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If robots could party, this would be on the DJ's turntable. If The Tornadoes surfed with They Might Be Giants, this would be playing in the background. If Beck scored '70s industrial training films...well, you get the idea. With their trusty Korg synths and fuzzed-out guitars, Chicagoans Carl Saff and Bill Cameron make music that's electro-funky and ultimately irresistible.
John Updike, who introduces this volume of three stunning novels, is just one of the many well-known writers willing to use all manner of superlative to describe English author Henry Green and his literary influence. Green's main subject matter is the difference between classes -- his stories are set in castles, train stations, factories -- yet that does his work little justice. His true theme is language and the way, in the right hands, it can illuminate so perfectly the lives of humans. The dialogue is flawless. Every time Green's characters open their mouths they reveal themselves, utterly.
Imagine you're in a meeting at a client's site. It's running late and you're worried about missing your flight home. You flip open your Sprint PCS phone, connect to GetThere.com via the wireless web browser, punch in your flight number, and find out that your flight's been cancelled. Instantly, you're the hero -- your time pressures don't impact the client's project -- all thanks to the fine folks at GetThere.com and Sprint PCS.
Kate Winslet never looked more beautiful nor Harvey Keitel more debased than against the vast sun-scorched landscape of the Australian desert. This is no blissful Walkabout, or spookily erotic Picnic at Hanging Rock--it's a polemic in the Outback. Radiating sensuality and righteous independence, Winslet thwarts cult-deprogrammer Keitel's attempts to repossess her, body and soul. Sisters Jane and Anna Campion match an edgy, funny screenplay with exquisite cinematography, ultimately making Holy Smoke worth getting in your eyes.
Much like Big Star and the Velvet Underground, Wire didn't sell many records while they were around, yet their influence on music is astonishing. In the liner notes to a 1996 tribute album, Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo wrote "Wire struck me at the time of Pink Flag as one of the few art-punk bands to come out of the UK who seemed to be coming from the same place as NY bands such as Television and Talking Heads, which is to say, conceptually bent. Their early LPs, especially the first, were mysterious landmarks full of hidden codes and seismographic overtures which we are still unravelling today."
There have been plenty of books and movies discussing chess as a life-destroying obsession, but this first novel by an Italian salesman transcends them all. A disturbing look at values and the difficult choices we all face, whether real or self-assumed.
Team sports fan pages usually stick to a standard formula: outdated roster, guestbook containing a single test message, and a few images stolen from other fan pages. Apparently, Kev & Scott didn't get the memo. Through a potent combination of free time, reader contributions, and Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill wine, they've managed to create the single greatest Houston Astros resource on the Web. That said, it remains debatable whether we need a site so detailed that it includes a full page on a long defunct scoreboard routine. However, if you actually do want to debate that, or any other Astros question, just bring your take to the TalkZone and be ready to back it up.
Director Mackendrick combines William Rose's understated script with an ensemble that includes a sinister Alec Guinness and a baby-faced Peter Sellers. The result is a delightfully dark comedy of errors with a gang of bank robbers posing as a string quintet and their doting landlady unwittingly helping them move their loot. In the midst of well-known talent, Katie Johnson steals more than a few scenes as Mrs. Wilberforce, the little old lady who proves to be more than a match for the criminals.
In 1994, the nation of Rwanda collapsed into civil war -- a war that etched itself into the history books as one of the most efficient mass killings since the atomic bomb fell on Japan. In We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda, Philip Gourevitch chronicles the people who lived through the genocide, and, in the process, he crafts a book that honestly addresses the enormity of human cruelty and despair. Don't be afraid of these stories; they're too important for that.
Here, hip-hop pioneer Kool Keith dons his alter ego, teams with Dan "Automator" Nakamura (most recently of Handsome Boy Modeling School fame), and offers up some of the wildest rhymes heard before or since. Instead of rapping about girls, guns, and gangsta life, the good doctor throws down raps about space travel, surgery, and mental illness. If you're tough enough to appreciate the hard-edged lyrics, the doctor is definitely in.
