I meant to post this awhile ago, but over on MNSpeak, local illustrator and occasional Electric Arc Radio Show performer Andy Sturdevant pointed out that some crazy cool Spanish art mag wrote up a big feature on Minnesota's current folk scene. Roma di Luna, Meg Ashling, the Floorbirds (who?) and Mike Gunther were all written about in a piece that begins on page 20 of the January 2008 issue. You can download a PDF of the whole thing on the Calle 20 website.

The press came as a surprise to some of the artists highlighted--"I didn't know anything about the article. They procured the photos through the Dutch Label that released our last record, Rosa Records. It was a cool article, though," Gunther wrote in an email. It's kind of awesome that Spanish people, who are better than us because they have mad scientist chefs and lunatic architecture and tapas and also got the Mexicans to speak their language even though we live right next door, have found something to admire over here! Okay France, now you say something about our scene that you like.

Now in it’s 20th year, the Minnesota Book Awards announced its nominees this week. Helmed by the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, four authors were nominated in each of the eight categories by 24 judges from the state.

Go to the GameFAQs review site for Burnout 3: Takedown – widely regarded as the best entry in the critically acclaimed go-fast-and-crash racing series – and note the number of laudatory writeups in both the PS2 and Xbox versions’ player review sections that say something like “I typically hate racing games, but…” or “this is the only racing game I’ve really liked”. (I hate to make you do the legwork there, but I personally gave up after about ten, not including the misguided soul who claimed to hate “realistic racers like Project Gotham” – apparently “you need to brake” is too strenuous a demand.) I tend to have a pretty uncharitable view of that whole outlook: usually when someone says something’s [x] for people who don’t like [x], 9 times out of 10 the people who really do like [x] will find out that there’s not a lot of substance for them beneath all the mass-appeal diluting. I try not to be one of those people that always gripes about the “sheep” who keep buying Halo and Madden titles, but as a racing game aficionado -- and by “aficionado” I mean “insufferable snob” -- Burnout is my one weakness: if it’s the only racing game you’ve ever made it a point to enjoy, all I can say is you’re missing out on a hell of a lot. Did you know that Forza Motorsport 2 lets you drop an all-wheel-drive Nissan Skyline drivetrain into a ’69 Datsun Z? How is that not awesome?

Most famous for penning Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which re-imagined The Wizard of Oz and was transformed into a hit Broadway musical, Gregory Maguire has carved himself a literary niche by looking at fairy tales and children's stories from a different angle. He's reworked Snow White, Cinderella, and in his latest novel, What-the-Dickens, he explores the idea of the Tooth Fairy and its relationship to youth.

The line between so-called high art and low art is largely artificial, and nowhere is this more ably demonstrated than on a Twin Cities weekend.

Dan Deacon was at First Avenue last night. Trying to explain Deacon is a futile exercise. And listening to Deacon isn't enough. You have to show him. This is what a Dan Deacon show (at First Avenue) looks like...

Now that Diablo Cody has been nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Juno, what are her odds of actually winning?

Slightly better than even.

Cody is pretty much in a two-horse race with Tony Gilroy of Michael Clayton. The rest of the field are worthy competitors but trailing badly out of the gate. Ratatouille is a bet to show, but it’s an animated film, a category easy to dismiss by voters. Lars and the Real Girl and The Savages are smaller films without the buzz of Juno.

I have noticed in my philosophical readings that the thought of many 19th and 20th century thinkers mirrors that of professional wrestler The Ultimate Warrior.

Hence, the following exercise: "Philosopher ... or Warrior?" We've gathered sets of quotations taken from prominent thinkers Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger and Michel Foucault. A dash of Ayn Rand has been added for zest. In each set, two of the passages are from the philosophers - and one is from The Warrior.

It's more than just another fun, time-wasting quiz on the Internet. The fertile seeds of many doctoral dissertations exist here also - "The Notion of God in Heidegger as Compared to The Ultimate Warrior," for example, or possibly "The Exegis of Altruism in Foucault and the Ultimate Warrior."

The New York City Board of Health unanimously voted to make chain restaurants (more than 15 locations) post calorie numbers on their menu boards.

Waaah Records was a British indie label that put out lovely twee/cuddlecore pop music some years back. Now, the entire canon is online for free download, along with zines and other remnants. There are dozens of great songs here, and the label owner has helpfully placed a photograph of a kitten next to his favorites.