Ah, yes: The Monday New York Times crossword puzzle, routinely mocked by seasoned crossword freaks as the province of entry-level puzzle-doers and amateur intellects. In today’s puzzle, however, those who regularly frequent the blank box page may observe an interesting redundancy, and on a technical level, an inaccuracy. Involving rappers. Read More
There’s something a little fishy going on with Terminator Salvation. The Warner Brothers release doesn’t open until Memorial Day weekend, but the relentless ad campaign has basically spoiled the entire movie already. The latest spot, a four-minute “extended preview,” is like a short film: Almost every major plot point is shared, along with some Read More
Monday: House
Fox has gone bonkers promoting the heck out of this very special House episode … and we are totally on board! In the creepily titled episode “Locked In” (about the even more creepy Locked-In Syndrome), Mos Def guest stars as a man who is trapped inside his body but can’t move or Read More
While the majority of their peers are content to perform in jeans and tees surrounded by little more than effects pedals, Apes and Androids would rather dish out their manic glam rock wearing wife-beaters, bandanas and full-color face paint while a giant papier-mâché monster looms overhead and the band’s friends—all clad in zombie makeup—do Read More
“Beyonce has the voice and she’s got the attitude,” declared the rap artist Akon at the Monday night premiere of Cadillac Records, a film about the rise of Chess Records and its recording artists in which Beyonce Knowles plays the blues singer Etta James.
Curiously, the venue selected for the premiere was the AMC Read More
If Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee, it’s a pretty safe assumption that he’s going to have overwhelming support from the hip-hop community.
Vibe magazine crystallized his status as an icon in the rap community, remixing his first name into the hipper “B-Rock,” and shortly before the crucial primary and caucus in Ohio on Read More
Rapper and actor Mos Def likes Barack Obama for president.
Speaking at the 92nd Street Y last night, he recalled seeing articles about Obama earlier, and thinking to himself, “Look at this guy, he looks amazing.” Speaking with Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis, Def (Mr. Def?) went on to say of Obama, “He Read More
When we first heard tell of Be Kind Rewind, the latest movie from Michel Gondry – the innovative director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (mmmm, if only!) and countless music videos– we were kind of excited. Then we watched the trailers, which seemed to feature Jack Black being Jack Black (again), running around Read More
In the pantheon of trash passed off as filmmaking today, Bruce Willis movies are no better than the rest—and most of the time, a great deal worse. At least one, the legendarily abominable Hudson Hawk, remains one of top 10 lousiest flicks ever made, and he has another one coming up called Lucky Number Slevin Read More
Suzan-Lori Parks is amazing to me. The original mind and heart of this dramatist who writes like no other has been celebrated more than once in this column. But this is the thing: We cannot predict the stories she’ll tell us or even how she’ll tell them. Perhaps she herself doesn’t know-until, that is, she Read More
