I’d never witnessed a lunar eclipse before, so on February 20th I set aside my stacks of papers and gazed at the night sky. Through a skylight on the second floor of my house, I watched the moon grow dull and orange, as the lights of Saturn and the star Regulus became more vibrant. Astronomers […]
“There’s a heaven, and there’s a star for you…”
On Friday, a group of us went to hear Daniel Johnston at First Avenue. We’d seen The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a recent documentary of the folk singer’s life and work, and we’d come away entranced by his raw, childlike songs. Daniel Johnston’s musical career has been disrupted by repeated bouts of severe mental illness, […]
Boiled in Lead
Boiled in Lead, the legendary Minneapolis folk band, performed at the Mabel Tainter Theater on Saturday night. They’re promoting their new album, Silver. It’s been nearly ten years since I last heard them in concert, and I shrieked like a teenager when my friend Susan told me she had tickets. They played Macedonian tunes, Estonian […]
Poetry Fix: Blake
An impassioned prologue by one of my favorite poets. A great Q & A at the end. O for a voice like thunder, and a tongue To drown the throat of war! When the senses Are shaken, and the soul is driven to madness Who can stand? When the souls of the oppressed Fight in […]
Laika
Nick Abadzis’ Laika is a fictionalized account of the short life and sad death of Laika, the Soviet space dog. Be forewarned: it’s a three-handkerchief, bucket-of-tears kind of novel. Laika’s story is one of loyalty and trust repaid with callous abandonment and deception, and the injustice of this tale resonates deeply. “Do not worry,” Laika […]
Fantasy matters a lot
…so says Neil Gaiman, who was the keynote speaker at the Fantasy Matters Conference this weekend in Minneapolis. He read the opening chapter of his new (as-yet-unfinished) novel The Graveyard Book, which was really quite charming, spooky, and lovely. I gave a scholarly presentation on Peter Jackson and Hayao Miyazaki, and I was very glad […]
Rosie Cotton
I’m not usually one to dress up for Halloween, but this year I decided to go as one of my favorite female characters from The Lord of the Rings: Rosie Cotton. You’d think that Eowyn or Arwen would have been my choice for a Halloween character, but that would have been a little too obvious. […]
Global Voice: Sir Ian McKellen
Sir Ian McKellen is touring the States with the Royal Shakespeare Company, performing in both King Lear and The Seagull. Last night–on one of the knight’s few nights off–he was the Guthrie Theater’s speaker for their annual “Global Voices” forum. It was a delightful and inspiring event. Looking relaxed and happy, McKellen strolled onto the […]