranging from disappointing to dreadful, the squad bagged its first road win primarily on the strength of the inexplicably calm, capable, and confident duo … Read more
I’ve fallen in love with plenty of imperfect movies. There was Donnie Darko, a film whose haphazard, cross-genre narrative I forgave because it cut right to the core of how weird and perilous it feels to be a depressed teenager. And Benny & Joon, a sweet, just-shy-of-precious story that was redeemed by genuine filial warmth … Read more
THEATER & PERFORMANCEI and I: The Sense of Self Worried about getting old? Worried about being old? Why don’t we respect age like we used to? Haven’t we earned these years? Shouldn’t we wear them proudly? Tackling the problem of aging, actor Charles Keating presents a one-man show tonight at the Guthrie. I and I: … Read more