Features
New Morrissey album has him acting younger
The back of Morrissey's new album Years of Refusal offers up a suggestion: "play very loud". This suggestion seems, well, so un-Morrissey-esque that it takes one aback. This is the singer known as "The Pope of Mope," the man who lent the theatrical vocals and tortured lyrics to The Smiths jangly songs; the advice seems out of synch with the quintessential tortured artist Morrissey. Yet, Morrissey isn't pure gloom and doom; the man's always had a sense of humor. Classic Smiths' songs "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and "I Know It's Over" feature wry, black humor in their lyric; a man who penned the glam rock love song, "You're the One for Me, Fatty," isn't pure depression.
Watchmen offers a twist on the superhero genre
Watchmen is something unusual. It is not quite a superhero movie. It is not quite an action flick. It is also not quite a psychological exploration of the odd proclivities of humanity. The characters are not exactly likeable; the "heroes" are definitely not people I would want to meet in real life. In fact, Richard Nixon seems at various points to be the closest thing to a moral paragon the movie has.
Costello’s Armed Forces still has bite after 30 years
"Oh I just don't know where to begin," Elvis Costello's voice floats from the record player as the rest of the Attractions' instruments join his voice in the end of the verse. "Though he says he'll wait forever, it's now or never." Thus starts Elvis Costello's third album, Armed Forces, which is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary.
Vagina Monologues were touching and memorable
From February 18 to 20, Hart Auditorium was filled with vaginas: Happy vaginas, angry vaginas, lesbian vaginas, and every other vagina described by Even Ensler in The Vagina Monologues. Directed by 3Ls Jenny Woodson and Jessica Heaven and 2L Monique Luse, approximately 30 students took the stage to perform a play about sexual freedom, sexual violence and everything else in between.
Mr. Yogato offers tasty yogurt, curious discounts
Last summer, I complained to my co-workers that there were no yogurt shops in D.C. When I go home to California, I visit the frozen yogurt place around the corner every single day, and that little corner of heaven is one of the things I miss most when coming back to school. In an effort to cheer me up and prove me wrong, my co-workers embarked on a search for frozen yogurt that has resulted in my newest obsession, Mr. Yogato.
Latest album gives us a dark Jonathan Richman
In 2008, most music critics not only overlooked, but also never mentioned the newest album by Jonathan Richman, Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild.
81st Oscar nods overlook Wall-E and Dark Knight
A year ago, two great films, the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men and P.T. Anderson's There Will Be Blood were battling for the title of "Best Picture" in a year chock-full of viable contenders. 2008 was a quirky but wonderful year or gems such as the dark and gloriously over-the-top Sweeney Todd, the icy legal-thriller-cum-morality-tale Michael Clayton and the little-indie- that-could Juno. Many critics considered it to be the best year for movies since 1994, generally recognized as independent cinema's coming out party.
BSG returns for a tense and gripping final season
Has the medium of television ever attempted anything as bleak and dreary as the reimagined Battlestar Galactica?
New Year brings new slate of programming
Spring brings us flowers, the hope of warm weather, and some great new and returning TV shows.
Top Ten Stories I'd Rather Watch on Network News than the Caylee Anthony Saga
10. Where the Wall Street bail-out money has gone
9. Where the Big 3 bailout money has gone
8. Anything about monkeys