You ve managed to consume the last of the leftover turkey, sopped up the remnants of the gravy and cranberry sauce, and at long last have pushed yourself away from the table. Before you contemplate that holiday shopping, catch up on the best of what happened at BC in the past two weeks.
MUSIC
From Music Editor Connie Phillips:El Bicho takes readers along on an eventful evening, allowing us to experience every moment with him and fellow Blogcritics writers as they attend the .
Tom Johnson s review of sifts through the good and the bad as well as all the criticism to get down to the heart of it mdash; the music of this legendary band.
Richard Marcus enthusiasm for the blues and the promotion of such comes through loud and clear as he gives readers a look at Ruf Records and its founder in .
In , Eric Olsen delivers an entertaining read combining the news and his own personal thoughts on the Rolling Stones longevity.
Blogcritics leading authority on the blues, Joan Hunt, put all her knowledge to good use and delivered two insightful interviews. One was with and one with to round out our month-long look at the blues.
From Asst.
Music Editor A.L. Harper:
DJRadiohead reviews , a collection in part of the body of work by blues legend John Lee Hooker.
A funny man teaches us to appreciate silly songs in Big Geez s .
BOOKS
From Asst. Books Editor Gordon Hauptfleisch:It s Guy.
.. TV and Film Guy.
He knows I like my Bond shaken and stirred with a little Kierkegaard, Hegelian quests, and Platonic archetypes. Or at least he has me thinking so after reading his persuasive review of .
In his review of the historically faithful , Alessandro Nicolo imposes a self-discipline, as it could have easily careened out into multiple directions, one of which could have been yet another Da Vinci Codification of an elusive and magnificent mind.
Alessandro shows, however, that he s up to the task in deftly and diligently considering Leonardo in his proper context.
Bonnie s incisive review of sheds a light on a a neglected area of the country s history in the struggle of Canadian slaves mdash; and symbolically, one in particular. We can t give Ang e lique her name, say Bonnie, but we can name what happened to her and make her part of our collective memory.
Even if remembering her took 27 years. Hanging is a book with an edge, but Bonnie s review shares that same, and needed, quality.
is about the science of music, from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience.
Okay, it doesn t have a good beat and you can t dance to it, but Tim Gebhart blinded me with science in his enticing review, expressively convincing in his summation that the brain is also the vehicle by which music also affects our feelings and emotions.
TV/FILM
From TV Editor TV and Film Guy:
Short and sweet and DVD-licious, it s Anna Creech s review of on DVD.
Less short, less sweet, but not really much more scary is the .
It s Sci-Fi Channel in all its glory and happily enough Matt Paprocki is here to tell us all about it.
From Film Editor Lisa McKay:
Among the many reviews of latest Bond flick, , I particularly liked Daniel Woolstencroft s. He gives credit where credit is due and tells us why Daniel Craig may yet surpass the legend that is Sean Connery.
If you re not familiar with the wildly successful industry that is Bollywood, Chanakya is here with to get you started. Complete with some basic background and a cultural perspective, Chanakya goes on to suggest some films to watch and helpfully grades them according to your level of expertise. At least one of these is already in my Netflix queue.
Robert Altman died last week at the age of 81. , , and all do justice to his memory with some reflections on why his films have resonated with audiences over the years.
CULTURE
From Culture Editor Diana Hartman:From two very different vantage points, Donnie Marler the son brings us the lighter side of the birds and bees in and he enlightens us all with the perspective of a loving parent in the much more serious .
Richard Marcus ponders how and why pockets of society sometimes meet their need for attention through volume and violence in
Writing about a little known subject, Timothy Greathouse offers an interesting update (or introduction) of a town that s been on fire for quite a while now in .
From Asst. Music Editor A.
L. Harper:
Enjoying Thanksgiving the way only someone hilariously and deeply dysfunctional can is the way Elvira Black wants to do it at .
A man who understand my teen pregnancy is a man whose own daughter survived the same thing.
Donnie Marler tells you .
POLITICS
From Politics Editor Dave Nalle:In an article about , Jet in Columbus takes an interesting look at the latest attempt to revive the dollar coin and get our currency back on a sensible track.
by Adam Ash, in which the author exceeds all expectations with a nugget of common sense on the U.
S. s future role in Iraq.
SPORTS
From Sports Editor Matthew T. Sussman:
Only two picks in two weeks, but mind you this isn t a slight against every other article. We ve had a ton of coverage and I commend it all.
But one goes to Tony Profumo of Lawntennisnews, who wrote a very hearty retrospective on .
And the second goes to David Mazzotta and his . Plus I have a confession. I ve been using the I understand the Detroit City Council is putting together a bid for an NFL team line in conversation with Michiganders ever since.
GAMING
From Gaming Editor Ken Edwards:is Jason Njiska Westhaver s angry response to the attacks on Jeff Gerstmann at Gamespot.
is a useful Christmas guide to video game consoles from Vichus Smith.
SCI/TECH
From Technology Editor Daniel Woolstencroft:Spare a thought for .
That s all that Howard Dratch asks in his moving account of one brave little probe, stranded thousands of miles from home.
In , Ashleigh Charlesworth demystifies Windows Vista. He explains what the different versions do, how much they ll cost, and why you should be interested.
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