Happy Sunday

Caron Wheeler’s solo debut, somewhat obscure.

Gay couples granted protection from deportation

Good news from the Obama administration: In letters sent late Wednesday to several Democratic lawmakers, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was clarifying guidelines that enforcement officers had used when applying a policy of prosecutorial discretion in cases of illegal immigrants with no criminal convictions. Under the guidelines, which were first issued in June

The Cause and its effects: The Master

What a judicious decision of Paul Thomas Anderson’s to give the audience so many closeups of Joaquin Phoenix’s face, especially when The Master goes to pieces in the last forty-five minutes. What contrasts: the dark thick eyebrows against the drawn, sallow skin, cheek muscles receded into crags, cartoonishly large eyeballs. Most impressive is a mouth

Singles 9/28

Missy Elliott leaks two tracks and Singlesjukeboxland shrugs. I mean, listen to the boy band track: that’s some crazy shit. Click on links for full reviews. Nicki Minaj ft. Rick Ross & Cam’ron – I Am Your Leader (7) Death Grips – I’ve Seen Footage (7) Orange Caramel – Lipstick (6) The Wanted – I

“Off-puttingly bitter” about elder statesmenship

The final word on the new Pet Shop Boys. Douglas Wolk: As always, the Pet Shop Boys’ latest studio LP has a resonant single-word title. “Elysium” is a reference to Elysian Park, near where they recorded the album in Los Angeles, but it’s also a high-class sort of word for paradise, in the specific sense

Droning on…and on…

Children must keep a watchful eye on their parents. We simply don’t know what mad behavior they’ll indulge in, despite years of advice, if left alone. I may have to vote for Barack Hussein Obama because if Mitt Romney is elected their beloved granddaughter will have no Medicare. Not that it matters in reliably blue

Sense and sensibility: Damsels in Distress

Damsels in Distress is the sort of movie for which adverbs look silly. You know: “charmingly,” “perplexedly,” “oddly.” Since Last Days of Disco, Bill Clinton got impeached and writer-director Whit Stillman is five years shy of collecting a Social Security check, but his attention to hyperarticulate characters testing their moral codes against a perplexed universe

“If you think your gun is powerful, this is mine”

South Florida politics at its finest. All it proves for the moment is that Representative David Rivera picked nice playmates. A self-described “Republican bad girl,” Alliegro doesn’t appear to be cooperating with authorities investigating Sternad’s campaign. The political newcomer and part-time hotel worker lost the Aug. 14 Democratic primary race to Rivera rival Joe Garcia,

Yoko’s approximately infinite world of sound

Skeptics of Yoko Ono’s power to hold musical interest — quite a few remain, alas — are directed to Approximately Infinite Universe. This 1973 album, boasting John Lennon on guitar, is the closest Ono, well, approximated studio rock verities until Double Fantasy, 1980’s collaboration with John. Because Ono preferred unusual chord combinations and sprung rhythm

Our men in Havana

At the height of the Depression my family lived a half mile from the Tropical beer plant. “From our yard you could see the bottles of green, cut in half, piled as high as the eye could see,” she said. I learned about her uncle — her father’s brother — who accused her of stealing

Sunday, etc

Instead of a song, I’ll post an excerpt from a debate between William F. Buckley, Jr. and James Baldwin in England. What a powerful camera subject Baldwin is.

Workers “never passed” Romney’s lips

I suppose this explains the popularity of “leadership” as an ennobling concept. To work you must be in charge. Krugman: But here’s the question: Should we imagine that Mr. Romney and his party would think better of the 47 percent on learning that the great majority of them actually are or were hard workers, who