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City & County
‘This Is Our State’: Museums’ Opening Makes and Breaks Peace
Charlie Davis, a 9-year-old from West Point, Miss., read the panel outside an Emmett Till exhibit not long after the doors of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum opened Saturday, Dec. …
Party Rock For Shape Shifters
Rise Up Howling Werewolf is straight-up electro-pop garage-rock from Muscle Shoals, Ala. Except, that is, when Rise Up Howling Werewolf is riff-driven, supernatural punk-blues; or retro psychedelic drone; or spooky, …
From Blues to Hip-Hop
When I heard about Ali Neff's book on the Clarksdale hip-hop scene, I was relieved that someone had finally decided to talk about something other than the blues. Someone was …
Jihad, Defined
Casual readers may view "How to Win a Cosmic War" (Random House, 2009, $26), the second book by acclaimed religious scholar Reza Aslan, as a defense of Islam. In part, …
Gloria Norris and her Mississippi Road
With her Nikon FE camera in tow, Mississippi native and noted author Gloria Norris drove down Highway 51 through Mississippi capturing the fleeting images of the state that characterized her …
Compliments of the Sundance Waitlist
Wasn't able to stay for the Q&A, so I have little background on Don't Let Me Drown, but I know from the intro that it was developed by the Sundance …
Sumdance
Three films, one day. That's Sumdance (especially when waitlists are involved)
What to say about Spooner, except that it's perfect? Spooner is the off-beat romantic comedy Garden State was trying to be (no offense, Zach Braff), and it couldn't be more …
Premiere Night in Mississippi
Maybe the fifth time's the charm? Maybe the fifth time, I can watch without crying? I think maybe, because on each viewing I cry at a later point in fact, …
Extremely Faulty Planning
So I spent most of yesterday morning in the condo, having long legal-jargony telephone conversations with the folks at CheapOAir and the folks at Deltaneither of whom I will ever …
Mississippi Does Slamdance (by way of New York) Part 2 (Part 2)
Then I wised up, headed over to Slamdance, and picked up one of the Mississippi Film Office's sponsor badges (hey, I'm an affiliate-in-exile), just in time to see a film …
Mississippi Does Sundance (by way of New York) Part 2 (Part 1)
First off: Note to the lady on the 10AM All Resort Shuttle from Salt Lake to Park City. You may be blonde and willowy, but must you conduct Blackberry-fueled business …
Man v. Flesh
Andre Dubus III's "Garden of the Last Days" (W. W. Norton, 2008, $24.95) is a brick of a book. At 500-plus pages, it's America on parade: g-strings and neon, alcohol …
Cover
A Fighting Chance?
Oct. 20, 1992. Naked Madonna is all over the dance studio. In one corner, she's straddling a fish. In another, she's kneeling in the surf and leaning against a bike.
Books
No Safety Here
I wanted to like this book. I wanted to like this book about sticky Louisiana summers, lifelong friendships, severe Southern mamas and the vapid allure of Los Angeles.
Romantic Devastation
A few weeks ago, I was in snowy Park City, Utah, at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. While there, I attended the premiere of "Ballast," a made-in-Mississippi movie that rallied …
Hometown Pride
Back from Utah (where Ballast cleaned up—it was the only movie to win TWO Sundance awards in the Dramatic Competition —Excellence in Cinematography and narrative Directing), I'm trying to heal …
Sundance Day 8: Ballast on CNN
Okay, so I've been hearing a lot about Ballast . Mostly what I'm hearing is along the lines of, "I LOVE that movie. That's the best movie I've seen at …
Sundance Day 7: Because We're All a Little Off
Things are slowing down here in ye olde Jim Shea place. For a few days it's just been the ladies—Nina, Anita and I. Anita and I share what we have …
Sundance Day 5: Movies and Mayhem
Mos Def is here. He's wandering the streets of Park City, promoting Be Kind Rewind , sitting on panels at Blackhouse Foundation, and being all-around AWESOME, because that's just how …
Sundance Day 4: Hindsight is 20/20
So yesterday I got to ride a ski mobile down a big hill. Well, technically, I rode a stretcher behind a ski mobile, but hey, semantics…
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