AltWeeklies Wire
Crashing Director Jason Freeland's 'Garden Party'new
Even though for some weird reason Garden Party's being marketed all over MySpace as a teen drama, writer/director Freeland's foray into the dirty underpinnings of Los Angeles, is, in fact, a quirky indie flick about the morally ambiguous reality of chasing the Hollywood dream.
The Portland Mercury |
Kiala Kazebee |
07-10-2008 |
Reviews
Batman Gets Animated with 'Gotham Knight'new

The grimy, captivating architectural fantasy of Gotham takes center stage in Batman: Gotham Knight, a series of six animated shorts that serve as a lead-in for The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan's sequel to Batman Begins, which hits theaters next week.
The Portland Mercury |
Erik Henriksen |
07-10-2008 |
Reviews
Guillermo del Toro Goes to Hell and Backnew
The point is fun: In any other movie, it'd be a sign that things had gone seriously awry if a red demon and a blue talking fish got together, drank too much Tecate, and started slurring out a drunken duet, but in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, it kind of makes sense.
The Portland Mercury |
Erik Henriksen |
07-10-2008 |
Reviews
Grouper Dials Down the Dronenew
And then I realized that Dragging a Dead Deer was reminding me not of another album, but of an experience; waking up in my own bedroom in the middle of the night and not knowing where I am for a brief, disturbing instant.
The Portland Mercury |
Cary Clarke |
07-10-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
How Portland's Museum of Contemporary Craft Made Itself Modern Againnew

Portland's Museum of Contemporary Craft was founded in 1937 (originally known as the Oregon Ceramic Studio). For 70-odd years it resided on the outskirts of the city, in Lair Hill, where even those who ventured out to it often got lost.
The Portland Mercury |
Marjorie Skinner |
07-10-2008 |
Art
Tags: visual arts
NYC's Parks Commish Squares Off Against His Father Over the Future of Union Squarenew
When the parks department turned its attention to renovating Union Square Park, the clash between the community and city officials hit home for Adrian Benepe when his father spoke out publicly against his own son.
New York Press |
Kimberly Thorpe |
07-10-2008 |
Housing & Development
Mark Winne Examines the Politics of Eatingnew
The community food systems expert talks with us about how economic divisions in the US affect the way people eat. We also present an excerpt from Winne’s recent book, Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty, which examines this problem in detail.
Santa Fe Reporter |
Mark Winne and Charlotte Jusinski |
07-10-2008 |
Food+Drink
Lewis Shiner's Novel of the Destruction of Haytinew
There are secrets upon secrets in Black & White, sins upon sins, but they all revolve around a single, penetrating absence: Hayti, the African-American community gutted by the construction of the Durham Freeway 40 years ago.
Is 'Bottle Shock' the New 'Sideways'?new

Bottle Shock centers on the Barrett family and their estate, Chateau Montelena, a great California cult winery that was having a hard time staying afloat in the mid-'70s. The Judgment at Paris actually helped them turn their business around.
INDY Week |
Arturo Ciompi |
07-10-2008 |
Food+Drink
Daylight Dies Creates Sweeping Melancholynew
The band follows the template of Swedish melodic metal bands like Opeth and In Flames, reining in Opeth's jarring bipolarities and stamping out In Flames' triumphant flourishes.
Music for Fuel: It's Harder than Ever to Jam Econonew

"Last year, I was worried about getting out to the West Coast with gas at $3.20 a gallon," says Dan McGee, the frontman for heavy-touring Chapel Hill band Spider Bags, "and this year, I'm worried about getting to work."
White Rabbits Spoon Out More Creepy, Honky-tonk Calypso Soundsnew
Though an interest in world music and an affinity for ska and New Wave perked it up a bit, their first album, Fort Nightly skewed toward the macabre.
New York Press |
Callie Enlow |
07-10-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: White Rabbits
Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival Organizers Confront the Genre's Image Crisisnew
Wes Jackson has planned a broad lineup that represents various stages in hip-hop's existence from new artists to performers fro mteh golden age and elder statesmen.
New York Press |
Billy Jam |
07-10-2008 |
Music
'Winning Our Energy Independence' Takes on 'The Three Poisons'new
S. David Freeman lays out a plan to phase out Big Coal, Big Oil, and nuclear over 30 years while meeting the needs of our high-energy society by implementing renewable technologies that already exist: sun, wind, and renewably generated hydrogen, supplemented by small hydroelectric, geothermal, and certain biofuels.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Diana Scott |
07-10-2008 |
Nonfiction
What if Courageous California Pols Had Put a $2/Gallon Tax on Gas Five Years Ago?new
The SUVs and Hummers would be long gone. Public transit would be booming. And with 1.5 billion gallons of gas sold per year in the state, there would be $3 billion more each year in new revenue. Enough to fund huge improvements in urban transportation systems. The high-speed rail line to Los Angeles would be well underway. Traffic (and pollution, and global warming) would have dropped dramatically.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Tim Redmond |
07-10-2008 |
Transportation