Thank You Lord (for Kasey Chambers)

For an Aussie lassie, Kasey Chambers understands the heartache hidden in country music — you can hear it in her voice, a tearing, weary note that streaks through every song. I first heard her in a crowded bar, a CD played as background to a room full of conversation. It doesn’t happen very often where I hear something that just blocks out everything else, that leaves me having to interrupt people to say, “What the hell is this?” I remember hearing Elmore James in a similar situation, but it was the guitar and voice combination. This was just a sweet …

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Movie Review: The Strangers

2008. Starring Scott Speedman, Liv Tyler. Directed by Bryan Bertino. When I was an impressionable kid, I heard about a couple who were friends of some friends of a friend of mine who had been out parking on some country road when they ran out of gas. Being that it was late, and cold, the boy offered to walk back to town and get help, while the girl lay down to sleep, making the best of an inconvenient situation. She woke up hours later to the sound of a gentle scraping, back and forth on the car’s roof. It crossed …

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Movie Review: Near Dark

1987. Starring Jenny Wright, Adrian Pasdar. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. On some level in nearly every vampire movie, you are expected to feel a little sorry for the monster. Trapped for eternity (or until some horrible ritualistic death frees them to an unclear afterlife) as a parasite who robs others of life, damned to a solitary, fugitive existence, the vampire seems to be deserve the stake that eventually awaits him. They are pale, hungry, dirty and doomed. Except for when they’re doing something horrific, they seem kind of pathetic. But what about those unfortunate victims of the vampires who are …

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Elsewhere Online: Travels with Barack

Here are some fantastic photos of Barack Obama along the campaign trail taken by Time photographer Callie Shell. Besides the nice, simple navigation at the bottom of the page that allows you to load several photos at a time, this is a rare behind-the-scenes look at a rare man. It’s exciting to think that, in a few weeks, he’ll begin to bring this country and its divided people together. The Digital Journalist: Callie Shell

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Country Music Reclamation Project: After the Ball

After The Ball was the first “platinum” single in history, selling more than two million copies of its sheet music in 1892. At its heart is a misunderstanding and the bitter regret of someone who was too hurt and stubborn to accept an explanation, which probably accounted for its melodramatic appeal. (When the Louvin Brothers wrote and recorded “I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby,” they at least let the jealous guy off by explaining the brother-sister relationship while still at the dance.) I love the Blue Sky Boys version of the song, recorded live in 1964 and released on …

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Elsewhere Online: Cute Overload

I’m confident enough in my masculinity to admit that I love Cute Overload. This is what blogging is about: the unabashed obsession digitized. Soon, every photo or video of an animal (preferably a baby animal) being cute will be documented here. And the site has been responsible for several new words that deserve consideration in the English language: snorgle, prosh, puppitude. If you worry at all about your manliness taking a hit while oohing and aaaawwwwwing over the baby chicks and sleeping kitties, there’s always the Cats ‘n Racks link. In its own vernacular, Cute Overload is redonkulous. Link: http://www.cuteoverload.com/

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Movie Review: The Vanishing

1988. Starring Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steeges, Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu. Directed by George Sluizer. What has always been frightening to me has been the unknown. Things that happen in full daylight that can’t easily be explained, someone acting just out of the ordinary, a change slight enough that would surprise you if you weren’t paying attention. That may be why The Vanishing is such a haunting film for me. The story begins as a Dutch couple is driving through France on their way to a holiday. It’s clear that their relationship is complex — they laugh, tease each other, kiss, argue. …

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