Adapted from the 2005 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close evokes the recent literary wave of self–conscious precocity probably begun with Dave Eggers’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Such titles, stacking up adjectives and adverbs like stones in fortress walls, have a common angle on grappling with grief: the will to outthink it. […]
Adapted from the 2005 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close evokes the recent literary wave of self–conscious precocity probably begun with Dave Eggers’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Such titles, stacking up adjectives and adverbs like stones in fortress walls, have a common angle on grappling with grief: the will to outthink it. […]
Ten minutes north of the Downtown Mall the land changes all at once as the suburbs fade into pastureland. Longhorn cattle chewed the grass stubbornly, looking like they had just stepped out of Lonesome Dove, as I drove to my interview with Michael Coleman, a 23– year-old singer/songwriter whose musical influences bridge the city/country divide […]
I ran into MORGAN, an art student at Virginia Commonwealth University, on the Downtown Mall wearing an oversized coat by Sessun paired with a dress she’d borrowed from a friend. Her outfit was grounded by Frye boots and accessorized with Academy jewelry by Rachel Albright, Karen Walker sunglasses, and a vintage Coach bag. I loved […]
There are fairy tale endings like you see in the movies, where the girl gets the guy and trots off into the sunset with a smile on her face. Then, there’re the endings on “The Bachelor,” the ABC television show now in its 16th season, where the girl ends up getting embarrassed in front of […]
In 2011, the Carolina Chocolate Drops—a traditional string band out of North Carolina – won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album for their first full-length effort, titled Genuine Negro Jig. The group will play a live set on WTJU-FM at 1pm on Tuesday, January 31 in advance of their full-length show at the Jefferson […]
"I knew I could stay up,” said Denise Stewart, a playwright who’ll be featured in 24/7: The World’s Fastest Theater Festival. “I have insomnia, so I just didn’t take my Ambien.” Blink and you’ll miss it! Live Arts presents 24/7 Saturday, January 28 at 7:30pm and 10pm. (Photo by Martyn Kyle) Stewart has participated in […]
His name is George Smiley, and he works for the Circus. It’s less fun than it sounds. The time is the early 1970s, the place is London, and the Circus is what Smiley (Gary Oldman) and his colleagues (including David Dencik, Colin Firth, Ciarán Hinds and Toby Jones) call the British Secret Intelligence Service, within […]
“American Idol” Wednesday-Thursday 8pm, Fox Last year’s 10th season taught us several lessons. The most important is that, yes, the show can exist just fine without Simon Cowell, as the infusion of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez made the competition feel fresh for the first time in years. Shaking things up genre-wise is also […]
It took John Harrell a few moments of head-scratching to recall the parts he played at the Blackfriars Playhouse last fall, possibly because he’s taken on over 100 roles in 75 productions during his decade or so with the American Shakespeare Center’s resident troupe. “It’s pathetic,” he said with a wry grin. “When you cycle […]
As director Alexander Payne’s movies have migrated westward geographically—from the Nebraska of Citizen Ruth, Election, and About Schmidt to California’s Central Coast for Sideways, to Hawaii for The Descendants—his edge has considerably softened.