A joke that starts off “a duck walks into a bar,” has good odds of being funny. Ducks are funny. A joke beginning “a water buffalo walks into a bar” just doesn’t have the same ring. But “a can of Spam walks into a bar”—now that’s hilarious. Spam’s one of the funniest things about Minnesota, … Read more
We’ll go out on a limb here and say that this is the best Italian thriller about a sexually obsessive, mafia-connected gay dwarf taxidermist you’ll see all year. It’s a gender-reversed, Gothic melodrama that both affirms and reformulates the genre’s standard tropes of deformed, salacious villain and virginal, tempted innocent—succeeding thanks to star Ernesto Mahieux’s … Read more
Josh Hartnett is cute, sure, but he’s a little green for us gals in the Been Around the Block Club. Plus he’s got a girlfriend anyway, duh! So, for those of us who like our hometown heartthrobs with a few rough edges and a checkered past, not to mention killer timing, may we present Minnesota’s … Read more
Easily the most prolific and notorious member of the New German Cinema movement of the late 60s and 70s, Rainer Werner Fassbinder was the central figure of his generation of directors, although his death by cocaine overdose in 1982 has obscured his legacy in favor of contemporaries like Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders. He lived … Read more
It’s well past the 10 p.m. curfew Minnetonka imposes for minors, and 40 teenage boys are in lockdown. They’re spending the next 10 hours at Game Tech, at an all-night LAN-o-thon, where they will battle each other in video-game tournaments until 8 a.m. LAN parties are erupting all over the country, and serious gamers are … Read more
Hollywood has a mixed record on adapting alternative comics. Terry Zwigoff’s two offerings—the documentary Crumb and the Daniel Clowes-written Ghost World—were critical achievements. Alan Moore’s From Hell and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen received mixed reviews and box-office returns. American Splendor chronicles the story of nebbishy Harvey Pekar, a Cleveland file clerk who captured his tortured … Read more
It was like a scene from a mobster film set in the Prohibition era. An overcast day on tired Minnehaha Avenue in South Minneapolis. I pulled up to the nondescript, red brick building that bears a sign reading “Tapestry Folkdance Center.” From the outside, it was quiet, barely a soul in sight. I figured the … Read more
St. Paul’s largest park plays host to this annual celebration of obon, the Buddhist festival honoring the dead, which winds up at dusk with the traditional, solemnly beautiful floating-candle ceremony. But nobody will take it amiss if you just want to hang out in the park, watch Japanese kites, and sample the cuisine. Kites promote … Read more
Weldon Johnson underwent a triple bypass on April 1. Twenty days later, his rooster was gone. “It sure didn’t help his recovery any,” said his daughter, Colleen Johnson, when The Rake discussed the incident with her. Mr. Johnson first installed the nine-foot fiberglass rooster in front of his Two Harbors gift shop in 1965. Prior … Read more
Why should March 17 be the only time the local Irish cut loose, especially in Paddy-friendly St. Paul? Hence this annual weekend of green partying. A significant percentage of the local Irish music scene will be out in force to help keep it reel, joined by headliners Leahy—nine fiddle-crazy Ontario siblings—and the Pogues-y combo of … Read more