2009

Eartha Kitt 1927-2008: Catwoman Schooled the Lady Bird

CD cover: Comet Records 2005.
In 1968, entertainer Eartha Kitt spoke truth to power during a misbegotten war, and paid the price.

Ron Asheton 1948-2009: Why Stooges Guitar Ruled

Graphics: Sony Music, Bad Subjects.
The Stooges' guitarist has fallen, so the resurrected Punk band is no more.

Waltz With Bashir

A review of the superb and distressing animated documentary, which, even though it is meticulously grounded in the excavation of a specific historical moment, is also universally relevant to the topics of war and trauma.

The Revolution of Everyday Life: Sam Mendes' Dead End Revolutionary Road

Jason Harsin
Kate Winslett and Leonardo DiCaprio: the great reunion. In Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road, a dramatic critique of alienation and cooptation of creative, free activity in liberal democratic consumer societies.

Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road

 

Michael Jackson and the 2oth Century Black Experience

Michael Jackson was a complex figure who meant many things to many people, one story of the Black experience in the United States in the 20th century.

J. G. Ballard 1930—2009

Mike Mosher, "mousehouse" graphic by the author
Ballard held a cold and shiny polished mirror to a high modernist, science-dominated world.

Thief Sicario's "Amerika"

The video and song, "Amerika," by Thief Sicario provides a useful starting point for rethinking U.S. history and contemporary identity.