#148 The Har Mar

I'm always a little sad when a movie theater closes. Even when the theater in question was an example of every thing that's wrong with the movie-going experience. The Har Mar 1-3 and 4-11 in Roseville were a dilapidated and musty relic from the days when the shopping mall cineplex was the place to see movies. Cinema Treasures has a nice history of the location.

The Har-Mar opened with "Two Mules for Sister Sara" and "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" to packed houses. In the early 70s, the Har-Mar was one of the most popular Saint Paul theaters, due to its proximity to Highway 36, its large parking lot and being modern and comfortable.

In 1974, the Har-Mar was the first suburban movie house to out-gross a downtown theater, the Skyway 2, playing the same film ("Earthquake"). It was by only very little, but it signified the death knell for Saint Paul's downtown movie houses and the rise of the suburban theater.

This got me wondering if the real future for movies is in a return to the urban milieu. As a moviegoer in Los Angeles, my first choices were always theaters in bustling locations like the Arclight, Grauman's Chinese and The Vista. Weren't shopping malls like The Har Mar themselves approximations of downtown city blocks, boasting restauraunts, shopping and entertainment all within walking distance? The new Rosedale theater that replaces the Har Mar (and gives jobs to the theater's staff) is only tangentially connected to the Rosedale mall. There's just enough barren concrete between the theater box office and the nearby pub to make the space feel alienating in that sterile big box sort of way.

Still, I have hopes for the gleaming new theater just across the freeway. I'm thinking we might get a year of good projection and sound out of the staff before they become lax and inattentive to their screens. I also wonder. What's going to happen to those bad-ass chandeliers in the abandoned theater?



Hopefully some sharp home decorator or interior designer will nab these beauties and give them a good home.

Finally, I'll post a picture I took in the Har Mar bathroom when I first moved to the Twin Cities a little over a year ago.



That's "Roseville Sucks" if squinting doesn't help.

#147 Idiocracy

Even though I caught Borat's documentary last night, I'm pretty sure that Idiocracy is my favorite comedy this year.

The local art house theater here in Minneapolis hosted a midnight movie of the picture. They usually squander their screen on stuff like Back to the Future and Blue Velvet, awesome movies to be sure, but the kind of stuff you can rent or buy at pretty much every store in the country.

The one weekend that pretty much every moviegoer in the country was watching Sacha Baron Cohen's flick, they decided to screen Idiocracy. And despite this bone-headed programming the midnight screening enjoyed a nearly full house.

Idiocracy isn't perfect. But man, it's heartfelt. I'm sure that's not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a movie about hand-jobs, prostitutes and monster trucks. But I'm serious about this.

Mike Judge is a keen observer of culture. And the reason I love this movie so much is that it's proof that there's someone else out there. Someone else who cringes every time they hear a slave-wage employee drone through a pre-scripted upsale before ringing up my order. Someone else who understands the pain and frustration of being called a fag because you like to read books.

I know. I'm a total homo for Mike Judge.

That doesn't change that Idiocracy is the most subversive, clever and imaginative comedy to almost be released in ages. The movie is layered knee-deep with jokes. Visual gags occupy every corner of every frame. And the flick's Planet of the Apes-style three act structure proves that this movie isn't just a series of sketches strung out to feature length. The movie has a plot. A feature, I'm beginning to fear, bores most comedy audiences.

As a special treat for Minneapolis audiences, the staff of the Uptown theater inadvertently added an extra layer of irony to the screening. The sound started to waver during the last scenes. I'm guessing the projectionist was asleep at the wheel. Just as the film's resolution unspooled, the movie just petered out. Literally. The narration slowed like a 12'' record sans spin. Then the screen went dark.

The audience laughed.

Could this be the purposeful end of the picture? Naw. The movie's not that conceptual. A staff obviously payed too little to care had, in their own special way, pointed out that Idiocracy wasn't just a science fiction-flavored comedy. By their negligence they reminded me, at least, that it's also a horror movie about the increasingly scary world that we live in every day.

#146 Battlestar Galactica

I was totally wrong about this show. Before the new episodes launched, I sided with the fans who at the time were howling at the changes being made to their beloved series. Then the show dropped off of my radar. Though I love science fiction (or perhaps because I love it), I don't really watch anything that airs on The Sci Fi Channel. I just assume that it's going to be turgid crap. And I'm usually right. And though many trusted friends told me that Battlestar Galactica was great, I smuggly ignored them.

So I'll say it again. I was wrong about Battlestar Galactica. It's fucking awesome. The first miniseries is terriffic. I'm four or five episodes into the first season and still loving it. Every change they made to the series works. And lets be serious here for a second, the original show isn't all that amazing in hindsight. It was awesome because it was science fiction and in those days we took what we could get.

The new Battlestar Galactica is awesome because it's damn good. It's smartly written, well acted and every so often its produced with such flair that you forget that you're watching television (it helps if you're watching on DVD like civilized people).

If you watched the old school series like I did, you'll find a cool surprise in episode five -- a remake of the only original episode most folks remember. Think Hell in the Pacific.

Anyway, I'd like to offer up my sincere apologies to all my friends and loved ones whom I doubted. Go ahead and strike while the iron's hot. I'm so pleased with the show that you'll probably be able to fool me into watching some cockamamie anime or reality show.

#145 SXSW

I didn't actually go to SXSW. But I did the next best thing. I downloaded a free and legal torrent featuring free mp3s from the hundreds of bands playing the fest. Since March, I've been listening and grading the songs as they pop up on my iTunes playlist. Here's some notes on the tracks that merited five stars so far.

• Avotor "Glacial Weapon" -- Mogwai-style post rock
  
• Bexar Bexar "Krinkle of Henry's Heart" -- Glitchy abstraction with tender guitarwork
  
• Cardinale "Untitled" -- Epic metal via Tortoise
  
• Dengue Fever "Sni Bong" -- Vintage Asian pop meets Stone Roses!?! Awesome.
  
• Jean Grae "Give it Up" -- Fierce female hip-hop

And here's a quick list of the four stars:

Abigain Washburn, Big Juss, Bound Stems, Brother Ali, Cadence Weapon, Daniel Francis Doyle, El Ten Eleven, Flip Grater, Flogging Molly, God's Temple of Family Deliver, Gogogo Airheart, Harrisons, Holy Fuck, Jenny Owen Youngs, Live Fast Die, Mad Staring Eyes, The Meligrove Band, The Minni-Thins, My Education, Rainer Maria, Sarah Harmer, Saviors, Shifter, The Southland, Talib Kweli, Troy von Balthazar, Whitehouse and Zombi.

If you can sift through all the boring singer-songwriters there's quite a bit of interesting stuff going on at SXSW. Gotta make it down to Austin one of these days.

I'll post more bands as I rate 'em. Still tons I haven't heard yet. iTunes is saying 2.3 days worth of music.

#144 Looky Touchy

Part of the reason I've neglected this site for so long is that I've been attempting to become an honest-to-God blogger. Head over to www.lookytouchy.com to see what I've been doing. The site deals in video game impressions. "Looky" reviews contain my insightful, opinionated and ocassionally funny analysis of screen shots and video for upcoming games. "Touchy" items are actual hands-on impressions. I touch a game and tell you about it.

I'm trying to post daily and keep the writing as fun and entertaining as possible. I figure the world has plenty dead-serious, 3000-word game reviews. Tell your friends, add the site to your RSS feed and click on some ads. I wouldn't mind the ocassional comment either.

Looky Touchy

#143 The IT Crowd

The IT Crowd is a traditional sitcom about two dorks who work in a company's IT department and the suit-type who gets "promoted" to their dungeon office to oversee them. The series is produced by Ash Atalla of The Office and written by Graham Lineman of The Black Books and Big Train. The show has more than a few moments of spot-on nerd humor. It's obvious that this comes from people who get nerd culture. I've spotted multiple Kozyndan posters, Fantagrahpics comics and toys, The Flying Spaghetti Monster and Errorwear T-shirts all within minutes. Only Spaced has managed to create a television environment that true to my life.

There are no publicised plans to air The IT Crowd in the U.S. Don't let that stop you from watching it, though.

The IT Crowd Official Site

#142 Everyday Italian

Television chef Giada De Laurentiis looks like a bobble head. I'm not saying that to be mean or anything. It's just an observation. I gather she's a small woman. A small woman with a big noggin. To me, she seems like a less frigid Natalie Portman.

The two things I dig about Giada are that her granddad made Conan the Barbarian and (more obviously) her cooking. I've been preparing dishes from her book, Everyday Italian. That's the name of her show too.

Our favorite dishes so far are: Ziti with Asparagus, Smoked Mozzerella and Prosciutto, Chicken Parmesan, Marinara, and Torta Di Pasta (which Alexis won't eat because its got eggs in it). We tried her Penne with Vodka Sauce, but the flavor was a bit too complex for our coarse, Midwestern palates.