PORTLAND

GNU and the free-software movement

You may not know it, but the free-software movement has changed your life
You use Firefox for Web browsing. You know it's a free Web browser that's safe, quick, and has all kinds of add-on modules (there are thousands of these — for chatting, bookmark management, social networking, image-processing, and even federal court-file browsing — at addons.mozilla.org ). It has frequent updates to fix bugs, and every new version seems to find a new cool way to make the Web easier.

By JEFF INGLIS | December 16, 2009

Hope springs Eternal Otter

Sibilance
The latest scuttlebutt on Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Ray Lamontagne, and more.

By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | December 16, 2009

Various Artists | Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat & Bossa Nova 1966–1970

Domino (2009)
Girl-group records are great and everything, yet the countless compilations out there were becoming a little hit-or-miss until 2005, when the great Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found box set finally gave this diverse genre a proper taxonomy.

By JONATHAN DONALDSON | December 16, 2009

Various Artists | Where the Action Is: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965 - 1968

Rhino (2009)
More than three years in the making, the most recent installment of Rhino's legendary archival garage-rock series offers an amazingly comprehensive excavation of an absurdly fertile scene.

By MIKE MILIARD | December 16, 2009

Review: Did You Hear About the Morgans?

If not, it'll sound familiar pretty quickly
Just in time to round out my Ten Worst Films list comes this witless and excruciating rom-com from Marc Lawrence ( Miss Congeniality ). If you haven't heard about the Morgans, their story will sound familiar pretty quickly

By PETER KEOUGH | December 16, 2009

Happy Solstice 2009

Hoopleville
December 21, the first day of winter

By DAVID KISH | December 16, 2009

What would Joan do?

Gifts to show off your taste
In the pilot episode of AMC's Mad Men , Peggy Olson told Joan Holloway: "I'm from Bay Ridge. We have manners."

By DEIRDRE FULTON + CLEA SIMON | December 09, 2009

The Shapes of things

Pete Kilpatrick's new wintry Sounds
The first song on the Pete Kilpatrick Band's new Shapes and Sounds EP might be called "Dear July," but the five-song work is clearly an ode to winter, to its delicious melancholy and the joys of finding cozy corners in overheated bars or naked bodies under six or seven blankets.

By SAM PFEIFLE | December 09, 2009

Seven up

The new sounds of Sly-Chi
Because Sly-Chi are so versatile, and can adopt any number of danceable skins, there can be a tendency to read their individual songs in great chunks, like sentences we've read a hundred times.

By SAM PFEIFLE | December 09, 2009

Christmas Prelude Candlelight Caroling

Music Seen
At the Franciscan Monastery, Kennebunk, December 5

By BRIDGET M. BURNS | December 09, 2009

Keep up with the Mad Men

A whiskey primer to get you in the door
Don Draper and his ad men swig whiskey all day like it's no thing, but some of you daintier folk may think scotch and bourbon are too harsh.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 09, 2009

Local love

Acorn keeps the spotlight on Maine playwrights
For nearly a decade, Acorn Productions has been staging world-premiere works of playwrights who live right here among us.

By MEGAN GRUMBLING | December 09, 2009

Looking DuBack

Insight and retrospect at the PMA
Looking backward, history seems a whole lot more orderly than it does while you're living it.

By KEN GREENLEAF | December 09, 2009

Can we have class dismissed?

Diverse City
What, you might ask, does Ahmed Hussein Ismail, the alleged gun-toting robber mistakenly let out of jail in Portland, have in common with Tareq and Michaele Salahi, alleged White House party-crashers?

By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | December 09, 2009

Tests of time

Don't let old standbys drop off the radar
It feels like every week I read about a new restaurant opening in Portland.

By LEISCHEN STELTER | December 09, 2009

Give and learn

Instructional gifts are a joy for the giver and receiver alike
We shudder to repeat the clichéd adage about teaching a man to fish . . . But it's true that education offers deep rewards — ones that last longer, in many cases, than physical items.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 09, 2009

Two turtle doves

Sometimes the best gifts come in pairs
Like a mug of hot cocoa after an afternoon of sledding, sometimes a good Christmas gift isn't quite complete without a second one that enhances the pleasures of the first.

By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | December 09, 2009

Conquer the cold

Banish winter blahs with energizing outdoor fun
Any New Englander worth his salted cod knows that the key to beating seasonal hibernation-induced depression is adherence to one simple motto: Leave The House.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 09, 2009

Virtue and vice

The Maine Clean Election Act plays the errant-strumpet trumpet
The problem with being virtuous (or so I'm told) is that it has almost nothing to do with actual virtue.

By AL DIAMON | December 09, 2009

Time to end tolerance

Letters to the Portland Editor, December 11, 2009
I'd like you to think about something. Ever seen the bumper sticker: "Intolerance will not be tolerated"?

By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | December 09, 2009