Blurt: Seven Days Staff Blog

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3 posts categorized "Review" Feed

December 06, 2011

Alice Eats: Redstone Unlimited Dining

IMG_3305438 South Prospect Street, Burlington, 656-4664

This week, my feature in Seven Days focuses on Vermont Kosher, the new kitchen that provides food for observant Jewish students around the University of Vermont. Sunday through Thursday, students and community members alike can grab a Middle Eastern-style kosher meal at Redstone Unlimited Dining. I was so impressed with chef Rachel Jacob's food, I wanted to see what else was available at the newly renovated cafeteria, formerly Simpson Dining Hall.

For an old fart like me, the LEED-certified space seemed impressively techie at first. Nonstudent diners enter and pay $10.35 at the door. From there, they head to the FÖD (Food on Demand) ordering system, a line of touch-screen computers at which diners choose what they'd like to eat. They can then elect to be sent a text message when the food is ready, or just keep tabs of their order number on one of the dining hall's TV screens.

Continue reading "Alice Eats: Redstone Unlimited Dining" »

October 21, 2011

Movies You Missed 9: Red State

Red-stateThis week in movies you missed: Kevin Smith takes on the Westboro Baptist Church by making it the horror in a horror movie.

What You Missed

Somewhere in redneck America, three teens (Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner and Nicholas Braun) are trying to get laid. They connect online with a much older woman (Oscar winner Melissa Leo) who invites them to her rural trailer with the promise of a simultaneous foursome (don't ask). When they arrive, the unwary horndogs quickly find themselves prisoners of the Five Points Trinity Church, a notorious local sect that waves hate-filled signs at gay and military funerals.

As if that weren't disturbing enough, out of the public eye, the congregation's tastes run to assault rifles, cattle prods, Saran wrap and ball gags. This Hostel-type teenage-nightmare scenario quickly mutates into something else, and then into something else again when the feds, led by John Goodman, storm the compound.

Continue reading "Movies You Missed 9: Red State" »

September 15, 2011

Movies You Missed 4: Conan O'Brien Can't Stop

Conan-cant-stop This week in new DVDs, a multimillionaire comedian is "unemployed" and wants your sympathy, and yes, he does appreciate the irony.

Each week I review a brand-new DVD release picked for me by Seth Jarvis, buyer for Burlington's Waterfront Video, where you can obtain these fine films. (In central Vermont, try Downstairs Video.) Most of these movies never hit our big screens. Maybe they lacked broad audience appeal, or maybe they languish in what AV Club critic Nathan Rabin calls "Straight-to-DVD Purgatory." Either way, I hope they'll surprise me. Welcome to Vermont, where the art house and the grindhouse are our house.

What You Missed

In early 2010, Conan O'Brien left his plum spot hosting "The Tonight Show," not exactly by choice. In order to bring back Jay Leno, NBC gave O'Brien a hefty compensation coupled with a legal requirement to stay off the air waves (including the Internet) for the next six months.

The ban apparently didn't extend to Twitter, where O'Brien opened an account and announced his 44-stop "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour." It quickly sold out. Now Rodman Flender's documentary offers a backstage view of the tour, along with clips from the stage show itself.

Continue reading "Movies You Missed 4: Conan O'Brien Can't Stop" »

Stuck in VT (VIDEOS)

Solid State (Music)

Mistress Maeve (Sex)

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