The Wake

The Guthrie Theater’s recent production of The Night of the Iguana is a true visual work of art. The play is solid with both strengths and weaknesses in its performance. Written by Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana is an evocative play. This celebrated writer of American Theater is famous for many productions including A Glass Menagerie, A Street Car Named Desire, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Unlike many of his plays, The Night of the Iguana has uncommon consequences for his tortured hero in comparison to the typically violent endings experienced by his other characters. The Night of …

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“Everyone wants to be found” is the tagline used in the advertisements for Lost in Translation, Sofia Coppola’s follow-up to The Virgin Suicides. The irreverent look at relationships and culture stars Bill Murray (Rushmore) and Scarlett Johansson (Ghost World). Usually, advertisements do not tell the prospective consumer a thing about the film, but in this case it boiled the essence of the film down to a bite-sized morsel. Both of the main characters are very lost in life and in Japan as they attempt to fight their way through life’s many transitions. Johansson (Charlotte), a recent college graduate that …

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From stories of one-man bands that play kitchen sink tubas and Game-Boy electronica to the story of a man that has amassed over 35,000 artworks in his home and yard, the Weisman’s new film series, New Films Independent Artists, guarantees an intriguing look into the world of quirky underground artists. Expect unusual stories of musicians, filmmakers and visual artists that possess innovative vision and unchecked passion. Several of the films have been featured at the Sundance Film Festival and one comes directly from the “Oregon Department of Kick Ass.” The series, which begins October 16th and runs through November 20th, will showcase …

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Harry Shearer makes people laugh their asses off. Creeping into your system like some kind of narcotic substance, Shearer’s work slowly unravels your composure, eventually reducing you to a hysterical, laughing shadow of your former sane-self. For over 30 years, from his role as Derek Smalls in This is Spinal Tap, to his tenure as a voice on The Simpsons (Shearer plays Mr. Burns, Flanders, and Smithers, among others), Shearer has been entertaining the masses with his excruciatingly funny blend of humor.
Last month I was able to speak with Shearer about college, comedy, and cross-dressing. The conversation that …

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The Return of Captain Invincible is a film that has sadly gone virtually unnoticed since its release. This is a film I bought used with nine other movies for five dollars. That haul contained the worst film of all time, The Jar (1984, director Bruce Toscano), but The Return of Captain Invincible, on the other hand, has become one of my favorites. It is a piece of campy cult-musical brilliance! Director Philippe Mora has shown the world what happens when Captain America meets the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Alan Arkin stars as Captain Invincible who as we see through black …

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A period of social, economic and political repression can describe Nazi Germany, where opposition was handled through swift execution. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian, became a spiritual voice in the resistance movement against Adolf Hitler’s unethical and inhumane Third Reich. Traced and examined in Martin Doblmeier’s documentary Bonhoeffer, the actions and demonstrations attempted by the young pastor/pacifist/Nazi resister put increased stress upon the role of the Catholic Church in a society controlled by a false God. To oppose the ideology of salvation from Adolf Hitler, Bonhoeffer proposed the only way to salvation was through God himself. Bonhoeffer attempted to “put …

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The sleek new Regis Center for Art opened for classes in September, replacing the leaky, mouse-infested temporary building that housed the art department for the past 38 years. The new $41.5 million building, located at the southernmost tip of the West Bank, has an angular white and brick exterior and exposed concrete interior with lots of spare metal fixtures, giving it a blank-canvas look inside and out. Along with painting, drawing, digital and printmaking studios, some of the more impressive features of the building are its foundry (a studio for casting sculpture from molten metal), 23 kilns, a woodshop, plaster shop, …

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The television lit the room.
Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Miss America!
“I need a smoke.” His cigarettes were by the door.
“You can’t just blow this off!”
“I think I’m in the better position to judge what I can and can’t blow off.”
“Wallace!”
Wallace lay sprawled out on the couch, one hand dangling over a bag of Doritos. She stood between him and the television.
…Let’s meet this year’s contestants!
“Well what do you want me to do about it?”
“I don’t know, maybe act like a man for once in your life?”
…I …

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Dusk pulled night’s curtain down upon them…She told him that when the evening came the sun remained burning inside of them until it pronounced its entrance into the next morning. Night brought them closer together… …Parallel worlds only cross under the right circumstances. In each other’s presence seconds were contained in short breaths, and minutes carried their minds toward the clearing between two different understandings of what companionship is. They liked to blend in with the darkness where the edge of the tree’s silhouette danced across the ground, a frolicking shadow encapsulating two beings of light. The …

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Walking into the parking lot for the Gophers tailgate party on Sept. 20th, I expected to see a crowd of maroon-and-gold-wearing college students hitting beer bongs and attempting keg stands. When I got there, however, I found there was much more to tailgating then students and booze. Grandparents, children and grandchildren brought lawn chairs and charcoal grills to relax and spend time with family and friends before the game. Students grilled burgers, hot dogs and chicken; drank beer; and played games. Several tailgaters brought Gopher-inspired maroon-and-gold horseshoe and beanbag toss set-ups for themselves and passersby; others stuck to Frisbee or …

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Sweatpants: You know them. You’ve worn them. You’ve skipped class in them while eating day-old pizza and watching bad John Cusack movies. Now there is a chance to appreciate sweatpants on a whole new level.There is a student group whose entire purpose is to lounge around and do leisurely activities while wearing the comfortable cotton leg wear.Their name is the Sweatpant Club.“It’s a club about nothing,” said Mike Langland, coordinator of the Sweatpant Club. “It doesn’t really have a particular purpose.”The group isn’t entirely about nothing. It serves a much-needed purpose for the stressed-out student seeking a break from the …

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The makeup of the Minnesota Student Association has changed quite a bit recently.But new Vice President Jeff Nath thinks these changes won’t hurt the MSA’s core goal of being a voice for the student body.“MSA still has the same over-arching goals as it head before all of this happened,” Nath said. “We want to do what we can for the students to make their lives better.”Nath’s references to the “changes” in MSA stem from the recent resignation of Vice President Gina Nelson.“Gina had great internship this passed summer (that focused on her career goals), and she got an offer to …

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A dead horse resides at 603 Fifth St. in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood.The home in the historic Fifth Street district used to belong to women’s suffrage activist and writer Charlotte Van Cleve and her husband Horatio, a general in the Civil War. Horatio Van Cleve and his beloved warhorse, Bessie, both returned wounded from the war. They were nursed back to health at their residence in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood, where Bessie became Charlotte’s prized carriage horse and a family pet to the couple’s 12 children. When Bessie died at a ripe old age, legend has it that her family buried the …

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After an undefeated regular season last year, The University of Minnesota men’s club soccer team still has unfinished business left on the field. A quarterfinal lose at last year’s national tournament in Bakersfield, Calif. have the Gophers excited to get the ball rolling in 2003 – this time with a new crop of ballers. “We have at least 11 new players. That’s more than half the squad that has been changed,” Merrick said. “We’re trying to get them into a system of play and an understanding of what we are trying to achieve.”The new-look Gophers won their first game this …

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