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Arts & Entertainment

Cutting-Edge Traditionalism

The shape-shifting world of entertainment requires new musicians to bend borders and break with stale conventions.

by JOHN COYNE

Put Him OUT

The special effects are outstanding. After viewing the trailer, I thought they would be all I had to look forward to.

by MAGGIE HENNEFELD

Albums

Aerosmith Honkin' on Bobo 2 stars On Aerosmith's new album Honkin' on Bobo, the five rockers take a positive new step -- the album doesn't sound exactly like the band's last few.

by 34TH STREET

Gaze Into My Crystal Ball

What do you get when you combine a happening '80s soundtrack with the storyline of a New York pre-teen who wants to become an adult?

by COREY HULSE

Not artsy fartsy

Cursive is sick of hearing about Omaha. "It's kind of hard to have any feeling if you read press that mentions Omaha.

by 34TH STREET

Editor's picks

Tami Fertig Gary Jules Mad World Nothing quite nurses a broken heart like a sad piano song.

by 34TH STREET

A 90 Day Case Study

Looking at the 90 Day Men's fourth and latest album, Panda Park, you develop a fascination with the overtly psychedelic cover art.

by JIM NEWELL

Cannes You Believe It?

The lines are longer, the shows are selling out and the Philadelphia Film Festival, now in its 13th year, is more fun than it's ever been.

by 34TH STREET

Albums

Michael McDermott Ashes For all the Jersey folk out there, there's been a change in tides.

by 34TH STREET

Tarantino on my mind

Kill Bill Vol. 2 is such a hairpin turn away from the amusing but disappointing first chapter of Quentin Tarantino's epic that unsuspecting moviegoers can almost be forgiven for the knee-jerk negative response it is sure to elicit.

by EUGENE NOVIKOV

Editors' picks

Tami Fertig: Arab Strap Cherubs Imagine this: a sweet and simple guitar melody floating lazily atop the slow and steady beat of a drum machine -- over and over and over again.

by 34TH STREET

Reviews

The Whole Ten Yards Starring Bruce Willis, Matthew PerryDirected by Howard DeutchRated PG-13 Every time I try to say something substantive about The Whole Ten Yards, the only thing that can come out of my mouth are variations on "it was a pile of crap." Director Howard Deutch gives us a barrage of ethnic jokes, repeated slapping and Matthew Perry waving his arms around and falling down, and leaves it up to the marketing department to make the movie seem funny.

by 34TH STREET

Albums

Ben Kweller On My Way Ben Kweller wrote his first album during puberty, lived his adolescence in a recording studio and now, at 22, professes to know life's transcendental truths.

by 34TH STREET

Dangerous Minds, Etc.

And yet another trainwreck for Kevin Spacey. In the tradition of perfectly respectable actors taking a step or 10 in the wrong direction, our man Kev follows K-Pax, Pay it Forward and The Life of David Gale with further punishment for unsuspecting moviegoers in the heartbreakingly vapid The United States of Leland. Spacey knows it's a bust and can't even show his face; on the movie poster, the man labeled as Kevin Spacey is not in fact Kevin Spacey, but the lesser known actor Martin Donovan -- who spends the entire movie making a big stink just because someone up and knifed his autistic son.

by NICKIE HUANG

Split Kicks and bobbing heads

There are very few opportunities -- unless you are showering with them -- to hear a bassist singing.

by EUGENIA SALVO

Texas isn't just Bush country

San Antonio, TX. The Alamo story has graced film reels more than a dozen times. It's Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and Colonel Travis: add a few more ingredients, stir and repeat.

by JAMES SCHNEIDER

Coheed my call and listen to this band

Coheed and Cambria is "progressive rock, definitely not run-of-the-mill." Occasionally lumped into emo, or emo-core, the group's rock stylings are comparable to those of close friends and frequent tourmates, Thursday and Thrice.

by JAMES SCHNEIDER

Online Extra: Michael Franti and Spearhead/Ziggy Marley concert review

The Electric Factory is plastered with red, gold and green posters that invoke the spirit of peace, tolerance and reggae music.

by 34TH STREET

Online Extra: Simple Plan concert review

As it is at any concert featuring a band that has recently been on Total Request Live, the average age of those attending the Simple Plan show couldn't have been over 16, and that's including the small upstairs 21-and-over bar area.

by 34TH STREET

Online Extra: Broken Social Scene concert review

For their third visit to Philadelphia, Broken Social Scene invited their brass section (members of Stars, the night's opening act) on stage for a sultry night of indie rock.

by 34TH STREET

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