Entertainment
MOVIE REVIEW | "Flying Monsters 3D": High times with David Attenborough
The documentary Flying Monsters 3D is clearly meant to impress us with just how crazy things used to be back in the Cretaceous Period, but given that immediately previous to seeing the film I was hanging out in a near-empty IMAX theater in a St. Paul suburb at 9 a.m., eating Dippin' Dots, wearing 3D glasses, and listening to "Copacabana," giant flying carnivorous lizards seemed about par for the course.MORE »
FRIDAY PICK | Memory Lanes Block Party: Is there such a thing as too much rock?
The Twin Cities' summer block party season gets fuller and fuller each year, and the Memory Lanes Block Party has firmly claimed pole position as the season opener. In the spirit of Prince's guitar solo on "Let's Go Crazy," the Memory Lanes fest leads with excess: this year, 30 artists play over the course of three days on three stages. Headliners include Needles (Friday), the Hood Internet (Saturday), and Los Straitjackets (Sunday). Bring open ears and an iron stomach: event sponsors include Jameson, Absolut, Summit, PBR, Malibu Rum, Red Bull, and—for the win—Hormel. Pink slime for everyone!
Chill summer: Claire de Lune, Theresa Andersson, Chicha Libre
This spring, I've had to eat my words. For the past few years, I've been advising bands to skip the physical CDs and just send download links to journalists—the hard copies, I've said, get tossed in a pile that may or may not ever get excavated. Then last month I bought a car that has a working CD player, and lo and behold! Suddenly making it into that pile is the best way to get my attention. Some of the discs I've had to resist tossing straight out the window (Dwight Hobbes said it all when it comes to Paul Spring: I should've had a V8), but three have made for very chill soundtracks for warm-weather cruising.MORE »
WEDNESDAY PICK | Bedlam's 10-Min Play Fest: A mixed bag (in a good way) at Mixed Blood
Rumor has it that Bedlam Theatre, after nearly two years in its temporary Seward home, is closing in on a deal that will land it in a new permanent home. In the meantime, though, Bedlam is building on its long-time relationship with Mixed Blood Theatre—just down the street from Bedlam's former West Bank space—by staging its annual 10-Minute Play Festival on the Mixed Blood stage. Whereas in previous years the short plays have appeared in series, this year Bedlam's making it easy on us by staging them all back-to-back at six performances over five days. The watchword for these little plays is innovation, so don't expect any tidy little dramas: settle in to your seat, and hold onto your hat.MORE »
THURSDAY PICK | At RetroRama, the personal is political
Is there any key to the mysteries of history that's more accessible than fashion? Turn back the clock just ten years, and you can see yourself wearing something that you'd never wear today...but of course, everyone was wearing it back then. In the past. The past(s) is (are) where the Minnesota Historical Society makes its business to dwell, and each year the MHS celebrates fashions past with a "RetroRama" event featuring looks from a selected moment in time. This time around, though, the designers' mandate is thematic rather than periodic: the fashions on display will all be somehow related to politics. Also on tap are custom cocktails, music by the Southside Aces, and "Blingo" with Ellie Blades.MORE »
OUT Twin Cities Film Festival has never been timelier
Since 2010, the OUT Twin Cities Film Festival has slowly become a terrific niche film festival in the Twin Cities. What started out as a two-day event covering various LGBTQ topics, mostly through film screenings, has blossomed into a four-day festival filled with films, guest speakers, professional script reading, and musical artists performing at various venues in Minneapolis. Opening on Thursday, May 31 and running through Sunday, June 3, the OUT Twin Cities Film Festival will be held at St. Anthony Main Theatre and features a diverse line-up—including perhaps its strongest film slate in its three-year existence.MORE »
WEDNESDAY PICK | "House of Ghosts": Christopher Mihm's latest B movie
House of Ghosts is Chrisopher Mihm's seventh movie but first supernatural thriller (a "retro sci-fi horror film"). The Minneapolis filmmaker has got a significant following though—that much is apparent in the fact that the premiere at the Heights Theatre on Wednesday, May 23 has already sold out (a second showing is scheduled on June 7 at New Hope Cinema Grill). The movie trailer claims "It will literally frighten you to death!" I can pretty much tell you that's 100 percent not true. But the gimmicky nature of the trailer and Kickstarter fund in which this B movie is founded is very much the tribute to William Castle Mihm claims it to be.
VISUAL ARTS REVIEW | Carolyn Lee Anderson's "Shijéí/My Heart" at All My Relations Gallery leaves you staring
You don’t have to know art to appreciate Carolyn Lee Anderson’s exhibit Shijéí/My Heart: Mixed Media Works. Showing now through May 31 at All My Relations Gallery, it is an intriguing experience regardless. Anderson’s images compel. Her immediacy leaves you staring. No need to know art—anyone can feel this work. Family portraits in more or less existential relief, photographs, paint and drawings in compliment to earthen images. You care about this art because you can tell how strongly the artist cared in creating it.MORE »
SATURDAY PICK | Serious fun at the Washburn A Mill Tour
Chances are you dig these cities we live in; and there's a lot to like too. The Mill City complex, situated in the scenic part of downtown, is definitely one reason, and is as historic as it is beautiful ... and also highly photographed. It's no coincidence that the old mill is situated on the Mississippi RIver—that river being the energy source that brought work and people up north to Minnesota. The Washburn A Mill Tour takes you on a guided walkabout of the building—the only opportunity of its kind, actually. I know it sounds like a glorified grade school field trip, but it's more than just a history lesson. I took my sister to "visit the most explosive museum in the world" last spring and we both still talk about how much random weird fun we had. When else are you going to get to take a picture with a giant box of Bisquick?MORE »
TUESDAY PICK | TUES NGHT MUSC CLUB celebrates a year of good times with the Uptown vets
If you go to Triple Double on Tuesdays to see the people your momma warned you about, then TUES NGHT MUSC CLUB (no typo) is where you go to meet the people you could bring home to her. If Dad's a vet, he might be on the scene already: the party's held at the Uptown VFW. Ringleader Matthew Jacobs takes a democratic approach: ordinary people can reserve shifts spinning physical records or virtual tracks while the friendly revelers shake their hips and toss back the free popcorn and coffee that sit conveniently within reach at the edge of the small dance floor. On May 29, TUES NGHT MUSC CLUB celebrates its one-year anniversary; get ready to sweat.
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