Editors' Introduction

Sir Roger Bannister is wrong. It’s not that the question “do you prefer cheese or chocolate?” is important; in fact, it’s an everyday, boring sort of question. But it’s not Sir Roger’s record-breaking run that makes him who he is, nor is it his medical career, etc. It’s the everyday stuff. more

Rock and Roll Séance: Two Attempts to Contact
the Spirit of Rock - Jim Kirchner

So has the rock music of days past just gone beyond its expiration date? Or is all this yet another rehash of “The Death of Rock” cries that could be heard even back in 1972 when The Who sang about it? If one attempts to talk about “the state of rock” at all, one runs the risk of sounding as coherent as Dewey Finn when he says rock takes using “your head…and your mind…and your brain…” School of Rock seems to want to “teach” rebellion and emotion—is that just too daft? more

Calypso 101 - Cheryl Peltier-Davis

A well penned calypso (written by the performer or an independent composer), has often signaled or served as a death knell for many politicians or for a particular political party. So influential have been calypsos on politics and society in Trinidad and Tobago that many politicians literally cringe at the start of the carnival season, unwilling to visit the calypso tents to listen to the ‘picong’ (satire) leveled at them through the lyrics of popular calypsos. more

Book Lust and the Digitized Librarian: An Interview with Nancy Pearl - Margaret Fast

“From my perspective, all that supposed librarian rage, as Melissa Block called it, has been vastly overstated by the media. There are some librarians, I am sure, who didn't see the humor in the Librarian Action Figure . . . but the vast majority of letters and emails I got actually loved the Librarian Action Figure and the attention it brought to our profession . . . Being called dowdy was more difficult, especially as I know that the clothes I was wearing to be photographed in are actually a beautiful, classic skirt and sweater from Eileen Fisher. more

Entering the Water and Escaping - Allen Frost

The result, Corman confessed was “truly insane.” Inspired by the nearby revolution of Fidel Castro, Creature from the Haunted Sea “was a story about a band of Batista’s generals making off with a treasure chest of gold from Cuba. The man they hire to captain their boat is a mobster. He murders the generals and covers up the crimes by inventing a story about an undersea monster who devours people. But there is an undersea monster.” more

Yasujiro Ozu: a First Impression - Jeff Purdue

During a climactic and emotionally charged scene, a mother berates her son for his loss of courage and drive. Soon after, the son has a chance to show his real character, when he takes what little money they have and gives it to a neighbor whose own son has met with a serious accident and needs expensive hospital care. She expresses pride in her son’s selfless act, and no doubt feels it; and yet the end of the film shows her hard at work back at the silk factory. She takes a bucket outside to empty it in the prison-like though beautiful factory yard, sits down and cries. This is the end of the film. What is she feeling at this moment? Disappointment, pride, weariness, love, defeat—no doubt these are all part of it. Such an ambiguous ending, undercutting traditional cinematic narrative closures, seems very typical of Ozu. more