"Almost Silent," released last month from Fantagraphics Books in Seattle, is certainly silent with almost no dialogue, but Jason captures an impressive reality that is not hidden or hindered by unnecessary words undermining the importance of action. Jason, or John Arne Sæterøy, is a Norwegian cartoonist whose works have received praise across Europe and America. This collection contains four of Jason's currently out-of-print novels from the last decade. I am in no way an expert on comics, but it is my assumption that not everyone is, so I put this to those who do not already know but are itching to get started—Jason is a good place to begin.
If today is May 6 and it's still 2010, you're in luck. Los Campesinos! and No Age are performing in Reid Ballroom this evening and it's really in your best interest to see them.
For all of its worthwhile attempts at dealing with complex subject matter—artificial insemination, masculine inferiority complexes and female intellectual agency—it's safe to say that Alan Poul's “The Back-Up Plan" does much more harm than good.
The Radio Dept. certainly took their time with this one. Clinging to a Scheme, their third album released since the band's formation in 1995, was announced almost two years ago for a fall 2008 release and then delayed every six months until this week, when it finally surfaced. Fortunately, unlike other records plagued by protracted schedules, this one's not terrible nor rendered irrelevant by delays a la Chinese Democracy. In fact, it's quite excellent; it's without a doubt the band's most accessible and immediate album, and one that perfectly captures the sensations and moods of a rained-out beach party. More than ever before, the band has songs to keep up with its textures, and unlike most worlds defined by dense guitars and deliberately broken-sounding drum machines it's one worth revisiting.
Some really interesting things happen when literary critics or book reviewers (who aren't already authors) try their hands at writing novels. You can get incredibly complex, intelligent works of art like Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose," T.H. White's "The Once and Future King" or Scarlett Thomas's "The End of Mr. Y," or you can get Lev Grossman's "The Magicians."
Caribou's fifth album, Swim, is the headiest thing Dan Snaith has done in some time. In spite of Andorra's focus on lush melodies, '60s pop and arrangements made to accentuate those leanings, across nine...
Visceral in its depiction of a not-so-distant dystopia, “Things We Didn't See Coming" explores the limits of human relationships—the rare instances that drive us together and all the moments that drive us a part.
Technically, Paper Towns is a young adult novel. But since this novel falls under the category of "Books You Should Have Read In High School But Couldn't Because They Probably Weren't Yet Published," I feel it's fitting to include in a book review that will largely be read by college students.
As a whole, The Monitor is, simply put, about a hundred times better than it should've been or has any right to be. It outperforms and shines where about a thousand terrible American guitar bands with ambitions, nods to Springsteen, and a nasal singer fall completely and totally flat.
“Wintertime" is full of moments of touching clarity and mischievous surprises (a striptease, for instance, or a funeral that ends in fireworks). Don't miss it.
Calling this film a ‘stupid comedy' may give some the excuse to watch it after a long day of intense studying. I'd rather not open up that possibility. Let's, instead, call it out for what it is: a nostalgia killer.
