Cooler but still well above normal this week

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Kevin Kling, Michael Sommers, Jacqueline Ultan, Michelle Kinney, and Simone Perrin present an evening of musical storytelling in "Flight"

What a weekend! Lots of great writing about local artists of all stripes, so read on to catch up on what you may have missed...

Dominic Papatola at the Pioneer Press gives his wrap-up of the 2009 Minnesota Fringe Festival 

. For the most part Papatola seems really pleased with this year's festival, giving kudos to Fringe artistic director Robin Gillett. His biggest complaint? Not being able to find food and drink during the 30 minute breaks between shows. He'd also like free shuttles between venues.

(Note: if you just can't get enough of fringe festivals, check out this profile of the 

 in the New York Times. It's tiny compared to the Minnesota Fringe, and very very earnest.)

Star Tribune film critic Colin Colvert was 

with "Julie & Julia," saying that while Meryl Streep is fantastic, the scenes with modern-day Julie are far less interesting, and weigh the movie down.

Meanwhile A.O. Scott at the New York Times thinks audiences are being 

formulaic movie pablum in a desperate retreat to sure successes during a recession.

Scott says the biggest success, both artistic and economic, of the summer has been "Up." This season, he says, the film with the most mature treatment of the adult themes of loss and regret is a cartoon.

Poet Kathryn Kysar reviews Alia Yunis' book "

," in which Scheherezade appears to an elderly Lebanese immigrant and demands to be told a story each night for the next 

Finally, Mary Abbe has a profile of stone sculptor Zoran Mojsilov (If you've ever been to the Greek restaurant 

in Minneapolis, that's his work inside and outside the building). Mojsilov is the subject of a retrospective at the 

So what did you do this weekend? Got any reviews for us? I'm all ears.

Arts and Culture

State of the Arts Blog

Marianne Combs

Author

What a weekend! Lots of great writing about local artists of all stripes, so read on to catch up on what you may have missed...


Reviews and ideas from the weekend

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