Black to the future
History: "As one of the seven active African-American astronauts, what do you see as the future of African-Americans in space?" asked National Public Radio talk show host Tavis Smiley. "That’s a good question," responded astronaut Michael Anderson. "I see the future as pretty bright." When Anderson was responding to the question, he was orbiting the…
Necto of the techno gods
Conveniently situated in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor, the Necto stands out as one of the area’s top techno venues. Every Thursday night, it plays host to an event called “Lust,” which features national and international DJs spinning house, progressive house, and techno – so dancers and aficionados needn’t be shy. Large, plush booths…
Letters to the Editor
Missing insight Shireen Liane has a right to not like the Electric Six (“The Friends of Jack White Chart Association,” Metro Times, Jan. 29-Feb. 4). However, she and some other music writers try to “out hip” each other by spending too much time talking about themselves. They seem to want us to know how inside,…
That evol word
I heart Carina Chocano. I instantly fell for her deliciously acerbic wit when first I stumbled across her summaries of “Temptation Island” on salon.com. The Fox reality series which depicted the sex lives of impossibly good-looking couples on a tropical oasis was rather trite and idiotic, but I became an avid viewer of the series,…
D for desire, I for intense, R for revealing …
MONA moans with pleasure at this year’s "dirty" show….
Smells like teen spirit
For more than a century, advertisers have packaged conformity and peace of mind in tidy units, like bars of soap, cereal boxes, and clothing catalogs. Products don’t last if people don’t buy into them, so millions of superfluous goods compete to suck away our free time, extra income, and the anxiety associated with having either.…
State of the state, indeed
“Life’s most dazzling victories dawn when imagination finds a way they said couldn’t be found.” —Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Feb. 5, 2003 When our warm and charismatic governor spoke those words last week, toward the end of her first State of the State address, my soul was filled with longing of a sort never previously inspired…
My mistress, Vietnam
Philip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence) makes his second art-house flick in a row with this savvy adaptation of Graham Greene’s languorous Vietnam drama — featuring Brendan Fraser, Do Thi Hai Yen and Michael Caine’s devastated performance.
Live remote
Where do these people come from? Where do these smiling, frowning, strangely energetic, intensely coiffed people come from? I assumed they were borne from an ancient planet, schooled from birth in the art of “laughing at that kooky weather,” groomed by well-suited aliens in the difficulties associated with the “awkward segue” and the subtleties of…
Max
In a post-World War I Germany devastated by defeat and economic collapse, a German-Jewish art dealer (John Cusack) sees the future in the ideas and inventions of modern art; he also sees its shadow in the fate of a young artist, Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor). Menno Meyjes directed this beautifully executed "historical fable."
February 12-21, 2003
12 WED • THEATER The Foreigner — Who knew social phobia could be so hilarious? Written by the late playwright Larry Shue, this funny tale of an old Englishman who finds himself stranded in a Georgia fishing lodge takes audiences through adventures in trickery and guise. Starring Ted Raimi ("Xena: Warrior Princess" and "Hercules: The…
Le Cercle Rouge
First released in France in 1970, the 12th of director Jean-Pierre Melville’s 13 films is the ultimate distillation of the rigorously detached, coolly observant approach that he first bought to the gangster genre with Bob le Flambeur (1955). His characters seem to carry the knowledge of their doom even as they try to forestall it…
Alice in budgetland
Red ink from White House to State House to City Hall….
The Pinochet Case
Patricio Guzman’s documentary is the story of the legal struggle to put brutal Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet on trial — a tale of triumphs and reversals, alternately inspiring and frustrating — and a film in which many of those who were tortured under the Pinochet regime are given a voice.
Wild kingdom
The battle for power at City Hall is never pretty, but these days it’s getting downright ugly. Last week, the Detroit City Council filed suit against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in circuit court. The lawsuit seeks a court order forcing the mayor to fund and reopen both the Belle Isle Zoo and the city’s Department of…
Deliver Us from Eva
Stumbling across the desert that is black America’s particular battle of the sexes, native Detroiter Gary Hardwick’s latest directorial effort is both a black male fantasy and patriarchal nightmare about powerful black women that doesn’t quite deliver its romantic comedy goods — with LL Cool J.
For the shell of it
Anyone frequenting downtown Detroit surely has noticed the proliferation of turtle graffiti on everything from abandoned buildings and road signs to the Whitney and Tiger Stadium. Whether the burgeoning herd of turtles symbolizes the glacial pace of Detroit revitalization or some fascination with the ponderous creatures, their appearance on historic buildings and over artwork is…
Shanghai Knights
While Shanghai Noon, this flick’s predecessor, took the buddy comedy to ridiculous extremes, Knights is just ridiculous. And 48-year-old Jackie Chan just can’t manage to make his action-comedy set pieces look effortless anymore.
The power of protest
Sleater-Kinney still doesn’t pull punches….
Amendment doesn’t suck
Yesterday we shouted from rooftops to make a point. Today we do so by way of Internet domain names such as taubmansucks.com. And your local circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals is just fine with that as indicated in a case pitting the real estate and shopping-center giant against a Dallas Web designer. Texan…
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
If you go to see this shameless, romantic laugh train, you’ll laugh, you’ll cringe and, chances are, you’ll leave with a stupid smile on your face, in spite of the film’s shortcomings — with love-bug cute Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey.
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Of all the acts of intimate connection you should perpetrate with a wide-open heart in the coming week, put this near the top of the list. Memorize the following lines, and say them to a soul friend who most appreciates extravagant expressions of affection: “I love you more than it’s possible…
Cold comfort
Our latest foray leads the Abandoned Shelter Squad to 1103 Clay. Like so many of the buildings featured, this one appears to have sustained recent fire damage. Tattered curtains and towels, dirtied with soot, whip through cracked windows, and an Angels’ Night anti-arson billboard adorns one side of the building. Among the small bits of…
Who’s playin’?
Plowshares Theatre delivers August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson….
Delivery in doubt
Gunplay, vicious dogs threaten mail service in parts of Detroit….
Of bugs and basses
When Marion Hayden was a little girl, she didn’t play with dolls. She played with bugs. The bass came later. While other girls were playing house and arranging Barbies in compromising positions, Hayden rejoiced in roaming the neighborhood with her friends, collecting creepy-crawlies by the jarful. She and her cohorts would then spread out their…
Abandoned Shelter of the Week
Our latest foray leads the Abandoned Shelter Squad to 1103 Clay. Like so many of the buildings featured, this one appears to have sustained recent fire damage. Tattered curtains and towels, dirtied with soot, whip through cracked windows, and an Angels’ Night anti-arson billboard adorns one side of the building. Among the small bits of…
More on bug-chasing
Q: Your recent column about gay “bug-chasers” was boring. No one cares whether gay guys want to infect themselves with AIDS! While you may be gay, most of your readers are not. Write about straight problems! Don’t spend so much time writing about boring gay shit! —Ta Ha & Straight Edge Boy A: You might…
The Ballad of DJ P
Is this hick-hop mixmaster the next big thing?…
A bassist’s big bash
There’s a loop-de-loop busyness to Dave Holland’s big band. Thelonious Monk once talked about music where something happens “every googolplexth of a second,” and Holland’s definitely got that timing down. Like some odd assortment of keys on a whistling watchman’s ring, the cool and the hot, the musta-been-planned and the gotta-be-improvised, the simple declarations and…
A bar for breakfast
Club Bart’s normal breakfast menu is extensive enough — 13 omelets and 10 pancakes/waffles. But for the hip weekend breakfast crowd, chef Nicole Cass adds a goodly list of specials. Cass says she likes to “take everyday foods and turn them into breakfast.” To that end she’ll serve a Black Forest chocolate waffle with brandied…
Sweaters & closets
One odd woman and one trash-talking trucker. A barren room, a dead cactus and a boarded-up window. No change of set. With these few threads, William Mastrosimone has knit such a tight character study, it’s difficult to believe something so seemingly stark could delve so deeply into issues of love, loneliness and sanity. Shrug into…
Noir for real
Seething with the energy of streets, bars and bedrooms, Los Angeles author Larry Fondation’s second book reads like a collaboration among Elmore Leonard, Dennis Cooper and Eminem. Its author may well be the best unknown writer in America — and this brilliant collection of short fiction will probably not change that. Fondation, a community organizer…
