Compared to a satisfying 2007 that saw excellent releases from acts such as Radiohead, M.I.A., Panda Bear, Feist and Kanye West, the year 2008 has been kind of a downer. We have had a few great releases, but the spectacular records that were so commonplace last year are clearly missing this year. This sudden drop in quality is puzzling, though perhaps not as much as the Metacritic ratings of these albums, which are often as high as superior pieces from last year. There could be many reasons for this, but I attribute it to something I call the “desert phenomenon.” If you are dehydrated in a desert, any water will do—dirty, unsanitary or potentially poisonous. Critics are in a desert right now, and in a dry year such as this, even mediocre works seem great.

Thus when I heard and enjoyed the new album from the Walkmen, I felt susceptible to this trend. (Click here to read more…)

Monday, September 1
7 p.m. “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” on The Travel Channel. An hour of bloopers make for awkward but enjoyable viewing.
8 p.m. “Gossip Girl” on The CW. Finally, the best (or most ridiculous) teen drama on TV returns, filmed on location in the Hamptons.
9 p.m. “Jon & Kate Plus 8″ on TLC. A full hour of screaming children, as the sextuplets learn where babies come from.
10 p.m. “The Hills” on MTV. Have you seen Heidi’s music video? Pretend you haven’t and you might still be able to enjoy this show.
10:30 p.m. “Exiled” on MTV. Pampered princess Ava is forced to shovel elephant dung; we revel in schadenfreude.

(Click here to read more…)

Seeing people dress up as characters from a movie isn’t uncommon, especially if it’s a big-budget superhero movie, and it’s Halloween. Seeing people dress up as characters from a movie is also fairly commonplace at midnight release screenings, but only if it’s a very popular and iconic series, if a bit fanboyish. Seeing people dress up as characters from a major motion picture that isn’t coming out for a year and one that most people have never heard of is something else entirely. But it happened—last year, to celebrate the one-year pre-anniversary of the impending release of “Watchmen,” people did just that.

For those of you out of the know, the upcoming superhero movie “Watchmen” is based on a famous and celebrated graphic novel of the same name, by quirky and reclusive graphic novel legend Alan Moore. It’s something of a golden standard, the only graphic novel to make the list of Time Magazine’s “100 Best Novels of all Time.” I read it for the first time at the end of my sophomore year in high school, and it changed the way I saw the world. Much of my current philosophy, if not directly lifted from, was strongly inspired by this book. It is amazingly deep and layered, with levels of meaning stacked upon levels, metaphors crossing mediums, wordplay refracting through the images in ways that people who haven’t read graphic novels can’t really grasp. Sort of like “Flatland.” (Click here to read more…)

If you’re still kicking yourself for missing out on tickets for My Bloody Valentine’s sole Bay Area appearance of their comeback tour, despair not: This fall’s crop of concerts is superb. Here are just a few of September’s live music happenings:

Built to Spill @ Slim’s, 9/8-9/9
The seminal group will perform a staple of the indie rock canon, 1997’s Perfect From Now On, from start to finish (twice!). Not to be missed.

Treasure Island Music Festival, 9/20-9/21
If you took a rain check on the sprawling chaos that was Outside Lands, here’s your chance to partake of another, significantly cheaper multi-day music festival in the city. The lineup looks promising: Justice, TV on the Radio, Goldfrapp and Hot Chip headline day one, and the Raconteurs, Spiritualized, Tegan and Sara and Vampire Weekend head up day two. Don’t underestimate the smaller acts, either — Fleet Foxes’ earthy harmonies and the crisp, jangly pop of recent Berkeley grads the morning benders were meant to be experienced outdoors. Get more information at the official site. (Click here to read more…)

Series: “America’s Next Top Model”
Number of Completed Seasons: 10
Season Premiere: Sept. 3, 8 p.m. on The CW
Brief Synopsis: Tyra Banks guides a gaggle of legitimately cute or awkward-looking (that’s what makes them models!) young women on the path to becoming. America’s. Next. Top. Model. (Punctuation added to mimic Tyra’s melodramatic speech pattern.) The girls face a new challenge each week, followed by a tearful and incredibly drawn-out elimination.
Key Players: Tyra Banks is the only real constant here. The Jays: “runway diva” Miss J. Alexander and photo shoot director Jay Manuel. Judges Nigel Barker and Paulina Porizkova. Last cycle’s winner Whitney Thompson is likely to make at least one appearance on the show; she’ll also be doing her “My Life as a Cover Girl” segment during commercial breaks. You’ll find that this is a great time to grab a snack or use the restroom.
Why You Should Watch: This is reality TV at its finest. OK, not really, but at least at its most entertaining. There is little not to love about “America’s Next Top Model,” from the impossibly tacky photo shoots to Tyra’s self-deification to the epic in-fighting among the contestants: “Check your thighs in the mirror. And I’m done.” This season also features the first transgendered female model in the running, which I think is awesome—and not only because her name is Isis Tsunami. Be aware, Tyra generally fails at PC, so prepare to be at least a little offended. Of course, the real reason to watch “ANTM” (that’s what we call it) is that you can then follow the LOL-worthy recaps over at the fourfour blog. Read them and learn to love Rich the way I do.
How You Can Catch Up: You don’t need to, really. Besides, there’s almost always a marathon on VH1. Still curious? The first season, which is not syndicated due to various legal reasons past my comprehension, is available for $23.49 on Amazon.

I really can’t think of anything particularly witty to say about “Hamlet 2,” the comedy about a failed actor-turned-high-school-theater-teacher who writes a provocative play to save the drama program that hits theaters today. Although I have nothing against the prospect of seeing it, there’s nothing really driving me to. Watching the trailer, I felt the entire arc of the story play itself out before me. I saw all the characters deliver a few lines, saw two people hit with trash cans and saw nothing to suggest anything else hidden beneath the surface.

But this isn’t necessarily bad. For what it lacks in depth it makes up for with sheer slapstick. While “Pineapple Express” and “Tropic Thunder” both tried to be more than simple comedies and failed (”Pineapple” with the lame and choppy story, and “Tropic” with the awkward pacing of comedy and action), “Hamlet 2″ looks to be a film that aimed low and hit the target. It tries hard to be politically incorrect (the community trying to ban the play becomes a major plot point later in the film, if the trailer spoke true), but I have a hunch that very few people will be offended. As my friend Zach explained last night, over a game of “Settlers of Catan,” was that the film was so aware of its offensive nature that it ceased to be offensive. Very post-modern. (Click here to read more…)

Series: “90210″
Number of Completed Seasons: Zero (unless you count the original show’s 10)
Series Premiere: Sept. 2, 8 p.m. on The CW
Brief Synopsis: The new “90210″ attempts to update the classic (and I use that word loosely) Aaron Spelling series, apparently by dropping the “Beverly Hills.” The students at West Beverly High are primarily wealthy, stuck-up and prone to rampant bitchiness. But then, of course, there’s the good girl, the journalism geek, the awkward rebel…
Key Players: New girl Annie Wilson (Shenae Grimes) and her brother Dixon (Tristan Wilds). Their parents Harry (Rob Estes) and Debbie (Lori Loughlin). Harry’s washed-up TV star of a mother Tabitha (Jessica Walter). The popular (and evil) rich girl Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord). The jock Ethan (Dustin Milligan). Mainstream journalism enthusiast Navid (Michael Steger) and more rebellious journalism enthusiast Silver (Jessica Stroup). Hot teachers, including Ryan Matthews (Ryan Eggold) and “Beverly Hills, 90210″ alums Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) and Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty).
Why You Should Watch: The CW is the network that brought us “Gossip Girl,” so it’s safe to expect the same level of preposterous drama and pretty people. Even those who weren’t fans of the original series should be able to enjoy that. And for those who were, there’s bound to be a fair share of meta-humor and exciting guest star opportunities. (This just in: Jason Priestley has expressed interest in reprising his role as Brandon Walsh!) On a personal note, I can’t tell you how happy I am to see a Persian character as a regular. I’m not Persian, but I went to the real Beverly Hills High, and a large number of my classmates were. And OK, this actor is actually of Ecuadorian, Austrian and Norwegian descent, but … it’s a start?

On September 2, pop legend Brian Wilson will release his fourth studio album of the decade, That Lucky Old Sun, but even before it hits music stores, it is doomed to be forgotten. Not because Brian Wilson is yesterday’s news—which he most certainly isn’t, at least not musically—but because no matter how great the album is, it will never be followed by the storied legacy that trails behind Wilson’s 2004 work, the reborn lost-masterpiece SMiLE. Brian Wilson has released his solo masterpiece, and in the same way that the Beach Boys’ 20/20 will be overshadowed by Pet Sounds and the Who’s The Who Sell Out will be buried underneath the glory of Tommy or Who’s Next, That Lucky Old Sun will lay beneath the covers of SMiLE. Unless Wilson has crafted an album that walks on water, only dedicated fans will focus their attention on That Lucky Old Sun.

It’s a shame, really, because even at the ripe age of 66, Brian Wilson is still America, as much as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder or Wilco. Wilson isn’t everything that is America; certainly, Bob Dylan is America in its outback glory, Bruce Springsteen in its empty alleyways and deserted streets, Stevie Wonder in its uplifting spirit, and Wilco in its passion and pride. But Brian Wilson is America the Beautiful. And no one quite encapsulates what is beautiful about America as much as Brian Wilson. (Click here to read more…)

Hi, I’m Hannah, your official theater blogger. I go to plays, try to pay attention and rip them apart for your reading pleasure. Actually, that’s a lie—it’s hard to say something mean about a play. Harder than a movie, which is less personal. Even when a movie sucks, it’s likely that its creators are rolling around in bathtubs filled with their sucky-movie money, laughing and dancing to Ludacris. At least, that’s how I like to think it really works.

(Click here to read more…)

Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird is an artist who works hard on stage. Throughout his Sunday afternoon set at Outside Lands, he was constantly busy. If he wasn’t hurriedly setting down his violin, then he was running over to his second microphone to loop some vocal harmonies. Or he could have been strapping on his guitar, or picking up a glockenspiel mallet to accompany his impressive vibrato-laced whistling. Using onstage looping technology, he was able to layer all of his different instruments on top of each other, creating a veritable one-man symphony. For his opening song, he appeared on stage alone with only a violin, a looping pedal and his accomplished voice to create a sound more befitting a string orchestra. In fact, it was a little disappointing when the rest of his three-piece band joined him so quickly for “Fiery Crash.” A three-piece group just seems a little like overkill for a man who in the past has sounded like a full orchestra with only his like-minded drummer and keyboardist Martin Dosh to accompany him. (Click here to read more…)