Getting arrested a few weeks ago has thrown Fiona Apple back into the limelight, a place she seems to occupy uneasily. Apple's music is tremendously candid, and her songs are a direct look into her messy and chaotic sense of being. Her current single, "Every Single Night," exemplifies how Apple is able to put all of her feelings and her mental outlook onto every record she makes.
What would you do to protect your loved ones and keep them out of harm's way? Dr. Grace Devlin (JordanaSpiro) answer is "anything," despite her debt to the Chicago mafia. The show's writers, however, do little to ensure the success of FOX's new crime drama, "The Mob Doctor," as they indulge every mob cliche and trite familial stereotype known to television.
Late Saturday night in a fully packed room at the Somerville Theater, Judah Friedlander performed a 50?minute set to a raucous crowd ready to be entertained, insulted and, most importantly, educated in how great Judah Friedlander is.
Why yes, it does. Dolce and Gabbana, purveyor of global luxury and all things sexy, showed its Spring 2013 collection last week in Milan. The collection was very much in the same vein as what the design team showed last spring, which was Sicilian?inspired with hot peppers printed on full skirts and fashioned into plastic earrings. Only this time, instead of a tongue?in?cheek print of a vegetable, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana designed a collection with a colonial theme, complete with heavy Blackamoor imagery on the prints and plastic Blackamoor figurines for earrings. The sheer black ribbon dresses in the finale were kitsch and decidedly sexy. They were also unabashedly and blatantly racist.
The future of fashion returned to Boston during the fifth annual Emerging Trends 2012 fashion show for Boston Fashion Week on Saturday. Produced by The SYNERGY Events at The Cyclorama for the Boston Center for the Arts, the evening brought together 12 designers, each of whom presented a fresh take on the upcoming season's trends. The designers who descended on Boston came from all across the globe, including Ireland, Poland and South Korea.
"No one ever feels like an adult," an old professor quips halfway through "Liberal Arts," writer?director?actor Josh Radnor's sophomore effort. This sentiment reflects the film's central worry: that growing up is a sham and we are eternally trapped in the roller coaster of youth. An introspective and charming film, "Liberal Arts" captures the emotional experience of college with refreshing sincerity.
Timeflies: The music duo bring "The One Night Tour" to Boston, with support from opener Leah LaBelle. The group, consisting of Tufts alumni Rob Resnick and Cal Shapiro, released their mixtape, "Under the Influence," this past summer. Tonight at 7 p.m. at House of Blues Boston. Tickets cost $37.05 on Livenation.com. The ICA Presents: An Evening of Recent Films by the Quay Brothers: Swing by the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston (ICA) to check out two animated films by filmmaker brothers Stephen and Timothy Quay: "Mask" (2010) and "Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting" (2011). Saturday at 7 p.m. at the ICA, 100 Northern Ave, Boston. Student tickets are $8 and can be purchased at www.icaboston.org.
Where else but Tufts could you simultaneously be in one group that focuses on Scottish folk songs and one that primarily performs a cappella R&B? Kevin Thomas, a junior, is involved in both the Chamber Singers and S?Factor. He has been singing since ninth grade.
Like most Ryan Murphy productions, "The New Normal" tries to cover a lot of ground in a small space. Sometimes it works and all the various characters and plotlines blend together well. But other times, the show just seems like a series of missteps.
For anyone concerned with the increasingly institutionalized, curatorial nature of contemporary jazz, pianist Brad Mehldau's latest album, "Where Do You Start," is a welcome breath of fresh air. As many contemporary jazz albums lean towards either hyper?esoteric technical accomplishment or nostalgic reiterations of past trends, Mehldau seems to be doing something altogether different.
In indie rock, Grizzly Bear may occupy a space entirely its own, but the Brooklyn band and its career trajectory is starting to look an awful lot like Arcade Fire's two years earlier. Both groups' first official albums - I'm going to disregard Grizzly Bear's "Horn of Plenty" (2004) since it was mainly an Ed Droste solo effort - "Yellow House" (2006) and "Funeral" (2004), respectively, were stunning successes within the critical sphere and afforded the band's small but devoted fan bases.
In the interest of transparency, I believe I should be as upfront as possible about my feelings for this movie. "In the Name of the Father" (1993) is my favorite movie of all time. I think Jim Sheridan, who directed, co?wrote and produced this movie, is a creative genius. And I think - nay, I know - that Daniel Day?Lewis is the greatest actor working today. My introduction to Irish film, this movie occupies a special place in my heart.
