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Burger time
Book chronicles of the American cuisine
By Sean Quast
I will first admit to all of you that I am a vegetarian and have been for 5 years. The last authentic hamburger I ate was sometime in the year 2000. Never has this been a conflict in my writing and I still think it is not.
Before I was a vegetarian, I was a cook. I loved cooking and still do. I’ll cook anything for anyone, regardless of whether I would eat it. This is why I found the book “Hamburger America” so enticing.
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‘We’re just dancing, we’re just hugging, singing, screaming, kissing, tugging …’
“I would have done much grosser shit to meet Whoopi Goldberg,” explains Kimya Dawson midway through her April 15 show at the Pabst Theater. She is talking about the “weird” experience she recently had experienced of performing at a taping of The View, the daytime talk show watched by millions of middle-aged housewives across the country.
Since the monumental success of this year’s hit sleeper film “Juno,” which includes many of Kimya’s songs, she has most likely had many bizarre experiences. Undoubtedly, one of was probably playing at a theater like the Pabst.
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Neva Dinova strikes back
“You May Already Be Dreaming” marks the third full length release for the Omaha band Neva Dinova. After a three year hiatus Jake Bellows and the rest of the band, including Heath Koontz, Roger Lewis, Mike Kratky and Tim Haes, return with an album representative of the scattered state of dreams with a soulful flair that emotes their trademark brand of nonchalant, though troubled, sincerity.
Stylistically, “Dreaming” is not a marked departure from much of their previous material; rather, it’s a release of stylistic experiments in various familiar veins. This makes for an album that’s lyrically thematic but lacks sonic and structural cohesiveness.
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An artistic oasis
There’s something simultaneously frightening, yet undeniably envious about the notion of displaying the culmination of your education and talent for all to see. For the students at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), the weekend of Gallery Night provides the jumping off point for their creativity to be shown to the world.
April 18 and 19 played home to what the Historic Third Ward website describes as the, “Two-day premier art event in Milwaukee for both the experienced artist and most beginning admirer.” While the entire neighborhood was packed with various businesses and establishments participating in the display of innovation, the epicenter of this quake undoubtedly lay in halls of MIAD.
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Okami paints life into Wii
This week saw the release of Okami on the Nintendo Wii. Having won numerous game of the year awards in 2006 on the Playstation 2, Capcom decided that a port to the Wii would be in their interests due to requests/demands made from fans of the game. Nintendo’s Wii hasn’t had too many third party games that have utilized the Wiimote well, but Okami is a rare game where the Wiimote enhances the gameplay as opposed to just being gimmicky.
Okami is set within early Japanese mythology, the player controls Amaterasu, a white wolf endowed with the Japanese goddess of the sun. The world is dying and decaying due to a demon being released from his bonds. It is up to Amaterasu to bring life and beauty back into the lands using her divine powers. Through doing so she earns Praise, allowing her to level up her powers and life.
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You wanna fight about it?
The new Smash Bros. game, “Smash Bros. Melee,” is a massive achievement, no doubt about it. The depth, the music, the characters and adventure mode add up to a tried and true formula.
But if you’re like me, you want more – more stages, more music, another side-scrolling adventure game and more characters - pretty much more of everything.
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Breaking down the summer movies
I’m not going to lie to you: June isn’t looking so hot. Don’t get me wrong; I’m sure the temperature will be more sweltering than a sauna in Iran. The kind of hot I’m talking about is an abundance of great movies, and June looks to be frigid.
While last week’s installment of this column showed that May should be a month filled with blockbusters that are, at the very least, watchable, June is shaping up to be a bit of a mess.
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Domestic train wreck
Those who say that Woody Allen hasn’t made a good movie since “Hannah and Her Sisters” haven’t seen his often overlooked “Husbands and Wives” (1992). The film tells us that there is no such thing as a perfect relationship, and even adults can act childish when it comes to love.
The hand-held camera style in the film’s opening shot, which goes on forever without a single edit, is disorienting and nauseating. We learn that Sally and Jack (Judy Davis and Sydney Pollack) have just decided to get a divorce, an announcement that upsets Gabe and Judy Roth (Woody Allen and Mia Farrow).
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My bimbo’s better than your bimbo
I’ve only been playing “Miss Bimbo” for a few days, but already I can’t believe that it exists and that it is targeted at pre-teens.
When I first read about the online game in the Onion’s tolerability index, I thought it was a joke. But sure enough, it is real and quite scary. Based on the extremely popular French game Ma Bimbo, “Miss Bimbo” is targeted at girls as young as nine; players are given an avatar, a “bimbo,” and 1000 bimbo dollars.
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Late nights get bragging rights
Last Saturday night, I actually had fun on Downer Avenue. I sipped on a couple of drinks, enjoyed great conversation with a few friends and ate some pretty decent food.
I was at Café Hollander until about 1 a.m., and I am thinking about going there again.
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Banish blank walls
Many college students’ rooms are less than inspirational, and there is a common culprit behind all of them: landlords/parents who refuse to consider anything less than blank walls and boring furnishings. (In a way, you can’t blame them. When selling a property the less personality, the better, because a conflicting style can make the potential buyer unable to imagine him/herself in the space.)
However, while you live there it is important to get the most out of it. Your apartment/dorm should feel like home, no matter how temporary your situation may be. If you are thinking of leaving your parent’s house or the dorms next semester, keep in mind that your redecorating options will likely be limited, unless you buy a condo or house.
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