January is the month of perpetual hangovers, and if December was any indication, the whole damn town might be frozen over. So I’m going to partake in the long tradition of using the New Year to pass judgment and make changes—though, not on myself (fine, more vegetables), but on the local venues (Mill: more vegetables!). […]
Arts & Entertainment
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Best Movies of 2008 (Most of which I didn't actually see)
Sydney Smith once observed, “I never read a book before reviewing it; it prejudices one so.” As a rule, I do watch the movies before reviewing them; though when it comes to the big Hollywood productions anymore, I wonder how necessary my principle is. So many of them have been made to order according to […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Laughing Matters
A barstool and microphone left on a small stage isn’t just a scene from New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago. Iowa has it’s comedy clubs too. Though few in number, a visit to any of these comedy havens rewards the audience with just as much laughter and talent as you’d find in the entertainment […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Movie Review: Australia
Australia Directed by Baz Luhrman Drama, 165 Minutes One of the great pleasures of the movies is seeing what a purposeful filmmaker can do with an old genre or story by attempting to remake it in her or his own image. Such was the case with Baz Luhrman’s last film, 2001’s Moulin Rouge, his hyperkinetic […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Smart
In this world of excess where all of us end up spending money on things we don’t need, and racking up credit card debt to do it, why not think twice about your luxury purchases? I know when I go on a shopping spree, I always feel better about myself if I come to my […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
On the Beat: Breaking in the new year
I want to have a commemorative plate destruction party. I was thinking about some Christmastime introduction to this column, and all I could think about was some single woman carefully setting up commemorative plates around her living room, in their little stands, and getting the lighting just right, and it was making me insane with […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Talking Movies: A Half-Jigger of Solace
How many children does Lady Macbeth have? That’s the kind of ridiculous question a certain strain of literature teacher will torture students with. The answer, obviously, is: Shakespeare would have told us, had it been important. Nevertheless, there are a few characters who so transcend their storylines that they really do acquire lives of their […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Prairie Pop: 12 Days…To Drown Out Holiday Muzak with Twisted X-mas Rock.
Organized religion is responsible for more bloodshed than any institution in human history, but Christmas music is its biggest sin. I hate those songs—and the hegemony they hold over the airwaves, public spaces and every nook and cranny of our subconscious in the weeks leading up to Jesus’s birthday. Nevertheless, I make an exception for […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Weekender Nov 27-Nov30
Imagine that I’m telling you all these things while turkeys are getting slaughtered in the background. Or maybe not. This weekend’s entertainment pickings are a bit slimmer than usual. The Picador used to always have some sort of oddball townie one-off show on Thanksgiving, but not this year! The Mill has no entertainment, though you […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Eugene Chadbourne, Crackety Sax, Evan Miller 11/16/08 @ The Mill
Eugene Chadbourne is a prolific guitarist/banjo/songwriter who has produced a supremely odd, but brilliant, body of work over the last 30 years. He started out as a performer working with John Zorn, a more famous but just as brilliant an experimentalist. When Chadbourne struck out on his own, he genre-hopped with reckless abandon, from Country […]
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In Which I Highjack The Weekender NOV 27-NOV 30
Hi, Kent Williams here. I kinda sorta talked to Melody about doing a Weekender post, but we didn’t really get beyond the ‘sure why not?’ planning stage, so I’m operating here on the principle that it’s easier to apologize than ask permission. Anyhoo… The Mill Thursday: Monroe Crossing. A Bluegrass outfit that tours nationally and […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy
Because yours truly is kinda behind the curve on the music side of things, this is the first time I’ve seen this, and I’m now crying my eyes out while shaking my hips ’cause I wish I would have seen this when it came out a year ago. It’s the best thing since Beyond the […]
