On my first pass through the 2008 Carnegie International, the massive, just-mounted edition of the 112-year-old international art survey that runs through next January at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, I eighty-percent hated the show. It started with the forced theme, "Life on Mars"–the first time ever that the show has had a … Read more
With all the focus on small footprint cars these days, you’d think smart brands like Nissan would send us all their candy. The "us" I am referring to would be, of course, the middle-aged lotharios that long for their youth. And few cars say "younger than you should be" than the Nissan Micra—arguably the cutest … Read more
ART/DRINKING Art Happy Hour 3 Have you read our newest art bloggers, The Vicious Circle, yet? If not, you certainly should — after you read The Secrets, that is! VC editor, art critic Michael Fallon has his fingers in plenty of interesting pies, including Art Happy Hour, which this month just so happens to land … Read more
Café Agri opened last Saturday in the former My-T-Fine Bakery space at 43rd and Bryant Ave. S. in south Minneapolis. That’s Agri as in agritourismo, the new Italian (and Spanish) vogue of rustic farm-stay vacations where you get to crush the grapes with your feet and milk the sheep and eat hearty meals with crusty … Read more
ART/BENEFITGreen Each year Rosalux Gallery puts on one of my fave artsy fundraisers in the Twin Cities. The Green show is a chance for you to get your mitts on original work from over 20 established local artists of high repute — on the cheap. Each Rosalux member donates a piece of green-themed artwork, and … Read more
We deserve Barack Obama. That is tonight’s message. And Obama has arrived! The crowd roars — everyone on their feet, so many of them smiling, laughing, a few even silently crying. Is this the message of change? He can barely be heard above the din. For three whole minutes the crowd roars, only getting louder … Read more
7:28Inside the press area Obamamania takes no prisoners. The bloggers, who never entertained the pretense of objectivity, are the first to fall. One writer for local blog MNpublius is pacing the press area looking for a way out. "We are quarantined here!" he tells me. "It is morning in America. I wanna be cheering," he … Read more
This is the way the Democratic Primary season ends, not with a bang but a whimper. The presidential campaign that started with a listening tour designed to state the obvious — that people wanted Hillary Clinton to run — will end the same way, with people telling her it’s time to hang it up. Earlier … Read more
Press access to the general public has now been cut off. The only way out of the press area is through the tunnel. According to Tim Russert, Obama’s people are negotiating Hillary’s withdrawal. Hillary insists she should be offered the VP position, so she can turn it down and withdraw with dignity. Obama’s people are … Read more
The screams continue as the overhead screens show MSNBC reporting from right here, the Xcel Center. Ah… now I understand why news reports always show people cheering in the background. They’re just cheering themselves on. How quaint. Somehow, as a viewer, you always assume the cheers are for the politician. (I should have known better.) … Read more