NME: Anderson has directed this year’s Christmas advert from clothing retailers H&M. The short film, titled Come Together, stars Adrien Brody (who previously teamed up with Anderson for The Darjeeling Limited, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Fantastic Mr. Fox) and sees the actor playing a train driver delayed by snow and preparing a festive surprise for his travellers. “This story may resonate more than ever at a time in the world where we could all do with giving a stranger a hug,” Brody says of the clip. MORE
ALBUM REVIEW: NINETEEN THIRTEEN’S Music For Time Travel & The Dream EP
Photo by DOUG SEYMOUR Closer to dream merchants than a band, NINETEEN THIRTEEN is comprised of ex-Violent Femmes drummer Victor DeLorenzo and classically trained cellist Janet Schiff, aided by a revolving cast of esteemed studio session players. Named after the year Schiff’s beloved cello was milled in Transylvania more than a century ago, NINETEEN THIRTEEN traffics in a kind of jazzy, retro-futuristic ambient noir of their own devising, mapping out a twilit sonic space where Brian Eno’s Music For Airports lays down with Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue. Think neon signs blinking ominously behind a semi-opaque curtain of manhole steam. […]
CINEMA: Sadchester
THE NEW YORKER: Not that Kenneth Lonergan, who wrote and directed the movie, is deliberately making things hard for us to grasp. Rather, he proceeds on the assumption that things are hard, some irreparably so, and that it’s the job of a film not to smooth them over. That is why “Manchester by the Sea” becomes a litany of human error, with the tragic parts nicked and grazed by semi-comedy. We get minor misunderstandings, as when Joe’s best friend, the robust and reliable George (C. J. Wilson), has to shout to his wife across a crowded wake. We get […]
The Only Fidel Castro Obit You Will Ever Need
Artwork by THE IRON LION MIAMI HERALD: On Dec. 2, 1956, Castro, Guevara and 80 followers reached the shore of Cuba’s Oriente province in a battered American cabin cruiser, the Granma, wretchedly seasick after a seven-day voyage. The men leaped into hip-deep mud and struggled through a mangrove swamp to reach land. Most were killed or captured in the first hours. Only 16 made it safely to the 4,500-foot ridges of the Sierra Maestra. There they began a guerrilla campaign to oust Batista, who was backed by a 40,000-strong security force equipped with tanks, artillery and U.S.-supplied warplanes. Castro’s force, […]
THE GODFATHER OF GRUNGE: Q&A With Butch Vig, Garbage Drummer/Producer Extraordinaire
Photo by AUTUMN DEWILDE EDITOR’S NOTE: A considerably shorter version of this interview appeared in the November 10th edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Enjoy. BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER The Smart Studios Story documents the rise and fall of the legendary recording studio founded by acclaimed producer Butch Vig and his partner Steve Marker, where they recorded Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, Death Cab For Cutie and, most importantly, Nirvana’s Nevermind. The film tracks the evolution of Smart Studios from its humble DIY beginnings as a glorified punk rock treehouse with free beer to the center of the alt-rock universe in […]
WORTH REPEATING: Why The Electoral College Should Deny Donald Trump The Presidency
THE ATLANTIC: Were the electors to meet on December 19 and decide that Donald Trump is unfit to be president, all hell would break loose. Trump’s supporters, and even some who opposed him, would say the election had been stolen. Their worst fears about America’s “rigged” system of government would be confirmed. The president who the electors chose—even if it were Hillary Clinton, who beat Trump by over a million votes—would lack legitimacy in the eyes of much of the public. It’s unclear whether such a president could effectively govern. Violence might break out. Moreover, once the precedent was […]
MUST SEE TEE VEE: Whiskers R We
NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Check out all the kittens available for adoption during the Whiskers R We Thanksgiving Catacopia Adoption Drive, but watch out for Carl — he will claw your sofa and he voted for Jill Stein. Butternut will gaslight you, Pearl is a ghost with unfinished business, and Cassandra will fart and you’ll get the blame. So, typical cat stuff. MORE
MEDIA: The Fake News Industrial Complex And The Confederacy Of Dunces That Is Making It Rich
WASHINGTON POST: At a time of continuing discussion over the role that hyperpartisan websites, fake news and social media play in the divided America of 2016, LibertyWritersNews illustrates how websites can use Facebook to tap into a surging ideology, quickly go from nothing to influencing millions of people and make big profits in the process. Six months ago, Wade and his business partner, Ben Goldman, were unemployed restaurant workers. Now they’re at the helm of a website that gained 300,000 Facebook followers in October alone and say they are making so much money that they feel uncomfortable talking about […]
Q&A: With Sharon Jones, The New Queen Of Soul
EDITOR’S NOTE: To mark the sad and tragically premature passing of Sharon Jones we present this reprise edition of our 2011 Q&A with her. Good night, Miss Jones wherever you are. BY JONATHAN VALANIA The first time Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings came to town, back in January of ’08, there was a prevailing giddiness in the air at the TLA, a palpable sense that we were lucky enough to attend a very auspicious occasion, above and beyond the usual concert experience. A sense that we were all active participants in poetic justice, and by ponying up for a […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: #NotMyPresident
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY I just heard President Obama say that, “the people have spoken and Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States.” I don’t know about you, but I happen to believe that those 16 words constitute what may be the most bizarre — if not downright deceitful — example of absurd contradiction in the history of American politics. I mean, just who the hell does he think he’s kidding?! Unlike yourself apparently, Mr. President, I believe in the democratic concept of all persons’ votes counting equally. I don’t believe that a vote cast […]
CINEMA: There’s No Place Like Home
BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK (2016, directed by Ang Lee, 110 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Ang Lee’s latest exemplifies the sort of intimate drama on a grand scale in which the director specializes. With Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, based on the best-selling novel by Ben Fountain, Lee again dazzles us with visceral, ambitious visuals, but the story at its heart seems just as simplistic as the empty patriotism against which the film rails. It is brilliantly constructed, a time capsule set in the early years of our 21st century war on Iraq, with the scene at […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: The Vast Right Wing Conspirator
BLOOMBERG POLITICS: It’s nearing midnight as Steve Bannon pushes past the bluegrass band in his living room and through a crowd of Republican congressmen, political operatives, and a few stray Duck Dynasty cast members. He’s trying to make his way back to the SiriusXM Patriot radio show, broadcasting live from a cramped corner of the 14-room townhouse he occupies a stone’s throw from the Supreme Court. It’s late February, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference is in full swing, and Bannon, as usual, is the whirlwind at the center of the action. Bannon is the executive chairman of Breitbart […]
Rep. John Lewis Wins National Book Award, Delivers Emotional Speech That Will Break Your Heart
ESQUIRE: Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) is a Civil Rights icon and a Mt. Rushmore-worthy American hero. Time and again at the dawn of the 1960s, Lewis marched fearlessly into the maws of the Jim Crow South, through angry racist mobs and truncheon-wielding state troopers, armed with nothing more than the courage of the righteous and the unconditional love in his heart, and shed his own blood to shame this country into living up to its founding promise that “all men were created equal.” This remains a work in progress. At 76, he is the last man alive who spoke at […]