Jackson Free Press

A Filmmaker in Movieland

What amazes me after having read "Scorsese on Scorsese" (Faber and Faber, revised 2003, $15) is how much divergent work this one great American director has been able to get …

Their Finest Hour

There is a trend in game series: One successful game is released, and that prompts a sequel. Whether or not the sequel is any good isn't important. What is important …

Odds And Ends

Have you ever eaten odds and ends? I'll wager not. I'll go so far as to bet you cannot even guess what makes up odds and ends.

What's Eating Hip-Hop?

"Fake Records," a mysterious voice says. The music drops, and the chorus begins, "It's bigger than hip-hop, hip-hop, hip-hop!" A crowd of hip-hop heads inevitably goes wild.

So What's New?

Around every corner is a new wine to try, some obscure varietal calling out for experimentation or a just-released new vintage of one of your favorite standbys. There is no …

One Man's Journey

Bruce Machart's debut novel "The Wake of Forgiveness" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010, $26) is a journey down a path of loss and pain, into the emergence of hope and peace.

Sweet Home Paradox

"Dixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race, and New Beginnings in a New South." You can tell by the title of this book what it's going to be about, right? …

A Goodie Is A Goodie

Over the almost eight-year-long span that my family spent on the road, we never had a chimney for Santa. Being well-loved, wide-eyed and innocent of grown-up concerns like how late …

He Is The Night: A Review Of Batman Begins

After a string of boring, ugly, repetitive games, it's good to see Batman get an interesting, pretty, repetitive game. "Batman Begins"—the movie—blows the previous films out of the water, and …

Blind Man's Bluff

Set to the teetering-toward-the-edge-of-lunacy strains of the Ukranian punk-Gypsy band Gogol Bordello, "Everything Is Illuminated" comes on like a Molotov cocktail. By its conclusion, though, it transforms into something far …

Song Of Hope

When human-rights activist Ray Barnett saw a BBC special documenting the 150,000 children fleeing persecution in war-torn Uganda, he knew he wanted to help. Barnett, who had done extensive humanitarian …

What Women Want

A friend of mine recently advised me about how to attract women. An authority on the subject, he is—in the vernacular—a "babe magnet."

Tattoo Me

Jason Thomas, founder of Heart in Hand Tattoo and The Ink Spot Gallery, is a Jackson native who supports a variety of artistic endeavors. In addition to providing exceptional tattoo …

Relish In The Hellish

The tagline of Bill Maher's documentary on the faults of religion, "Religulous," touts the film as the "#1 Sacrilegious Comedy in America." Maybe I was under a rock while Lionsgate …

Crash, Bang, Boom

A Review Of "Burnout Revenge"

After playing "Burnout Revenge," I have to simply sit back and ask myself something: Why has no one thought of this before? The concept seems simple. What's more fun than …

[Gardens] Of Soil and Soul

"This will never do," I said to my sister Judy when she showed me her herb garden. In fairness, it was not all bad. It was perfectly located near the …

[Sex] An Unsaintly Valentine

If there'd been an award for Best Adult Emporium in last issue's Best-of-Jackson roundup, first prize would surely have gone to Romantic Adventures, an unassuming-looking establishment—on the outside, that is, …

You Say Tomato…

Referred to as pommes d'amour, or love apples, by the French due to their supposed power as aphrodisiacs, the tomato is an irresistible summertime indulgence that I look forward to …

Flat World, Deep Game

When reviewing a game like "Super Paper Mario," it's difficult to avoid comparing it to its predecessors. "SPM" is technically the sequel to the two "Paper Mario" games released on …

Questioning Human Nature

Alexander Pearce was an Irish convict transported to Tasmania by the British judicial system for theft of six pairs of shoes in 1819. He was also, by accusation of the …