Pirate Radio
Release Date: Nov. 13 Director/Writer: Richard Curtis Cinematographer: Danny Cohen Starring: Bill Nighy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tom Sturridge, Kenneth Branagh Studio/Run Time: Focus Features, 135 mins. Raucous ’60s retrospective adrift in simplistic plot Nobody can accuse Richard Curtis’ sophomore directorial effort of being less than a fun time. The writer/director of Love, Actually immerses his work in a sea of floral-lensed escapism, filled with lusty skirt-chasing and fraternal merry-making—and in Pirate Radio, a loose timepiece about a radio ship that broadcasts primitive rock ’n’ roll in international waters to avoid government regulation, the good vibes keep rolling. It’s worth seeing... read more
The Messenger
Release Date: Nov. 13 Director: Oren Moverman Writers: Moverman and Alessandro Camon Cinematographer: Bobby Bukowski Starring: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Jena Malone, Samantha Morton Studio/Run Time: Oscilloscope Laboratories, 105 mins. War film well acted and fittingly bleak It’s unfortunate for this film that we’re experiencing a collective case of war-movie fatigue; when we’re still dealing with these wars on television and in our own communities, it’s hard to drag ourselves to the movies to be reminded of how awful it all is. The Messenger starts with an interesting premise: A war hero (Ben Foster) sent home to recuperate from injuries... read more
Dirty Projectors Book Show With L.A. Philharmonic, Get Covered by Solange
Dirty Projectors’ idiosyncratic nature has inspired two recent developments on seemingly disparate ends of the musical spectrum: an orchestral performance and an R&B cover.... read more
Deer Tick Ready iTunes-Only EP, More Fuel for the Fire
As the story goes, Deer Tick was born when frontman John McCauley started recording songs on tape for his friends. The quartet is now bearing similar gifts five years later, as evidenced in an EP out Dec. 1.... read more
Half-Handed Cloud: Cut Me Down & Count My Rings
Song-a-minute songwriter digs into his archive, unearths some gems As a songwriter who made his name constructing grand song puzzles out of miniature interlocking pieces, John Ringhofer is the master of intricately fragmented art pop, with four full-length releases so tightly constructed that individual moments can hardly be extracted without compromising their elaborate song-suite structures. That his short-attention-span musical theater works just as well when pulled out from under the canopy of album-long arcs comes as a revelation on Cut Me Down & Count My Rings, a dazzling 46-song collection drawn from previously released EPs, compilations, cassette singles and vinyl... read more
Film Friday: Werner Herzog Goes Nuts Twice (and Other Observations About Crazed Filmmakers)
A new movie called Bronson by filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn is traveling around the country, three screens per week. It’s about a man (true story) who’s so incorrigible that British authorities had to lock him up in a jail (or rather, a gaol) for 30-odd years. He’s the kind of chap who hauls off and belts people just for being within arms’ reach: school teachers, police officers, you name it. Bald, mustachioed, and hard-knuckled like a carnival strongman, he has no place in a civil society, even though his crimes don’t seem to warrant three decades in solitary confinement, either.... read more
Catching Up With... Pavement's Spiral Stairs
Sure, the recently-announced 2010 Pavement reunion has garnered all the hype... read more
Auto-Tune Developer Knocks Off Auto-Tune Knock Off
Auto-Tune is becoming an all-too-common embellishment in music and iPhone apps these days, especially for the developer behind the tricky technology that lets you keep this pitch-correction software in your pocket. Antares Audio Tech is the company responsible for the magical, giggle-inducing “I am T-Pain” app, and while they’ve spread the warbling joy to the masses, the techy troupe of nine employees are protecting their brand like it’s no one’s business, because to them, it shouldn’t be.... read more
Catching Up With... Augusten Burroughs
Augusten Burroughs overshares. For almost a decade, the ubiquitous author has plundered his personal life to spit out three memoirs and three collections of personal stories, in addition to a novel. But he says he's not doing it for the money. "I love preservation," he tells Paste. "Writing is the preservation of a memory." Burroughs' latest short story collection is You Better Not Cry, a wry, quick-witted handful of essays that revolve around Christmas. Skipping over the peace-and-goodwill part of the holidays, Burroughs paints the Yuletide season as a catalyst for dysfunction to reach its peak. And he would know. The... read more
"Shit My Dad Says" Creator Justin Halpern Talks Book Deal, TV Show
In the wake of news that Twitter phenom @shitmydadsays is being picked up for a CBS TV deal... read more
Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum Win Big At CMA Awards
The CMA Awards often reward music’s biggest and brightest stars. The underground heroes of the genre tend to go quietly into the night unnoticed (Justin Townes Earle, where art thou?), but who ever said these award shows had to be high concept? Rather, the CMAs offer a chance for the biggest names in country music to be recognized as, yes, the biggest names in country. And the names of the winners at last night’s ceremony don’t get much bigger in the land of 10-gallon hats.... read more
Salute Your Shorts: Wes Anderson's "Bottle Rocket"
Salute Your Shorts is a weekly column that looks at short films, music videos, commercials or any other short form visual media that generally gets ignored.Whatever else he may be, Wes Anderson has been a large figure in American filmmaking for the past decade. When the AV Club put out its list of 10 Films that Couldn’t Have Happened Without Wes Anderson two years ago, the publication could've kept the list going for ages, and since then the number of films and filmmakers he’s influenced has only grown longer. Especially of late, Anderson tends to have apologetic fans who love... read more
Watson Twins Announce New Album, Tour
The easy-to-spot, difficult-to-distinguish Watson Twins will release their sophomore album, Talking To You, Talking To Me, on Feb. 9 via Vanguard Records.... read more
This Is It Not Quite It: Jackson Reality Show Coming to A&E
The posthumous Michael Jackson promotion train keeps on rolling, and in its next incarnation, the Jackson-hungry public will learn the troubles and travails of the Jacksons who are still around. Starting Dec. 13 at 9 p.m., cable fixture A&E will air The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty, a six-episode reality miniseries showing viewers how the King of Pop’s death has affected his family, namely his brothers Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and Marlon.... read more
Diplo Drops Hints About New M.I.A. Album
If Diplo gets his way with the next M.I.A. album, then listeners can expect “Booty Shorts” paired with “Summertime Clothes,” “The Purple Bottle” leading to getting “Wasted” and “Dope Boys” frolicking with “My Girls.”... read more
MGM on its Way to Auction
MGM’s iconic roaring lion has been stifled to whimpers of late due to ticket-sale woes, and the box office blows have the once ample studio heading to the auction house again.... read more
The Best TV Theme Music
The little ditties that open TV shows keep growing littler and dittier, almost disappearing into Lost’s single sustained chord. The assumption may be that we’re just going to fast-forward through them anyway, but part of the charm of shows like Cheers, M*A*S*H and Sanford and Son was the musical intro. Fortunately, not everyone has given up on the theme song. Here are 10 current shows with tunes that make us put down the remote.... read more
Steven Tyler Now Merely Taking Two Years Off From Aerosmith
Well, so much for that. Just days after Aerosmith started calling for a new lead singer, Steven Tyler himself showed up Tuesday night at a Joe Perry Project performance to announce that he is not leaving the band after all.... read more
Tim Burton to Showcase Art at MoMA
While everyone twiddles their thumbs waiting for Alice in Wonderland March debut, Tim Burton plans to showcase his craft for macabre imagery through a different medium this month. On Nov. 22, the Museum of Modern Art in New York will show 700 pieces of Burton’s bizarre art, an accumulation of paintings and Polaroid prints from throughout his prolific career.... read more
Fox Cancels Joss Whedon's Dollhouse
Currently in the middle of its surprising season one follow-up, Joss Whedon’s Sci-fi drama Dollhouse is getting axed by Fox due to consistently dragging ratings, according to HollywoodReporter.com.... read more
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Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
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Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
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David Bazan - Hard To Be
Anya Marina - Whatever You Like
