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Reviews
In which we have opinions about film, books, TV, music. Please feel free to share your opinions, too.
Book
Exploring Cities from the Inside
By:
Lauren Jonik
“Gates and his fearless partners in crime notice places others only pass by—and embrace the urge to go for a closer look.”A review of Hidden Cities by Lauren Jonik.
Film
Out of Darkness
By:
Matt Jager
“You need to bring your own devotion with you to the cinema, otherwise Bones and Uhura and the rest are anonymous.” But if you do, says Matt Jager. If you do…
Film
Snapping Back on Life and Family
By:
Michael Ward
“Although he has an electric guitar collection worth well into the thousands of dollars and owes more than $70,000 in student loans, he’ll never part with the guitars and he feels no moral obligation to pay back the loans.” Michael Ward reviews A Rubber Band is an Unlikely Instrument.
Book
Whimsical + Creepy = Wonderful
By:
Nikki Stern
“Karen Russell is weird. And I mean that as a compliment.” Nikki Stern reviews Karen Russell’s Vampires in the Lemon Grove.
Buskstop
Buskstop: Ben Sollee
By:
mookie Need and Matt Mays
Last week, Punchnel’s caught up with super-cool singer/cellist/activist/cool dude Ben Sollee was in Bloomington. Words by mookie Need; video by Matt Mays.
Book
A Boat, a River, and the Specter of Forgetting
By:
Michael Ward
“Jacobs is at his most poignant when reading through his father’s diary and rediscovering the naivete and delusions of youth.” Michael Ward reviews Michael Jacobs’s travel memoir.
Book
No Casual Dismissal
By:
Nikki Stern
“I never for a moment felt like laughing. That’s because these people seemed too real, their escalating miseries too close at hand, to warrant the sly smile or knowing chuckle.” Nikki Stern reviews J.K. Rowling least Harry novel.
It’s Different for Girls
By:
Jaime Franchi
“It made it okay to watch because a crazy chick makes interesting television; even more, it makes up a show that is bigger than the small lives of four privileged Brooklyn girls. It has a message about illness.” Jaime Franchi wants her Girls back.
Book
The First Two Hundred Pages of Finnegan’s Wake
By:
Carl Foster
“The review of the entire book is forthcoming, but I could not possibly put a date on it.” Carl Foster has gotten as far as anyone he knows.
Music
This is What You Get when You Mess with Brahms
By:
Ken Honeywell
“It was fun to watch singers onstage with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra sing, ‘the panic, the vomit’ and ‘we hope that you choke.’” Ken Honeywell reviews the ISO’s mashup of Brahms’s First Symphony and Radiohead’s OK Computer.