PORTLAND

Review: Broken Embraces [Los Abrazos Rotos]

Broken promises: Pedro Almodóvar's open Embraces
No filmmaker generates narrative like Pedro Almodóvar. Five minutes into Broken Embraces and he's got half a dozen potential storylines spinning.

By PETER KEOUGH | December 22, 2009

Review: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

Ugh
In playing evil ex-Chipmunk-band manager Ian Hawke, comedian David Cross draws the Short Straw of Irony, being dealt the line "At least I still have my dignity."

By LANCE GOULD | December 22, 2009

Local luminaries’ picks

A sample of other best songs of the 2000s
I asked a bunch of people who really dig local music to help me make sure I wasn’t leaving any songs out when I was developing my list of the best 10 songs of the 2000s, but then I quickly realized that “best” is about as subjective as things come when you’re talking about songs.

By SAM PFEIFLE | December 22, 2009

Meet Santa

Hoopleville
He can't stop the violins, either

By DAVID KISH | December 22, 2009

Tilting at Windows

Software 'Saint' Richard Stallman fights for computing freedom — and against corporate control
Stallman — a legend in the programmer community for more than a quarter century — considers it his life's work to proselytize the free-software gospel, educating the lay people who'd otherwise assume that Microsoft or Apple are exclusively synonymous with computing.

By MIKE MILIARD | December 18, 2009

How is Obama doing?

Not as well as he thinks
In response to a question from Oprah Winfrey about how he would grade his time in office, President Barack Obama gave himself a "solid B-plus."

By EDITORIAL | December 16, 2009

Corrections disobeys another federal court order

Solitary Confinement
For decades, as it has with other court orders, the Maine Department of Corrections has apparently been breaching a 1973 federal court’s decree that forbids disciplinary solitary confinement at the Maine State Prison beyond 10 days for minor offenses, or 30 days for major ones.

By LANCE TAPLEY | December 16, 2009

Sexiest video-game studs of 2009

The cream of the crop
Video-game characters get more realistic all the time - and by more realistic, we mean sexier. This year offered a plethora of digital delights and graphical innovations, and although developers don't cater to their straight female and gay male audience nearly as much as they could, we still had no shortage of contenders for this list.

By MADDY MYERS | December 18, 2009

Review: Avatar

Machine dreams: James Cameron plays games
For someone who's determined to reduce all experience to mechanical reproduction, James Cameron sure hates machines.

By PETER KEOUGH | December 18, 2009

Holiday shorts

Dark Water's five-piece celebration
I have nothing against A Christmas Carol , but there's a lot of it out there right about now.

By MEGAN GRUMBLING | December 16, 2009

Crossing the line

Press Releases
When an increasingly conservative newspaper company fires an already publicly conservative employee for apparently offending a liberal interest group, it leaves some people scratching their heads.

By JEFF INGLIS | December 16, 2009

Christmas time travel

About Town
When I needed a bit of help getting into the holiday spirit last week, I decided to kill a bunch of birds and seek that seasonal boost while checking a Portland landmark off my list and getting a history lesson at the same time.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 16, 2009

Liquor madness

Booze restores Maine's financial liquidity
Raise your glasses and toast the financial genius who — without increasing taxes, cutting services or employing accounting gimmicks — solved Maine's budget crisis.

By AL DIAMON | December 16, 2009

Bolivian silpancho

A year-abroad-romance gets really good
The bus had been bumping over potholes through the night in the Andes mountains of Bolivia.

By LINDSAY STERLING | December 16, 2009

Abused by the system

Letters to the Portland Editor, December 18, 2009
It is a Godsend to read the article "Stopping Abuse," by Deirdre Fulton, in the October 16 issue. I personally have been dealing with abuse most of my life.

By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | December 16, 2009

Review: Soul Clap with Jonathan Toubin at SPACE

Music Seen
Soul Clap with Jonathan Toubin at SPACE Gallery, December 11

By SONYA TOMLINSON | December 16, 2009

Short-form Portland

The 10 best LPs and EPs of 2009
I can hear the snarky comments already: "What?!? Rustic Overtones put out an album this year and Pfeifle hasn't fallen all over himself naming it #1? The sky is green!" But this isn't 1999. It's 2009. And it isn't all that strange for a phenomenal album to hit Portland's city streets anymore.

By SAM PFEIFLE | December 16, 2009

Jack of all trades

Ken Greenleaf moves from the word to the walls
Ken Greenleaf is a pretty familiar name around here. His byline has accompanied art reviews for this paper and others dating back to the late '70s. Among other things, I have heard him touted as an "authority on modernism."

By ANNIE LARMON | December 16, 2009

Charlotte Hatherley | New Worlds

Minty Fresh (2009)
Charlotte Hatherley is to the 1990s as the Black Crowes are to the 1960s: not a revivalist, mind you, but a sympathizer — a careerist.

By ZETH LUNDY | December 16, 2009