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Film Independent Film Festival of Boston 2008 By Jake Meaney [16.May.08] :. The Independent Film Festival of Boston brought a slew of new features, documentaries, and shorts to Beantown for the sixth year. PopMatters has all the highlights (and lowlights) from films that tackled everything from vanishing languages to fashion design.

Traveling Light By Catherine Wagley [16.May.08] :. No supergroup has ever squandered more talent than the Traveling Wilburys. Yet despite themselves, they stand as an enduring testament to the sheer pleasures of collaboration.

Music Discovering Margie Joseph: The Sound of Sweet, Soulful Vindication By Christian John Wikane [15.May.08] :. Long lost albums by Margie Joseph surface after three decades and beg the question, "Was there more than one soul queen at Atlantic?"

Tickley Feather [Philadelphia, PA] By Jeremy Butman [15.May.08] :. Philadelphia's Tickley Feather brings a new face to the Philly music scene -- in part by tackling the national stage as a new recruit to Paw Tracks.

Books The Solitary Vice: You Can Always Watch the Movie, Instead By Mikita Brottman [14.May.08] :. In this second excerpt of PopMatters' first book, The Solitary Vice: Against Reading, Mikita Brottman suggests an easy out when you don’t want to read the book.

Music The Plain Truth About Karen Dalton: An Interview with Joe Loop By Nate Cunningham [13.May.08] :. One-time coffeehouse proprietor Joe Loop shed light on the mysterious Karen Dalton with his notes to the Cotton-Eyed Joe recording and speaks to PopMatters about his memories of the '60s folk scene and his friend Karen.

Music Animals in Time: Neko Case and the Contemporary Country By Michelle Banks [12.May.08] :. The music of Neko Case shows us a world of danger, guilt, regret, displaced hearts, lost time and lost faith, several deaths, the matter-of-factness of animals, and reckoning. In other words, exactly what the contemporary moment shows us.

Tod A of Firewater By PopMatters Staff [12.May.08] :. PopMatters 20 Questions caught up with Tod A of Firewater in Bali, where he shares some thoughts about cultural and political matters, and speculates on what visiting extraterrestrials might look like.

The Consumer Consumed By Claudia Grinnell [9.May.08] :. In pursuing the convenience of a Web 2.0 world, we are consenting to being incorporated into a finely tuned marketing machine, with ever more subtly adapted gears, to our meet our needs -- manufactured and otherwise.

Politics Out of Africa: Barack Obama in Pan-African Music By Drew Hinshaw [9.May.08] :. While Barack Obama's candidacy has sparked new political interest within the United States, perhaps the best indication of his foreign policy advantage may be found in the music praising Obama coming from other countries around the world.

Music “There’s Never Anything Planned”: An Interview With Mark Kozelek By Evan Sawdey [8.May.08] :. Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters' Mark Kozelek explains his unlikely inspiration, reflects on aging, and chooses beauty over catharsis.

Film Reflections: Interview with Gaetano Capizzi, Director of Cinemabiente By Ellise Fuchs [8.May.08] :. "Cinemabiente means films that reflect the world, or act like a mirror of society. At the same time, they cause the viewer to reflect."

Multimedia Play’s the Thing: The Art of Video Game Writing By L.B. Jeffries [7.May.08] :. Many of the people who make the video games you play don't like having a plot at all, much less a good one. It constrains their designs and forces them to sacrifice player freedom for something that the player should be doing themselves.

Guster’s “Jesus on the Radio” By Kirthana Ramisetti [7.May.08] :. Ramisetti realizes that a simple love and appreciation for a song is all that matters in the end -- how it finds you, and how it moves you -- even when it comes from a random YouTube video.

Events Winter Music Conference 2008 By David Tatasciore [6.May.08] :. In his account of the nation's premier techno festival, David Tatasciore captures the good, the bad, and the ugly that made the Winter Music Conference such an unforgettable experience.

Music Saudade: A Conversation with Carly Simon By Christian John Wikane [5.May.08] :. Tall and tan and still very lovely, Carly Simon takes a cue from Antonio Carlos Jobim on her new album. So why does All About Eve make a cameo?

Pico Iyer By PopMatters Staff [5.May.08] :. The compassionate, prolific writer and traveler, Pico Iyer, talks with PopMatters 20 Questions, about the Dalai Lama, Benji, Keith Richards, and Paddington Bear.

The PopMatters Summer 2008 Movie Preview By PopMatters Staff [2.May.08] :. PopMatters looks at each month that makes up this yearly caravan of summer moviegoing, picking out the winners and wastes of time. Today: Remembrances of Summers Past: 40 Years of Movie Memories: Highlights from Gibron's popcorn moviegoing history.

Snap!: “I’ve Got the Power” By Emily Popek [2.May.08] :. In the unlikely form of a Snap! album, Popek reveals how an ephemeral dance track helped her discover both hip-hop and the understanding that all music is for everyone.

Music Fun & Games: Killing Joke in the mid-’80s By Adrien Begrand [1.May.08] :. Though lumped in with post-punk acts, Killing Joke were considerably less edgy than their peers, their blunt, pulverizing music echoing the rage and cynicism expressed in the songs making them somewhat of an anomaly.

Music Agent Provocateur: Madonna’s Super Hard Candy Pop By Matt Mazur [29.Apr.08] :. On her newest CD, Hard Candy, the legend sounds stronger and more confident -- pushed into the new directions by her posse of guest producers and musicians.

Ike Reilly By PopMatters Staff [28.Apr.08] :. Songwriter Ike Reilly tells PopMatters 20 Questions about firm abs and buttocks and the best sitcom, ever.

Music Always Trying to Waste Me: The Rolling Stones’ “Cocksucker Blues” By Colin Fleming [25.Apr.08] :. Onan rejoices. Dionysus despairs. Robert Frank, the Rolling Stones, and Cocksucker Blues -- a polarizing document for upwards of 35-years, now -- unreleased, and perhaps unreleasable.

The Fall By Ian Mathers [25.Apr.08] :. The frightening, wonderful world of Mark E. Smith and the Fall offers decades of music and dozens of albums to sift through for the one that best represents what they are all about.

Books Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd By Michael E. Ross [24.Apr.08] :. Like any sound biographer, Blake is the fly on the wall — but one careful not to breathe the smoke in the air. What could have been Pink Floyd hagiography has the weight and distance of clear-headed scholarship, charitable but candid.

Books Painfully Masculine: An Interview with Benjamin Percy By G. Christopher Williams [24.Apr.08] :. With the rise of the metrosexual and the fall of the patriarchal society, some men, lost in a gray zone, compensate by joining Gold’s Gym, screaming at Packers games, and driving big-ass Hummers

Books The Ten-Cent Plague: Revisiting the 20th-Century Comic Book Scare By Jenny Carlson [23.Apr.08] :. In this illuminating work, critic David Hajdu revisits the boycotts, bans, and congressional hearings that disenfranchised hundreds of artists and ended the golden days of the comic book industry.

Music Anyone Can Play Guitar: The Replacements on Twin/Tone, 1981-1984 By Zeth Lundy [22.Apr.08] :. With four albums for the independent Minneapolis label Twin/Tone, the 'Mats rendered the hierarchies and caste system of the rock world irrelevant by remaking rock 'n' roll as an anonymous force.

Music The Long Road to Hoo Ha: An Interview with Supergrass By Pablo Amor [21.Apr.08] :. Only one band survived the highs and lows of the Britpop era. We talked about this endurance, a sixth album, and other lifespan issues with Danny Goffey, the one and only drummer for... yes, Supergrass.

Bruce Campbell By PopMatters Staff [21.Apr.08] :. Bruce Campbell, that handsome man (when he's not wearing horror film make-up) with that incredible chin whom you know you've seen before -- you've seen just about everywhere -- appears here, too, in PopMatters' 20 Questions.

Film On Independent Vision, Art and Democracy: The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2008 By Jyllian Gunther, Kevin Greer and Isaac Miller [18.Apr.08] :. Full Frame’s exclusive focus on documentary films makes it gravitate toward academic and humanitarian affiliations, providing badly needed brain-stimulation for our otherwise comatose democracy.

Music Chasing Honey Bees: The Jesus and Mary Chain and the Post-Masterpiece Struggle By Matthew Fiander [18.Apr.08] :. Their first album, Psychocandy, was a classic. And as new reissues of the Jesus and Mary Chain's first five records are released, we see the story of a band proving there is life after a masterpiece.

Multimedia Accepting the Absurd via Super Smash Bros. Brawl By Erik Hinton [17.Apr.08] :. While video games will always adopt varying levels of verisimilitude, the Wii presents a novel challenge to the conventional consciousness, and that is an attack on realism.

Alan Wilkis [Brooklyn, NY] By Dan Raper [17.Apr.08] :. Unlike many of his fellow Brooklynites, whose boundary-pushing is an aesthetic in and of itself, Alan Wilkis has no fear of pop.

Film State of the Slasher Address By Stephen Graham Jones [16.Apr.08] :. Author Stephen Graham Jones looks into the disappointments of the Prom Night remake, finds pause to reflect back on the past of the slasher film, and sees a glimmer of hope for the future.

Books Who Says Libraries Are Just About Books? By Lara Killian [16.Apr.08] :. Quiet, Please author Scott Douglas speaks out about the future of libraries, being played by Oprah in the movie version, and his recent library-themed wedding.

TV Twilight of the Leading Ladies? By Chris Harnick [15.Apr.08] :. As cancellations force more alpha female characters off the air, the question arises: Are we seeing television audiences and studios turn away from strong women as leads?

Music Festival Nation: Avoiding the Post-Modern Buzzkill By Mitchell Bandur [14.Apr.08] :. As we near the summer music festival season, throngs of sunblock-wielding concertgoers prepare to once again brave hot temperatures and crowded venues. PopMatters sifts through the myriad happenings to offer a primer for the summer.

David Baldacci By PopMatters Staff [14.Apr.08] :. Best-selling author David Baldacci talks with PopMatters 20 Questions about the importance of hallucinogens, hit men, and Herman Munster -- and yeah, other important things, too.

Film State of Grace: How Buddhist Teachings Transformed a Maximum Security Prison in Alabama By Matt Mazur [11.Apr.08] :. In her new documentary, Jenny Phillips frames the daily, shackled grind of prisoners' lives with social injustices, but also investigates what it is like to be a prisoner doing hard time in the South choosing to practice guided Buddhist meditation techniques.

Music Survival of the Fittest: The Hard Country of John Anderson By Dave Heaton [11.Apr.08] :. Anderson is a distinctive country music artist whose ample, if intermittent, hits have not given him the hallowed stature or name recognition of many of his contemporaries.

Now Hear This: Kevin Grivois [Tahoe, California] By Christian John Wikane [10.Apr.08] :. A superstar in Europe, an unknown in America. Kevin Grivois (aka Ké) remembers the "strange world" of his major label ascent and why an election year is bringing him back to the spotlight.

TV Lest You Be Judged By Michael Abernethy [10.Apr.08] :. Watching these courtroom dramas had me wondering why people choose to bicker over their disagreements on television, particularly in front of judges whose impartiality is questionable.

Music A Love Inseparable from False Hope By Emily Thomas [9.Apr.08] :. Anxious as the first time we saw him live, grateful for his fragile presence, we come to terms with Morrissey and perpetual disappointment.

Charlton Heston: 1200 B.C. - 2022 A.D. By Stephen Bracco [9.Apr.08] :. Though the late actor failed to stem the liberal hippie apocalypse in his trio of 1960s sci-fi classics, he did find a true love in guns.

Comics Spidey Turns Slacker?!: Great Power, Not So Much Responsibility By Lana Cooper [8.Apr.08] :. As Marvel Comics turns back the clock on Spider-Man, returning him to the struggling single life, questions erupt about the relationship of hero to audience.

Books The Solitary Vice: Remove the ‘Guilt’ from ‘Guilty Pleasures’ By Mikita Brottman [7.Apr.08] :. PopMatters unveils its first book, The Solitary Vice: Against Reading, by Mikita Brottman, in this first excerpt and author interview. Brottman wonders, Just what's so great about reading, anyway?

Jena Malone By PopMatters Staff [7.Apr.08] :. In-between The Ruins (just opened in US theatres) and The Go-Getter, opening in June, Jena paused while on tour to address PopMatters' 20 Questions.

Books Beyond Love: The Wisdom of Love in the Time of Cholera By Marcelo Ballvé [4.Apr.08] :. Gabriel García Márquez knew that love, like cholera, strikes unexpectedly, renders the body powerless, and is blind to class or race.

Judgment Night: Music from the Motion Picture (1993) By James Greene, Jr. [4.Apr.08] :. A look at the album that may have spawned rap rock and that supplies the missing link between Biohazard and Emilio Estevez.

Music Live Fast, Die Young, or Get Off the Stage By Judy Berman [3.Apr.08] :. Why wouldn't they burn out instead of fade away? Berman examines the sad spectacle of punk-rock reunions and shows how they destroy the two elements that actually made punk attractive: sex appeal and impermanence.

Salim Nourallah [Dallas, Texas] By Justin Cober-Lake [3.Apr.08] :. Despite intense familiy struggles, Salim Nourallah has truly blossomed into his own as one of the most talented musicians in a too-often overlooked scene.

Visual Arts Thaw: Russian Art from Glasnost to the Present By Marijeta Bozovic [2.Apr.08] :. Fears and rumors of increasing state control insinuate that the most recent Russian thaw, as represented at this exhibit at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York, might turn out to be just that: a limited period of freedom.

Music Soulja Boy: In Loco Parentis By Drew Hinshaw [2.Apr.08] :. As the genre collects some long-term history, hip-hop is starting to suffer from an age-confusion issue, embodied nowhere better than in the self-made teen sensation Soulja Boy.

Music Hold Steady: Dreaming of a Unified Scene By Eric Zimmermann [31.Mar.08] :. Parties, pills, and power chords -- the Hold Steady has it all. But is it enough to make indie rock fun again?

Jim White By PopMatters Staff [31.Mar.08] :. Jim White is a traveler, a Renaissance man, and a candid musical chronicler of the South. He pauses from his busy, restless artistic life to answer PopMatters' 20 questions.

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