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Chas Bowie
Posted inMusic

Twelve Questions for the Blow

“Laffy Taffy,” Cocaine, Elle Girl, and That Remix Project
Avatar photo Chas Bowie

BY NOW, YOU’VE HOPEFULLY familiarized yourself with the Blow’s Paper Television, if not other choice nuggets from the local duo’s back catalog. Last year, Paper Television got bananas attention from publications like the New York Times, Pitchfork, and Elle Girl, as well as fans across the country who fell in love with Khaela Maricich’s intelligent […]

Posted inMovies & TV

“She’s Going to the Water Slide!”

Norbit: A Half-Funny Exercise in Retardificiation
Avatar photo Chas Bowie

Since the passing of Nell Carter in 2003, obese African American women have had a difficult time getting a fair shake on the big screen (excepting, of course, Mo’Nique in Phat Girlz). Thankfully, thespians such as Tyler Perry, Martin Lawrence, and Eddie Murphy have stepped up to the (buffet) plate to portray their big boned […]

Posted inArt

Jessica Jackson Hutchins

Avatar photo Chas Bowie

Jessica Jackson Hutchins’ Stylite Optimism is not an easy show to love. At a glance these ceramic sculptures look like a cracked cup here and a lumpy form there. But after spending time with this collection of recent works, I came away stimulated and even moved, mulling over not only questions of how we evaluate […]

Posted inMusic

The Fascinating Game

Things More Fascinating Than Lyrical Flow
Avatar photo Chas Bowie

“I’M B.I.G., I’M CUBE, I’m Nas, I’m Pac,” Compton rapper the Game deadpans on his recent album, Doctor’s Advocate. When it comes to the roster of people in line for that Mt. Rushmore of revered emcees, the Game is way in back of the line. Like, one person ahead of me. By no standards is […]

Posted inMovies & TV

Wu-Tang Boredom

Golden Flower: Not Enough Wicked Ninjas!
Avatar photo Chas Bowie

HERE’S A SIMPLE LITMUS TEST to determine whether or not you’ll enjoy Curse of the Golden Flower: Two Chinese men are engaged in a friendly but fierce sword-fighting competition (to measure their honor and respect, not to kill each other, of course). When the warriors’ swords glint off their candy-colored body armor, tiny sparks shoot […]

Posted inBooks

Life After Jarhead

Anthony Swofford, Author of Jarhead, Talks to Us About His Gripping Debut Novel, Exit A
Avatar photo Chas Bowie

“John Updike writes about what he writes about and what he knows,” Anthony Swofford tells me from his New York apartment, when asked whether or not he’s concerned about being pigeonholed as a military writer. “I know this world—I grew up in it. It’s my ‘Connecticut suburbs.’ It’s like Philip Roth’s Jersey City to me.” […]

Posted inUncategorized

How Lovely

Hula Hands Moves and Improves
Avatar photo Chas Bowie

Last year, when Lovely Hula Hands announced that it was moving from its signature flamingo-pink home off N Mississippi to a new, more spacious spot down the road, the news prompted conflicting responses. On one hand, Hula Hands seemed nearly perfect as it was—reasonably upscale but homey, intimate, and funky. Many of us had come […]

Posted inNews

19 Things Not Invited Back to 2007!

Avatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photoAvatar photo Wm. Steven Humphrey, Adam Gnade, Chas Bowie, Erik Henriksen, Matt Davis, Amy Jenniges, Scott Moore, Marjorie Skinner, and Alison Hallett

Tired of all the annoying annoyances you had to put up with in 2006? Well, instead of crying about it, we’ve come up with a simple solution: “HEY, TOP 19 ANNOYING THINGS OF 2006! YOU’RE NOT INVITED BACK!“ Non–Sexy Emails from Former Police Chief Derrick Foxworth Yeah, yeah. WE KNOW. It’s supposedly “morally repugnant” to […]

Posted inMovies & TV

Wide Awake and Still Annoying

An Egomaniacal Insomniac with a Videocamera
Avatar photo Chas Bowie

SURELY YOU ARE ACQUAINTED with someone so self-obsessed that they do little but complain about the state of their lives and nitpick every little problem they have until everyone around them wishes they would die in a flaming catastrophe of self-pity and narcissism. Well, if for some reason you just can’t get enough of that […]

Posted inMovies & TV

Murakami of La Mancha

Volver: Almodóvar on Ghosts and Mojitos
Avatar photo Chas Bowie

FEW DIRECTORS inject their films with as much guilt-free pleasure as Pedro Almodóvar. From his arresting use of color, to the nuanced and exuberant performances he coaxes out of actors, to his use of music, to his engrossing scripts, with their dashes of magical realism and Spanish melodrama, Almodóvar’s movies possess a distinct capacity to […]

Posted inBooks

Art and Design Books

Avatar photo Chas Bowie

The New York Times recently announced its favorite books of the year—first naming 100, and then whittling it down to their top 10 books of the year in both the fiction and nonfiction categories. There was, unsurprisingly, no mention of the paper’s favorite art or coffee-table books (although they’ll get their own smaller article soon […]

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