Culture
Culture
E3 2010: Microsoft's attempt to Kinect with the masses
Microsoft is one of the youngest competitors in the video game console industry, yet it seems to be the smartest player. While other systems struggled to put together a strong online network, Microsoft made it look all too easy with Xbox Live. Powered by franchises like Halo and Fable, the company has released a steady […]
Culture
E3 2010: Hands on: “Golden Sun: Dark Dawn”
Let's be honest. For those of us (myself included) who remember and love the first "Golden Sun," it has been a long year to wait since it's unveiling at last year's E3. All we had was the E3 video from last year to whet our appetites for this powerhouse role-playing game (RPG) on the Game […]
Culture
Spirit of New Orleans found amongst the rubble in 'Treme'
Let's just get this out of the way first. HBO's newest show 'Treme" is pronounced, 'truh-may," not 'trem." Much of the conversation I had leading up to this well-advertised and highly praised television show focused solely around how the hell to articulate the title.After watching the pilot of 'Treme," it is immediately clear that this […]
Culture
Austen revisited in 'Dearest Cousin Jane'
With all the spin-offs of Jane Austen's classic novels, in particular the countless 'Pride and Prejudice" sequels, it's hard to weed out the fascinating Jane Austen tributes from the unoriginal adaptations. The new book 'Dear Sister Jane" by Jill Pitkeathley thankfully happens to be the former. Pitkeathley somehow manages to deliver a brilliantly unique tale, […]
Culture
Peter Steele, Type O Negative frontman, 1962-2010
Celebrity deaths hardly ever have a real effect on me, but when it was announced on April 14 that Peter Steele, the singer, bassist and songwriter for Brooklyn Gothic metal band Type O Negative, suddenly died at the age of 48 from heart failure, I actually felt like I had lost an old friend. I'm […]
Culture
The new Doctor is in with "The Eleventh Hour"
Out of all the TV shows I watch, 'Doctor Who" is the one that has affected me the most. 'Doctor Who" has been a British science fiction staple since it first made its mark in 1963. After 26 seasons of success, in 1989 the 'Doctor" took a bow and left the television screen. In 2005, […]
Culture
Volume Two' a treasure
If you happen to be a music nerd, an avid nostalgic and a straight male, it's getting kind of impossible not to have a celebrity crush on Zooey Deschanel. Her retro charm and her role in '(500) Days of Summer" would be enough to ensure that she represents the ideal girl who adores sad British […]
Culture
Humor emerges from drama in new Todd plays
Motels always reek of sadness, of despair, of cheap soap in tiny paper packages and underpaid cleaning ladies. They're veritable tragedy stages.And so they make perfect scenery for Todd Theatre's new opening acts of playwright George Walker's 'Featuring Loretta" and 'Criminal Genius," opening today and Friday, respectively. In these shows, which will run on alternating […]
Culture
Two new releases spell out classic R&B
R'B doesn't seem to mean what it used to, and it's easy to see why. Today's chart-topping R'B songs have abandoned the genre's original roots in favor of pop elements like auto-tune and synthesizers. Remember, R'B stands for rhythm and blues, and whether it was the gritty southern soul of Memphis, Tenn. or the suave […]
Culture
The Force is with the Ramblers
Saturday night saw Strong Auditorium packed to the rafters with excited fans gathered to see our very own Midnight Ramblers bring the house down and they were not disappointed. Bursting onto the stage with the energy and power that are characteristic of the Ramblers, the men proceeded to give a jaw-dropping show from start to […]