Choose your story
More than a book, but not quite a video game, interactive fiction is making a virtual comeback.
Underground to the Bone
After a stellar performance at the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, DJ Bone unearths Detroit techno with his new mix compilation.
Joking off
West End Productions’ comic review walks the edge of the rational….
Real people talkin’
Detroit playwright Jeff Chastang’s first effort captures the everyday spirit….
A young man’s power
“The thing about the truth is it’s a mean old bastard.” So sneers Jake Russell Sr. to his father-in-law in Jeff Chastang’s Full Circle, currently being performed by Plowshares Theatre Company. The line is one of the drama’s most poignant, for Full Circle is nothing if not a play about truth: running from it, denying…
Pinball wizard
Sounding like a true 21st-century assembly line, run on bubble propulsion, manned by Chicago house divas and managed by Black Panther foreman Dan Bell, Globus Mix Vol. 4 offers an international view of Detroit techno as it morphs, squeaks and jogs into the new century. The mix, named after the upper floor of Tresor (which…
White flight
Detroit’s already chock-full of bona fide musical anomalies (if not outright freak shows). Hence, it’s so damned satisfying that there’s an entity such as the White Stripes which obviously takes both the simple and the high road on the highway to rock salvation. That is, the music of Jack and Meg White has always been…
The Filth and the Fury
Director Julien Temple’s new documentary on the Sex Pistols is meant to be a corrective to previous tellings of the punk rock founding myth, including his own ‘79 version, The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, shifting the emphasis from the media manipulations of the group’s lunatic manager, Malcolm McLaren, and back to the visionary opportunism…
Gone in 60 Seconds
Gone in 60 Seconds has one goal: to take audiences for a ride. In this heist caper, car thieves are portrayed as thrill-fueled joyriders driven by both speed and greed. If they want a fast car, they’ve got the skills to just take it, regardless of the (seemingly slim) chance of getting caught. This product…
Bossa Nova
Quite a few filmmakers have attempted this kind of movie recently – the romantic comedy where a large group of disparate characters are thrown together by proximity and coincidence – but few are as successful as Bruno Baretto in Bossa Nova. A stunningly photographed Rio de Janeiro functions not merely as a picture-postcard backdrop. This…
Passion of Mind
Like an exploration of the human psyche made for the Romance Classics channel, Passion of Mind is immensely sincere, extremely tasteful and downright silly. What ultimately sinks the film isn’t the outlandish story line, but the way it’s executed. The film rests on the shoulders of its central actress and, in this case, Demi Moore…
Spindle
In no way are Spindle the new kids on the block, they’ve been cranking out infectious power-pop sounds for several years now, despite having just barely entered their 20s. In the world of Sloan disciples, Spindle stands out with an engaging honesty and feeling which drives the hooks and melodies. This year should bring forth…
