The 10 Greatest Anti-Heroes: #2 Batman
Best Movie: The Dark Knight Best Comic: Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Best Actors: Christian Bale In 1986, Frank Miller reimagined the then-campy superhero Batman as “The Dark Knight” in his revered graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Later, through two standard-setting movies, Tim Burton’s original Batman and Christopher Nolan’s brilliant Batman Begins, we’ve been shown again the pathos-filled story of the burning rage that created the masked vigilante who strikes fear into the hearts of the criminals of Gotham. Often misunderstood by the very citizens and public officials he means to help, Batman follows his own... read more
Record Store Day Inspires Book, Record Store Days
April 17 is Record Store Day, meaning signings, in-store performances and exclusive releases in independent record stores all over the country. It’s a reason to celebrate. This year, Record Store Day will be pre-empted by Record Store Days, a new book from Go Music president Gary Calamar and music journalist Phil Gallo.... read more
The 10 Greatest Anti-Heroes
The regular-old hero has served us well for the past few thousand years, but ever since the time of that legendary literary bon vivant Lord Byron, we’ve learned to enjoy our heroes with a little bit of moral nuance. They’re human beings, just like you and I, only more cunning, erudite, world-weary, and charismatic than we could ever hope to be. But they’re also more emotionally resonant than the traditional white-knight hero precisely because they’re such deeply flawed people, grappling with eminently relatable self-doubt and moral hazard. Indeed, it’s no stretch to say that the anti-hero is usurping the heroic... read more
Bonnaroo 2010 Comedy Lineup Led By Conan O'Brien, Aziz Ansari and Margaret Cho
Bonnaroo is not just a a place to hear your favorite bands while standing in the mud under a Tennessee-summer sun. If festival goers need a break from all the music, or just want to sit down and have a couple of laughs, Bonnaroo’s got that covered too. The festival just announced this year’s comedy lineup, which features Conan O’Brien (as part of his recently-announced tour), Margaret Cho and Paste’s #10 comedian of the aughts, Aziz Ansari, as headliners.... read more
Conan O'Brien Announces "Half-Assed Comedy & Music" Tour
Take that, NBC. Forbidden from signing on to any new television ventures thanks to residual contract issues with his former employer, funnyman Conan O’Brien is using his time off to spread laughter across the nation during a 30-city, two-month “half-assed comedy & music tour,” according to a message on his Twitter account today.... read more
The Cove Director Louie Psihoyos Goes After Santa Monica Sushi Restaurant
For director Louie Psihoyos, making the Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove—a film that follows activist Ric O’Barry in his quest to stop the capture, slaughter and sale of dolphins in a small Japanese town and around the world—was not enough in the way of activism. In the days leading up to the Oscars, the filmmaker continued his work to stop the unlawful sale of dolphin and whale meat—this time off screen.... read more
Max Silvestri: World Wide Witty
Part of comic Max Silvestri’s job is to put up with people making fun of him online... read more
Mad Men Barbies to Hit Stores in July
As if Don Draper, his wife Betty, the silver-haired Roger Sterling and his ad agency’s most stylish secretary didn’t already look perfect enough through our televisions, now they’re being transformed into Barbie versions. A partnership between AMC, Lionsgate and Mattel has resulted in the four-doll set, scheduled to start popping up on select shelves in July.... read more
Paste Nominated for Two National Magazine Awards
For the third consecutive year, Paste magazine has been nominated for a National Magazine Awards in the category of General Excellence. This year, we’re proud to add an additional nomination in the category of Reviews and Criticism for our own associate editor Rachael Maddux.... read more
Wii are the Champions
Seniors are reborn as athletes through video-game bowling tournament... read more
U.S. Cities Change Names to Attract Google Fiber
Google Fiber. No, it’s not the name of a new breakfast cereal aimed at senior citizens. The ultra-fast Internet option—promised to offer speeds up to one gigabit a second—is stirring up quite a bit of attention in cities across the U.S. vying to be its test market. And they’re not afraid to go to rather extreme measures to gain Google’s attention.... read more
Rock the House: Taiwan Architects Design a House of Music
Nestled along the fringe of northern Taipei, a city of 2.6 million people cradled in a basin on the tip of Taiwan, is a peculiar structure... read more
Poll: Pop Culture's Greatest Anti-Heroes
Superman has his place, but sometimes we like our protagonists a little more…flawed. After all, we’re not always squeaky clean, and it’s reassuring to watch bad boys and girls fight not only the villains, but their own demons as well. Even David had that little run-in with Bathsheba. Pop culture is full of anti-heroes, and we want to know your favorites. Vote from the list below or suggest your own in the comments section by Thursday, March 11. We’ll be unveiling two of the Top 10 anti-heroes each day next week (March 15-19), in honor of the season premiere of... read more
Catching Up With... Lewis Black
Speaking with Lewis Black drives home how fine the line can sometimes be between comedian and curmudgeon... read more
Lost to Live on in Theme Park Form?
As you may have heard, ABC’s desert-island drama Lost is in its sixth and final season. With the series quickly drawing to a close, devoted fans are left to wonder where they will channel their island-obsessed energies next. Perhaps what they need is a nice vacation…to a Lost theme park attraction?... read more
Buy the Vintage Dodge From the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man
Your average movie lover might not be able to bring home a shiny, gold Academy Award statuette, but the vintage set of wheels from the Oscar-nominated Coen Brothers film A Serious Man is now within reach. Starting this Monday, Feb. 22, and running through March 4, eBay will host an auction for the 1966 Dodge Coronet used in the movie. Proceeds from the sale will go to support Variety – The Children’s Charity of Southern California, a nonprofit organization reaching out to kids since 1941.... read more
The Show Must Go On: Alexander McQueen Brand to Continue
It was barely a week ago today that fashion icon (and Paste’s number two fashion designer of the decade) died in his home. His untimely death at the age of 40 sent shock waves through the fashion world in the middle of New York Fashion Week. Amid the sadness, fashionistas wondered what would happen to the iconic British brand without its founder.... read more
Vatican Releases Top 10 Pop Albums List
Turns out things are slightly groovier at the Vatican than many might have thought. L’Osservatore Romano (which translates to The Roman Observer) is a newspaper covering the Holy See’s public activities, amongst other related things. In a rather out of character move, the paper ran an article Sunday listing its “semi-serious” choices for best pop rock albums, remarking, “our modest guide can point you on the road to good music.”... read more
Designer Alexander McQueen: 1969-2010
Iconic British fashion designer Alexander McQueen—who had attracted attention not just from the fashion world but from the Queen herself, who dubbed him Commander of the British Empire for his fashion leadership in 2003—was found dead in his London home today. McQueen was 40 years old.... read more
Vote for Paste's Pop Goes the Culture TV Show
It’s been just over three months since we debuted the pilot for our television show, Pop Goes the Culture on the Halogen network, and the moment of truth has arrived. Voting is taking place now for the best pilots, and the winners will be picked up by Halogen TV for production as a series. We want to continue to bring you Signs of Life in music and culture from every venue possible, but we need your help. Go to HalogenTV.com, check out the pilot, then scroll down to vote for Pop Goes the Culture.... read more
The 10 Greatest Anti-Heroes: #1 Omar Little
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