Citizen Kane or Vertigo, which is more fun? Now that Sight & Sound’s decadal critics poll has given the #1 spot to Vertigo, toppling Citizen Kane (to #2), it confirms that film culture as we used to know it has toppled as well. Citizen Kane held sway as the “Greatest Film Of All Time” for so long that a lot of people 
By John Goodrich Kusama moves beyond pop What kind of pop artist “does battle at the border of life and death”? Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929), who so described her art-making in 1961, suggests a Japanese Andy Warhol in terms of sheer energy, protean endeavors and fixation with publicity. But Warhol would never have professed such 
By Ben Kessler London-based musician Rod Thomas makes pop music under the name Bright Light Bright Light, which is, of course, the exclamation with which gentle mogwai Gizmo expresses his sensitivity to harsh illumination in the movie Gremlins. The name encapsulates the strengths of BLBL’s debut album Make Me Believe in Hope, which displays a very special 
By Elena Oumano BAM’s ‘Do the Reggae’ series explores music on screen Jamaican music came into its own in the early ’60s, thanks to the advent of cheap transistor radios and the country’s 1962 release from British rule. The island’s 2.7 million descendants of African captives could now tune in more easily to Miami, New 
NYPL brings back a moveable feast By Caroline Birenbaum It’s always fun to see how the palatial Gottesman Exhibition Hall at the New York Public Library is transformed by the nature of the material on view. This summer it has become a vast food hall, where the social history of the lunch hour is presented, 
Ballet music—one man’s evolution The older I get, the smarter, wiser and more talented Verdi becomes. Funny how it works that way. When I was about 15, Verdi was basically a purveyor of corny tunes accompanied by oompah-pah. How had he managed to compose that masterly requiem, amid those silly operas? These days, I stand 
By Elena Oumano The day after the Twin Towers fell, Jonathan Kuhn and his two young sons headed for the woodland solace of Central Park’s North End Ravine, where a lone man was catching crayfish in the stream. Nearly 12 years later, the director of arts & antiquities for NYC’s Parks Department walks several times 
By Steve Haske Every June, industry types and journalists converge in Los Angeles for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the big annual conference where console makers and developers have historically announced new hardware, innovations for current platforms and surprise tentpole titles. It comes at a price. Loud and neon-soaked, E3 is a garish playground of 
