AltWeeklies Wire
Holy Terror? Inside the Media's Muddled Thinking on the Fort Hood Shootingsnew
After Nidal Hasan allegedly murdered 13 people at Fort Hood, commentators offered dangerously muddled assessments of what happened and why. Now it's time for a sober look at why Hasan killed -- and what role his Muslim faith might have played.
Boston Phoenix |
Adam Reilly |
11-11-2009 |
Media
Academia Under Attack ... by Zombiesnew
Humans vs. Zombies, an internationally played complicated role-playing tag game that can go on for weeks at a time, is bigger than ever these days. One local university recently mistook the game for real life.
Boston Phoenix |
Alexis Hauk |
10-30-2009 |
Culture
Boston City Council Hopefuls Get Candid During “Speed Candidating” Eventnew
The eight remaining at-large City Council candidates have shaken more hands and kissed more behinds than anyone probably should in swine-flu season. When they first embarked on the campaign trail, however, they surely didn't imagine they’d have to get this intimate.
Boston Phoenix |
Chris Faraone |
10-30-2009 |
Politics
Inside One Man's Mission to Produce a Play About Porn Classic 'Deep Throat'new
David Bertolino is a family-oriented suburban dad who created SpookyWorld. But the one-time "hauntrepreneur" sold his scary theme park to pursue his real dream: writing and producing a warts-and-all play about the porn film Deep Throat.
Boston Phoenix |
Jon Hart |
10-29-2009 |
Theater
Hip-Hop is Dead ... or Undead, Rathernew
Depraved hip-hop is the biggest thing to hit trailer-trash America since sliced meds -- and not just in redneck pockets, where rap music hardly reached before, but in suburban enclaves where acts like Twiztid and Tech N9ne sell out shows with ease.
Boston Phoenix |
Chris Faraone |
10-29-2009 |
Music
Tags: G.G. Allin, Horrorcore, Ricky Mortis, Stetsasonic, Zombie Death Squad, RZA, hip-hop, Tech N9ne, Scarface
The Controversial 'Antichrist' Is 'Saw VI' As Told By Carl Dreyernew
I'm torn between dismissing the film as gross-out juvenilia and regarding it as raw religious mythmaking. Either way, you won't find a livelier time at the movies these days, if only because of the outraged groans and dumfounded gasps from the audience.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
10-23-2009 |
Reviews
A Peek Inside Boston's So-Called Monkey Collegenew
At Helping Hands, a one-of-a-kind nonprofit school celebrating its 30th anniversary, monkeys train for two to four years before being matched with people nationwide who've experienced spinal-cord injuries or suffer from muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.
Boston Phoenix |
Mike Miliard |
10-22-2009 |
Culture
Macbeth Like You've Never Seen it Beforenew
Sleep No More a new, strange take on Macbeth, is a site-specific series of episodes in various pockets of a four-floored school building. Spectators are asked to wear masks as they explore the school's 44 rooms, many of them elaborately decorated and some of them boasting dramatic scenes staged by actors who wander about the building.
Boston Phoenix |
Steve Vineberg |
10-22-2009 |
Theater
A Sweet Crop of New Graphic Narrativesnew
Comics. Graphic novels. Sequential-art books. Call them what you will, but there are more of them than ever. Here's a rundown on some of the best from the past few months.
Boston Phoenix |
Mike Miliard |
10-15-2009 |
Books
Boston's Most Notorious Neighborhood is Looking Gayer and Gayer Every Daynew
Thirty years ago, South Boston was an internationally recognized symbol of raging, violent intolerance. So, would you believe that Southie is now quickly becoming one of the gay-friendliest neighborhoods in Boston?
Boston Phoenix |
Erica Corsano |
10-14-2009 |
Culture
Al Giordano's School of Authentic Journalism Tweaks J-School Conventionsnew
The school, which is located on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, has grown steadily in the past seven years. And this past month, the school announced it will be offering 24 scholarships for "up-and-coming journalists and communicators" to attend a 10-day session there this February.
Boston Phoenix |
Mike Miliard |
10-14-2009 |
Media
Nick Cave's New Novel is All Sex, Drugs and Hand Creamnew
When I interviewed Nick Cave for the Phoenix three years ago and he told me -- drolly, languidly, literarily -- that his next writing project was about "a sexually incontinent hand-cream salesman" on the south coast of England, I assumed he was taking the piss.
Boston Phoenix |
James Parker |
10-08-2009 |
Fiction
Lying Liars, and the End of Accountabilitynew
When up is down, and down is out, who even knows what to believe anymore? The Zeitgeist is now cloudy with the din of dishonesty that it is difficult to determine what is truth and what is fiction. In other words, a perfect time for the new film The Invention of Lying.
Boston Phoenix |
Mike Miliard |
10-08-2009 |
Commentary
Russell Freeland Gave Up Everything in Pursuit of His Risky Art Projectnew
Abstract artist Russell Freeland gave up everything -- that's everything -- to go from Boston to Austin and see if he could survive solely on his art. His homeless and hungry saga is told in the Absolute Zero Project.
Boston Phoenix |
Ian Sands |
10-07-2009 |
Art
How Glenn Beck is Driven by Mormonismnew
A case can be made that Beck is to Mormonism what Father Charles Coughlin was to Catholicism in the 1930s, when the "radio priest" peddled nasty, faith-based opposition to another ambitious Democratic president.
Boston Phoenix |
Adam Reilly |
10-07-2009 |
Media
