In Following the Equator, Mark Twain wrote:“In America the ice-storm is an event. And it is not an event which one is careless about. When it comes, the news flies from room to room in the house, there are bangings on the doors, and shoutings, ‘The ice-storm! the ice-storm!’ and even the laziest sleepers throw off the covers and join the rush for the windows.” Yesterday, we had the latter day equivalent, with television......

Every Monday night music nerds come to Pianos for an evening of trivia. Todd Satterfield is the man behind the questions, hosting three rounds that will make you wish you didn't kill so many brain cells at those rock shows. Garner all your knowledge and head over there tonight to get schooled by the authority on all things rock and/or roll. How did Smartass Rock Trivia begin? SmartAss began in 2004 one night as I......

A look at some noteworthy programs this week: Mystery: Foyle’s War: Invasion (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., WNET 13, Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., WLIW 21) The fourth series of this great British World War II period mystery drama makes its way to this side of the pond. The first of four episodes has Detective Foyle and his team investigation a murder on an American base. The 4400 (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., USA) This sci-fi series about people who were......

THEATER: There’s a growing cultural phenomenon in Japan called hikikomori, in which young people (as many as 1 million) withdraw into their rooms and refuse any contact with the outside world, sometimes for years. (In America, it’s called adolescence.) The Attic, by acclaimed Japanese playwright Yoji Sakate, is about “a mysterious company that sells tiny ‘attics’ over the internet to people who want to withdraw from society. One man embarks on a quest to find......

Ah, the end of the year is upon us...and that means one thing: end of the year lists. Information Leafblower is a little ahead of the game and has posted his fourth annual "Top 40 Bands In America (As Voted On By A Bunch Of Effing Music Bloggers That Only Listen To Cooler Than You Guitar Based Indie Rock And Not Much Else)" list. You can get the full list here. New York bands TV......

Merguez is the hot dog of Morocco. In fact, this spicy lamb sausage may be nudging out couscous as the dish most associated with this North African country of so many culinary delights. In America, you find merguez most often at trendy restaurants, but in Morocco it's a more casual treat you can get on the street. It's also all over Paris, where it joins paté and jambon as standard sandwich fillings. But if you......

Sometimes we get a kick out of strange criminal activities. Especially when they remind us of pop culture references that we hadn't thought of for a while. For instance, when we got to A Sugar-Plumb Stupid Theft in today's Post the first thing, and for a few moments only thing, that came to our mind was the immortal words of Homer Simpson: "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then......

Another week, another slew of new releases available for our viewing pressure. If you've been watching TV regularly, you might think that Rent, Walk the Line or Aeon Flux are all coming out tomorrow, but no. Still, there's plenty to see such as the adaptation of Myla Goldberg's novel Bee Season; Kiera Knightly taking on Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice; and although we might not otherwise be too excited for Zathura, our interest is......

Alexander Perls, Songwriter and Vocal Producer...

A young woman, with famous director father, is nominated for an Oscar...no, it's not Sofia Coppola, it's Kirsten Sheridan who, along with sister Naomi and father Jim, was nominated for writing In America's screenplay. In America, one of the loveliest films from last year, was directed by Jim Sheridan, and the Independent has Kirsten's very sweet Oscar diary. At a pre-Oscar party, she sees Sofia Coppola: I see Sofia. I have to admit that......

Yay for surprises. The announcement of the 76th Academy Awards nominations were not the snoozefest we thought they would be, thanks to some shockers. Some thoughts on the categories: Best Actress Keisha Castle Hughes, youngest lead acting nominee ever, for Whale Rider; the film has been criticized for being heavy on cliche, but many films are (Lord of the Rings, for instance, though epic, is part of the adventure tradition) - it's the acting,......

Taking shilling to a new level (low is to be debated), Havery Weinstein and Jim Sheridan have phoned members of the Golden Globe voting Hollywood Foreign Press Association to tell them about their films. The Times says that when Miramax head Weinstein called a member ("This is Harvey Weinstein"), the member said, "I loved the movie," then Weinstein replied, "Oh," and hung up the phone. Miramax says Weinstein was checking to make sure members got......

The new Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father) film, In America, just won the AFI Fest's Best Picture award. In America is about an Irish family who move to a rundown New York City apartment to restart their life. Even though the trailer seemed a bit mawkish (adorable Irish kids befriending their black neighbor or asking what transvestites are), the presence of Samantha Morton and Paddy Considine, as well as......

The movie studios are adding blogging to their marketing repertoire: Fox Searchlight Pictures has started it's own blog, foxsearchlight.blogspot.com, to "join this online phenomena" plus innundate people with information about screenings, box office data, interviews, articles in which their releases are mentioned, etc., etc. Part of what's helpful in driving traffic to the blog is the fact that the releases Fox Searchlight has out there right now are actually good, like 28 Days Later and......

Dateline, Hong Kong Certain cultures take honorifics very seriously, and the Chinese are no exception. In America, you'll refer to your maternal and paternal grandparents "Grandmother" and "Grandfather" or some variation at your discretion, but the titles can apply to both maternal and paternal sets. Whereas in Chinese, there are specifc grandmother/grandfather terms for the maternal side and for the paternal side. There are also special terms for older brother, younger sister, youngest cousin, and......