Image via WikipediaA friend writes: "The biggest puzzle that lingers for me after Avatar isthe message that young ones take away having seen the recruitment videos for the Marines and the Air Force before The Show.  I think of the militaristic characters in Avatar as rogue Blackwater … [Read more...]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/nyregion/09nyc.html?_r=3&ref=todayspaper … [Read more...]

Or: How I Spent My Downtime: at cinemasterpieces. For more cheap thrills, go to http://images.google.com/advanced_image_search?hl=en, enter "http://www.cinemasterpieces.com" in the "results images from this site or domain" box, and then tweak your size option settings to "medium" or "large." … [Read more...]

"I've long known about Smith's recordings and his obsession with documenting what went on at the building where he lived and worked from the late 50s until the early 70s. One story, which has stuck with me since I first heard it, was of Smith cutting a hole in his ceiling to insert a microphone … [Read more...]

Was it uplifting or depressing to see Young MC take down Up In the Air's cheezy corporate splash? Nelson George called it "the highlight," but I thought the one-hit wonder looked like Andre Braugher.This gets reviewed as a yuppie comeuppance, but its generational gags shoot the curl. When Anna … [Read more...]

Bobby Fuller via last.fm George Clooney at his best: he doesn't even need that smile...Best Use Of: Beach Boys "Heroes and Villains" Best Climactic Number: Bobby Fuller Four's "Let Her Dance" Related articles by ZemantaAFI Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox (cinematical.com)New Jarvis Cocker - "Fantastic … [Read more...]

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Peter Carlin's Paul McCartney: A Life (Touchstone) "Among the many virtues of Carlin's sympathetic yet discerning portrait is the way he turns so many familiar details into a fresh life story. This is the Cute Beatle you only thought you knew, whose good cheer feeds off ferocious ambition. In … [Read more...]

There's too much to say about the remasters, still lost in stereo detail, haven't even cracked mono. But since you're already decked out, ask for this handsome "empty" box set. It lets you slip all your discs into a single spot, and includes slots for LOVE, Anthology and BBC, and lets you fetishize … [Read more...]

"The Corps' lassitude and failure to fulfill its duties resulted in a catastrophic loss of human life and property in unprecedented proportions," Duval wrote. "The Corps' negligence resulted in the wasting of millions of dollars in flood protection measures and billions of dollars in congressional … [Read more...]

"Deeds set upon ideal goals, deeds performed not with careless ease and routine but in exertion and submission to their ends are stronger than the surprise and attack of caprice. Serving sacred goals may change mean motives. For such deeds are exacting. Whatever our motive may have been prior to the … [Read more...]

(notes toward the essay nobody's written yet...) As a ginormous crossover pop star, Michael Jackson embodied the era's cosmic mismatch of outsized talent and crashingly banal taste, the black Barbra Streisand. Tipped just a few degrees in the right direction and he could have been a colossus, a … [Read more...]

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