Greg Gordon and two other McClatchy correspondents — people whose reporting used to flow directly into the Star Tribune, but with the sale to Avista Capital Partners now flows elsewhere — have an excellent story up today connecting dots in the US Attorneys firing scandal. Titled, “New US Attorneys Seem to Have Partisan Records”, the … Read more
ART Superspective Retrostar Are you a fan of storybook illustrations? How about comic books? I mean, who doesn’t love a superhero? It’s hard to be content with our everyday lives. This is what Barry McMahon’s recent work is all about; he pits the iconic superhero against all the bothersome everyday stuff we have to put … Read more
Regular Season Game #74, Home Game #36, Cleveland 101, Minnesota 88 1. An Unlikeable Basketball Team Unlikeable is putting it mildly. If you still care about this edition of the Minnesota Timberwolves, they are infuriating and aggravating in the extreme. Looked at objectively, it is plain that they lack the integrity to even properly go … Read more
The Chicago City Council isn’t mucking around, people. Doug Sohn (the sausage King of Chicago?) is the first to feel their wrath. The man behind Hot Doug’s … The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium … has been fined for selling hot dogs laced with foie gras. The fine for taking a stand against The … Read more
I’m using some new-fangled technology to write this swill live from the Dome. I’m pretending to be a real writer, in other words. Some sort of big white creature –it appeared to be a dog, with a Target logo on its chest– threw out the first pitch. I guess I wasn’t aware that Target had … Read more
Interesting event the other night at William Mitchell. A panel discussion titled, “A Strange Bond: The CIA and the Cinema”, with two ex-CIA guys, the CIA’s current acting chief counsel, (he’ll soon have a formal confirmation hearing), uber-author, Mark Bowden, (“Blackhawk Down”, “Killing Pablo”, “Guests of the Ayatollah”) and Star Tribune film critic, Colin Covert. … Read more
This just seems so wrong on so many different levels. I mean, seriously, what the hell?
FILM Spring Passions Back in 1913, Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring caused riots at its premiere. Almost a century later, directors Thomas Grube and Enrique Sanchez Lansch use Stravinsky’s masterpiece as the catalyst for an educational project involving 250 Berlin children representing 25 nations. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, under Sir Simon Rattle, ventured out … Read more
Well, other than a nine-pitch first inning Johan’s performance wasn’t exactly pretty, but it was more or less in keeping with the way he usually starts the season. Kind of a strange pitch selection in the early innings –Santana just kept pounding away with the fastball, and didn’t go to the change-up until the Orioles … Read more
I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I am craving tequila lately. More specifically, I’m craving margaritas. I was in San Diego last week, at this thumping roof-top bar, and I swear I could have put down 10 or more without a problem. It’s an on-the-rocks situation, with loads of salt on the rim. … Read more