PopMatters

In its insistence on the chaos of battles and the confusion of downtime, The Pacific offers another "harsh reality," that these decent men are exploited by their government....

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Sons of Tucson reaffirms family unity while also poking fun at the stereotype by celebrating Ron and the kids' ability to lie and scam....

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Dan Klores' documentary features not only self-aware guys like Reggie Miller, Spike Lee, and Pat Riley, but also that most insightful and cunning of NBA commentators, Jeff Van Gundy....

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The seven-piece New York collective takes a break from touring to have a short talk with PopMatters about file sharing, Washington D.C. and black magic....

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Steve Benen links to a NYT article about curriculum changes at Texas high school social studies classes. Here's the lede: After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on......

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These people are sad, but it is a sadness wholly self-imposed, accumulated over years of lacking a critical inner voice....

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Last time anyone checked, The Bible didn't state that the "geek" would inherit the Earth. Yet when it comes to comedy's current cyclical nature, the dork is the dreamboat while the loser is......

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By now, it's a given that we went to war in Iraq under the questionable directives of some equally suspect intelligence. Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11, there was no clear link between the......

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This week on The Sarah Silverman Program, two of the most subversive, non sequitur, absurdest comedians in entertainment joined forces to make some of the weirdest scenes ever recorded. Andy......

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Bonobo Black Sands (Ninja Tune) Releasing: 6 April British electronic master Bonobo unleashes his latest LP right after SXSW and it's his first full-length work since 2006's Days to Come.......

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Broken Bells continue their promotional blitz this week with a stop by Fallon's stage last night to play "The Ghost......

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It's wet and cold and miserable in New York City, with spring still struggling to gain a foothold. Somehow, it will be summer soon, even if it doesn't really feel like it yet. Summer in the city, the......

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Green Zone makes no pretense that it is offering anything other than hopeful, thrilling revisionism....

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Mass Effect 2 creates a well realized world that feels alive, even when we're not playing, by using only words....

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Pavement’s best-of compilation, Quarantine the Past, is the greatest album you shouldn’t buy. It’s a (mostly) well-chosen, nicely packaged collection of terrific songs from......

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Ally, Tyler, and Charles' trauma ends up looking less collective and moving than clumsy and affected....

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It's another movie based on the idea that a relationship between a hot girl and ugly guy can't work (um, Beauty and the Beast? Anyone?)....

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That this idea of "our" is further reduced to the fathers' creates a very narrow, irritating, and unfunny vision of clashing "cultures."...

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The way that the player serves as a role model through the choices made throughout the game will ultimately contribute to the identity of his daughter. This is a game, then, about parenting and how modelling choices effect generations to come....

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Valleys of Neptune is not the Holy Grail, and it doesn’t need to be. That already exists anyway, and it is celebrated in spectacular fashion with the deluxe CD/DVD reissues of the four proper alums that preceded and followed these ’69 sessions....

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Oscars hopefuls Up in the Air and An Education offer different but complementary views on popular culture. "American Century" throws this neat paradigm into question....

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This well-intentioned compilation gives short shrift to an important band's legacy....

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It's a shame that an artist that's had so much to say seems to be stuck for the moment....

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Why? drummer goes solo, lays his broken heart on the line, and bores us to tears....

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Ween fans flocked to a solo/acoustic performance by eclectic song-smith Aaron Freeman. Freeman, better known as Gene Ween, played for an enthusiastic sold-out crowd at Chicago’s newest venue Lincoln Hall....

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Save Me, San Francisco, the first Train album in nearly four years, stands a good chance of changing the band's legacy....

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Reading about drudgery isn't as laborious as you'd expect....

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Korea has quickly become a hot spot for some of the most engaging female film performances in the world. This reputation is only bolstered by Kim Hye-ja's sharp turn as the resourceful Mother....

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Ryan Bingham spends over 300 days a year away from home, and loves it. Then two women come into his life and between the two of them, he questions his empty-backpack existence....

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Balde's album may be too local a pleasure for the tastes of many world music fans. But for those who found Baaba Maal's latest a little too globetrottingly bewildering, this may be the ideal alternative....

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Wrecktrospective plainly asserts Fat Wreck as the Motown of Punk Rock....

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Any fan of psychedelic soul rock would benefit from picking up any of these recovered gems of South Africa’s rock ‘n’roll archives....

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In his short stories Ballard was less interested in plot and character than he was in situations and conceits -- a city without clocks; a world turning into crystal; men cut off forever from sleep....

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Sheen has portrayed real life British figures who achieved popularity and notoriety in the respective industries of politics, broadcasting and sports. This is his best performance yet....

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How do you tell the story of Tupac Shakur? One book tries connecting his life, and sometimes his music, to the social and historical climate of the times....

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Black and Beautiful, Soul and Madness is where the calm of the Coasters met the fury of the Black Panthers....

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Dragon Turtle do a great job of producing the ambient post-rock sounds Tortoise specializes in, but little songcraft is behind it....

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Because, in a historical context, it's destined not to be… That's the easy answer. Oscar may do a lot of good when it comes to the filmmaking community and its active membership, but picking......

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Here are a few things: 1. A report on neuromarketing from Open magazine. I expected something in the Vance Packard Hidden Persuaders tradition of outrage, but it's more a "wonder of science"......

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Did you miss him? No? Neither did we. Well, whether we want him to be or not, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will be a familiar sight on TV again soon — as a contestant on NBC's......

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Wednesday night was a death match for the guys in a field that has, to this point, been defined by mediocrity. It's safe to say that this week was a solid one for both girls and boys, and voters have......

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Once called "the Icelandic Beck", Sindri Már Sigfússon's other band, Seabear, is finally back with their second album, and Sigfússon talks to PopMatters about "boy" songs, encouraging peers, and political issues he'd rather not get into right now ......

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The National release their eagerly awaited new album High Violet on May 11, but they previewed the lead tune for the Fallon......

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Dr. Dog Shame, Shame (Anti-) Releasing: 6 April Philadelphia's Dr. Dog make their Anti- Records debut this April with a set of tunes focused on a couple of cheery topics like despair and doubt.......

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April Smith and company put on an impressive display of song and swing Wednesday at the Mercury Lounge, making it hard to believe that her recently released Songs from a Sinking Ship is only a debut....

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Children of Invention has specific charms, all having to do with the kids' perspectives....

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'One More Question' sees the passing of the torch between predecessor and successor characters, and writers of the character. But does this legacy statement come at too high a price?...

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But they're just toys. They fall to pieces, not into rotting corpses. It's all okay....

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The second episode of NBC’s Parenthood aired this past Tuesday night, and though its title was “Man Vs. Possum”, you wouldn’t know that unless you read it in the TV......

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Michael Moore is back and this time around, the subject of his latest documentary is almost impossible to disagree with...especially since we are living with its consequences every single day....

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The Too Much Coffee Man comic creator Shannon Wheeler discusses the plans for a TMCM opera, tells you how to get a job at the New Yorker, and reveals a "little Nixon list" of revenge....

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More postcards from a sunny exile. Far from the blue glow of melancholy, Rouse's music aims for glorious golden moments....

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The mysterious Swedish duo deliver a hastily prepared follow-up to their outstanding debut....

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Few artists can say they’ve contributed a musical and artistic history as fruitful as Ono’s. At the tender age of 77, the widow of John Lennon is still aggressively pursuing a path of imaginative exploration based on the same two concepts that have always guided her as they did her...

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Kimya Dawson and friends make a statement with the Bundles, whether you accept it or not....

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The Swiss folk metal greats return to their more aggressive side on their third album in three years....

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Murder, mayhem, and political Intrigue ... or, Roman politics as usual....

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As Jamal nears two significant milestones, 80 years of age and 50 studio LPs, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: the man is nothing less than a gift bestowed upon us by the jazz gods....

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The fractured story-telling, its defiance of convention, and absorbing photography bring to fresh relief Lewis Carroll’s otherworldly social criticism of the absurd life of bourgeois England....

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Sutton's life as a soldier, lawyer, politician and businessman left a vast legacy not only to Harlem, but to all of America....

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The third studio album from this UK indie folk ensemble preserves the band’s best qualities....

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See Still Bill, then start here....

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While following a storyline about the trials of a mother and daughter may not be demographically the most masculine thing in the world, neither is my unabashed enjoyment of ABC Family original movies....

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Coetzee has successfully executed the high-wire act of prejudging his life and work before his own death, in essence setting up an impossible roadblock for would-be biographers....

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