Books and comics reviews, features, columns, and news. 2008-07-25T20:08:13Z Copyright (c) 2008, PopMatters.com ExpressionEngine tag:popmatters.com-read,2008:07:25 tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60731 2008-07-25T07:00:00Z 2008-07-25T07:00:00Z Michael Buening Did Fellini dream more extravagantly, with better art direction and more fluid crane shots than you or I? ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/feature/21.60960 2008-07-25T07:00:00Z 2008-07-25T07:00:00Z Jason Gross Forget about easy answers, and don't think that the latest hip tech craze will save: PopMatters' Jason Gross offers advice for how long-running print publications can adapt to this brave new Net-driven world. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60582 2008-07-25T06:59:00Z 2008-07-25T06:59:00Z Erik Hinton Story after story is what you want and expect, jovially straddling the line between the devils of the formulaic and the angels of dependable consistency. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.61319 2008-07-24T10:01:40Z 2008-07-24T10:01:40Z David Pullar The Book Group, but we did meet every month or two to discuss a book we’d all planned to read. The key difference with... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.61129 2008-07-24T07:00:01Z 2008-07-24T07:00:01Z William Gatevackes Krutcher and the world where everyone can fly returns; more of the same, and that's both a good and a bad thing. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60628 2008-07-24T07:00:00Z 2008-07-24T07:00:00Z Heather West A child's murder becomes symbolic of phenomenon specific to the era: the darkness in the bosom of the Victorian family and the thrills and dangers of a new art -- detection. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60580 2008-07-24T06:59:00Z 2008-07-24T06:59:00Z Erik Hinton Philosophy has often foregone its search for truth in favor of trumpeting a perceived tectonic ontological crisis: “Hark! The Internet, reality TV, Disney World, America! The sky is falling!” ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/news/23.61282 2008-07-23T12:46:00Z 2008-07-23T12:46:00Z Joseph V. Amodio tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/news/23.61281 2008-07-23T12:41:01Z 2008-07-23T12:41:01Z Geeta Sharma Jensen Fatehpur Sikri, the old, abandoned capital of India's Mughal King Akbar, is a somewhat deserted place these days, a bit off the beaten tourist path, outdone by the popularity of the Taj Mahal about... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.61284 2008-07-23T12:34:40Z 2008-07-23T12:34:40Z Nikki Tranter New York Times: Lyall Watson, a maverick scientific polymath and explorer who wrote the best-selling book “Supernature” and introduced the “hundredth monkey”... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/news/23.61280 2008-07-23T12:19:01Z 2008-07-23T12:19:01Z Tom Hundley It's not clear if Rajaa Alsanea's first novel, "Girls of Riyadh," was banned in Saudi Arabia because it became a Middle East best seller or if it became a best seller because it was banned. Either... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60181 2008-07-23T07:00:00Z 2008-07-23T07:00:00Z Jenny Carlson Close moonlighted as a fire-eating carnival performer, an LSD test subject for the US military, a film cameo artist and a producer of psychedelic light shows. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60577 2008-07-23T06:59:00Z 2008-07-23T06:59:00Z Will Layman Blue Gene -- a mullet-sporting, tattoo-covered, monster truck-loving, "Love It Or Leave It" spouting man of the people -- is selling off his childhood action figures at a flea market at the age of 27. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60574 2008-07-22T07:00:00Z 2008-07-22T07:00:00Z Matthew Fiander Little details disturb the normality of these stories: chairs have three legs; a homeless man becomes guardian over an entire forest. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60596 2008-07-22T06:59:00Z 2008-07-22T06:59:00Z Mark Reynolds Notable figures from Diana Ross to Barack Obama have been slapped with the "s-word" at some point or another for any number of real or imagined offenses. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.61165 2008-07-21T11:44:48Z 2008-07-21T11:44:48Z Lara Killian tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/column/19.61103 2008-07-21T07:00:01Z 2008-07-21T07:00:01Z Rodger Jacobs Fuller was a playful but hard-bitten cynic who imposed his sometimes weary, whistling-past-the-graveyard worldview on all those people sitting in the dark. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60572 2008-07-21T07:00:00Z 2008-07-21T07:00:00Z Kirby Fields On more than one occasion the band’s collective memory is not exactly in synch, a point that only further reminds us that we are reading a mythology, not a chronicle. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60584 2008-07-21T06:59:00Z 2008-07-21T06:59:00Z Kieran Curran This Ireland is resolutely working class, bland, focused on the traditional pursuits of numbing the senses through alcohol, coping with the drudgery of dead-end jobs with an almost nihilistic escapism. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.61122 2008-07-19T01:31:54Z 2008-07-19T01:31:54Z John G. Nettles ... (Or an Incredible Simulation!): I once saw an ad on the back page of this rag for an upcoming show featuring a band that billed itself as “Colorado’s #1 Widespread Panic... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60486 2008-07-18T07:00:00Z 2008-07-18T07:00:00Z Justin Dimos Reader Beware: Willett's collection may induce uncontrollable laughter followed by serious bouts of petrifying and inescapable doom. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60478 2008-07-18T06:59:00Z 2008-07-18T06:59:00Z Benjamin Gill Auerbach’s obvious allegiances and failure to maintain a sense of objectivity result in a work that seems rather shrill and churlish. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.61075 2008-07-18T02:34:41Z 2008-07-18T02:34:41Z Nikki Tranter Lou Reads. Prior, I'd not read anything new... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60381 2008-07-17T07:00:00Z 2008-07-17T07:00:00Z Christel Loar A comparative study of MuchMusic and MTV that examines how each relates to issues and perceptions of gender and nationality, racial diversity, and an overall sense of cultural identity. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60480 2008-07-17T06:59:02Z 2008-07-17T06:59:02Z Jeffrey White This tries to capitalize on the topicality of European illegal immigration, but ends up a pedestrian effort at putting a face on the multitudes that wash up on the continent’s shores each year. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/news/23.61014 2008-07-16T15:24:01Z 2008-07-16T15:24:01Z Chris Vognar tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60488 2008-07-16T07:00:00Z 2008-07-16T07:00:00Z Adrien Begrand Metal fans are a cynical bunch when it comes to outsiders offering critiques of their favorite pieces of work, and can pick apart a treatise with the thoroughness of fussy jazz enthusiasts. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60490 2008-07-16T06:59:00Z 2008-07-16T06:59:00Z David Sterritt I realize that not everyone finds The Eiger Sanction as amazing as I do, but any picture with Clint as an art professor (!) cum mountain climber (!!) cum political assassin (!!!) deserves all the analysis it can get. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.60995 2008-07-16T00:29:16Z 2008-07-16T00:29:16Z Nikki Tranter The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House (Bloomsbury). Summerscale spent the better part of two... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60193 2008-07-15T07:00:01Z 2008-07-15T07:00:01Z Rachel Balik Chamberlain’s deftly researched book gives a group of people once lumped disparagingly with Reality Bites and dot-com disasters a multifaceted, fresh and potent identity. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60831 2008-07-15T07:00:00Z 2008-07-15T07:00:00Z Chris Barsanti Mauldin was a chronicler of the everyday grime and misery that was the life of the average G.I., "These strange, mud-caked creatures who fight the war." ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60470 2008-07-15T06:59:00Z 2008-07-15T06:59:00Z Chauncey Mabe The sad details of everyday life are distilled into a brilliant collection. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.60935 2008-07-15T00:50:47Z 2008-07-15T00:50:47Z Nikki Tranter Life with My Sister Madonna. Just make sure those 30... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60151 2008-07-14T07:00:00Z 2008-07-14T07:00:00Z Rachel Smucker Every time the reader is drawn in deeper, Younes pulls away, retracting back into her unaffected prose. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60472 2008-07-14T06:59:00Z 2008-07-14T06:59:00Z Kirthana Ramisetti The small-scale tragedy is weirdly enjoyable due to the protagonists, who are darkly amusing as they grind through life and ponder their bleak future. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.60867 2008-07-14T02:41:30Z 2008-07-14T02:41:30Z Lara Killian Breaking Dawn. Her Twilight series is Harry Potter huge -- even if the latest cover of Entertainment magazine was... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.60745 2008-07-11T12:16:15Z 2008-07-11T12:16:15Z Nikki Tranter Denver Post: The 34-year-old Denver man also was sentenced to 10 years in state prison Tuesday for checking out roughly 1,400 books and DVDs and reselling most of them... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60733 2008-07-11T07:00:00Z 2008-07-11T07:00:00Z Olly Zanetti With heartfelt honesty and in beautifully executed prose, each piece considers a theme or experience linked to the early period of the AIDS crisis. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60065 2008-07-11T06:59:01Z 2008-07-11T06:59:01Z Michael Antman Just like its title, Ethan Canin’s ambitious new political novel is twice as long as it needs to be. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.60756 2008-07-10T12:02:47Z 2008-07-10T12:02:47Z David Pullar All Men Are Liars over at the Sydney Morning Herald website. It’s popular and very interactive. He posts most days with something provocative, usually... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60063 2008-07-10T07:00:00Z 2008-07-10T07:00:00Z Matthew Fiander A personal history and a love letter, urging us to embrace country music as American music. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60475 2008-07-10T06:59:00Z 2008-07-10T06:59:00Z Diane Leach We see humanity at its highest—making art—coexisting with our most barbaric impulses. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/news/23.60707 2008-07-09T12:24:01Z 2008-07-09T12:24:01Z John Mark Eberhart tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/feature/21.58694 2008-07-09T07:00:00Z 2008-07-09T07:00:00Z Justin Dimos Thirty-seven years and still going: Justin Dimos dissects Bloomington's historical secondhand bookstore. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.59977 2008-07-09T07:00:00Z 2008-07-09T07:00:00Z Diane Leach Bauman crams so much into the story of the Victorian Bostonian, repressed wife, orchid hunter, and suffragette that the book goes from mildly unrealistic yarn to really annoying to toppling into hopeless silliness. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/feature/21.58693 2008-07-09T06:59:01Z 2008-07-09T06:59:01Z Deanne Sole Deanne Sole journeys Melbourne's charity outlets, exploring the fundamentals of the down under St. Vincent de Paul outlet: Bargains, surprises, drunks. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60221 2008-07-09T06:59:01Z 2008-07-09T06:59:01Z David Pullar Really, someone should start a union for mysterious women in thrillers and demand better conditions. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/feature/21.60711 2008-07-09T06:59:00Z 2008-07-09T06:59:00Z Chris Barsanti It's often said of uncommonly talented writers that they defied description; in Disch's case, that actually managed to be true. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.60401 2008-07-08T13:22:39Z 2008-07-08T13:22:39Z Chris Barsanti tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.59969 2008-07-08T07:00:00Z 2008-07-08T07:00:00Z Benjamin Pollak Gessen's writing most resembles F. Scott Fitzgerald’s in the struggle to represent youth and beauty without succumbing fully and uncritically to their seduction. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60482 2008-07-08T07:00:00Z 2008-07-08T07:00:00Z William Gatevackes This has bite, but doesn’t draw blood -- there's too much intelligence and logic to be totally mean. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60155 2008-07-08T06:59:00Z 2008-07-08T06:59:00Z David Pullar Anyone who has been bullied or excluded or felt that their family is weird will identify with many of these stories. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.60460 2008-07-07T11:48:34Z 2008-07-07T11:48:34Z Lara Killian tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.60153 2008-07-07T07:00:00Z 2008-07-07T07:00:00Z David Pullar While writing about the serious science of sex, Roach appears to have never met a double entendre she didn’t like. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.59973 2008-07-07T06:59:01Z 2008-07-07T06:59:01Z Lara Killian This guide will help you pinch your pennies along the journey so you can splash out when it counts. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.60538 2008-07-04T10:46:31Z 2008-07-04T10:46:31Z John G. Nettles The Simpsons, an establishing shot of the Springfield Public Library reveals a desperate sign reading, “We have books about TV.” If... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/feature/21.59613 2008-07-03T07:00:00Z 2008-07-03T07:00:00Z Nav Purewal No one book will make all the difference, but familiarity with this particular volume would help ensure that the 44th President of the US is better equipped to deal with America’s changing role than the 43rd. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.59893 2008-07-03T07:00:00Z 2008-07-03T07:00:00Z Rachel Smucker There is much to be learned about this little pill, and it is a comfort knowing that everyone -- raver or non-raver, pill-popper or anti-drug -- is able to, in their own way, "keep it real". ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/review/5.59975 2008-07-03T06:59:00Z 2008-07-03T06:59:00Z R.J. Grubb Bass executes such a revealing expose on the shadowy world of medical research and the pharmaceutical industry that it proves important stories, like timeless truths, need repeating. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2008:pm/blogs/reprint/33.60503 2008-07-03T00:54:38Z 2008-07-03T00:54:38Z Nikki Tranter MTV about the "bent and twisted" script that may one day become the Arrested Devlopment movie, his Arrested co-star Henry... ]]>