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REVIEW
restaurant review // LOCAL BURGER the taste of the town. one meal at a time
Local Burger, a charming establishment at 714 Vermont Street, has been feeding vegetarians and omnivores alike since its doors opened in 2005. Local Burger offers a traditional diner style setting with a twist they use ingredients from local and sustainable sources, many of which are organic. Local Burger also contributes to the "green" effort in Lawrence by offering bicycle delivery in the downtown area.
Local Burger boasts eight different burgers, and eight equally mouth-watering sides. I enjoyed a generous sampling of Local Burger's menu: a veggie burger, beef burger, progressive potatoes and quinoa-millet pilaf. All of the food was expertly prepared, healthy, and delicious. The atmosphere is relaxed, and the staff is friendly and very knowledgeable about the menu.
Good food seems to come at a price, though: Local Burger may be more expensive than what the typical student budget can afford, averaging at about $10 for a burger, side and drink. However, high quality food such as this is hard to come by, and Local Burger proves its burgers are well
// SASHA LUND
worth the price.
If you ask a local about this nationally known eatery, you will find that most count Local Burger among their favorite restaurants in Lawrence. It isn't often you find a restaurant that serves up such tasty, good-for-you cuisine, but Local Burger has seemingly conquered this nearly impossible feat.
book review // 'THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE' reading. it's not just for text books, you know
Have you ever considered how awesome it would be simply to remove yourself from an undesirable situation by time traveling? Well, sure, it would be sweet — if it were by choice and on cue. However, in Audrey Niffenegger's novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, Henry DeTamble is a time traveler, but not under his own control. He and his lover/ wife, Clare, experience both the blessings and curses of this kind of time traveling.
Henry travels in time and finds Clare when she is only six years old, at which point he already knows she will someday be his wife. The novel progresses with Clare's growing up, while it simultaneously switches back to Henry and his numerous time travels. Once Clare is in her teens, Henry tells her about their future together, and from then on it is their secret. Niffenegger does a wonderful job of making smooth transitions throughout time and between both Henry and Clare's point of view.
The novel is a unique portrayal of true
love, while it elaborates on the significance of the accumulation of time. Although she treasures their time together, Clare struggles with tolerating Henry's random disappearances. The reader sympathizes with the loneliness Clare endures through the years, constantly yearning and waiting for Henry to return. Equally poignant is Henry's frustration with his inability to always be there for Clare. Nonetheless, their sadness is trumped by the joy the couple enjoys when they are together as partners, struggling with this shared battle. You will not be able to put the novel down once you begin reading it. Time will fly for you, too, and soon you will find yourself wishing the book had never ended.
// CHELSEA JOHNSON
movie review // 'INGLORIOUS BASTERDS' Hollywood hits, indie flicks, and everything in between
Inglourious Basterds is the most brutally entertaining film of the summer, a revisionist World War II epic that plays fast and loose with both the history books and the well-worn conventions of its genre. The film also represents a triumphant return to form for director Quentin Tarantino, the manic genius behind Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill series.
Now comes his long gestating masterpiece, a sprawling combat saga about a bloodthirsty regiment of Jewish-American soldiers with a gruesome penchant for scalping Nazis. And folks, it doesn't disappoint.
The film establishes its dramatic prowess early on, with a hypnotic opening sequence that finds SS Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) interrogating a hapless French farmer who has been accused of harboring a family of Jewish fugitives. This twenty-minute scene begins with a simple request for a glass of milk and ends in a massacre.
The rest of the plot kicks in when the titular Basterds finally show up, led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), a deranged but moralistic redneck
from the mountains of rural Tennessee.
Aldo Raine is a larger-than-life role, and Pitt, slipping into an accent just north of a George W. Bush impression, manages to imbue the part with all the swaggering machismo and righteous Kentucky-fried fury it deserves.
// LANDON MCDONALD
Inglourious Basterds may not be the best thing its creator has ever done, but it definitely ranks among his finest. And that's pretty damn good company to keep. By blending Tarantino's frenzied directorial style with the nostalgic essence of classic war movies and spaghetti westerns, Inglourious Basterds becomes much more than the sum of its generic parts. In fact, it ultimately becomes Tarantino's blood-inked love letter to cinema itself.
music review //
FRUIT BATS -
'THE RUMINANT BAND'
(SUB POP)
This is The Fruit Bats' first new album in four years, a pretty long time for a group that got some attention with their albums Mouthfuls and Spelled in Bones and their Sub Pop signing in 2003.
Eric Johnson, lead singer/songwriter and front man, has also announced that he will be joining The Shins, so I suspect we will see even less Fruit Bats work in the future.
Nonetheless, this album is indie-folk rock at a high quality; the tracks on here are extremely well put together and are wonderful to listen to. The lyrics are suitably pastoral (the "ruminants" being the family of animals including such farm-y animals like cows and sheep) and allude to other artists' songs (from Three Dog Night to Prince) in almost every track.
// BECKY SULLIVAN
top of the charts // KJHK's top-played fifteen albums, as of Aug. 23
1 PETER PROJECT Peter Project
2 SHAD The Old Prince
3 PTERODACTYL Worldwild
4 SUNSET RUBDOWN Dragonslayer
5 WHITE DENIM Fits
6 SILK FLOWERS Silk Flowers
7 SUMMER CATS Songs For Tuesdays
8 EAR PWR Super Animal Brothers III
9 BIBIO Ambivalance Avenue
10 CORALIE CLEMENT Toystore
11 DEER TICK Born On Flag Day
12 MIDNIGHT VINYL The Perpetual Motion EP
13 TRASHED ON FICTION Words Trails Maps
14 GANGLIANS Monster Head Room
15 FOREIGN BORN Person To Person
08 18
27
09
★★★★