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As of press time, the Minneapolis City Council’s new “social host ordinance” simply awaits approval from Mayor R.T. Rybak to make it a misdemeanor to host gatherings where underage persons possess or consume alcohol. Whether that threat will actually affect the habits and safety of underage drinkers remains to be seen. One thing is for certain, however. Most students hate …
The City, screened at Oak St. Cinema on Nov. 19, may sound like any other violent, low-budget, action flick trying to live up to Scorsese or Tarantino. But a clever premise laced with smart subtext and wicked humor makes this a film worth seeing.
“I’d like people to walk away questioning what it is by their nature that makes them entertained by certain aspects of media,” writer/director James Vogel says. “Why do we as an …
The Van Gobots – Guantanamo Beach Party
From a band name like the Van Gobots, I had expected to be listening to a kitschy oddball synth-driven band. At least I had hoped there would be quirk. But alas, the album was synthless, quirkless, and rife with pentatonic scale dual-guitar boogery, including a beefy guitar solo on the first track. The singer comes out washy and indistinct, is lacking dynamically, and spews out lyrics …
Circling a dimly-lit bar crowded with trendy twentysomethings, listening to talk of spring lines and independent boutiques, I feel a bit lost. Watching Zoolander is about as close as I’ve come to high fashion before this and it’s hard not to think of the vapid, self-congratulating models and designers of that movie as I weave among the denizens of the Twin Cities’ fashion …
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 …
The meeting room smelled like coffee and Pine-Sol; fluorescent lights glowed overhead. From the other side of one wood-paneled wall came the shouts of hockey players and loud thumps as they tossed aside sticks and skates. Faculty members and local residents, plus a student or two, sat in rows of metal folding chairs and stared at the PowerPoint presentation being projected onto a screen at the front of the room, as words like “community” and …
Does your food come from farmer’s markets and co-ops? Do you listen to public radio? Are your favorite movies directed by Wes Anderson and Michel Gondry?
If the answer is yes, you’re probably a white person.*
So says Christian Lander, creator of the Web site Stuff White People Like and author of the book it spawned, Stuff White People Like: The Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions. I saw Lander speak on January 26, when …
Fire burns. Chocolate tastes delicious. Cancer kills.
We figure these things out pretty early in life. They’re so obvious that we don’t even think about them. And in the divisive days before a major election, goals that everyone can agree on, like fighting cancer, are easily sidelined.
But for the members of Colleges Against Cancer (CAC), a student group affiliated with the American Cancer Society, the struggle against cancer will still be important long after …
There are so many injustices being committed in the world today, so many causes on which to hang one’s hat, that it can be hard for the average Wake-reading, peace-loving hippie to know where to direct his or her compassion and action. If our own country’s war and health-care system aren’t enough to worry about, there’s always the Israeli-Palestine conflict or the genocide in Darfur to get anxious about—not to mention the pressing concerns of …
Students shuffle into a classroom as the bell rings, slumping into desks and tossing backpacks to the floor. They regard their teacher with mild interest as he begins the lesson. Two boys and a girl trade whispered banter that’s half-teasing and half-flirting. A few seats away, a girl holds a cell phone under her desk and text-messages.
Only the papers hanging on the wall to the students’ …
Using Harlin’s story as a frame, the film explores the relationship between the Swiss Alps and the people who live in their shadow. Harlin grew up in the village of Leysin, where his father founded the International School of Mountaineering. As a boy, Harlin III observed the relationship between the Alps and the residents of the …
A blending of cultures was the theme at the Chinese New Year Celebration on January 26 in Coffman Union’s Great Hall, presented by the Chinese-American Student Association (CASA).
The event’s opening performance, a traditional lion dance, was followed by a tongue-in-cheek Justin Timberlake tribute by Jimmy Huang, who shared emcee duties with Catherine Wang. Pop and …
I vividly remember my sixth-grade gym class—changing in front of none-too-friendly classmates, showering awkwardly with more-developed strangers, getting yelled at for reading in a corner instead of doing laps (I was a bookish type). One day, before class, one of my classmates discovered a used condom on the locker room floor. “What’s that?” she asked curiously, and the other girls dissolved into giggles, ridiculing her for not knowing what a condom was. I whispered to …
To the average person the topic of evolution is thought of as less a field of study than a hot-button issue, the source of commotion regarding its teaching in public schools. For scientists like Bell Museum director Scott Lanyon, evolution isn’t about legal and political squabbles but about the work of mapping the branches that trace evolution’s path and show connections between species. Lanyon is involved with a research project called “Assembling the Tree of …