AltWeeklies Wire
Thom Hartmann's Latests Explains How to Think Like a Republicannew
Cracking the Code explains how the left wing can exploit the techniques of the right. While that sounds like a snoozy topic, Hartmann drops in enough anecdotes and ripped-from-the-headlines (or, from politicians' speeches and campaign ads) examples to keep it lively.
The Portland Mercury |
Amy J. Ruiz |
12-04-2008 |
Nonfiction
'Let the Right One In' is Too Coldnew
Bookended by shots of falling snow, Right One seems to take place in a snow globe, just as still, just as quiet, its compositions just as stiff, with plastic figures arranged in stock situations.
Winter Seasonal Beer Draws a Warm Receptionnew
Brewers have traditionally adjusted their recipes to suit the season, with lighter drinks for the hot months and heftier brews to fight the chill.
INDY Week |
Julie Johnson |
12-04-2008 |
Food+Drink
There's Little Justice for Incarcerated Womennew
Progress is being made to try to make the criminal justice system more "gender-responsive," but the change is very slow in coming. In the meantime, girls and women locked up in the system often come back to their communities sicker, more miserable and more alienated than before.
Santa Fe Reporter |
Silja JA Talvi |
12-04-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Will San Francisco Be the First U.S. City to Implement Congestion Pricing?new
The city could raise $35 million to $65 million for public transit improvements annually by charging drivers $3 to cross specific downtown zones during peak travel hours, according to a San Francisco County Transportation Authority study. But the plan requires approval from both local officials as well and the state legislature.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Sarah Phelan |
12-04-2008 |
Transportation
'Dexter' is Killing Us Softly with Slaughternew
You know a show has gotten under your skin when it begins to trigger nightmares. That's the case with Showtime's Dexter, now winding up its third season after building, with frustrating slowness, its intertwined partnership narratives revolving around serial killer-turned-crime fighter Dexter Morgan.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
12-04-2008 |
TV
'Barf Manifesto' is So Great You'll Wanna Pukenew
Not a rant so much as a pair of roiling bursts of text, Bellamy's book has feminist intent, but ultimately it presents an artistic credo, in the manner of Andre Breton's paeans to Surrealism.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
12-04-2008 |
Nonfiction
Will North Carolina Resume Executions or Keep the Ban?new
Now that the legal battle over a doctor's role in death row executions is nearing a conclusion, the issue of capital punishment in North Carolina is about to land in the laps of the 2009 General Assembly and Governor-elect Bev Perdue.
INDY Week |
Bob Geary |
12-04-2008 |
Crime & Justice
A Guide to Inauguration Datingnew
G. Keith Harris wants a date, and he's got the bait: two tickets to Obama's inauguration, and an all-access pass to the night's balls and off-shoot parties. Packages like that are being auctioned on eBay for upward of $7,000. A date with Harris is free -- and hard to come by.
Washington City Paper |
Amanda Hess |
12-04-2008 |
Culture
'War Child' is Too Self-Congratulatory to Truly Engagenew
C. Karim Chrobog's debut feature documentary follows Emmanuel Jal, now based in London, as he travels to the United States to lecture and perform -- mostly for young international audiences with more liberal guilt than rhythm -- and later returns to Sudan for the first time in 18 years.
Washington City Paper |
Tricia Olszewski |
12-04-2008 |
Reviews
The Fall of Troy's Melancholy is Coated in Enthusiastic Prognew
Phantom on the Horizon is a worthwhile listen for anyone looking to dip a toe a into contemporary mainstream prog scene led by Coheed and Cambria, blending screamo vocals and mathcore rhythms with punk antics and an art-school sensibility.
Washington City Paper |
Mike Riggs |
12-04-2008 |
Reviews
The Music Soars and the Story Bores in 'Cadillac Records'new
The story obeys the same music-biography conventions that we last saw being parodied in Walk Hard. This film is by Darnell Martin, the writer-director who has largely been confined to TV since his 1994 filmmaking debut I Like It Like That, a movie pitched at Latino audiences at a time when very few other movies were. He doesn't have the advantage here of working in a field where there's no competition, and his sense of drama is incurably hackneyed and unsubtle.
Fort Worth Weekly |
Kristian Lin |
12-04-2008 |
Reviews
Indie Rock Capo Damon Che on Don Caballero's Longevitynew
Though Don Cab is said to have pioneered the mathematical, clean-guitar-tone approach that became an indie hallmark in the wake of the band's groundbreaking early work on Touch and Go records, few of the band's peers pursued Che's muse in quite the same fashion.
New York Press |
Saby Reyes-Kulkarni |
12-04-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Cadillac Records' is a Quick-Sketch B-Movie Biopic That Looms Largenew
Darnell Martin's film tells a story of black popular music -- its rapidly changing phases during the 1950s from the blues to race records, from rock 'n' roll to R&B -- with richly exciting characters but not one hint of exoticism.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-04-2008 |
Reviews
'Dust' is an Unwieldy and Uneven Documentarynew
Mostly using the testimony of workmen and scientists, Bitomsky tells us about something we encounter every day but choose to ignore. Throughout the film's episodes, that transformation from fact to idea stalls at every step of the thinking process, from enumeration to visualization to extrapolation.
New York Press |
Simon Abrams |
12-04-2008 |
Reviews
