The Stranger

In its fourth year, Carousel Festival continues to celebrate the DIY side of the local music scene with three days of music packed into a variety of off-the-beaten-path venues. Dozens of bands are playing, but don't miss the Pica Beats on Friday, Helms Alee tonight, or the spooky and raucous Feral Children and the childlike-voiced singer-songwriter Whitney Ballen on Sunday. (Aug 28–30, www.myspace.com/carouselfestival. Three-day pass $17/one-day pass $8/individual shows $5, all ages.) by Megan Seling

Link  |  Post Comment (1)

Everything you love and hate about Quentin Tarantino films finds a home in his cartoon Nazi thriller Inglourious Basterds: the colorful prattle, the insistent thrills, the horrifying violence, and the long, boring conversations you're manipulated into paying close attention to because at any moment somebody might blow somebody's face off. Most interesting is how the film beckons to the pulpy auteur's detractors: If anything is likely to lure those repulsed by the violence of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Death Proof into an even fleeting hunger for blood, it's the possibility of watching Hitler and his minions get theirs. (See Movie Times: thestranger.com/film.) by David Schmader

Link  |  Post Comment (8)

"If I could draw like her, I wouldn't collaborate," Ben Beres (of the trio SuttonBeresCuller) said of the artist Toshi Asai, who happens to be his wife. Beres has a notable solo career, but point taken: Asai has chops. I like it best when she doesn't show them off but lets her talent be dragged around instead by what appears to be a possessed pencil. The results involve roosters under chandeliers in jungles. (Joe Bar, 810 E Roy St, 324-0407. 7:30 am–9:30 pm, free.) by Jen Graves

Link  |  Post Comment (3)

In 1996, the Taliban (dicks) made dancing and singing and television illegal in Afghanistan. The restrictions were lifted in 2004, and the Afghan people are now officially bonkers for Afghan Star, a televised talent competition à la American Idol. But unlike our version, which is mostly about narcissistic closet cases and Paula Abdul's pill drool, Afghan Star actually means something in such an ethnically fractionated and democratically starved nation. "The people vote for their favorite star by mobile phone. For many young people, this is the first time they have encountered democracy," says one producer. "This might affect Afghanistan's national unity for the long term." Media is important. (See Movie Times: thestranger.com/film

Link  |  Post Comment (0)

What you must enjoy in this film is the art of pacing. There are other pleasures to be had (Paul Giamatti's comic timing, Dickon Hinchliffe's floating score, Andrij Parekh's dreamy cinematography), but none surpasses the film's elegant and exquisitely casual pace. It moves at just the right speed for the kind of fantastic story it has to tell: An actor puts his soul into storage so that he can feel less internal conflict. The best moment: Giamatti smoking on a balcony as the sun sets on New York City. (Full disclosure: I once helped develop a script for Giamatti's production company. The project is still up in the air.) (See Movie Times: thestranger.com/film

Link  |  Post Comment (3)