AltWeeklies Wire
Augusten Burroughs Gets Personal with Santa in 'You Better Not Cry'new
While discussing Christmas (his favorite holiday), Burroughs says he sees one common thread throughout his memories, "Each one has been horrible, worse than the last." He's recounted those laughably miserable memories in his latest book, a loose collection of Christmas stories spanning from his youth until just a few years ago.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Wyatt Williams |
11-10-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Too Baaad 'Goats' Falls Flatnew
Where Three Kings cast Clooney in a wartime caper story to critique the first President Bush's Iraq war, Goats attempts to use hippie-style anti-authority comedy to satirize his son's sequel. But the early sight gags of super-macho G.I.s failing to run through walls or drive blindfolded don't mesh with the film's anger over the corporate exploitation of the Iraqi occupation.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-10-2009 |
Reviews
Grim 'Precious' Treasures Passionate Actressesnew
Oprah's film has enough sorrow for several Greek tragedies.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-10-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Precious, Lee Daniels
'Antichrist' Canonizes Genital Mutilationnew
An instantly notorious award-winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Antichrist proves to be an alternately draggy, repellent and opaque cinematic experience, while clearly representing devoted efforts from several master screen artists.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-10-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Antichrist, Lars von Trier
'Damned United' and 'An Education' Upend Clichesnew
The establishment seems more firmly established in England than anywhere else. Two terrific new British films depict prodigiously intelligent characters who challenge entrenched English institutions and nearly outsmart themselves along the way.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-10-2009 |
Reviews
After a Near-Death Experience, Eyedrum is Poised for a Revivalnew
It's appropriate for Eyedrum that, even when discussing such a mundane subject as financial viability, the arts organization's board chairman, Allen Welty-Green, speaks in terms of colors.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Scott Henry |
11-10-2009 |
Commentary
Why is the Political Settlement in Honduras a Big Win for Americans?new
It's harder to justify your existence as a bulwark against U.S. bullying when the U.S. has quit acting like a bully.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Andisheh Nouraee |
11-10-2009 |
Commentary
Go Phish: Hippie Music Is on the Downswing -- and That Sucksnew
Phish is and will continue to be the most vital jam band in the world -- but that title doesn't carry as much water as it used to. They're legends.
Phoenix New Times |
Martin Cizmar |
11-10-2009 |
Music
All Eyes on Joe Liebermannew
Jumpin' Joe Lieberman has once again managed to freak out Connecticut Democrats of nearly every persuasion. Left-wingers are firing rockets into the blogosphere, some longtime Lieberman loyalists are sadly shaking their heads, and establishment types are seething at what Joe may be doing to his old buddy Chris Dodd's reelection chances.
New Haven Advocate |
Gregory B. Hladky |
11-10-2009 |
Politics
Anita Chu's 'Field Guide to Candy' is a Sweet Booknew
The Field Guide will help you properly identify (and make) more than 100 varieties of treats -- some contemporary, some esoteric, all presented in unadulterated, cavity-inducing glory.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Drew Lazor |
11-10-2009 |
Food+Drink
Does U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke Have the Stones to Take on Sheriff Joe Arpaio?new
Will anything be done about Arpaio's possible violations of federal law? Everyone knows the Department of Justice and the FBI are investigating Arpaio, but will new U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke do anything about Arizona's rogue sheriff? History does not bode well.
Phoenix New Times |
Stephen Lemons |
11-10-2009 |
Crime & Justice
'The Fourth Kind' is Dreadful Brain-Eating Garbage Best Left for the Scrap Heapnew
At last, here's a movie that finds Dan Brown's religious mumbo-jumbo too plausible; The Fourth Kind is a toxic stew of von Daniken and voyeurism; it's like Blair Witch but without the stomach-turning camera work because here all the nausea rises straight up from the script.
Metro Times |
Corey Hall |
11-10-2009 |
Reviews
Tristan Taormino, the Feminist Pornographernew
Taormino just completed her sixth book, The Big Book of Sex Toys. She's finished editing an erotic anthology for Cleis Press called Sometimes She Lets Me. And she's working on three new movies for Vivid, the largest adult video producer on the planet.
Weekly Alibi |
Marisa Demarco |
11-10-2009 |
Culture
'Taxidermia' is Either Magical Realism or the Most Disturbing Movie You'll Ever Seenew
Some films are tough to watch and others may make you queasy, and then there's Taxidermia, a bizarre, squirmy parade of grotesqueries that requires a titanium-lined stomach to simply endure. In fact, you don't so much watch Gyorgy Palfi's film as sit back and let it happen to you.
Metro Times |
Corey Hall |
11-10-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Gyorgy Palfi, Taxidermia
As a Famous Desegregation Case Gets its Historical Due, One Family Feels Left Outnew
Mendez v. Westminster never made it into the official Orange County story, though, existing only in the historical margins of ethnic studies. But this wrong is finally being righted. But one plaintiff family -- the Ramirezes -- feel like they're being written out of this newly filled historical gap.
