Cheat code
Transformers: War for Cybertron Activision PS3 (Review Copy) Xbox 360 It’s full disclosure time. I’m a Transformers fanboy, and — much to my girlfriend’s dismay — my interest and knowledge of the Autobot-Decepticon struggle dwarfs anything I may have learned in school. But I’m no fool, and I know the franchise hasn’t fared well in…
Newt’s well of hate
Jay Bookman, writing in the Atlanta Journal & Constitution, says that Newt Gingrich’s speech last week at the American Enterprise Institute was full of "hateful, vile garbage [that] makes Joe McCarthy look measured and responsible." Joe Klein, in Time, notes wryly: "Newt Gingrich is clearly running for President. How do I know? He gets dumb…
Sick of slicks
One of those tree-hugging environmental wacko liberals here at the Metro Times (the one writing this very column, actually) recently reported on a group of Michigan environmentalists protesting the proposed construction of a pipeline that would carry tar sands — also known as heavy crude — from Alberta, Canada, to an oil refinery in Texas.…
When your biggest fans are an ocean away
Glenn Barr When it comes to the idea of local creatives getting more respect abroad, local artist Glenn Barr is no stranger. The internationally respected artist, who coincidentally did the cover art for Zadoorian’s Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit, had experiences very similar to the author’s when he went to Italy a few years ago.…
The Final Countdown
Just when you thought global warning, jihadism and the impending zombie apocalypse had rendered atomic doomsday scenarios passé, along comes Lucy Walker’s cinematic editorial about how the possibility of nuclear attack: Terrorists want the weapons, the technology is easy to build or acquire, highly enriched uranium is poorly guarded, and security at our ports is…
Night and Day
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 4 Powerhouse Sound JAZZ-ROCK FOR PITCHFORKERS Reviewing their 2007 Pitchfork Festival show, Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot said Powerhouse Sound "blew away most of the other bands on the bill." Not bad for what’s usually considered a jazz-rock group — albeit a most adventuresome one — venturing into the headwaters of indie…
Dinner for Schmucks
Paul Rudd is the slow-burn master; as Tim, a mild-mannered office drone with executive aspirations, he’s tasked with holding the picture together when it starts spinning off the rails, which is fairly often. With his even-keel persona, Rudd plays Abbott to Steve Carell’s spastic Costello, where a calming influence is sorely needed. This is Carell…
Jam on
These days you can find a jam session around Detroit every night of the week. From Monday nights at the Jazz Loft in Greektown to Sunday night at the Cadieux Café, there’s always someplace you can bring your ax or your ears. It may not be quite a return to the glory days when Sonny…
Cats & Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
For those keeping score: German shepherd Diggs (voiced by James Marsden) is a fearless police dog who has trouble following orders. He’s recruited to become an agent for an elite team of canine spies called DOGS (the wit of Ron J. Friedman and Steve Bencich’s script never ceases to amaze). Partnered with seasoned agent Butch…
Food stuff
Second flight — Pegasus Taverna has been a Greektown destination spanning three decades. Now it has branched out, with a new location on Saint Clair Shores’ "Nautical Mile." Expect the same Old World atmosphere and the same Greek cuisine that made Pegasus’s reputation — including that flaming cheese. Drop in and see how the old…
Last waltz
All signs point to Slum Village’s new Villa Manifesto album being the hip-hop vets’ final chapter. If the Twitter drama surrounding SV’s impending split is true (it sounds more like the day after prom), their latest full-length is a fitting end to a storied career, and a respectable conclusion for an entire era of Detroit…
Burger shots
Anchor Bar 450 W. Fort St., Detroit, 313-964-9127; $: Enjoy waxed-paper-wrapped burgers, sandwiches and bar food with chunky crisp steak fries and creamy coleslaw sides. For a modest $5.75, you can have a cup of soup and then select a go-with sandwich from among ham, tuna, turkey, chicken salad and grilled cheese with bacon. Among…
How I Got Over
Starting with the dizzying sweep of 2002’s Phrenology and continuing through the sharp funk of 2008’s Rising Down, the Roots have evolved into one of the nation’s most consistently dazzling bands, repeatedly justifying their hype on records that deftly express the African-American experience while rocking smarter than most of their white counterparts. Their latest, How…
Choir boy
Rising Detroit R&B star John Brown is hanging out with his manager, Phillip Ragan, at a downtown Starbucks near his home. Even he’s dressed Detroit casual — T-shirt and jeans — and though he’s generally a low-key guy, he’s got this energy that can suddenly kick the volume up enough to drown the sounds of…
Mines
Portland, Oregon’s Menomena continues to swap instruments and build ideas on its fourth album of indie prog-pop. But where the group’s other records combined pop smarts with mysterious thematic flourishes, the relatively straightforward lyrical approach on Mines ends up sounding quite brave. The difference here is in the directness — like the repeated mantra of…
The world of Nii
When Nii Quarcoopome arrived in the United States in 1979 from Ghana to begin graduate studies at UCLA, the first thing he perceived — the minute he stepped off the plane — was racial tension. It hung in the air thicker than L.A. smog. "You could tell from the demeanor of the white immigration officer…
Teflon Don
On 2009’s plush and vibrant Deeper Than Rap, Rick Ross spit the spunkiest rhymes of his career. He’s like a younger, looser and stranger Jay-Z, with a knack for curious imagery and free-associative boasts. His fourth album is duly impressive, full of ritzy pop-funk cuts, prideful anthems and elegant glimmers of introspection. But Teflon Don isn’t…
Keep it honest
Q: My boyfriend and I have "history." We dated casually and weren’t ready to stop seeing other people, so we had an open relationship. This phase was awful: lots of fights, a couple minor breakups, and eventually I called it quits for good, cutting off all contact. A month later, we started talking again and…
Exotic delights
In lieu of an expedition to Southeast Asia, local food enthusiasts can visit the southwest corner of 13 Mile and Dequindre roads. Inside this nondescript, Madison Heights strip mall, one will discover several doors into the exotic flavors of the South China Sea (and more than one spot where you can get your nails done). …
After voting, what?
By the time you are reading this, you’ll know who the major party nominees for governor are in our battered state of Michigan. But the question is — do you care? Sadly, for far too many of us, the answer seems to be … not much. That’s sort of bizarre, given that unemployment has been…
Wild Grass
Oh, those French. So cleverly paying homage to the affectations of cinema while indulging in … the affectations of cinema. If 88-year-old director Alain Resnais (Last Year at Marienbad) weren’t so stylishly competent, Wild Grass would be insufferably precious and exhaustingly whimsical. Even then, it comes pretty damn close. Is the film a) a chaotic…
Letters to the Editor
Ranter’s delight Congratulations on your 30 years in publication. Having just turned 30 myself, I can appreciate the milestone. I have fond memories of picking up MT and Orbit as a teenager to find out what local punk and ska shows were going on, and snickering at the personal ads in the back. Life is…
Metro Retro
25 years ago in Metro Times: The Japanese word "hibakusha" translates to "explosion-affected people," which is a massive understatement, considering that the word refers to the fortunate — or unfortunate — few who survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Koji Ando and Akita Asano were both soldiers stationed in Hiroshima when the bomb…
Sexy Detroit men
I was eying the goods at a local mall recently when I glanced in the window of a high-end men’s clothing store. To my surprise there stood Mulenga Harangua, my conspiracy theory-believing, gossip-mongering pal, dressed in a suit while perusing the jewelry case. I was shocked. Mulenga favors giant, baggy T-shirts that tout whatever paranoid…
