KEEPING OSCAR WILD
A high-rent house of words, The Importance of Being Earnest is built upon a complex pun. Though Juliet Capulet found nothing in a name, characters otherwise known as John Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff believe that happiness lies in being Ernest. And to playwright Oscar Wilde, the scourge of Victorian bilge, being earnest is being tedious.…
ONE BAD MOTHER
Pop culture is littered with films purported to be “so bad, they’re good.” Nothing puts those claims to the test like having a 20-something roommate with too much beer and too little dating activity: During a few years when I’d rather have been watching Fellini, I was subjected to Van Damme, Hercules In New York,…
New Reviews
About a Boy “Charming oasis in the blockbuster desert” Dir. Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz; writ. Nick Hornby (novel), Peter Hedges, Weitz & Weitz; feat. Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz (PG-13) A recent tribute to the late, great filmmaker Billy Wilder quoted him as saying, “good sentimentality is good, clean, honest … with…
Still Playing
A Beautiful Mind “Pity, fear, and cognitive reverie” Dir. Ron Howard; writ. Akiva Goldsman, based on biography by Sylvia Nasar; feat. Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Vivien Cardone, Adam Goldberg, Judd Hirsch, Christopher Plummer (PG-13) Blade II “Goes for the jugular” Dir. Guillermo del Toro; writ. David S. Goyer; feat. Wesley Snipes,…
Video & DVD
For your inner science geek: The Way Things Go (First Run Features) is a 30-minute meditation on cause and effect. Like a cinematic version of a Rube Goldberg cartoon, all the film does is follow a chain of weird physical events: a rolling tire knocks over a chair, which spills a chemical that bubbles up…
THE MUTE BUTTON
When Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton delivered the UTSA commencement address on May 11, we learned that her favorite hobby is hiking. After lacing up her L.L. Bean boots and donning her safari hat, where does Norton go to find solace in nature? Traipsing through gashes carved by mining companies in the West Virginia…
THE JAZZMAN CAN
Scheduling an interview with trumpeter/pianist/arranger/composer/jazz instructor Cecil Carter is challenging: not because he is reluctant to accommodate, but because he is so incredibly busy. A typical week sees him teaching privately at his studio on Monday and Wednesday, teaching jazz theory to classical piano students at St. Mary’s University on Tuesday and Thursday, and teaching…
HIP-HOP NOSTALGIA
Although many media outlets have only recently conceded that this rap thing is anything other than a passing fad, the hip-hop nation is now at least 25 years old; that’s a span equivalent to the interval between Elvis Presley’s first hits and the emergence of Depeche Mode. Hip-hop is old enough for long-time fans to…
BEEN THERE, LET’S DO IT AGAIN
Three years ago I was involved in something of a sordid love affair. Surreptitiously slipping out of the house four to six nights a week for turntable trysts, I would engage in orgiastic frenzies of fresh beats and frenetic body movement. I never tried to distill the music from the motion, couldn’t distinguish the DJ…
CD REVIEW
Philly Super Soul Hits Various Artists (CD, Epic/Legacy Recordings) The introduction to Jamel Shabazz’ Back in the Days suggests an alternate, pre-hip-hop soundtrack to the book’s images. In particular, it names two Philadelphia producers whose work is legendary, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. Coincidentally, this week sees the reissue of a series of the duo’s…
VINYL REVIEWS
Sifter “Pucker Up” & “Forfeit Blue” (12-inch, Honchos Music) Austin-based DJ Sifter (Scot Markland), tries his hand at serving up 12-inch singles, fuses house and progressive on his first release, “Pucker Up.” The track is a dance floor stormer, with tribal elements, a pulsing groove, and energizing vocal samples. Championed by the likes of Mazi…
