The Rake Magazine

For the brave among us: The Exonerated, an anti-death penalty plays, opens this evening at Mixed Blood and Mark Mothersbaugh: Postcard Diaries (i.e., art from the frontman of Devo--yes, we've covered this endeavor of his before) opens at Creative Electric Studios.

In the cards for tonight, so long as I'm not buried: The Stephen Petronio [dance] Company at the Walker Art Center. Don't know much about 'em, I'm afraid. But they come recommended by my friend, the very knowledgeable and talented Ms. Linda Shapiro.

Looking on the bright side of all this powder and slop: I guess this means we're in like a lion, at the very least. But it couldn't be a worse weekend, in terms of happenings, to get snowed out. For now, I plan to strap on my snowshoes and trudge to the DIVA MN fashion event (wouldn't that be something?) as well as to opening weekend of Don Juan Giovanni.

More on movies: the film that, in my humble opinion, should've won for best documentary is playing at the Bell--through tomorrow only! Not that I disliked An Inconvenient Truth. But let's face it, folks; it was, essentially, a PowerPoint presentation, whereas Iraq In Fragments took some very bold, and quite poetic, snapshots of three different Iraqi subsets: the neglected Sunni schoolboy; the rambled and radicalized Shiite south; and finally, the seemingly quiet life of a rural Kurdish schoolboy. Rich in hot reds and cool blues, the pictures are beautiful to boot--and considering how difficult the content was to gather, that must've been the filmmaker's happy accident.

If there was one resolution made during last night's Academy Awards viewing, it was this: I resolve to go see The Queen. I missed it, thinking it looked tearfully boring at the time of its release. Plus, I generally try to avoid biopics--unless, that is, they have something to do with Truman Capote. But in an evening wrought with political handouts and unflattering eveningwear, Helen Mirren was the class-act standout. For one, she wore her dress, by Christian Lacroix, better than anyone else wore theirs--kudos to her to her for daring to wear something so low cut. And at her age!!

(Here's my parenthetic thoughts on last night's dresses: Penelope Cruz's Versace was the best dress, in my humble opinion. I also liked Nicole Kidman's red Balenciaga number with the big shoulder bow, although her plasticized forehead did nothing for the overall look. Cameron Diaz's white, origami-inspired Valentino was also nice; this is something I'd actually want to wear! But aside from that, I'm not diggin' the futuristic metallics, which can make even a starlet look paunchy. Jennifer Hudson, I love you 'n all, but get rid of that Oscar de la Renta rag--and fast!!)

In any case, for those, like me, who still haven't seen The Queen, it's playing at The Heights this evening through Thursday.

This is what I'm doing tonight. And tomorrow, since I'm taking the day off, I'll toss off my agenda in advance: After all this time, I'm finally going to a rock 'n' roll show--The Alarmists (along with Melismatics and Friends Like These) at the T-Rock, just after the boyfriend and I take his grandma out to dinner.

Other mentionables: The Spark festival at the Southern and closing weekend for that Jon Ferguson show.