Posted January 02, 2013in Film Review
“Zero Dark Thirty” 3 stars Rated R 160 mins. Action Starring: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt Kathryn Bigelow’s cinematic version of the U.S. military’s absurdly protracted 10-year hunt for Osama bin Laden is not what you would expect. Bigelow’s frequent screenwriter collaborator, and former war reporter, Mark Boal (“The
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Posted January 02, 2013in Belly Up To...
For those of you who weren’t alive in 1989, the first Batman movie epitomized — before Christian Bale’s throaty rendition of the hero and the late Heath Ledger’s demonically demented version of the Joker — a comparably more jovial depiction of the classic battle of good vs. evil. Back then,
Read More →Published arrest charges are obtained from official law enforcement records, which are available to the public. All who are charged are innocent until proven guilty. Play the “Name that Crime” Quiz! K-MART JEWEL THIEF, REALLY? Police responded to an alarm at K-Mart, 2535 Hubbell Ave. around 4:30 a.m. on Dec.
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Posted January 02, 2013in Joe's Neighborhood, Recent Posts
OK, it is the dark and dreary days of January with the bulk of winter ahead of us. I know what you’re thinking. Yup, I overheard your conversation. You’re beginning again to lay out your crazy theory of Des Moines as a rest stop, aren’t you? You know what I
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Posted January 02, 2013in Featured Story, Political Mercury
It’s the National Rifle Association’s Big Solution. And Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass says it’s an idea worth considering. We are talking about armed guards in our schools. Glass is right. Armed guards are worth considering. We should make one major stipulation, though. Any armed guards in Iowa’s
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Posted January 02, 2013in Civic Skinny, Featured Story
Hell hath no fury like a lawyer scorned. The Iowa Supreme Court last week ruled — unanimously — that a Fort Dodge dentist did not unlawfully discriminate against his dental assistant when he fired her because his wife felt the attractive younger woman posed a threat to their marriage. There
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Posted January 02, 2013in Locker Room
The first monster trucks emerged as sideshow attractions at tractor pulling events at places like the Iowa State Fair. In the beginning, they merely drove slowly over old cars, thrilling fans with their crushing capabilities. But it wasn’t long before that became too mundane for coming generations of fans. Over
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Posted January 02, 2013in Featured Story, Food Dude
In this post-New Year’s season of diets, resolutions and purges, even a meat-eating sinner such as I figured it was time to try out New World Café, Des Moines’ first all vegan restaurant. What’s that? Vegans avoid eating all the things that vegetarians refrain from eating plus any foods derived
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Posted January 02, 2013in The Sound
Founded in 1981, The Queers are one of the last holdovers of the east coast, melodic pop-punk sound typified by the Ramones. The Queers were heavily influenced by “da brudders,” a fact they saluted by releasing a song-for-song cover of the Ramones’ “Rocket to Russia” in 1994. When your stock-and-trade
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Posted January 02, 2013in Cover Story
The year 2012 was an extremely eventful one in cinema. Expanded distribution channels meant more film titles being released than ever before. The growth of Video-on-Demand allowed movie audiences to avoid audience members who can’t refrain from talking, texting or chatting on their cell phones while watching a film at
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