Minneapolis Watched the Rise and Fall of an Opioid Rock Star

Janis Joplin grew up in Port Arthur Texas, a small town with a fading downtown right out of the Last Picture Show and a skyline of smoking oil refinery and petrochemical plants. Janis was bullied throughout high school. One clique named her the “best looking man” at Thomas Jefferson High — according to Texas Monthly, others threw pennies at her or called her a whore.

Joplin endured the harassment but never forgot it, while seeking solace in art classes. After graduation, she drifted and hitchhiked between short stints at local colleges and road trips to San Francisco to experience its emerging psychedelic rock scene. Janis had cultivated a love of music from an early age. She honed her talents joining impromptu folk-singing gatherings or performing guest spots with local bands.

[Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Arts/Entertainment, Music Tagged With: , ,

Minnesota Twins Midseason Report — Hitting Success and Pitching Failures

The Minnesota Twins have had a roller coaster of a season thus far. The Twins will resume play Friday after the All-Star break with a record of 45-43, 2.5 games behind the American League Central Division leading Cleveland Indians. They are one game back in a crowded American League Wild Card race.

[Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Arts/Entertainment, Sports Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Movie Review – ‘Cars 3’ Desperately Tries Not to be Cars 2

cars 3

If you haven’t been brought up to speed over the last eleven years of Cars history, I’ll help you out. The Cars movie only exists to sell toys. And if you’re parent, it’s likely you know this pretty well by now. Pixar makes bank selling Lightning McQueen and Mater toys. However, as a film franchise, it’s one of the worst Pixar properties in their long and successful film history. Of all their movies, Cars 2 is the only critically panned Pixar film to date.

Usually, when a sequel gets panned, a studio ends it and moves on. But since Cars is a merchandising cash cow, it was only inevitable they’d release the third installment and make it a trilogy. As a side note, it’s a little sad their worst property has a trilogy before The Incredibles. But I digress.

[Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Arts/Entertainment, Movies Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ervin Santana Continues to Be the Twins Rock in the Rotation

When I look at the success of the Minnesota Twins thus far this season, there’s one pitcher that stands out — Ervin Santana.

When Santana takes the mound tonight against the Seattle Mariners at Target Field, he would be making his 13th start of the season which leads the club. He has a record of 8-3 with a 2.20 ERA in 90 innings pitched. He’s allowed 23 runs, 22 of which are earned. He has held opponents to a .154 batting average, but unfortunately has given up 11 home runs. He also has 33 walks with 63 strikeouts.

[Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , , , ,

Movie Review – ‘The Mummy’ is a Hollow Soul Wrapped in a Fun Adventure

the mummy movie

Many who hear the title The Mummy likely think of the 1999 Brendan Fraser movie, its two sequels, and that spinoff with The Rock. This is not that movie. We all know Hollywood loves trends. Endless sequels, remakes, reboots, and breaking up movies into parts, have all been the bread and butter of the industry. The Mummy directed by Alex Kurtzman and starring Tom Cruise hops onto one of those bandwagons (remake) with one additional one. It’s part of the “Dark Universe.”

With the outstanding success by Marvel Studios, cinematic universes are now tickling every Hollywood executives fancy and Universal Studios is no exception. The Mummy is the first of many monster movies to exist within the same cinematic universe. It’s important to note this before getting started. Understanding what a movie sets out to do is a big part of figuring out whether or not it’s any good.
[Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Arts/Entertainment, Movies Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Movie Review – ‘Captain Underpants’ Overflows with Potty Humor, Delighting Kids and Ignoring Adults

captain underpants

When I was in third grade, I really wanted to see the movie Blank Check. My parents, on the other hand, weren’t so thrilled. Eventually, I convinced them to rent it for me and I loved it. As expected, they didn’t. Honestly, in my childhood mind, I didn’t understand why. But then I re-watched it this year and it all made total sense. Blank Check is geared entirely to kids in every way imaginable with no logical reasoning built into the story whatsoever. And who remembers Blank Check? No one.

[Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Arts/Entertainment, Movies Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Movie Review – Despite a Familiar Plot, ‘Alien: Covenant’ is a Worthy Installment

danny mcbride katherine waterston
Alien has always been one of those hallmark, eye-opening sci-fi movies, not just for its frights but also how it stretched the genre. It’s been decades since the first movie hit theaters and now we’ve had multiple installments. Of those movies, I would argue only three are good: Alien, Aliens, and Prometheus. All the others are either bad or just plain awful.

Alien: Covenant essentially improves on the flaws of Prometheus, uses a tried and true formula that works, and ratchets up the gross and violent scare factor, making it all-in-all a pretty solid film with a horrible Achilles heel; It depends too greatly on past plots and formulas, making it feel like a rehash of all the things we’ve seen in the past. They’re just done better this time.

[Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Arts/Entertainment, Movies Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2017 Summer Movie Guide

Well, we got through the dry and boring month of April where most movies go to die (except The Fate and the Furious). Thankfully, May is here and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is about to kick off the season right (or so we hope).

[Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Arts/Entertainment, Movies Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Miguel Sano Stays Red Hot

The Minnesota Twins have completed their first month of play, finishing above most fans’ expectations. This is a much improved ball club from the Twins of last April where they had a record of 7-17 that month and would go on to finish the season 59-103 and would never get out of the cellar.

Part of the Twins much improved play is the performance of Miguel Sano. Sano currently has a batting line of .317/.446/.707 with 8 HRs, 27 RBIs and 19 runs scored. He also has 19 bases on balls and 33 strikeouts.

[Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Arts/Entertainment, Sports Tagged With: , , , ,

Adrian Peterson Signs With New Orleans Saints — But No One in Minnesota Cares

The Minnesota Vikings all-time leading rusher, Adrian Peterson, after what seemed like forever, has finally landed with another NFL team — but despite his many contributions to the Minnesota football community, few fans in the Land of 10,000 Lakes actually care. And I once considered myself one of Adrian Peterson’s biggest fans — I couldn’t care less that he’s gone.

After months of sitting as a free agent, the aging Peterson finally inked a deal with the (still hated) New Orleans Saints.

[Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: , , , , ,
Next Page »