Screen:
American Splendor (THEATERS)
Add some Roger Rabbit to The Osbournes and you've got American Splendor - a quirky biopic about the life of VA hospital file clerk-cum-comix author Harvey Pekar, father of the "dull autobiography" genre. The film intercuts scenes of the real Pekar with his big-screen doppelg�nger Paul Giamatti and animated doubles drawn by underground icons like R. Crumb and Doug Allen. More than a visual joyride, Splendor proves that the mundane can be sublime. - Jennifer Hillner
Solaris (DVD)
Steven Soderbergh's adaptation of the cult-classic Lem novel is more reverie than movie - think Total Recall directed by Marcel Proust. George Clooney is Kelvin, a man at emotional absolute zero sent on a space rescue mission; when his dead wife appears, the trip turns into a close encounter group of the third kind. But the real star is mood lighting, from the dusky interiors to the planet Solaris, which radiates psychosexual energy like a tantric Tesla coil. The disc's best extra: the script. - W. O. Goggins
Music:
Mogwai Happy Songs for Happy People
Tormenting audiences with 10-minute loops of piercing feedback, Mogwai earned a reputation as the Merry Pranksters of post-rock. But the Glasgow quintet's fifth disc is a slow-burn masterpiece. Drawing from ambient-influenced acts like Sigur R�s and Radiohead, Mogwai eschews distortion for strings, fuzzed-out vocals, and piano-driven ballads. Both pastoral and apocalyptic, Happy Songs for Happy People is exquisite agony forged in the smithy of a tortured soul. - Adrienne Day
The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium
Two former members of punk band At the Drive-In have moved on with this complex concept album, which meanders more than it strides and entices as much as it demands. Angular songs with shifting rhythms shape a tale of a friend who attempted suicide and had a series of sci-fi visions as he lay in a coma. If that sounds suspicious, apparently prog rock has moved on, too: The Mars Volta redeems the genre with manic urgency. - Robert Levine
Print:
Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World by Jill Jonnes
Before Mac versus Windows there was DC versus AC, and the battle was just as fierce. Dogs were electrocuted, patent wars waged, and a World's Fair illuminated - all in the name of defining a superior standard. But behind all the hijinks - which make for a wonderful read - was the conviction that technology would lift up mankind and change the world. Wait, isn't that Steve Jobs' line? - Dustin Goot
Comic Release! Negotiating Identity for a New Generation by Vicky A. Clark and Barbara J. Bloemink
There's little new about the renaissance of comics, but this book - a record of a traveling museum exhibit with Carnegie Mellon roots - pulls together the genre's best contemporary artists. It also flaunts modern-day Lichtensteins like Yoshitomo Nara and Leslie Lew, who draw on the iconography and deceptively simple style of comic books. KA-BLAM! There goes the high-brow establishment. - Chris Baker
Games:
Soul Calibur II (PS2 | CUBE | XBOX)
Whether you played it in the arcade or on Dreamcast, Soul Calibur was the hardest-hitting fighting game around. Now the sequel delivers even more bruises, courtesy of a roster of regulars and exclusive cameos for each console - the legendary Link (Cube), antihero Spawn (Xbox), and shirtless powerhouse Heihaci Mishima (PS2). Even weekend brawlers can appreciate the hardcore action, which doesn't require memorizing lots of controller commands. - Jon M. Gibson
Savage (PC)
In Savage, the fight for world domination pits man against beast in a postapocalyptic world: The people wield firearms and the animals cast spells. Sure, the plot plays out like an old, broken record, but the online gameplay is revolutionary. For the first time in a PC title, you choose how close you are to the action: Wage war in first-person mode, or sit back and command your army from headquarters. Why get blood on your hands when your minions can do your bidding? - Brian Lam
PLAY
The 17,000-Hit Wonder
Give the DJs What They Want
What's on Your iPod?
Feets of Fury
Cracking the Box Office Genome
The Hackers Cookbook
Easy Rider
Peer-to-Peer Pressure
The Polyester Pavilion
Paint by Rumbas
reviews
Fetish
The Year's Best Gear So Far
