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May 2, 2008
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Feature Articles Archive
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DEJA VU...
Ten years ago, in 1998, Malaysians took to the streets and braved water cannons when they stood up for Anwar Ibrahim and reformasi. With what's happening in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysians might have to take to the streets again in 2008. Click here to read or buy Sabri Zain's first-person account of those early reformasi days in Face Off.
THE SHOP
Visit The Shop to order
Noel Vera's
Critic After Dark
BigO CDs,
BigO books and
BigO back issues
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The
Keruak Clan:
Portrait Of A Bajau Patriot
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here to order
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While the late Heath Ledger's Joker might be hogging the headlines, it is Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent/Two Face who is more intriguing in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. As Critic After Dark Noel Vera says, it is Eckhart who "promptly steals the
movie from under Ledger's nose."
Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight
(2008) is arguably the biggest event of the summer, and not just because of the
running time - it's got an endless variety of explosions, an elaborate interlude
in Hong Kong, and enough underground, aboveground, interior, exterior,
over-water and mid-air stunts, vehicle collisions and fight sequences to
satisfy the most jaded of viewers (the only thing missing is a Batsub, with our
hero donning a Batlung for underwater action).
Click here for the full article.
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Batman has hit the screens for the summer. But word on the
streets is there may be a bit of lightness in the Batman loafers this time. Not
that there is anything wrong with that of course, why can’t there be a gay
superhero. Probability would say that at least one of them would be. And don’t
even get me started on who’s a lesbian. Let’s take a
’s sexuality. This article was created by the team at TheToyzone.com for the benefit of their readers.
Way back in the '30s the main pasttime for the nation’s
teens was the comic book. Literally hundreds of thousands of highly impressible
teenagers would run down to the newsagents and tuck into their weekly
installment of action and adventure. As their imaginative muscles were being flexed were they
being sold an altogether more sinister sub-context in the disguise of their
favorite comic book hero?
Click here for the full article.
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When Sonic Youth played at Battery Park in New York on July 4, it was more than just a free concert. As music fan Karen Barry Schwarz says, in many ways, it's a wake up call to independence - with the US presidential election drawing close - where the message is "Who are you!" and "Don't be afraid."
So the Sonic Youth concert in
Battery Park on the 4th of July was life altering. In what sense, you
might ask. Well, in the sense that I have been reminded, once again,
about many, many things I believe in and hold dear, at my core, but sometimes
forget. And it's always people like Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon who
help me to remember.
Click here for the full article.
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Sunshiney Power Pop
Can this be the next Marshall Crenshaw or Matthew Sweet? One reviewer on the internet says of Andy Goldberg's songs, "Even on his slower tracks, Goldberg can’t help but be bubbly." It is his infectious power pop that attracted music fan Ernie Clark, and which prompted him to contact the Melville, New York musician for an interview.
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here
Off She Goes... To First Ever Pearl Jam Concert... Or Four
When Neil
Young played at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in 2005, the performance inspired Karen Barry Schwarz to review the show (A Prairie Wind Blows Through Nashville). And now, when she watches Pearl Jam live for the first time...
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here
Hip-Hop: Hidden In Plain Sight
Too
many in the hip-hop audience accept the big lie promoted by opportunist
preachers and politicians that hip-hop is only about madness and
misogyny. The truth is very different. There are many, many hip-hop
songs reaching millions of people which carry a message of unity,
songs whose protests and promise promote a vision of a world without
war, poverty, and racism. The truth here should set us free, free
of false divisions between mainstream and underground, between
bling bling and backpack. Let us know what we've missed. Circulated by Rock &
Rap Confidential.
Click
here
Click here for more articles
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'To Die Is Hell, But To Live, Is Also Hell'
Teruo Ishii's Bohachi Bushido
pushes a notch higher in the sex-and-chambara sweepstakes. Instead of confining
their nudity to the bedroom, Bohachi's nude women bodyguards douse fires and
take on a ninja master in the open. Add an enigmatic assassin, and it all adds
up to a bloody bloodbath. Stephen Tan reviews.
Click here
Indiana Jones And The Series Of Doom
The Indiana Jones series is a fine example of popcorn entertainment but as Critic After Dark Noel Vera points out, it's just that there's better, if the viewer is willing to go out a little further and look for it - like Gunga Din, for instance.
Click here
Crossing The Desert
Most films in the Arab world attempt to meet popular demands. However, some go beyond in an attempt to articulate a critical look and context, and create a worthy cinematic accomplishment. Arab film festival programmer Intishsal al Timimi highlights some of these critical movies.
Click here
Click here for more articles
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NEW ROIOs*
Neil Young & The Chrome Dreams Band -
Dublin 2008 [Dutch Masters]
Neil Young & The Chrome Dreams Band -
Dublin 2008 [Reel Records]
Neil Young - Chrome Dreams: The
Unreleased Album
Wendy & Lisa -
Friendly Fire
The Who - The 1969 Soundboard Tapes Vol. 3
Amy Winehouse - Glastonbury 2008
Soft Machine - Donaueschingen 1971: MP2
Version
Pink Floyd - The Syd Barrett Tapes
The Rolling Stones - Unsurpassed Masters
Vol 7: Odds & Ends 1963-1970
Mick Jagger & The Red Devils - Blues
Sessions
Linda Ronstadt - Get Closer:
Reconstructed
Todd Rundgren - Counterpart Studios
Bruce Springsteen - Jukebox Graduate:
COMPLETE
Rod Stewart - In The Spotlight 1993:
Radio Show Version
Jimi Hendrix - Los Angeles Forum 1970: 4th
Source
The Doors - The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970
Bob Dylan - Friends And Other Strangers
Andrew Gold - Sings The Songs of The
Beatles & The Beach Boys For You
Pink Floyd - Six Of One: REV A
Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood - Blind Faith
Eric Clapton - Nuthin' But The Blues
Sonny Rollins and Dexter Gordon - Berlin 1965
Wayne Shorter Quartet - Basel 2008
Valerie Carter - Daytona 1977
Frank Sinatra - Sings For Only The Lonely
Phil Spector - Rare Tracks Vol 1
Suzanne Vega - Early Vega: Northampton 1984
Martha Velez & Bob Marley - The Martha Velez Rehearsal 1975
The Who - Tommy: U.S. Vinyl Version
Stevie Wonder - In Atlanta
*Recordings of indeterminate origin
Click
here for complete list
DVD Archive of Rare Films
Joe Walsh & Friends with Jimmy Cliff
- "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert #63"
Elvis Presley - Hollywood Elvis Vol 5
Radiohead - Glastonbury 2003
R.E.M. - Would You Believe They Put A
Band On The Stage?
U2 - Rockpalast 1983
Neil Young w/ The Chrome Dreams Band -
Rock In Rio 2008
Bobby Darin - Biography Channel: I Want
To Be A Legend
Eric Clapton - "In the
Spotlight" (Nothing But the Blues): Upgrade
Neil Diamond - Glastonbury 2008
Paul McCartney - Independence Concert: Ukraine
Metallica - Rock Am Ring 2008
Elvis Presley - Born To Rock Vol 1
Elvis Presley - Born To Rock Vol 2
Elvis Presley - Born To Rock Vol 3
Elvis Presley - Hollywood Elvis Vol 4
Chicago - Private Sessions
Eric Clapton-Steve Winwood - Blind Faith, Madison Square Garden DVD 1
Amy Winehouse -
Live in Spain 2007
Stevie Wonder - Birthday Celebration 1989
Amy Winehouse -
Rock In Rio Festival 2008
The Faces - Again: Sounds For Saturday
Rod Stewart & The Faces - The Final
Concert with Keith Richards
Emmylou Harris and The Nash Ramblers -
The Last Ramble
Lambchop - How To Live A Normal Life
Elvis Presley - Hollywood Elvis Vol 1
Click here
ROIO
Of The Week
Yo La Tengo - Black Session [no label, 1CD] Live at Studio 106, France Inter, Paris, December 6, 1993. Moving away from folk, Yo La Tengo expand their musical muscles to include drone-pop and some sonic mayhem.
Click
here to find out more and to download free MP3s.
Audio
Archive
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China's All-Seeing Eye
With
the help of U.S. defense contractors, China is building the prototype for a
high-tech police state. It is ready for export. As activist and author Naomi Klein says, "This is how this Golden Shield
will work: Chinese citizens will be watched around the clock through networked
CCTV cameras and remote monitoring of computers. They will be listened to on
their phone calls, monitored by digital voice-recognition technologies. Their
Internet access will be aggressively limited through the country's notorious
system of online controls known as the Great Firewall."
Click
here
Will Israel And/Or U.S. Attack Iran?
President Bush is about to
end his career in disgrace. The same fate is waiting impatiently for Ehud
Olmert. For politicians of this kind, it is easy to be tempted by a last adventure,
a last chance for a decent place in history after all. By Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery.
Click
here
Colombian Doublecross
The Colombian government seemed to have elbowed their way in and took control of the release of Ingrid Betancourt and the other hostages. As China Hand says, "a few minutes with Google leaves the Betancourt rescue story in tatters."
Click here
Click here for more articles
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MUSIC
REVIEWS
HOSHIZORA NO DRIVE
Syd Barrett Tribute Compilation Album [Heart Lord Studio]
Aren't the Japanese the ultimate fans? The late leader of early Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett may have been weird, quirky and whimsical but he could never possibly imagine how much the Japanese loved himÉfor his craziness, of course. Barrett wrote the quintessential riff-jamming track, Interstellar Overdrive. When you hear the fuzz-drenched version here, you are not prepared for a second version, the 25-minute live jam on CD 2 (yep, this is a double album). By
Philip Cheah
Click
here
DAVID BOWIE
White Album
A 25-song round-up of Bowie odds and
ends, primarily dating from the mid-late 1960s and all of them familiar from
sundry other sources. But anybody
who hasn't spent the past decade or so rampaging through the racks in search of
the alternate "When I Live My Dream (organ version"), or gathering up
the Shel Talmy demos that Rhino released way back when, will certainly find a
lot to be thankful for... By
Dave Thompson.
Click
here
Click
here for archival music reviews
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MOVIE
REVIEWS
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Dir: Mamoru Hosada
Time travel movies might be a cliche but as Critic After Dark Noel Vera says, Mamoru Hosada's shojo The Girl Who Leapt Through Time simply charms with its realm of tragic inevitability.
Click
here
The Incredible Hulk
Dir: Louis Leterrier
Louis Leterrier's Incredible Hulk might be loud, full of special effects and immediately gets it on
with the bang-bang. But Critic After Dark Noel Vera feels Ang Lee's version was a dynamic, exciting-looking film
to watch, literally a comic book come to life. As Vera says, it's possibly the
best work Ang Lee has ever done.
Click
here
Click here for more movie
reviews
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Copyright
(c) 2008 BigO/Options Publications Pte Ltd. All Rights Reserved. |
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Information Clearing House
Counterpunch
London Progressive Journal
Alternet
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Bootleg
Artwork Archive
Today's Art
(featuring
hundreds of titles)
Pink Floyd
What Syd Wants
The Beatles
North American Tour Diary Aug 1966
Emmylou Harris
The Last Ramble DVD
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Nick Lowe
