Archive for March, 2009
By Raghav Mehta on March 12th, 2009
I’ve been working on another piece and its been taking me a while to finish, so in the meantime I thought I’d just write about a certain something thats kept me entertained for the last few days…
While Republicans and Democrats duke it out in Washington, another headline worthy exchange has been taking place within the media itself. Last week The Daily Show ran a segment about the business news networks and their clueless economic correspondents’, CNBC’s in particular. The feud began when Economic Analyst Rick Santelli was criticized for his televised tantrum on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange …
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By Eric Brew, Sage Dahlen, Pammy Ronnei and Ross Hernandez on March 10th, 2009
The difference between 3D movies when I was a child and 3D movies now is palpable. As an eight-year old at Disney World, I was taken by my mom to see the Muppet Movie in 3D, and I remember making a mental effort to help the movie create the illusion of three dimensions. I wanted to see the movie in 3D, so I strained and strained to find the images that were supposed to be popping out at me. I left feeling under whelmed; watching movies in 3D was draining.
This summer, …
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By Deniz Rudin on March 9th, 2009
Chapter 1: All faith or dogma of any kind is fundamentally dangerous and an impediment to societal progress.
Chapter 2: Beliefs are assertions about the way the world is and therefore must shape the actions of their believers in drastic and potentially negative ways, and so they must be subject to evidence and, if necessary, modification in the light of that evidence.
Chapter 3: The positive things done by religious people throughout history are small exceptions in a long history overflowing with unimaginable brutality and violence.
Chapter 4: Holy fuck, Muslims are going to kill everybody unless we benevolent Westerners impose liberal dictatorships …
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By Deniz Rudin on March 9th, 2009
[this post is part 4 of a 156-part series, "The Twilight Zone"]
This episode sucked and I don’t want to write anything about it.
By Lorna Hanson on March 7th, 2009
When it comes to grassroots movements in the Minneapolis/St. Paul art community, nothing beats out a few summer art fairs and festivals. The warm temperatures and sunny days make the perfect setting for a stroll through an outdoor art gallery. Of course an art fair is not exclusive to the Twin Cities. Nevertheless, most everything about the Twin Cities’ fairs scream “local,” and they certainly scream “hip” and “new.” The aim of these festivals is to bring out unknown and burgeoning artists in the community. There is no better way than to go …
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By Ashley Heerema on March 7th, 2009
The Boyfriend List came into our lives in a rather roundabout way, as most hidden gems do. My roommate discovered it over winter break. Abandoned on the floor of a nine-year-old girl’s closet, it had been tossed aside by her thirteen-year-old sister. If Sarah hadn’t been in a cleaning mood that day, Ruby Oliver and her list of boyfriends never would have changed our lives.
The book follows 15-year-old Ruby through her sophomore year at Tate Preparatory School in Seattle. Ruby isn’t like the other students of the “Tate universe.”
“I have a riff on my family,” Ruby says. “I spin into …
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By Eric Brew on March 7th, 2009
I was enraptured by the sound of local musician Brett Bullion at first listen late last fall. His solo band, Tarlton, features intelligible drums accompanied by straightforward synthesized melodies. I have been anxiously awaiting Tarlton’s second and latest EP, Papa Theses. The album is named and presumably founded on advice given to Bullion by a friend nicknamed “Papa”: Sit down, set up quickly, have your tea, and play.
The album features three tracks, averaging over eight minutes each. The first track, “Overport,” opens on a thick-sounding synthesizer that seemed promising …
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By Deniz Rudin on March 7th, 2009
I can never be sure if the reason why I think Ipecac Neat is far and away the best P.O.S. album is because it’s actually better than everything he has put out since, or if it’s because it was one of the first hip-hop albums I ever liked. So throughout this review, let’s keep in mind that I got into rap through Rhymesayers and enjoy it now primarily through anticon and that when P.O.S., also known as Stefon Alexander, makes references to punk rock, I get them. But when he makes references to rappers, I don’t.
First, things that …
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By Emily Schnobrich on March 7th, 2009
After an extraordinary lunch at the new(ish) Thai restaurant Sen Yai Sen Lek, in Northeast Minneapolis, we decided to give the place another enthusiastic shot a week later. Our conversation afterwards went as follows:
Maggie: Let’s talk Sen Yai Sen Lek. Bad news first:
Emily: Well, after trying two phenomenal dishes the first time we ate here, we tried two mediocre ones.
Maggie: Mediocre?! I sent mine back. It promised “yellow bean soy sauce” and the server (she was the mediocre one) insulted me by plopping down whatever their mistranslation …
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By Ashley Heerema on March 7th, 2009
I tend to get motion sickness. Well, perhaps “tend” is not the correct way to explain. The sentence needs no auxiliary verb; I get motion sickness. I mean, a person who cannot play “Rainbow Road” on Mario Kart 64 without getting nauseous does not just “tend” to motion sickness.
The first time I became aware of my weakness was on a sixth grade trip to the Science Museum’s Omnitheatre. Before you get all excited and start imagining embarrassing stories in the grain of “I vomited on the cutest boy in school” or “people called me ‘Upchuck’ until senior year,” I am …
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By Lukas Gohl on March 7th, 2009
Ranging from assisted suicide to genetically altered food to psychosurgery, the field of bioethics is diverse and of great importance. Every day people grapple with the moral struggles modern science has presented us with. In America, we value our beliefs like we value our identities.
The country’s new shift in political majority likely means a large-scale upheaval of previously enacted social policy. In the midst of this sweeping transformation sit several very important bioethical hot button issues: abortion, stem cell research, gene therapy, and population control, among others. As such, the doors to the …
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By Rachel Keranen on March 7th, 2009
Lately, I’ve been having strange sensory distortions and feel like a walking poster for “this is your brain on drugs.” I called my sister the other day and drunkenly told her how much I love her and how cool I think she is and how I just really, really love her. The only problem is that I’m not on drugs or drunk at all—I’m just really tired. Night after night of four hours of sleep is breaking me down, and I’m ready for a change.
At work last Sunday, we watched The Pursuit of Happyness. …
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By Sofiya Hupalo on March 7th, 2009
After a typical café or restaurant meal, I am always stifled with a particular uncertainty – what is the appropriate tip? The level of my frustration depends on the venue – sitdowns are an obvious 15-20 percent, coffee shops take change jars, and fast foods are a no go. However, the elaborate bistros and tearooms are always ambiguous. After thinking it over, I have drafted a few personal standards that attempt to qualify tip worthy attendants.
For example, there are eateries in which a behind-the-counter employee takes your order, which is then custom prepared but requires you to go up to …
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By Deniz Rudin on March 5th, 2009
Two Songs by Uncle Slam:
“Weirdo Man”
Psycho ward
Is your home
You’re so weird
You’re so dumb
Momma’s boy
Daddy’s disgrace
Snivelling wimp
Psycho face
You’re so week
You’re a geek
You’re a creep
Stupid freak
You got a psycho face
You are a psycho case
You got a real weird plan
You are the weirdo man
WEIRDO MAN
“The Ugly Dude”
He was conceived just like the rest of us
But when it came down to birth
He had a face like a butt
And his parents thew up
He went to school and the kids were so cruel
They all would …
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By Colleen Powers on March 5th, 2009
Once upon a time, the movies were something magical. Lines like “Here’s looking at you, kid” were written into the collective unconscious and a few soft-focus close-ups gave us the most beautiful women in the world. Shown with newsreels and serials, a movie was a real experience, glowing from the screen in places with gilt arches and thick carpets. They were called “movie palaces” then, and they had names like the Paramount and the Alhambra.
Now, of course, it’s a grim shuffle from blowing half a day’s …
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