AltWeeklies Wire
'Get Smart' is Better Than the TV Shownew
While series creators Mel Brooks and Buck Henry were mostly interested in poking fun at the espionage dramas of the day with Marx Brothers-style nonsense and physical comedy, the Steve Carell-helmed adaptation aims to take on the real-world intelligence community.
Willamette Week |
Ben Waterhouse |
06-18-2008 |
Reviews
'Verbs' Shows Off Au's Compositionsnew
Beautiful and restrained instrumental passages lead into maniacal, choral group chants; vaudevillian theatrics nestle against almost-classical backdrops; accordions operate in waltz time.
Willamette Week |
Michael Mannheimer |
06-18-2008 |
Reviews
The Explorers Club Channels the Beach Boysnew
Everything on Freedom Wind has been faithfully rendered, from its lush, four-part harmonies to its evocative timpani-rolls to the CD booklet's resemblance to a well-worn record sleeve with the vinyl edges showing through.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Todd Lavoie |
06-18-2008 |
Reviews
Blind Pilot Knows Your Story, Without Even Lookingnew
"The only way you get universal is by getting really, really specific, and avoiding universal cliches."
Willamette Week |
Casey Jarman |
06-18-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
A Democrat is the Best Bet for South Carolina's Conservatives in Novembernew
I assumed Bob Conley, who will run against Sen. Lindsey Graham, was just another standard liberal Dem. I couldn't have been more wrong.
Charleston City Paper |
Jack Hunter |
06-18-2008 |
Commentary
Air Guitar Tips from Bjorn Turoquenew

Team U.S.A. is touring 24 cities, looking for rockers who can compete in the national finals in San Francisco and the world championships on Finland's Kuusisaari Island. Here's how to be one of them.
Willamette Week |
Casey Jarman |
06-18-2008 |
Music
Earth Grounds Itself in Twang and Dronenew
Thanks to Earth worshippers Sunn O))) and the scads of other low-end drone specialists who have cropped up in recent years, the band's once-misunderstood sound has come to be seen as pioneering, opening the way for a range of experimentalists operating at the crossroads of metal, improv, and avant-garde rock. The thing is, Carlson doesn't have much interest in that sound anymore.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Will York |
06-18-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tom Kalin's 'Savage Grace' is Shallow and Gracelessnew
Other New Queer Cinema mavericks have gone on to make films that challenge artistic, thematic, and commercial assumptions. In comparison, Savage Grace is oddly conservative.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Dennis Harvey |
06-18-2008 |
Reviews
Sleeping Around Craigslist: Casual Sex is Anything but Casualnew

It takes a woman about a thousand words and a condom to get laid on Craigslist. But for a woman to be laid properly -- by a passionate lover who knows what he's doing -- well, that's a whole different ball game. We should know: We are both middle-aged women who have spent the past eleven months sleeping around Craigslist.
East Bay Express |
Anna Reed and Lily Penza |
06-18-2008 |
Culture
Airness Achieved at Minneapolis Regional Air Guitar Championshipnew

What is "airness," and how does one know when "airness" has been achieved?
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Andrea Myers |
06-18-2008 |
Music
Jeremy Goody Shifts Gears to Keep Pace with a Changing Industrynew
The wannabe Depeche Moder turned accidental rap producer turned improbable Latin jazzman has become a figurehead in the East Bay recording industry without ever getting real name recognition.
East Bay Express |
Rachel Swan |
06-18-2008 |
Music
'So My Boyfriend and I Went Speed Dating'new
An intrepid reporter enters the modern world of attention deficit dates.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Beth Walton |
06-18-2008 |
Culture
Money Can't Buy Happiness in Janelle Brown's Silicon Valley Satirenew
A pharmaceutical company goes public, making its CEO's family worth $300 million. The day that happens is the day he tells his wife he wants a divorce. And that's the day on All We Ever Wanted Was Everything begins.
East Bay Express |
Anneli Rufus |
06-18-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
N.E.R.D. Shows All Technique and No Soulnew
Human emotion cannot be created using ProTools.
Liz Phair Returns From 'Guyville' Exilenew

By rereleasing Exile in Guyville and taking it on the road, she's allowing her fans to revel in that time when she crystallized the experience of taking bad boys to bed.