Hollywood’s August  Wilson problem In The Root, author and social critic Todd Boyd weighs in on Hollywood’s apparent allergy to the “complex, nuanced” work of the celebrated playwright August Wilson: “[A]ttempting to pitch the cinematic value of August Wilson to some superficial doofus in a Hollywood...

Waiting† for Godot†On the future of books, or not

Waiting† for Godot† On the future of books, or not MICHAEL E. ROSS | 4.30.2010 The renegade act of reading a real live book has been under siege for a while now, first from the 24/7 nature of the modern world itself, then from the onslaught of e-reader devices that are dragging the literary world...

Revisiting ‘the decisive moment’Henri Cartier-Bresson, hailed as the father of modern photojournalism, returns in a major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In The Daily Beast, Philip Gefter offers an overview of his career and his influence, and the Beast presents a gallery of Cartier-Bresson’s...

Oh, for the days of late-night war The Daily Beast excerpts a conversation between David Letterman and everyman shrink Dr. Phil. The takeaway: Dave misses the good old days (of three or four months ago) when Jay Leno and some guy named Conan O'Brien made late-night a genial combat zon...

The sound of music, all summer long In a new slideshow at theGrio, Mandisa Washington surveys jazz festivals in the United States and abroad as the summer festival season gets ready to step off.                            ...

Green Day,  Great White Way  For critic Charles Isherwood, the punk musical ‘American Idiot’ has blindsided Broadway with a raucous production that pulses and hums with the restless energy of youth in a post 9/11 world.  (In The New York Times)  [Photo: Via MTV Ne...

Black film festivals survive in, and adapt to, new austerity

With the maverick spirit of Sundance in the rear-view and the grande dame of Cannes dead ahead, the 2010 film festival season is well underway. As Telluride, Tribeca and the Seattle International Film Festivals prepare for audiences with a broad slate of studio and independent films, film festivals...

'Screenplay by Everybody' With a new Web site, the founder of a leading maker of scriptwriting software opens the door to social media for screenwriters — and the hordes of eager outsiders looking to get in.              In The Hollywood Report...

Seattle: The travesty of dinner at the Space Needle

'... Ought to be punishable by law.' The restaurant at the city's celebrated architectural landmark is a long way from serving landmark food. In pungent and acerbic style, Bethany Jean Clement explains why.                           ...

BigThink on The Times

Kris Broughton sees The New York Times going back to the future. Which may not be altogether good for The New York Times.    In BigThink ...

Super Woman wants you, maybe

Got mad soash media skills? Wanna hit London and New York on the company dime? Are you good with Dreamweaver, Photoshop and SEO? Alicia Keys (who's working on a tie-up with monster.com) just may have a Serious Gig with your name on it. Note: Please come credentialed. And correct.     ...

T.A.M.I., baby ... you've come back!  Michael Buening reviews the excellent just-released DVD collector's edition of this lost-now-found 1964 concert classic, a  rock archivist's gem. In PopMatters ...

David Byrne in Europe:  On Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, music for smart phones and the joys of cycling in Paris In David Byrne Journal   [Photo: Matthew Ranki...