Recent Features

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Friday, March 30 2007

Rattling the Cage: An Interview with Screamers Director Carla Garapedian

By Chris Catania

With a new documentary and the aid of System of a Down, Garapedian tries to get the world talking about genocide.

The Death of Jean Baudrillard Did Not Take Place

By G. Christopher Williams

The controversial French philosopher's legacy has been tarnished by reductionist readings of his work, generated precisely by the tendencies of the mass media he sought to illuminate.

Thursday, March 29 2007

The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography

By David Sterritt

David Sterritt looks at Sidney Poitier's fabulous comeback thanks to Oprah's golden touch.

Robin Cook’s SXSW Video Adventures: Part Two

By Robin Cook

Cook videoblogs from this year's SXSW festival, interviewing Mike Watt and Swamp Dogg in the process.

Wednesday, March 28 2007

Ave Anna: Anna Nicole Smith and Celebrity Culture

By William Carl Ferleman

Lost in the media's sensationalizing of Anna Nicole Smith was any sense of the human being behind the myth.

Robin Cook’s SXSW Video Adventures: Part One

By Robin Cook

Cook videoblogs from this year's SXSW festival, interviewing Jon Langford, Tommy Ramone, and Vashti Bunyan in the process. Stay tuned tomorrow for Mike Watt and Swamp Dogg.

Tuesday, March 27 2007

Inspiration, Integration, and the Soul Children: The Resurrection of Stax Records

By Matt Cibula

Listening to songs like "(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay" and "Do the Funky Chicken" is like taking a stroll through the garden of sublime American soul music.

A Hammock and a Brook: An Interview With Explosions in the Sky

By John Kenyon

After getting on the big screen and the small one, Explosions in the Sky learn how to relax even as they grow.

Monday, March 26 2007

Good Times, Other Realities: A Conversation with Panda Bear

By Jennifer Kelly

Whether with Animal Collective, through his solo work, or via a handful of other projects, Noah Lennox (or Panda Bear) makes a kind of disruptively joyful, emotionally affecting music operate on some sort of limbic plane to change your mood.

Friday, March 23 2007

In the Eye of the Glitterball

By Peter Dougherty

In a rare confluence of art and commerce, two homosexual Italian Americans from working-class families in Brooklyn developed the cult and culture of the DJ and put them at the vanguard of New York City nightlife.

Thursday, March 22 2007

Unbridled with Life: Interview with Mira Nair

By Cynthia Fuchs

With The Namesake, based on Jhumpa Lahiri's popular novel, Mira Nair has found an ideal subject -- a family full of complex characters who spend their lives traversing traditions and expectations.

LIZARD LOCOMOTIVE: A SXSW Road Journal

By Brian Bartels

PopMatters' Brian Bartels goes gonzo, mapping his serpentine slither through SXSW.

Wednesday, March 21 2007

PACKED IN THE PARTY: A SXSW Road Journal

By Kevin Pearson

From Stooge sightings to bear-soaked breakfasts, PopMatters' Kevin Pearson explains how to survive 46 full sets in 4 days on 14 hours of sleep and 11 slices of pizza.

All Talk and No Stick

By Scott Kenemore

When it comes to drummers, style can briefly eclipse substance. Before you know it, people are coming up to you in bars talking about what a great drummer Don Henley was.

Tuesday, March 20 2007

Music Days 3 & 4

By Brian Bartels and Kevin Pearson

PopMatters' concerts crew sends SXSW out with a bang, breaking down the Belles of the Ball and flushing out the Bathroom Breaks.

Out of Nowhere: An Interview With Maps

By Jennifer Kelly

James Chapman's moody, dream-fuzzed songs spent 2006 evolving from home-taped reveries to NME-charting singles. This year, with a new album in the works, a partnership with Bjork soundman Valgeir Sigurdsson, and a rising tide of blog interest, the Northampton (UK) songwriter is poised to move from off the map to off the charts.

Monday, March 19 2007

Music: Days 1 and 2

By Brian Bartels and Kevin Pearson

Arms bedecked with stamps and weighed down with wristbands, PopMatters' SXSW concert crew forges into the fray, bringing you the best and worst from days 1 and 2 of the festival.

Film: Days 6-7

By Terry Sawyer and Anita Schillhorn

PopMatters takes back its anti-anti-Moore attack, pushes further into an inconvenient truth, and explores the webs that sisters weave.

Cinema Cuba Libre

By Michael Buening

The primary goal of The Cuban Masterworks Collection seems to correspond with Engel's call "to break down the reluctance of non-Cuban audiences to look at their films at all, and to make them look without prejudice."

Friday, March 16 2007

Film: Day 5

By Terry Sawyer and Anita Schillhorn

You'd think exhaustion would dull the senses, but, as SXSW wears on, your critical faculties actually begin to sharpen -- it's only natural. As time passes, the real world fades away; home and family become distant memories. By day five, you have no family -- only films.

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