AltWeeklies Wire
Irvine Welsh Keenly Appropriates the Boilerplate American Crime Novelnew

It's amazing what a linguistically gifted writer can do once he decides to wander outside the confines of his comfort zone.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
09-30-2008 |
Fiction
Tags: crime, Irvine Welsh
David Foster Wallace: 1962-2008new
Several of my artistic heroes have died in recent years, but they were older or no longer productive, and when I learned that David Foster Wallace had committed suicide I was far more shocked and upset.
Baltimore City Paper |
Tim Kreider |
09-30-2008 |
Books
Tags: David Foster Wallace
Learning to Live with Fire in Santa Barbaranew

We love living right on the edge of one of the world's most scenic backdrops, but the privilege brings with it the potential for catastrophic disaster most any time the weather turns hot and the wind blows dry.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Ray Ford |
09-30-2008 |
Disasters
The Handmade Revolution Will Not be Televised -- It'll Be on Etsy.comnew

The women of the Long Beach Craft Mafia come from varying backgrounds: Some went to fashion school in Manhattan, some work cubicle jobs, one even worked as a go-go dancer at Stinky's in San Francisco. But all of them share a need to create.
Obama Appeals to the Best Parts of Our National Psychenew
Obama's tremendous appeal, the second-graders in our neighborhood can tell you, is largely due to the symbolic power of his candidacy. It's not just about white and black. He raises the possibility that our nation could see itself in an entirely different light.
Isthmus |
Ruth Conniff |
09-30-2008 |
Commentary
The Madison Police Department's Secret Beatingsnew
When violent assaults happen, the public has a right to know.
Isthmus |
Bill Lueders |
09-30-2008 |
Crime & Justice
Think You've Seen it All? Wait 'Till You've Seen Kansas City's The Klangsnew
The sound of guitars, bass, drums and keyboards would be enough for most bands to get their point across. New KC outfit the Klangs does a little more to help the audience visualize the scenes in its songs about robots and alien wars.
Has Phoenix Finally Arrived?new
This newly hopeful vision of Phoenix is one that's pretty easy to support these days, because the fifth-largest city in the country has lately been looking like, well, the fifth-largest city in the country.
Phoenix New Times |
Robrt L. Pela |
09-30-2008 |
Culture
Ask a Mexican: What is an Anchor Baby?new
In popular parlance, it's a term used by Know Nothings to deride the children of immigrants whom relatives can use to sponsor visas and other government goodies. Though the Know Nothings would love to have you believe only illegal Mexicans are capable of having anchor babies, cases like yours have been occurring since the days of Virginia Dare.
There's Genius Below the Gross-Out Surface of 'Live at the Platypussery'new
The fact that Blowfly (born Clarence Reid) likes to rap about wet pussy, old pussy, fat pussy, and smelly pussy is not news. What's clever, however, is the way Blowfly takes already established standards on this disc and turns them into his own freaky-deaky platforms.
New Times Broward-Palm Beach |
Jonathan Cunningham |
09-30-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Blowfly, Live at the Platypussery
'Brass Knuckles' is Nelly's 'Thriller'new
Brass Knuckles shows an artist who, having been deemed irrelevant, has come back hungry, utilizing every name in his Rolodex and teaching himself some new tricks.
Tax Fact & Fiction: A Closer Look at the Candidates' Plansnew

It wouldn't be an election year without candidates promising tax cuts, right? But who gets them, how much they are, what's the likelihood they can ever be made and what they say about each candidates' priorities are the bigger questions.
Metro Times |
Sandra Svoboda and Curt Guyette |
09-30-2008 |
Politics
Barack Obama's Army of the Youngnew
Though they are too young to vote, Wisconsin high school students play a key role in campaign.
The Dust Bowl Cometh to Californianew

Will we control climate change in time to save California's crops? "There's a lot of different speculation, and I don't think anybody fully knows what's going to happen," says vintner Richard Sanford.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Sam Kornell |
09-30-2008 |
Environment
Author Nancy Nichols' New Book Looks For the Man-made Causes of Cancernew
Her insights about survivorship are among the more provocative aspects of her new book, Lake Effect: Two Sisters and a Town's Toxic Legacy, in which she argues that instead of fixating on miracle cures, we should look harder at potential man-made causes of cancer.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
Bill O'Driscoll |
09-29-2008 |
Nonfiction