http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/ High Gravity is Paste editor-in-chief Josh Jackson's daily round-up of music, film and culture - and even great (high gravity) beer. en Copyright 2008 Sat, 29 Nov 2008 08:14:28 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification vigilantes in trees.

Walking around the International and Latin Quarters in Montreal, though, is like walking through a spray-paint art gallery. Here are a few of my favorites (photographed on my iPhone) with suggested titles:



"Montreal Girls Are Super. I Just Wanna Eat Them Up."
]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/11/montreal-graffiti.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/11/montreal-graffiti.html montreal Sat, 29 Nov 2008 08:14:28 -0500

We've just released our collective Top 50 at Paste, and there's been the usual response both on our site and others' about what you think we missed, what we got wrong and what the list really should have looked like. Since this was a collaborative effort with votes from staff and some of our regular critics, everyone would have made this list a little differently, including me. Here's my personal top 10 (i.e. the actual 10 best albums this year).

1. Bon Iver—For Emma, Forever Ago
Some albums stampede their way into your brain, others creep in during the middle of the night and lay claim to some hidden corner forever. Justin Vernon's debut is one of the sneakiest albums since Sam Beam whispered his way into my cerebral cortex in 2002.
]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/11/staff-picks---josh-jackson-editor-in-chief.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/11/staff-picks---josh-jackson-editor-in-chief.html bon iver fleet foxes girl talk ida maria johnny flynn okkervil river sigur rós the dodos the hold steady vampire weekend Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:34:10 -0500

When the White House changes party hands, there's a tradition among outgoing staffers to play harmless prank. Junior Clinton officials famously rubbed the Ws off the keyboards in the West Wing before President George W. Bush took office. But the current commander-in-chief has just pulled a doozy on his successor.
]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/11/bush-shoves-a-little-flag-waving-down-obamas-throa.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/11/bush-shoves-a-little-flag-waving-down-obamas-throa.html barack obama george w. bush lee greenwood Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:59:48 -0500

As even us 30-somethings have come to accept social networking as part of our lives, here are a couple ways to keep your social platforms organized and one way that social networking is helping promote social justice...
]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/11/cool-developments-in-social-networking.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/11/cool-developments-in-social-networking.html Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:31:44 -0500 literally nail jello to a wall. This post focuses on the latter category with three fun ways to vacuum up all that extra free time you have between conference calls (note to my staff: please don't read any further)...



Second Rate Snacks
Ready to end the Ho Ho vs. Swiss Cake Roll debate? Head to Second Rate Snacks and vote for your favorite junk food. A great idea even if the lack of a hyphen between Second and Rate still bugs me as an editor. The head-to-head matches include Hydrox vs. Oreos, Pringles vs. Lay's Stax and Pop Tarts vs. Toastem's Pop Ups. For the record, the bloggers (SnackGirl and her husband Ethan) and the site's readers got all three right (Oreos, Pringles, Pop Tarts). But those were the easy ones. What about Mellow Yellow vs. Mountain Dew or Eskimo Pie vs. Klondike Bar? You'll just have to see for yourself.

]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/11/time-demolishers-second-rate-snacks-album-atlas-an.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/11/time-demolishers-second-rate-snacks-album-atlas-an.html blogs Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:54:12 -0500 ]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/11/new-discoveries-passion-pit-weyerbacher-pumpkin-al.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/11/new-discoveries-passion-pit-weyerbacher-pumpkin-al.html beer freaks and geeks passion pit Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:20:20 -0500

Paste has just launched two new blogs, TV Detail for television news and reviews and List of Day. My TV Detail reviews that used to appear on this blog (like last night's review of True Blood episode "The Fourth Man in the Fire") will now appear on the new blog. And lists like this one will be moved to the List of the Day.

The List of the Day blog will kick off with a countdown this week of the 20 Best TV Characters of the Last 20 Years. We'll be unveiling four each day, starting with #20-#17 today.

The High Gravity blog will be reserved for musings on culture and new discoveries in the realms of music, film, books, video games and beer.
]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/two-new-blogs-tv-detail-and-list-of-the-day.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/two-new-blogs-tv-detail-and-list-of-the-day.html Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:37:00 -0500

It didn't take long for the show's title to make sense. In the premiere of My Own Worst Enemy, regular guy Henry is just beginning to come to terms with the the existence of his alter ego Edward, or more specifically, that he himself is Edward's alter ego. But the split personalities have to keep peace between themselves to survive. This precarious truce comes unraveled by the end of the second episode. ]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/tv-detail-my-own-worst-enemy-review-episode-12-the.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/tv-detail-my-own-worst-enemy-review-episode-12-the.html my own worst enemy tv detail Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:18:42 -0500

In the sixth episode, Heroes Season Three slowly, finally comes into focus. It's all about the villain, Arthur Petrelli, back from the grave. Not that there are enough other bad guys to spread around. The creepiest is the puppetmaster, Eric Doyle, one of the escapees from Level 5. He's found his love, Claire's mother Meredith and going all psychopath on her and the rest of the family. Meanwhile, Dr. Suresh's little lair is growing more crowded with... prisoners? snacks?
]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/tv-detail-heroes-review-episode-306-dying-of-the-l.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/tv-detail-heroes-review-episode-306-dying-of-the-l.html heroes tv detail Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:00:13 -0500

I'm not often side-tracked by the many books that come through the Paste office. We have an extremely capable editor who does a mighty fine job on our books coverage, but the beautiful hard-bound book of Paul Simon's lyrics has yet to make it past my desk. Due out Nov. 11 on Simon & Schuster, Lyrics 1964-2008 is just that—all of Simon's lyrics throughout his storied career.
]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/paul-simons-lyrics-1964-2008.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/paul-simons-lyrics-1964-2008.html paul simon Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:55:42 -0500

In the words of Amy Poehler and Seth Myers, "Really?" Really, SNL, you're going to open another Thursday night special with a fake debate? Really? Where last week's episode was filled with laughs, this week's fell flat at almost every turn. There's only so much humor you can wring from Joe the Plumber, and while Fred Armisen does a pretty good Obama, he's yet to be given a single memorable line. And Seth, really? You can't read a teleprompter? This is prime time, baby. It'd be forgivable if your jokes were half as funny as last week, but this felt like the final half-hour of a typical Saturday Night Live where all the sketches that bombed during dress rehearsal go. There's a new SNL on Saturday Night, and I can only imagine that it's eaten up most of the writers' effort. I mean, the crazy lady from the McCain rally? Really?

]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/snl-weekend-update-thursday-1016-review.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/snl-weekend-update-thursday-1016-review.html saturday night live Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:05:26 -0500

We're 5 episodes into Fox's Fringe, a show about the outer reaches of science—imaginable if not particularly feasible advances in areas like telekinesis, telepathy, reanimation, invisibility—and a global conspiracy to develop and test these advances, often with murderous results. Only it sounds more interesting than it is.

Here are five reasons that I'm taking a break from Fringe:
]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/5-reasons-im-giving-up-on-foxs-fringe.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/5-reasons-im-giving-up-on-foxs-fringe.html anna torv fringe john noble joshua jackson Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:55:55 -0500

Last week, we reviewed the debut episode of Life on Mars, The American remake of British cop show with a time-traveling twist. But if you missed it, you can watch right here ad-free:]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/watch-life-on-mars-premiere-episode-right-here.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/watch-life-on-mars-premiere-episode-right-here.html life on mars Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:10:18 -0500

Slater. Christian Slater. You've at least seen the previews by now. In My Own Worst Enemy, the star of Heathers plays both international spy Edward Albright and his regular guy alter ego Henry Spivey. The dual personalities are kept at bay through mind manipulation by the unnamed government organization running the program. Except in the series premiere, something's gone wrong, and he's flipping back and forth at the most inopportune times.
]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/tv-detail-my-own-worst-enemy-reviewseries-premiere.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/tv-detail-my-own-worst-enemy-reviewseries-premiere.html christian slater my own worst enemy tv detail Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:30:02 -0500

Heroes, angels, monsters, villains. This season, you can simply call them all the Heroes pawns in a game none of us quite understands yet. In one corner, you have The Company with Angela Patrelli, her three sons (Nathan, who's having a theological crisis of sorts; Syler, who's just trying to be good for mommy; and Peter, who's basically the new Syler now that he's taken his brother's power and the hunger that goes along with it), plus Mr. Horn-Rimmed Glasses Noah Bennet and, at least for the moment, his adopted daughter (and Angela's granddaughter) Claire.
]]> http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/tv-detail-heroes-review-episode-305-angels-and-mon.html http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2008/10/tv-detail-heroes-review-episode-305-angels-and-mon.html heroes tv detail Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:04:44 -0500