Overrated / Underrated 2012: The ups and downs
A buzzed-about documentary from this year, this story of the Chinese artist-activist exposed the passion that’s made
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Like a visual Twitter for shutterbugs, the photo app has earned a big enough profile to be referenced on
: As we head into next year, keep an eye on cable companies as the call for a la carte television steadily grows louder. Internet options such as
Prepare yourselves: The cloud is here. And while it’s intoxicating to consider the shelf space that can be liberated with all our favorite music floating in some nebulous hard drive over our heads, is there any substitute for buying something and savoring it? As convenient as media has become to find and consume, it’s worth remembering to appreciate these things as well. (Troy Maben / AP)
Maybe the most hummable train wreck on TV, this heir to the
The world of TV comedy is a land of low expectations, but this newcomer from the producer of “The New Girl” has enough promise to encourage optimism. Its premise of mismatched siblings raising a kid may not be the freshest, but it makes up for it in execution, starting with an agreeably goofy cast rounded out by the charmingly goofy
A somewhat baffling approach to TV viewing, this idea has surfaced in a number of publications showing people are actively watching shows they do not like. “The Newsroom,” “Smash” and the recent
The field of jazz banjo is fairly narrow, and even though Fleck has long flirted with fusion in his recordings, this pairing with a band that includes pianist Marcus Roberts and drummer Jason Marsalis finally brings his seemingly unconventional leanings into focus. The aptly named album “Across the Imaginary Divide” is intricate and joyfully swung, and the group’s stop at Catalina this week should be equally sharp. (Brian Tietz / AP)
The latest Bond installment is raking in the cash with its mature themes and another impeccably tailored turn from the granite-faced Daniel Craig. But connoisseurs know that any action movie is only as good as its villain, and that’s what makes Bardem’s turn as the twisted Silva all the more vital. Giggling and flirting through every scene, Bardem unveils a new, fun wrinkle to his bad-guy arsenal, first honed in “No Country for Old Men.” (Francois Duhamel / AP)
This gorgeous singer is a tabloid force of nature (particularly through the lens of the ongoing saga with her controversy-courting ex-boyfriend/assailant, Chris Brown), and her constant media presence would be a lot easier to take if there were interesting music left in its wake. But all we have is icily overproduced, mostly generic pop that’s indistinguishable from much of the pop charts, and no amount of significance read into its depressing backstory adds any depth. (Charles Sykes / Invision / AP)
Just look at this band’s name. Isn’t it adorable in its preference for lower-case letters and a matter-of-fact period at the end? But despite impressive sales for the album “Some Nights,” the typographically humble group is just being honest there’s just not much reason for excitement in the band’s melodramatic melodies and yelping, electro-tweaked vocals from Nate Ruess (formerly of the Format). May we suggest a new grammatical flourish, such as “Fun?” (Stuart Wilson / Getty Images)
Other than its Portland, Ore., setting, there¿s not much to differentiate this NBC show from the raft of supernatural-leaning shows that hit the airwaves in the post-”Harry Potter” era. But Weir Mitchell stands head and shoulders above his costars and his show’s middling special effects as the dryly sensitive Monroe, a reluctant werewolf who whiles away his time among adventures as a foodie, cellist and cozy sweater enthusiast. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
As Usher and even Justin Bieber have proved, the world needs young singers to step into Michael Jackson’s shoes as princes of pop. And despite a promotional push that included a puzzling (and not very funny) double-dip into hosting and performing as musical guest on “Saturday Night Live,” there just doesn¿t seem to be much new to be heard from Mars. Is it a good sign when an “American Idol” cover of his “Runaway Baby” outshines the original? (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
Though occasionally compared with Beck early in her career for her dalliances with electronics, Orton’s latest album is a purely organic affair. Backed by a crack yet understated band that includes drummer Brian Blade and guitarist Marc Ribot, the breathy-voiced Orton turns to elements of vintage British folk for a sunlit, woodsy collection buoyed by gentle guitar and strings that sound richly bittersweet any time of year. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
Despite glowing reviews and a killer cast, “Seven Psychopaths” still underperformed at the box office, and maybe writer-director McDonagh is partly to blame for being just too difficult to sum up in a trailer. A twisted, self-aware blast led by a witty Colin Farrell, “Seven Psychopaths” is sharp enough to earn McDonagh another screenwriting Oscar nod, but he keeps being presented as something akin to an Irish Tarantino. He’s so much more. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
It’s been proven with the success of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” that there’s money to be made with this former horror fringe-dweller, but we’ve reached a saturation point. This Halloween has seen a number of local zombie-themed events, and a counter-terrorism event in San Diego even hosted a zombie drill, which makes almost as much sense as an Easter Bunny hunt. Can Hollywood get back to run-of-the-mill maniacs with axes soon, please? (Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images)
Now that smartphones have made great strides in capturing the freakishly famous on video, footage is readily available anytime someone gets a little green in public. First Justin Bieber learned the dangers of dairy last month, and now Lady Gaga had a digestive incident of her own onstage in Spain. We just need a third incident and it’s a trend: Getting sick will officially replace the sex tape as the new low-budget career boost. (Ian Gavan / Getty Images)
The Garden State’s been the butt of jokes for years, but now the pop culture pendulum has swung the other way. It’s not that shows like the mercifully cancelled “Made in Jersey” and its predecessors “Jersey Shore” and “Real Housewives of New Jersey” give the state an inflated sense of self (New Yorkers will surely ensure that doesn’t happen), it’s that an overabundance of Jersey unfairly prevents so many other states from branding themselves with annoying stereotypes too. (Matt Sayles / AP)
After a 2011 that found him releasing three eclectic albums, trumpeter Douglas looked inward with his latest, a recording dedicated to his late mother. A lush collection of hymnals and elegies reworked into widescreen jazz, “Be Still” is highlighted by the crystalline,
With rustic harmonies and rousing melodies, all the ingredients are in place for this nouveau-folk band to win over the hardest musical heart. So why do so many of this U.K. band’s pleasant songs fade into the background? Maybe it’s the overabundance of breezily sincere emoting from leader Marcus Mumford or the inescapable feeling that all the earnestness in the world can’t overcome the sense this music isn’t saying anything new. (Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images for Guinness)
In the Internet era, pop culture topics seemingly exist on two settings: invisible or inescapable. The latest beneficiary is Psy, the amusingly self-effacing Korean rapper behind “Gangnam Style,” a techno-pop trifle/dance craze that went from
It’s easy to rack up genres in attempting to describe this Berkeley-based ensemble. Chamber-gypsy-jazz-folk? Sure, let’s start there, but the group’s latest album, “The Rain Is a Handsome Animal,” adds poetry to the mix with lyrics taken from the works of
By the time you read this sentence, it’s possible that this film brought to you by the “marketing visionary” behind the Teletubbies will already have disappeared from theaters. Here’s a tip for future visionaries: Don’t bring up the fact that your movie was made in the spirit of selling consumers something. Even though that tends to be true most of the time, at least have the courtesy to pretend it’s not on billboards. (Matthew Mitchell / Associated Press)
Some might best remember this song as the soundtrack for a twitchy Ray Liotta near the end of “Goodfellas,” but it made a welcome recent cameo in the excellent LCD Soundsystem documentary
With a new album due this week, this Baltimore-born group satisfies a key requirement for being an indie rock heir to the Grateful Dead by being utterly baffling to those who aren’t onboard. With the group’s signature mix of swirling
Given the overabundance of travel shows mutating and reproducing on TV, maybe it’s fitting that the most unique of the bunch exists only online. Levitch will sound familiar if you caught his starry-eyed turn in
You might remember Cherry as creator of the nearly inescapable “Buffalo Stance” back in the ‘80s, but a better reference point for her latest work is fiery jazz trumpeter Don Cherry (her stepfather). A ferocious mix of Neneh Cherry’s soulful vocals and powerful European free-jazz combo the Thing, this project mixes original music and songs by the Stooges,
Is it fair to knock a film if it seems already aware of its own inessentialness? Even this movie’s name admits to its own disposability, but for all the fleeting thrills that came from seeing Hollywood invent an action hero retirement plan on the fly with this movie’s first, it’s hard to imagine there’s more fertile ground to be tilled asking these vintage actors to return in all their alarmingly fit glory. On the bright side, it seems to keep everybody involved from running for office. (Frank Masi / Associated Press)
Beloved by a generation for extolling the virtues of “Girl Power” (as long as that power included small outfits and five distinct personality types), Sporty, Scary, Ginger, Daffy and Sneezy (or however they’re known) were back in the spotlight during the scattershot closing ceremony of the London Olympics. Now before things get out of hand, please leave us to today’s pop stars who seem only preoccupied with making boys call them — wait, is this progress? (Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images)
What were the odds that this frontman for Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker would become such an advocate for the modern musician? In two well-considered posts that went viral online, Lowery first broke down the harsh realities of the new music industry, then took a young NPR intern to task for bragging about not paying for music. Whether you agree with Lowery or not, he’s doing important work in furthering the conversation. (Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)
< Every summer brings one song that requires a frozen poker to the eardrum to escape, and 2012’s is this brain-infesting confection from Carly Rae Jepsen (pictured), which for some reason inspired a whole raft of musicians and celebrities to make a cover video in response. Although one involving the Roots and