Steven Spielberg says his adaptation of the children’s novel and Tony Award-winning play War Horse doesn’t pay conscious homage to the lustrous David Lean clashes and John Ford chiaroscuros that the movie recalls in shot after shot. That’s a pile of manure. War Horse doesn’t recall those and other influences (most spectacularly, the florid sunset vistas of Victor Fleming’s Gone…
As a kid, I had a making-of book filled with storyboards that Steven Spielberg used while shooting Raiders of the Lost Ark — proof that the filmmaker carries in his head an uncanny ability to lay out screen space. It’s as if someone said, “truck chase,” and the pursuit immediately unfolded in Spielberg’s mind, not just in every direction but…
Let’s be generous and call Stieg Larsson’s juggernaut Millennium Trilogy — anchored by The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo — a modern fairy tale rather than an endless procedural driven by sphincter-clenching violence and cloudy logic. The story’s vengeful, wraithlike heroine, Lisbeth Salander, seems descended from Grimm stories or Norse legend, part victim and part deceiver, not quite real. Gifted…
The biggest music story of 2011 was the introduction of Spotify, a music-streaming service that allows users to listen to just about any song they desire, whenever they desire, for the price of muting a 30-second advertisement every half-hour. It’s user-friendly, it’s legal, it’s free, and it’s the latest and most convincing evidence that bands attempting to make money selling…
Sonic Spectrum Tribute to ELO Around eight years ago, Hollywood focus-group testing apparently determined that “Mr. Blue Sky,” a mostly forgotten hit for Electric Light Orchestra in the 1970s, possessed a secret ability to pry disposable income from the general public. It was promptly put to use in an alarming number of TV commercials and movie trailers. On the one…
Earlier this year, I devoted this space to an imaginary Country Club Plaza, one populated with only local restaurants — no chains. I still think it’s a good idea, so it would be a little disingenuous of me to kick the locally owned Mexican restaurant Zócalo, which opened on the Plaza this fall. The city’s historic shopping and entertainment district…
Bradley Cook pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a Missouri sex-slave case. Cook, also known as “PutHer2GoodUse,” pleaded guilty to sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion of a young mentally deficient woman who was tortured for several years in a Lebanon, Missouri, home. The feds say Cook, 33, watched the woman be sexually abused and…
A few weeks ago, the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra put on two pretty damn memorable shows — Friday’s at Unity Temple was more of a traditional jazz show, and Saturday’s at Liberty Hall was more of a swinging dance party. What’s that, you say, poor soul? You missed both performances? Worry not! KANU/KPR 91.5, will broadcast the Liberty Hall performance…
KCK police are looking for a killer. Kansas City, Kansas, police have identified 48-year-old Curtis Hudson as the victim of last Friday’s homicide in the 1000 block of Laurel Avenue in KCK. Hudson was found dead around 11:25 a.m. inside a home in KCK. KCK police are looking for tips. If you can help them, call 913-573-6020 or the TIPS…
These cookies should make it into someone’s stocking. If you’re panicking because you looked up and it’s suddenly five days until Christmas, let go of that stress, grab a Nutcracker Ale and let someone think you’ve been planning ahead for at least 10 days with our help. Fat City has put together a quick list of five local foods (and/or…
Ad Rants Should babies be paying their way at restaurants, too? Restaurants often offer promotions wherein children eat free. Kids’ meals are typically less expensive. These are traditional marketing strategies that account for two things: Kids eat less, and they typically come attached to at least one full-paying adult. But a restaurant in Croydon, England, is apparently turning that idea…
Within stumbling distance of Troost Avenue, three houses helped host a music festival over the weekend: 15 bands for the sacred price of optional donation, and a small army of punks with nothing better to do because, face it, this really was the best thing to do. Coinciding with the release of an all- or mostly local tape compilation, Troost…
State Library of Victoria Collection If you’ve already had enough of watching characters eat a fabulous British holiday dinner in any one of the dozen or so movie versions of A Christmas Carol , and you would like to actually have the traditional meal yourself, the Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange takes a culinary cue from Charles Dickens on Thursday,…
Kansas City police have released a sketch of a man suspected of sexually assaulting a 71-year-old woman in her home on December 15. Police say a man confronted the woman in her home in the 3200 block of East 10th Street around 7:30 p.m. last Thursday. The man repeatedly assaulted the woman over the course of several hours. The woman…
Lawrence’s premiere punk-rock cover band, Stiff Middle Fingers, is looking to start writing original music, rather than covering Bad Religion and, yes, Stiff Little Fingers songs. With said movement toward material of their own, they’re looking to make a name change. Should you have a good one, you might want to head to their Facebook page and make a suggestion…
Lemon and sugar with that mending job? Two years ago, Marcia Cherrito turned a storefront on Parkville’s main shopping drag into Shabby Hattie’s, a tearoom that served lunch, a wide selection of flavored teas, and various geegaws and gift items. The place is cute as hell, and the food is good, but Cherrito realized that she needed another source of…
Aisha Khan has been missing since Friday. The family of missing 19-year-old Johnson County Community College student Aisha Khan is offering $10,000 for information about her disappearance. Khan vanished Friday from Overland Park, where she was studying at KU’s Edwards campus. Khan texted and called family members around midday Friday complaining that an intoxicated stranger was bothering her, and she…
Residents of the Meadowlark Estates retirement home in Lawrence have dethroned paying off strangers’ layaway bills as the top meme of the holiday season. A handful of the community’s senior citizens held recently with a miniature geriatric flash mob in the Christmas section of a Target store, dancing to the Glee cast’s cover of Wham’s Christmas standard “Last Christmas.” A…
Where do you get your ideas for dinner? The counter across from my oven is the catchall counter in the kitchen. The cat’s food bowl sits next to a series of nesting mixing bowls, and kitchen gadgets often accumulate until either my wife or I decide that we need to be cleaner, more organized people. This is usually determined by…
Lawrence rapper Approach made his Aloe Park (Redux) remix album available as a pay-what-you-like download on Bandcamp today. Any money made will go to charity. Approach said on his Facebook, “I wanna do my part in providing a little something extra to families in need.” Categories: Music Tags: Approach, charity
