The only way it could be more topical is if there was a subplot about Sandra Bullock’s marital difficulties, and to its credit Repo Men is extremely dedicated to this high concept that lampoons and condemns the American health care industry in equal measure. The resulting ratio of ambition to entertainment value is, alas, less than equal, resulting in an uneven but ultimately entertaining film that somehow never quite lives up its full potential.

This article is filed under Movies, Movies & TV.

The March 19 release Repo Men is about a near-future in which organ transplants are simple, commonplace procedures and citizens can save their loved ones or prolong their own lives on a payment plan. Unfortunately, the moment customers fall behind on their dues, the Repo Men hunt them down to take back what’s owed—no matter [...]

This article is filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy, The Fourth Wall.

Contemporary sculptor and print maker Kiki Smith has been photographing and exhibiting her work for three decades. Smith grew up in a family where “life wasn’t worth living if you didn’t make art.” As the daughter of minimalist sculptor Tony Smith, Kiki assisted her father with his large-scale sculptures by folding and gluing together geometric cardboard models.

This article is filed under Art & Design, Photography.

A startling achievement in a first novel, the work seems to have already touched a chord since it has taken Italy and Europe by storm and sold copies in the millions. It was undertaken by a young Italian physicist at age 27, who tells a haunting story. Better yet, he’s a natural, adept with characterization, knowing how to captivate and hold his readers.

This article is filed under Fiction Reviews, Italy, Mathematics.

A Separate Country tells the story of Confederate General John Bell Hood, who moves to New Orleans after the war and marries a Creole debutante. Hood is a haunted man who has been physically marked by the war; he has lost a leg and the use of an arm. In addition, he can only excel militarily, and his life as a businessman is a resounding failure. Nevertheless, he finds love with the young beauty Anna Marie and they have eleven children together.

This article is filed under Fiction Reviews, Historical Fiction.

Confession time: I did not see the Academy Award-nominated The Princess and The Frog. In my defense, the reason was because I refused to the see the film in a theater filled with children, and midnight screenings were scarce. But this critically-acclaimed attempt to revive Disney 2-D animation has nevertheless excited me since it was announced something-something years ago, and Disney’s other 2-D Blu-Ray releases – Sleeping Beauty, Pinnochio and the prologue to Enchanted – are stunning jewels in high-definition. I literally can’t wait until this arrives at my doorstep tomorrow, so I can geek out about a Disney Princess movie in the privacy of my own home… which I have ironically just told the world about.

This article is filed under Movies, The Fourth Wall.

An exhibition at the Renwick Gallery in Washington DC titled The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946 showcases objects made by internees. The museum’s website tells us that the Japanese word ‘gaman’ means “to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience.” This moving show explores how creativity served as a necessary way of acquiring needful things that were otherwise unavailable, provided an outlet for frustration, and reinforced bonds in a painful and alienating time.

This article is filed under After Image, Art.

Giap had lost several family members to the rigors of French colonial rule, including his wife who was arrested and died in a French prison. A model of cool, methodical persistence, Giap was not goaded or tricked into a rash counterattack on Dien Bien Phu. He patiently assembled his forces, digging gun positions in the forested slopes overlooking the French defenses and amassing a huge supply of ammunition carried by thousands of porters through the jungle. Then on March 13, 1954, Giap struck at Dien Bien Phu, capturing several key strong-points and pounding the air strip so that supply planes could no longer land. The base aero-terrestre had become a death trap.

This article is filed under France, History, Military, Non-Fiction Reviews, Vietnam.

Music videos have also of course been a spawning ground for great motion picture directors, from David Fincher to Spike Jonze, from Antoine Fuqua to Mark Romanek, and many many more. But in the first installment of The Great Music Videos (which are numbered in order of publication, not necessarily quality or historical significance – so don’t read too much into that “#1″) I would like to call attention to a video directed by an already great motion picture director, who directed a beautiful animated video for the song “On Your Mark” by the Japanese rock duo Chage & Aska. I am of course referring to the Academy Award-winning animation legend Hayao Miyazaki.

This article is filed under Movies, The Fourth Wall.

Since its in 1980, Critics have lambasted Warhol’s “Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century” as one-dimensional and exploitative. Several recent shows have reawakened the controversy surrounding the project. After traveling to San Francisco and New York in 2008-2009, the series is now on display in a retrospective at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center. In response to these shows, many contemporary reviewers have repeated the argument that Warhol was motivated solely by profit and that he trivialized important historical figures. Perhaps it is time to check our cynicism and explore how the series fits into his oeuvre and intellectual interests.

This article is filed under After Image, Art, Design.