As if the Irish reputation was not already soaked in stout and whiskey, the county council in Ireland’s County Kerry approved a motion that would allow residents in rural areas to drink and drive. The measure supports the creation of a permit system which would, according to The Guardian, “allow rural drinkers to drive after having ‘two or three drinks.’” The councilor that proposed the measure, Danny Healy-Rae—who, The Guardian notes, owns a pub—“claimed it would help prevent depression and suicide in the county” by allowing residents of the sparsely populated countryside to drink and socialize at a pub and then drive home without the fear of losing their license.
Things to do in Iowa City
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Final Haulin’ Ass: Rule Number 3
The lady was my kind of damsel, with the only distress showing in her skinny jeans. She wore black hair chopped at the shoulders over a smart cut of leather jacket. Lady also wore on her married finger a glasscutter big as a hummingbird. A mom with tweens, I casually guessed, but by all appearances still built for speed.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City Weekender: March 14-16
(To be read in a deep radio voice.) Looking for something different to do this weekend? We’ve got you covered. Check out the work of an accomplished local filmmaker, try some sumptuous scotch and witness world-class comedy. Come on in.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Tube: Social television connects us to content, but not each other
A couple weeks ago, a professor said to me, “Since you’re a TV person, you are used to watching stuff alone.” For a few minutes I freaked out about potentially being this sad loner screening television shows on Saturday nights without anyone to talk to. But more important than this statement inspiring ridiculous neurosis, I began to wonder whether this was actually the case about television watching.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Screenshot: Revelations from the Abyss
To my mind, the best director in contemporary Hollywood—for our purposes, let’s say post-Star Wars (1977)—is the Dutch import Paul Verhoeven. While Verhoeven was working in the United States he gave us trashy, excessive Hollywood films we could sink our teeth into. More than that, if you look closely at these ostensibly paradigmatic examples of Hollywood’s deleterious product (e.g. Showgirls (1995)), Verhoeven was also the most subversive of genre auteurs, directing the spectacle back in at itself, parodying the absurdity of U.S. culture.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
University program creates groundbreaking plays via live stream technology
“Five American dollars will cure you of your ANGER! I am your Punching Bag!”
So begins Subway, a humorous short play by Qian Jue wherein two street hustlers–one Chinese; the other Japanese–squabble over how to best procure cash from distracted subway-goers, and with their status as immigrants in America.
Qian Jue is one of the many young playwrights commissioned by the International Writing Program (IWP) for Book Wings 2013 a collaborative theatre project which aims to connect theaters in America, China, and Russia through state-of-the-art videoconferencing software.
Posted inFood & Drink
Crafty: Homemade soda perfect for taste tweakers
Fact: a project is way more fun if you can drink the final product. It seems like everyone today is brewing up small batches of beer while sipping on a glass of homemade kale-ginger juice. I’m personally all for this tasty trend, and wanting in on it, I decided to try my hand at homemade […]
Posted inFood & Drink
On the Table: Taking in Iowa City’s best minor indulgences
Post-holidays can be a tricky time and it seems like every year I eat a little more, drink a little longer and exercise a little less.
Having noticed my expanding waistline, my health-centric-physically-fit-yogi-fiancé decided to take drastic measures and put us on a three-week health kick called the “Crazy Sexy Diet.”
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Mission Creek Festival Spotlight: Pallbearer
Pallbearer brings their crushing brand of doom-metal to this year’s Mission Creek Festival for a show at Gabe’s on Thursday, April 4. Since the release last year of their first full-length studio album, Sorrow and Extinction, they have become one of the most well-respected metal acts in the country
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Show Preview: Valgeir Sigurðsson playing Englert Theatre on March 13
Valgeir Sigurðsson is an Icelandic composer, musician, producer and studio engineer. A lot of Americans will, like me, see his last name and think ‘Sigur Rós’ but that is probably one of the few Icelandic bands he hasn’t worked with. He has collaborated with Björk extensively, beginning with the Selmasongs, her album of songs for the soundtrack of the movie Dancer In The Dark.
Posted inAlbum Reviews, Arts & Entertainment
Album Review: Omens – Omens EP/No Dawn Casette
Metal never really did it for me. So much of it centered on contrived attitude and image. Growing up I was in the orchestra and AP English, and the metal fans were in Shop classes. While the gearhead kids were buying Sabbath and AC/DC, I was buying Coltrane and Kraftwerk. But a curious thing happened to my perception of metal, influenced by listening to industrial and noisier electronic music like noisecore and gabber: I started hearing what made all the metalheads so happy.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Mission Creek Festival Spotlight: Exitmusic
NYC-based duo Exitmusic will play Gabe’s on Saturday, April 6. The group’s songs of lost romance and haunting loneliness hit upon common themes, but singer Aleksa Palladino’s wavering vocals build tension and longing in a way that feels neither forced nor melodramatic. Together, the two musicians (Aleska Palladino and Devon Church) feature a strong theatrical style full of restrained guitar and subtle keyboard lines.
