Bloglander

DVD

Blue Valentine
Parallel narrative about how two people fell in love and how their marriage blew apart. Tragically sad and beautiful. Rated R

The Illusionist
A meditation on fading dreams from the director of Triplets of Belleville. Rated PG

No Strings Attached
Ashton and Portman bump uglies until feelings happen. Rated R

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 
So, that happened. Rated G 

MUSIC

Hot Sauce Committee, pt. 2 | Beastie Boys 
Before we get started: there is no Hot Sauce Committee, pt 1. Wanted to make that clear, in case you Beastieheads thought you might have missed a release. The Beastie's best album so far (Paul's Boutique) was an unbelievably strange departure from late-80s hip-hop everyone was used to at the time. No one knew how to deal. Critics were luke-warm, people didn't buy it. Then, magically, it changed hip-hop forever, and is now routinely included on Best [number] Albums of All Time!!!!!!! lists. The point? Critics — raving this time — are saying HSC,pt2 is as weird/awesome as Paul's Boutique. This dropped last week and, despite good albums from Okkervil River, The Antlers and Wild Beasts, this remains the story.

Also out: 

I Am Very Far | Okkervil River
Move Like This | The Cars
Eye Contact | Gang Gang Dance
Burst Apart | The Antlers
Smother | Wild Beasts 

VIDEOGAMES

Brink | Xbox

Okay, so the world is dying (or dead, or something) and some of the world's survivors have created a massive ship called the Ark (totally biting Noah's steez) that you have to destroy or capture or something. This first-person-shooter promised to have RPG elements like Fallout and Borderlands, team-based tactics like Battlefield, class-based cooperation like Team Fortress and just some amazing FPS action. Super-duper ambitious. Critical consensus, though, seems to fall in the spectrum between "nice try, guys," and "absolute clusterf---." 

Also out:

Virtua Tennis 4 | PS3, XBox, Wii
Lego Pirates of the Caribbean | PS3, XBox, Wii, PSP, DS