With a poster tagline that reads “He’ll Totally F**king Beat Evil”, viewers know they’re in for a wild ride with the latest from “Slither” director James Gunn. Starring Rainn Wilson (Dwight of “The Office”), the film follows an everyday guy who transforms into a superhero known as Crimson Bolt in an attempt to save his wife from the grasp of the town drug dealer. Ellen Page (“Juno”, “Inception”), Liv Tyler and Kevin Bacon are on board for this kooky comedy. Last we saw James Gunn, he was still stinging from the disappointing box office of his previous film “Slither...
The bizarre Belgian alternative metal band Cloon is releasing their debut album “Mostly Harmless” soon. Cloon’s abnormal style probably won’t appeal to a mainstream audience but they’ll probably find the right crowd among fans of odd, quirky metal. They have a bit of the Alex Harvey band’s jazzy funk rock, Green Jello’s dark comedic metal and Tom Morello’s off-the-wall guitar solos. The album has a few disturbing moments, though. In the song “Halftooth” a reporter calls a woman and asks a series of disturbing questions about her recently dead son. The questions range f...
There are kids’ movies and there are grown-up movies, and then there are movies that give a wink and a nudge to both. Pixar is a genius at executing this balancing act, consistently turning out films that can send kids into fits of laughter and be translated easily into a video game while still creating complex, wrenching emotion or slyly including an innuendo or two. It’s not easy, but when it’s done right, it’s a work of art. This is, happily, the category where “Rango” — incidentally, a Nickelodeon movie, not Pixar — finds itself: with its boots firmly planted in two terr...
There’s something almost comforting about the cyclical nature of popular culture. Audiences seem willing to stomach only so much innocuous nothingness before they’re primed to savagely tear it down, clearing the way for a few innovators to fill that long-coming void. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, that’s exactly what a groundswell of U.K. punk did, putting bands like Kansas and Yes’s 40-minute drums solos out of their bloated misery and skullfucking the corpse. The Subhumans, currently on tour and playing at the Grog Shop April 9, were part of that groundswell, and Buzzbin recent...
The first official dud of the Cleveland International Film Festival comes in the form of “2030 – Revolt of the Young”, an attempt at taking a closer look at the decline in the economy and the future of youth today. The film aims to make some type of point, though, fails miserably in the process. “2030” is a science-fiction drama set 20 years into the future where health care is all but destroyed and the mysterious death of reality television star Tim Burdenski may be the key to uncovering the secrets within. The film attempts to create a hybrid of documentary and narrative-thrille...
Music is one of the easiest ways we bond. Whether it’s enjoying the same song, band or artist or singing and performing, music is one of the easiest methods of breaking the ice. In the autotuned world of current music, packed with techno beats and deejays spinning, we tend to forget that music begins as just sound. So clap your hands. Stomp your feet. Get a friend to bounce a basketball. Have your neighbor whistle. Put all these sounds together and you have the fundamentals of STOMP, the amazing musical sensation coming to Playhouse Square March 18. STOMP was created in the United Kin...
“Dude, where’s my jetpack?” I loved this T-shirt when it made its debut (threadless?) a few years ago. It appears to be based on an article in Discovery magazine from 2007, where the authors had the revelation, that, in fact, the future was here and it sucked. Flying cars? Nope. Jetpack? Nope. Aliens? Nope (well, microbes, maybe, whatevs). Warp speed? Nope. Lightsabers? Nope. Nada. All we get is some news analyst tool rubbing his smartboard on CNN, or the lurking dread of someone trying to instant chat you on Facebook. My first reaction to the realization that technology is actually...
The original Dead Space did strange things to me. It was creepy, addicting and fun. Also unsettling. Oh, and unnerving. And creepy again. In fact, just grab a thesaurus and look up scary; that’ll give you a good general idea of how I felt playing. Remember when Wendy was running through the hotel to get away from Jack towards the end of “The Shining”? Around every turn she saw something stranger? Well, Isaac Clarke is Wendy, the USG Ishimura is the hotel, Jack are the necromorphs and the strange shit around every corner is strange shit around every corner. It’s everything you could ...
1. How would you describe your style? Bright, colorful, eclectic, bohemian and comfortable! 2. Where’s your favorite place to shop? Sales! I cannot remember the last time I paid full price for anything! I always start at Gabriel Brothers — you never know what treasures you’ll find there. I also do a lot of online shopping (etsy.com and target.com). It’s a fine line of buying versatile plain pieces that mix well with the tie-dyed heels and leopard-print coat. 3. Tell us about the dreads. How long have you had them? What made you decide to get them? Ever since I was a te...
The NFL draft has become an event unto itself. What used to be just a day to wake up early and go to the bar and then to the earliest-opening strip club (that’s how it’s meant to be done) has become a three-day spectacle of the NFL’s stars-to-be. Let’s not lose focus, though. The NFL draft is more than broken-down whores and drinking excessively. Much more. Draft day is about the future of America’s game. The future of American sport culture. The names we hear on draft day become the characters in the legends come Monday morning all across this shinning land mass. From New York’...
Those astounding Scots are back with their seventh studio full length and first on Sub Pop Records. After leaving their longtime home of Matador Records late last year, many expected a different sound for the boys of Mogwai and “Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will” is exactly the swift kick in the ass fans were hoping for after the tamed down though still enjoyable “The Hawk is Howling” released nearly three years ago. “Hardcore” brings back the melodically beautiful and hard-hitting sounds that the band represented in previous records such as “Rock Action” and “Mr. Beast...
The Dream Cake Factory specializes in custom cake and cupcake designs and uses all-natural ingredients. Cleveland natives Jason Bibb and Toi Dickson began the business in 2009 and established locations in Cleveland and Atlanta, Ga. — Dickson with a background in professional baking and Bibb with experience in art and design. The duo also oversees Race Cakes, a mobile racing event bakery. Red Velvet Romance Cupcakes Makes 36 Ingredients: 2 ½ c, cake flour, sifted (not self-rising) 2 T. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted 1 tsp. salt 1 ½ c. sugar 1 ...
Beginning with any specific part of Kid Congo Powers’ career serves only to leave out huge chunks. There’s not a specific moment in time, or even a single project, that would define his contribution to underground rock over the last 30 years. He’s just been around — in and out of bands at will, leaving behind a recorded history touching on updated blues from the Gun Club, trashy rockabilly cum psych revulsion with the Cramps and eventually Nick Cave’s steely appropriations with his assorted Bad Seeds. Lauding one of those gigs over the others is pretty pointless, too. Each marked ...
You’ve got to love Ezio Auditore da Firenze. An Italian ladies’ man born into a wealthy family of deadly assassins involved in an unseen Texas death match with the Knights Templar. A smooth killer, feared fighter and dangerous leader, Ezio is the Renaissance 007. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is the newest installment into Ezio’s life and times, and Ubisoft is really picking up steam. Brotherhood picks up the story right where AC2 ended, right after Minerva (yes, THAT Roman goddess of wisdom) finishes her long, winding diatribe against our buddy, the Sun. Which, of course, follo...
When people used to think about Akron — well, they didn’t. On that rare occasion that they did consider it, the images it inspired were usually of burned-out factories, empty storefronts, the echoes of a city that almost was in some distant past. And, back in September of 2005, when DeAnna Akers and Aaron Hervey opened Crave restaurant at the intersection of East Market and High, burned-out factories and empty storefronts pretty much summed up the state of the neighborhood. “There was literally nothing. Gray space. Empty buildings,” says Akers, Crave’s co-executive chef and co-...
