Jul 10, 2009 Music Web Exclusive

To say expectations were low for Mos Def’s fourth album is being far too generous. But by the shameful standards Mos Def set for himself, any album with some semblance of effort was bound to be heralded as a return to form, and The Ecstatic puts forth that modicum of effort.  More

Jul 10, 2009 Music Web Exclusive

It was only a matter of time before The Onion's "Area Man"—that semi-anonymous schlub feted in the trade for often the most mundane achievements—would be awarded his own anthem. And he couldn't find a more able chronicler than bandleader Matt Wilson, whose stick-strikes give the icon a confident metropolitan strut. More

Jul 10, 2009 Comic Books Web Exclusive

Vertigo/DC's House of Mystery is the new ongoing series that reinvents the classic "Suggested For Matured Readers" franchise. This second volume, subtitled Love Stories For Dead People, collects issues #6-10. The romance-themed sequel to Room & Boredom has the same premise: a group of five strangers are trapped within a supernatural tavern where strange patrons pass the time regaling each other in outlandish yarns. The stories told across the bar stools this time pale in comparison to the five previous installments. The overarching plot, revolving around the secrets buried underneath a clandestine basement, fares much better. More

Jul 10, 2009 Cinema Web Exclusive

Based on the cult anime series of the same name, Blood: The Last Vampire is a full-length remake of a shorter animated film. More

Jul 09, 2009 Live Web Exclusive

Did you know that the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum & Exposition Park recently played host to a dance/rave event that was attended by 135,000 people over two days? What's shocking is that a show that big can go off with hardly anyone in the mainstream media picking up on it. The numbers for this two-day show nearly matched those for Coachella's three-day show this year, and there wasn't even a Paul McCartney on site. Dance and electronic music might not be as respected as other types of popular music, but as evidenced by this years Electric Daisy Carnival, electronic fans are devoted and legion. More

Jul 09, 2009 Cinema Web Exclusive

In Brüno, Sacha Baron Cohen transforms into a clumsy and alienated member of the chic European fashion community. Having once hosted the most popular style-focused television show in all German-speaking countries sans Germany, Brüno comes to America in search of a new audience after being blacklisted in Europe. More

Jul 08, 2009 Music Web Exclusive

Fresh off the spring release of its U.S. debut, Colonia, A Camp—Nina Persson (The Cardigans), Nathan Larson (Shudder to Think) and Niclas Frisk (Atomic Swing)—have released a three-song digitally-released EP of covers that provides welcome complement to the band's other recorded work. More

Jul 06, 2009 Music Web Exclusive

Gringo is the seventh—count 'em, seventh—album by Robert Pollard and longtime collaborators Tim and Todd Tobias. Previous Circus Devils albums were crazy, psychedelic, noisy, and, well strange, but Gringo is billed by the band's website as, "Circus Devils goes acoustic!" More

Jul 06, 2009 Comic Books Web Exclusive

Kevin Cannon's Far Arden is an unassuming series of masterstrokes—an adventurous yarn that came into fruition from a bet between friends. Steven Stwalley, founder of the International Cartoonist Conspiracy and fellow local cartoonist, challenged Cannon to create one 24-hour comic every month for an entire year. You heard right. That's a 24-page comic, created during the span of 24 hours.

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