Arts & Entertainment
Go directly to Hell
There are things out there that go bump in the night," quips Professor Bruttenholm (John Hurt). "We are the ones who bump back." No, this isn't your average weekend-drunken-sorority-girl- hook-up; it's Guillermo del Toro's above average comic-to-movie film Hellboy. Mix two parts X-Men, two parts Men In Black technology and a sprinkle of The Hulk's big buff looks, and you have the recipe that not only looks good but doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth. Based on Mike Mignola's comic book series, Hellboy opens in 1944 as the Nazis, led by Grigori Rasputin, attempt to open a portal to another dimension.
R-Rated Pornography
We're all relatively acquainted with the slew of coming-of-age teen comedies wherein implausibly attractive high school students overcome the bounds of social status, find love and provide a fortune cookie-sized moral to the tune of "Teenage Wasteland." The recipe works, though it usually makes for movies so saccharine that diabetics crumple to the floor of America's movie theaters.
What if we all did have flying bicycles?
Dave Scher wishes people would dance at shows like they used to. One half of the duo that makes up California-based All Night Radio, Scher remembers his upbringing in Long Beach, California as a time when people danced at shows.
The People's Interview
What happened last night [at Wrestlemania]? We got beat. I had a blast last night. It was a lot of fun, it was cool.
Editors' picks
Tami Fertig: The Magnetic Fields Get Lost Lest we forget, Magnetic Fields mastermind Stephin Merritt was making records long before 69 Love Songs. That one was okay, but c'mon.
"When you get a little older, you get a little softer"
No, the problem child was and always will be Dogma. Nothing can be more problematic than that.
Behind the Broken Social Scene
Back in 1999, Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew decided to turn their friendship into Broken Social Scene.
Oh brother
Con artists are en vogue right now. Brad Pitt, Mark Wahlberg and Nicolas Cage have all dabbled in thievery.
Albums
Carina Round The Disconnection Don't let her minor keys and tormented lyrics fool you: Carina Round is one happy camper.
My mind is a total blank
Everyone already knows that Charlie Kaufman is a genius. This is an acknowledged fact. The man who brought us both Being John Malkovich and Adaptation could not possibly be anything less.
Lazy Journalism. Whatever.
What are you looking at right now? I am looking out the window at my next door neighbors' yard.
Zombies are hot
Carnage, carnage, blood, blood and then more carnage. The remake of the 1974 horror classic Dawn of the Dead retains elements of the original, while changing the story entirely.
Review: Taking Lives
With Hollywood constantly churning out thrillers with obligatory "surprise endings," it's great to see a satisfying conclusion that doesn't make the movie fold like a house of cards.
Editor's picks
Tami Fertig Q Lazzarus "Goodbye Horses" Y'know that scene in The Silence of the Lambs when serial killer Buffalo Bill tucks his crotch between his legs and dances naked to an obscure '80s synth-pop song before sewing a suit made of human skin?
Not your average walkman
Hamilton Leithauser, lead singer of The Walkmen, isn't buying into any of the buzz. To him, the New York rock revival is nothing more than a press creation. "I don't buy any of that shit," he explains. Leithauser and bassist Peter Bauer left The Recoys in order to join The Walkmen, a group founded by three former members of Jonathan Fire*Eater -- Walter Martin, Paul Maroon and Matt Barrick. Fire*Eater was a critical success, and one of many "next big things" to never actually make it in the mainstream.
Spear-mint
Michael Franti is 6'6" and thin -- wiry, some might say. Long dreadlocks peek out the front and back of the hat he customarily wears onstage, but they never seem to stay contained.
Passionate About The Passion
Movies and religion have never mixed well. Inevitably, a movie will misrepresent one religion or another and be faced with protests and threats of boycotts.
Don't sleep with Ashley Judd
In Twisted, directed by Philip Kaufman, Ashley Judd plays Detective Jessica Shepard. After the gruesome death of her parents, Jessica is raised by John Mills (Samuel Jackson), the San Francisco Police Commissioner.
Albums
Robbers On High Street Fine Lines Every up-and-coming band is touted as the new Smiths, Joy Division or Velvet Underground.
