Several months back, I managed to straddle the divide between the good and bad, young and old concert-going experience in just one evening. It’s no coincidence, of course, that I was still 29-years-old back then–well on my way to becoming the “Snack Wells and Cat Lady” I would be at the stroke of thirty. In … Read more
This is mine. This. This word. These words. They are mine. They belong to me. Increasingly they may be the only things I can claim with any certainty. They come from me, from the mysteries of my blood, from the contents of my brain, welded together by the sparks traveling in my nerves and up … Read more
While not exactly a secret, the just-opened Diane Arbus exhibition is fantastic. I was absorbed by it while milling about the gallery this past Saturday afternoon. The photographs were beguiling, of course. But what really struck me were the “project rooms”–in particular, the room housing Arbus’ personal biography. Her childhood, her marriage, her motherhood, all … Read more
An Inconvenient Truth, 2006. Directed by Davis Guggenheim. Created by and Starring Al Gore (and, yes, today’s politicians are stars). An Inconvenient Truth has been marketed, without a hint of irony, as ‘the most terrifying film you’ll ever see’. There’s some truth in that, though not, I think, in ways the filmmakers intended. For myself, … Read more
One of my kids looked over the ice cream machine, as it was loudly cranking away, and hesitantly asked what flavor I was making. The answer didn’t please him and his reply was, “You never make normal ice cream anymore.” I have become a mad alchemist in search of the perfect formula. Chefs all over … Read more
Secret of the Day is that you should avoid parking in the Guthrie Theater’s new parking ramp, once it opens next week. After a “press screening” on Friday, I tried paying my fee in the fully automated ramp with my credit card, only to have it get rejected. Nothing out of the ordinary there. I … Read more
Please. Thank you. Preceding or preceded by a transaction with some anonymous servant of convenience, and occasionally involving as well a few other words in the form of a request. For days, sometimes weeks, little more in the way of human conversation. His voice was disppearing further down his throat by the day. He would … Read more
Eureka! Or something perhaps not quite so enthusiastic, but a minor cause for exultation all the same. And why is that? Because the Twins just swept the Red Sox, yes, but also because we’re finally seeing the version of the 2006 team we should have seen back in April. Tony Batista was a bust, and … Read more
Nacho Libre, 2006. Directed by Jared Hess, written by Jared and Jerusha Hess and Mike White. Starring Jack Black, Hector Jimenez, Ana de la Reguera, and Darius Rose. Mexicans sure are funny. This was hammered into my cranium about ten minutes into Nacho Libre. Early on, we see Jack Black serving grotesque meals to poor … Read more
A little birdie / press release told me that Twin Cities Film Fest / U Film Society mastermind Al Milgrom got into a fight with an elevator out at the Seattle Film Festival on Wednesday. And the elevator might’ve won, because he ended up with a broken arm. Geez, Al! First the heart attack and … Read more