The big story is RAGBRAI. It’s an awesome experience, but if you don’t already have bicycling plans, you may want to steer clear of North Liberty and Tipton as things will be awfully crowded. There’s still a lot of other stuff going on this weekend, and one show on Tuesday. Thursday, July 24 Johnson County […]
Arts & Entertainment
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Dark Knight Movie Review
Dark Knight 150 min Directed by Christopher Nolan Every summer, a new round of superheroes arrive as a pulp retreat from the oppressive summer heat…or so it used to be. Not this time. Dark Knight is not mindless summer escapism but a brutal caricature of our own sinister world. Putting as much distance as possible […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: July 17 – 20
Hey-ya, it’s the weekend! The mid-point of summer has hit and there’s only one way for the amount of sunlight to go from here: down. Fight the humidity and take advantage of every minute. Thursday, July 17 Moving Home Brucemore 2160 Linden Drive SE Cedar Rapids, Iowa Phone: 319/362-7375 Thursday – Saturday, July 17 – […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Simple pleasures
Quick. Name the #2 rated show in America. No, it’s not CSI: Law & Order Unit. It’s ABC’s Wipeout. I have to admit, I love it. Our society has had a long love affair with pratfalls and groin shots. America’s Funniest Home Videos was built on the concept, and YouTube exploded into the collective conscious […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender update: July 11-13
Click here for the complete Weekender for July 10-13. Friday, July 11-Sunday, July 13 Twisted: A Balloonamentary | Iowa City Public Library | Multiple showings (below) | Free Little Village is pleased to hear that our good friends over at the Bijou Theatre have found a home for some of their films. According to the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: July 10-12
The weather has ruled my summer. The past month has been spent preparing for and recoiling from the floods…that one’s a given. But from rained-out softball games to the perfect-sky of the jazz fest, I’ve been watching the sky more than ever. This weekend will be no exception. Thursday, July 10 Bike-In Theater | PATV, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Surfwise Movie Review
Surfwise Documentary, 93 min Directed by Doug Pray The floods have got me thinking about water: the great life-giver, the great destroyer. Lao Tzu, the founding Taoist, says that we should emulate water over rock; for the softness of water, which yields infinitely to anything in its path, eventually overcomes and destroys the hardest stone. […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop
Believe the Hype
When Public Enemy released It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back in 1988, it was as if it had landed from another planet. The album came frontloaded with sirens, squeals, and squawks that augmented the chaotic, collage backing tracks over which PE frontman Chuck D laid his politically and poetically radical rhymes. […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Paul's Picks: July 2008
It’s time to highlight a few paperbacks that are unlikely to receive much national attention. Some are published by small publishers, which can’t buy expensive lunches for the New York Times reviewers. Others have been out of print for a while and are being republished on the chance that they might find their audience on […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Twisted: A Balloonamentary Movie Review
Twisted: A Balloonamentary Documentary, 79 min Directed by Naomi Greenfield and Sara Taksler How much does the best-paid poet in the world make? I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure it’s a lot less than one woman in Twisted: A Balloonamentary, who declares that she took in $1.5 million last year for twisting balloons into […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
On the Beat: At least the shows will be smokin’
As I write this, July 1 is creeping up like doomsday for many local smokers, and depending on your daily nicotine needs, shows are either going to be a lot more comfortable or a mild pain in the ass. The Mill has been experimenting with nonsmoking shows for some time now, on nights where the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Home Is Where the Flood Is
On my first trip to Normandy Drive, four months ago, I marveled at the stately old trees and the modest well-kept homes that lined the wide streets. I thought it was the perfect place to buy my first home. When I drove out of my new neighborhood one night—only four weeks removed from sinking my […]
