Daily Planet Originals

Director and Writer Duncan Jones, who has established a notorious reputation for controversial fare in the advertising arena, started out as a wild-cam operator for Tony Scott (True Romance, Man on Fire), before going on to work as an assistant director for cerebral promo and commercials director Walter Stern. After a stint in the computer games biz, Duncan created the CG/live action commercial Blade Jogger, which won a top award at the UK’s Kodak Student Commercial Competition, and his short film Whistle, which has screened at festivals around the world and numerous times on Film Four in the UK. MORE »

Near the beginning of Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza, a large number of grinning men and women in festive, ambiguously ethnic dress come hopping out with their arms spread wide, performing flips and pirouettes as a multitiered bandshell rolls forward. Brass blares, drums thump, and lights flash wildly as a shapely singer winds her hips and sings ecstatic praises in nonsense syllables. It’s a convincing dramatization of the reception President Bush expected American troops to receive when they arrived in Baghdad. MORE »

by André Salvadore

This week’s picks

Thursday, July 2

On the radar: There are a lot of people who still get really excited when Soul Asylum perform, and there are a lot of people who think the Roots are even cooler now that they’re Jimmy Fallon’s house band. If you’re among either of those groups, your evening plans are set. It’s also the annual Hmong Freedom Celebration, and this year emcee Tou SaiKo is helping to organize an all-out two-day hip-hop battle associated with the event.

Under the radar: Fringe favorite Allegra Lingo is at the BLB previewing her 2009 show, and if you really want to feel that out-in-the-street rock ‘n’ roll spirit, there’s a battle of the bands going down on “the legendary streets of Richfield.”

Friday, July 3

On the radar: Tonight, glam and spectacle rule: Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza opens in St. Paul, African fashion show ExtraVaaKhangha rolls out at the Graves 601 (relocated from the suddenly shuttered Trocaderos), and Judas Priest tastes Minnesota.

Under the radar: CONvergence will bring sci-fi fans from all over the country to Bloomington, and our peeps at l’etoile will be there to greet them with smiles, syle, video art, and vodka. If you’re looking for a more conventional evening of entertainment, stop by the Celtic Junction for Pop Wagner’s 60th birthday bash; it also serves as a fundraiser for medical expenses Wagner has incurred after a horse-riding injury. MORE »