Winter is a hard time for fashion. It’s cold, and we really want to stay in bed for those few extra Zs (even more than usual, I mean). This makes it all the more difficult to try and think of a cute outfit. The moment the temperatures drop outside is… Read more »

Stand-up comedian, “This American Life” contributor and now actor/director Mike Birbiglia has transformed his hilarious stand up routine into a feature film focusing lightheartedly on his own sleep disorder. And the subject has touched all of his media outlets in very different ways, each appropriate to its respective medium. In… Read more »

By the time the average person turns 70, they have spent about 3 years of their life waiting — for a red light, for a file to download or for food to be served. On Friday, I spent nearly four hours standing outside in the rain, waiting to win a… Read more »

A movie’s ending is not always its most important part. This is true not just in a cliché, journey-not-the-destination sort of way, but also in the way movies are consumed and the way they’re remembered. For every final scene that elevates a movie to jaw-dropping status — “Se7en,” say, or… Read more »

A few weeks ago, in February of this year, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said, of President Barrack Obama, “The president wants to unilaterally weaken the United States.” He continued, speaking to a group of students at Oral Roberts University, “We are in a world that is very dangerous. And… Read more »

In honor of Lit Week, I have a confession to make: I just cannot get on board with e-readers. Call me old-fashioned, but to me an e-book is about as satisfying as fat-free frozen yogurt — close, but just not as good as the real thing. Sure, you can have… Read more »

Imagine, for a moment, that the Academy Awards didn’t exist. And imagine, though this might be even more of a stretch, that no other awards show — real or imagined — popped up to fill what would admittedly be a gaping void in the entertainment capitalist complex. No premier red… Read more »

Camped out in the Herald office during the Super Bowl, my head jerked up when the familiar strains of Avicii’s “Levels” filled the room. By then I was used to hearing it in unexpected places, with the song being played to death by opening DJs and frat boys (and my… Read more »

Lights up and zoom in on our host, decked out in D.C. apparel. He’s squinting as if he’s slightly in pain, as if he knows what’s coming isn’t for his own good, the good of the studio audience or even the sparse population watching at home. And he’s right. When… Read more »

Saturday night, the Madison music scene left nothing to be desired. City residents had an inkling of what was coming weeks beforehand as flyers cropped up all over town — from the Majestic’s “Britney vs. Gaga” event to a three-part musical masterpiece at the Frequency with The Daredevil, Icarus Himself… Read more »

The best Christmas movie of our generation was made by two Jewish guys in 1994 and is centered around a different holiday. It was reviled by critics and is often named as a blemish on the respective resumes of its cast. It cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 million… Read more »

Anyone fortunate enough to see “The Muppets” over Thanksgiving break probably laughed and smiled a bit. Depending on personal levels of coolness and composure, they might have cried, too. The emotional roller coaster, though, might not be what Muppet adorers have been searching for. Because this particular roller coaster resides… Read more »

Taken as a pair, the narration over the opening sequences of “Trainspotting” and the digital message that begins the second half of Radiohead’s seminal album OK Computer are eerily similar. In the movie, the main character, Renton (Ewan McGregor, “Perfect Sense”), describes a well-adjusted life over the strains of Iggy Pop.… Read more »

Admit it. Just admit it. You never liked the Mars Volta. Or Architecture in Helsinki, Theophilus London or Of Montreal, for that matter. All the T-shirts purchased and concerts idly attended to seem cool have been a big waste of time and money. And the bigger agony is — once… Read more »

I first heard about Gang Gang Dance on a Greyhound bus, headed to Chicago for Pitchfork Music Festival. One of the many people I met along the way recommended the band, and although I didn’t get to see them in Chicago, I trusted this semi-stranger’s judgment enough to give it… Read more »

In his famous painting “Self Portrait 1907,” Pablo Picasso stares intensely out of the canvas at the viewer. Or one of his eyes does, anyway. The other is shades lighter and less filled in, imbuing the Spanish artist with an unfocused air, like a man who’s just removed his glasses… Read more »

This weekend, at the 25th annual American Cinematheque Award gala, Robert Downey, Jr. interrupted his own award reception to ask America’s collective forgiveness for his friend, Mel Gibson. Sound strange? Let’s look back at the bonding experiences the two have cherished together over the years. Between 1996 and just after… Read more »

The most recent episode of South Park, “Ass Burgers,” and its preceding episode of last spring, “You’re Getting Old,” call for a little armchair psychology. What caused South Park creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone to set up, and then immediately destroy, a new direction for the show? Why did… Read more »

Facebook and Google are at war. This is a power struggle like our generation has never seen, except perhaps the one ongoing between Apple and Microsoft. When it comes to social media, for me, Twitter has always played second fiddle to Facebook — and Google Plus isn’t even in the… Read more »

The sidewalks of State Street are often crowded with pedestrians, strollers and dogs — especially in summer, which is primetime for outdoor skateboarding. It doesn’t take a Daniel Burnham-caliber city planner to see how a sudden onset of Tony Hawk wannabes would butt heads with this crowd. However, it seems… Read more »

It’s only been a year, but I can’t believe my Herald love affair is over.I know as we propel forward to graduation and grow an inch more nostalgic with each passing day, sentimental opuses like this get old quickly, but when graduating from The Badger Herald, a reflection — albeit… Read more »

I used to not “get” NBC’s U.S. adaptation of “The Office.” I didn’t find the jokes amusing, couldn’t connect with the pencil-pushing characters and was creeped out by the eerie, glaring absence of a laugh track for its mockumentary filming style. Above all this, though, I used to hate Michael Scott… Read more »

Does Nov. 16, 2010, have any significance to you? What about April 29, 2011? If those two dates register zilch on the cultural compass in your brain, then you may be a happy member of the anti-royalist community. Still confused? The seconds on the countdown clock are rapidly turning faster… Read more »

A month ago, Dior designer John Galliano said on tape, “I love Hitler, and people like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be gassed and dead.” Since then, Dior has rightly severed ties, with some prodding from Jewish Dior model and recent Oscar-winner Natalie Portman,… Read more »

After “Fear Factor” was laid to rest in the reality TV morgue, it seemed American audiences had grown weary of watching contestants eat boiled buffalo testicles and willingly trap themselves in rat torture chambers. Sure, there’s still a hefty amount of reality TV that offers carnival-esque opportunities for viewers to… Read more »

This past Saturday night, I spent a few hours doing something I never would have dreamed I could enjoy. After some grumbling and compromise, I sat down with a friend to watch the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards. Despite my apprehensions of morphing into a geek/social pariah simply from taking… Read more »

The “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” matrimonial phrase has suddenly adopted a twisted meaning with E!’s heinous new reality show, “Bridalplasty.” Instead of a new of pair shoes, or perhaps a new necklace, brides are walking down the aisle with new faces and bodies thanks to a… Read more »

It’s been almost a decade, but The Beatles’ music is finally available for purchase in a digital downloadable form — exclusively from iTunes. Fab Four fanatics, and anyone with an iTunes account, may pick and choose favorite Beatles tunes to listen to at leisure. Or, they could just buy and… Read more »

At press time the countdown was at 24 hours, 35 minutes, 17 seconds. The seconds on the clock are swiftly folding onto each another and this approaching event feels nearly historical. I mean, there’s a countdown clock involved, anything with a countdown clock either screams a raging apocalypse or the… Read more »

We all remember it; that fateful day in April 2009 when SunChips and Frito-Lay introduced an innovative design of chip bag — an ordinary looking bag made of plant materials that could be broken down within a compost bin to fertilize soil. But the environmentally desirous traits aren’t why this… Read more »

No matter how much of a music elitist you are, we all have our guilty pleasures. Britney Spears has always been mine. Maybe it’s because I grew up in the era of quintessential ’90s music, or maybe it’s because of my after-school education from MTV; but no matter how much… Read more »

It has been about five months since a new 100 dollar bill was chosen, and according to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing it will be almost exactly five more until these bills — complete with a 3-D security ribbon, embedded security thread that glows in UV light, watermark on… Read more »

Being ArtEtc. Content Editor, it is safe to say I like music. Who doesn’t? But I also hold quality standards when talking about music; standards that when not maintained, like Snooki applying self-tanner, could be outright disastrous. Rolling Stone released a list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”… Read more »

Welcome back to Madison, Badger Herald readers old and new — and furthermore welcome back to the Arts Corner. As you may remember, this cozy nook was previously occupied by editor Cailley Hammel and content editor Tony Lewis, who gracefully pointed and counterpointed with courage and ingenuity for several semesters.… Read more »

It’s weird to think about how much of my life changed thanks to three flights of stairs. It was a snowy, blustery day in my freshman year when I climbed up those stairs on an absolute whim. I had seen an ad for a new writers’ meeting at the Herald… Read more »

In a matter of only 15 years, Pixar has set the benchmark in terms of well-developed, imaginative and captivating animated films. Beginning with “Toy Story” in 1995, every one of the company’s ten feature films has gone on to enormous success, earning worldwide acclaim from critics and audiences alike, billions… Read more »

Ladies and gentlemen, for what seems to be the first time, Ryan Phillippe is relevant. He somehow scraped a hosting slot on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, but only because he somehow scraped a role in the upcoming film “MacGruber.” Aside from being known as the jerk who cheated… Read more »

He survived more than 15 years under the immense shadow of Jay Leno’s chin. He survived a major time slot controversy with NBC that resulted in the end of his show after only one season. He survived unemployment, living on a meager severance pay of $33 million. Coming this November,… Read more »

“Hey you, Neil LaBute. Yeah, you. So I hear you’re the guy to thank for this ‘Death at a Funeral’ business. You know, I watched the trailer, and I’ve got to say, if you don’t get yourself an Academy Award for bringing together almost every African American actor of the… Read more »

I should have known it would happen sooner or later. Call it jumping on the Pussy Wagon (a reference that will make more sense later) or finally succumbing to the barrage of infectious beats forced upon me by bars, the radio and diehard fans — especially my fellow Arts editor… Read more »

In Hollywood, it’s all about taking it to the next level. Pushing buttons, straddling the line of taste and seeing just how far you can go before the man takes you down. That is (partly) what Hollywood is all about, Charlie Brown. That leads us to Hollywood’s latest thrill: The… Read more »

The winners The night’s biggest winner by far was the gritty, nail-biting Iraq war film, “The Hurt Locker.” Nominated for nine Academy Awards, the indie flick led all other films with six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay (Mark Boal). By taking home the night’s biggest prize,… Read more »

Unless you live under a rock (that rock being a boulder the size of Texas), you’d know the Academy Awards are on Sunday. And it promises to be a big deal with twice the hosts, twice the Best Picture nominations, and the “man, we should have realized this was a… Read more »

It was bound to happen sooner or later. I’ve been a “Lost” fan since the beginning and have been waiting for just the right time to devote this column to the show. I questioned doing this at first, thinking I would alienate too many readers on campus, but it… Read more »

It’s pretty easy to crack a Sarah Palin joke. (And I’m talking about “Why did the chicken cross the road?” easy.) When you live in Wisconsin’s liberal bubble, it’s even easier. But when you’re “Family Guy,” it’s easier still. So it comes as absolutely no surprise to hear that… Read more »

It took 15 weeks for “Titanic” to sink from the number one spot in the box office. With today’s film climate, this remarkable feat will never happen again. I mean, hell, when “Titanic” reached its 14th consecutive week it broke a record that was previously held by “Tootsie” and “Beverly… Read more »

The dust has finally begun to settle. “Jersey Shore” is out of our lives. It seems like only yesterday those eight excessively tanned 20-somethings entered our Tivo schedules, and voila, they’re gone � and in their wake they left nothing more than the “GTL” mantra and a bad aftertaste.… Read more »

Dear Jim, Can I call you Jim? How are you? I’m fine…well, that’s not true. I’ve actually been feeling rather blue ever since I saw your new movie, “Avatar.” As I watched in awe at the magnificent beauty of Pandora, I couldn’t help but realize how gray, dull and… Read more »

I think we all know when the Gaga began to take hold. It was a little more than a year and a half ago, in the summer of 2008, when “Just Dance” began to creep into radio play and echoed synth blew through our speakers and earbuds. That would… Read more »