The A.V. Club - Daily

City Life: News Net: “Call Me Maybe” business card goes viral, blows up UW grad student’s phone

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:00:00 -0500

Since sifting through dull newspapers, hyperbolic blogs, and overflowing RSS feeds for meaningful news can be an arduous process, News Net catches and compiles both the amusing and the significant reports that were overlooked over the work week. Here are some things to think about as the weekend begins. • Sure, the business card written in the lyrics from the Carly Rae Jepsen’s omnipresent “Call Me Maybe” gave us all a good laugh. “The Italian Guy You Just Met” using a teen pop song to pick up chicks must have been a sleazy dude who deserved to have his contact ...

City Life: Follow Friday: UW HawkCam

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:00:00 -0500

Twitter presents a world of possibilities or a sea of pointless blathering, dependent largely on whose tweets clog your feed. On Follow Friday, The A.V. Club hopes to steer our readers toward some of the more relevant, useful, and entertaining Twitter feeds around town. Username: @UWHawkCam Real name: The runaway sensation HawkCam, a webcam overlooking the family of red-tailed hawks nesting on a ledge of Weeks Hall on the UW campus. Stats: 18 tweets, 142 followers Sample tweets: Hawks enduring a windy afternoon. Anemometer on our roof next door (12 floors up from nest) shows 38mph wind from south ...

Sports: Talkin' Baseball: What can the 2012 Brewers learn from Bernie Mac and the Brewers of Mr. 3000?

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

More than a quarter of the way into the season, it’s still tough to figure out exactly what kind of team the Milwaukee Brewers actually have. The presence of a Cy Young winner, a reigning MVP, and an accumulation of past All-Stars screams “’82.” The initial potential and fanfare surrounding the team draws parallels to the 1983 and 2009 clubs. The incessant string of serious injuries to vital players harkens back to, well, never before. And the team’s current record shows shades of 2002. Really, one of the only Milwaukee squads that hasn’t been paired with this ...

Promotion: Contest: Win tickets to see Deer Tick at the Majestic Theatre

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:30:00 -0500

Deer Tick is coming back to Madison for a show June 8 at the Majestic and if you want a shot at winning tickets, you should enter below. First Name* Last Name* Email* Gender Male Female Zip Code Yes, tell me about future promotions caspioform.pathname.value=window.location.href;

Promotion: Contest: Win tickets to see Feist at the Orpheum Theatre

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:50:00 -0500

Feist will be in Madison soon for a June 3 show at the Orpheum. If you want a shot at winning tickets to the show, enter below. First Name* Last Name* Email* Gender Male Female Zip Code Yes, tell me about future promotions caspioform.pathname.value=window.location.href;

Sports: Jock Itch: John Axford shaved his ’stache last night, and here’s the terrifying proof

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:30:00 -0500

If there’s one thing that has put a stopper in that whole “Win-sconsin” movement of the last two years (aside from the Bucks, but the Bucks obviously don’t count), it’s the 2012 Milwaukee Brewers, currently eight games under .500. A variety of factors have been at play here, most of them injuries. Five different Brewers starters are out, including Mat Gamel, Alex Gonzalez, Chris Narveson, and now Narveson’s replacement, Marco Estrada, who hurt himself by running to first base yesterday. Even Carlos Gomez recently fell victim to the injury bug, suggesting that there’s something more ...

Features: Belly Up: Wurst-case scenario II: Bratmageddon

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Last year at this time, the big local story was the sobering dissemination of a key piece of information: Johnsonville Sausage, supplier of tubular meats to what used to be casually called “brat fest” (as there was only one), contributed to Gov. Scott Walker’s political campaign. With anti-Walker sentiment in full flower, anti-Walker forces rallied to create separate events fueled by Union-friendly brat vendors. This year the brat battle is met once more, immediately prior to the recall elections, and the alt-brat folks are at it again with some fervor. The second annual People’s Bratfest on May 26 ...

Promotion: Contest: Win tickets to the Tommy Awards at the Overture Center

Wed, 23 May 2012 16:00:00 -0500

The Tommy Awards recognize excellence in high school musical theater, and if you want to be there June 3 to cheer them on, enter below for a shot at winning tickets. First Name* Last Name* Email* Gender Male Female Zip Code Yes, tell me about future promotions caspioform.pathname.value=window.location.href;

Features: Contest: Win tickets to Company Of Thieves at the Majestic Theatre

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:30:00 -0500

Company Of Thieves will be at the Majestic Theatre June 1. If you want a shot at winning tickets to the show, then enter below. First Name* Last Name* Email* Gender Male Female Zip Code Yes, tell me about future promotions caspioform.pathname.value=window.location.href;

City Life: Local Newswire: Fuel your nightmares with this video of a huge glob of bees attaching itself to a Madison tree

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:30:00 -0500

Despite the whimsical nature of this curiously well-produced video, make no mistake: A huge glob of 10,000 bees attaching itself to a tree outside your house is the stuff of blood-curdling nightmares. That’s what happened in a neighborhood on the west side of Madison, and just watching it unfold on our computer screens is making us hyperventilate. The video does an admirable job of making the experience seem magical and educational by calmly documenting the process of moving the bees and deploying classical music to calm our nerves, but it’s just too much to take. Hats off ...

Music: Music Notes: Wreathes releases outstanding self-titled LP, TL;DR has a new album in works, and more

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Our music scene is a busy place with lots happening. If you don’t obsessively visit the local blogs, alt-weeklies, and other outlets, you could miss something important! That’s okay—we’re here to help with a weekly roundup of some of the more enticing news happening around town. • Nathaniel Ritter and Troy Schafer (of Kinit Her) are together for another project, Wreathes, and the self-titled LP they just put out on Pesanta Urfolk is a flat-out amazing work of neofolk filled with intricate guitar hooks, horns, clattering percussion, and steady vocal harmony. The entire album can be streamed ...

Music: Just Announced: Somerset’s Summer Set lineup announced, includes Nas and Black Star

Tue, 22 May 2012 13:05:00 -0500

Not to take anything away from the achievements of Pretty Lights, Big Gigantic, or Umphrey’s McGee, but it seems like whoever was in charge of designing the poster for this August’s Summer Set Music & Camping Festival may have buried the lead a bit. Fans will no doubt flock to Somerset to hear the electronic/hip-hop fusion of Pretty Lights and the prog-rock jam band stylings of Umphrey’s McGee, but the big story of the festival is unquestionably the currently scheduled appearance of hip-hop titan Nas and the reunion between Mos Def and Talib Kweli, who will be ...

Books: Local Newswire: Hey girl, the Feminist Ryan Gosling book is now available for preorder

Tue, 22 May 2012 10:45:00 -0500

Now that even frumpy old Dustin Hoffman has proved to be capable of saving people’s lives, Ryan Gosling might be losing some of his Internet cachet. But the world wide web of love for the dude won’t fall apart before his finest meme, Feminist Ryan Gosling, takes physical form and hits the bookshelves. Danielle Henderson promised a book was in the works when we spoke with her, and now her collection of Feminist Theory (As Imagined) From Your Favorite Sensitive Movie Dude is available for preorder now. Since the book will contain 70 to 80 percent new material ...

Eat/Drink: First Impressions: Steenbock’s On Orchard

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

If cousin Emma is graduating, or there’s some other random reason to be on campus, the Wisconsin Institutes For Discovery enfold the clever Steenbock’s On Orchard, an unprepossessing restaurant that strikes a neat intersection between college life and fine dining. Because it’s a university building, things are a little unusual—bathrooms are outside the restaurant, and only beer and wine are served—but Executive Chef Michael Pruett and Sous Chef Nick Szombatfalvy are serving some pretty serious dishes despite the blocky parameters. The space and service: The space is inescapably of a piece with a school facility ...

City Life: Always Be (Missing) Connections: A grand experiment

Mon, 21 May 2012 12:00:00 -0500

Each week, we pick four thematically linked Missed Connections from the weekend to compete in a battle of opinion. First prize is a date with the missed connection. Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired. (We have no power to actually award any of these prizes. Leave your ranking in the comments.) Variety is the spice of life, and this week’s batch of contestants took that sentiment to heart as they used Craigslist to seek out some new romantic adventures over the weekend. Based on what they were looking to try, which ...

City Life: News Net: This weekend in Scott Walker: Gorgon heads and alleged credit card fraud

Mon, 21 May 2012 10:15:00 -0500

Since sifting through dull newspapers, hyperbolic blogs, and overflowing RSS feeds for meaningful news can be an arduous process, News Net catches and compiles both the amusing and the significant reports that were overlooked over the weekend. Here are some things to think about as the work week begins. • According to ProPublica, Capital One flagged Scott Walker campaign group Friends Of Scott Walker for potential credit card fraud, causing someone at Friends of Scott Walker to lose a chunk of the weekend in order to draft an elaborate press release accusing the creditor of politically motivated fraud protection. Walker’s ...

Comedy: Interview: Kevin Bozeman’s Madison weekend agenda

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Kevin Bozeman grew up in Chicago, went to college at UW-Whitewater, and then moved to Madison, where he started doing stand-up. Though the comedian is currently back in Chicago, he tours a lot—in support of his latest DVD, Droppin Knowledge, and to work out material for a new DVD that could come out later this year—and he always stops in Madison. Ahead of his upcoming shows May 24-26 at the Comedy Club on State, we talked to Bozeman about his agenda when he’s back in town, including real-life Hunger Games and guilt-free brat eating in between stopping ...

City Life: Local Newswire: Don't forget to check out the WORT Block Party Sunday

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:00:00 -0500

If you pay attention to calendars and weather and science and crap, summer is still more than a month away. Well, don’t bore us with your textbooks, professor, because we’ll all be jamming out at the unofficial start to summer in Madison, the 15th annual WORT Block Party. It’s happening Sunday, May 20 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the usual spot, the 600 block of W. Doty Street. It’s a free event with a huge lineup of great local musicians, but all you have to do to support WORT is just get ...

Music: Just Announced: The Promise Ring, Liturgy, Shonen Knife, and more announced for Memorial Union Terrace

Fri, 18 May 2012 14:30:00 -0500

The awesome sauce is overflowing and threatening to swallow up the entire Terrace. That’s the only conclusion that can be reached after checking out WUD Music’s just-announced slate of shows for this summer. In addition to the June 8 Royal Headache show that’s had us psyched for a while now, WUD added some truly rocking (and free!) stuff like Free Energy (June 14), The Promise Ring (June 30), Kelley Deal’s new band R. Ring (July 7), Liturgy (July 12), Smoking Popes (July 26), and Shonen Knife (Aug. 3). Check out the whole schedule, which includes Monday ...

City Life: News Net: 16-year-old graduating from UW this weekend, making us feel stupid

Fri, 18 May 2012 14:00:00 -0500

Since sifting through dull newspapers, hyperbolic blogs, and overflowing RSS feeds for meaningful news can be an arduous process, News Net catches and compiles both the amusing and the significant reports that were overlooked over the work week. Here are some things to think about as the weekend begins. • It’s graduation weekend for UW seniors, and while students should be proud to celebrate their achievements and toast to their bright futures, the rest of us will just smile and pretend we aren’t intimidated by 16-year-old Serra Crawford, who will be graduating with a bachelor’s degree half a ...