United States of America
There's something eerie about suburbia, and slacker singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett hits the nail on the head with the newest single from her upcoming album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit. If nothing else, Barnett should go down in the books as one of the cleverest songwriters of the year.
Washington, D.C.'s pervasive inequality manifests itself primarily in income and educational gaps, according to a series of reports released over the past few weeks. A report analyzing the financial recovery since the recession released by the Fiscal Policy Institute Jan. 29 found that the wage gap in D.C.
From an abundance of flamingo decorations to the sight of skateboarders with a penchant for performing dangerous acrobatics off stage barricades, July 12's Phono del Sol — the hometown pride-filled music festival thrown with a new level of fervor each year by the Bay Bridged at Potrero del Sol Park — showcased a variety of genres and kept the musical midsummer blues at bay.
Whether your caffeinated allegiances lie with Blue Bottle, Four Barrel, or a non-coffee drink, CoffeeCon San Francisco offered something to appeal to everyone’s cravings on July 26. Venturing out of Chicago for the first time, the consumer coffee festival boasted a multitude of roasters — many of them local and therefore well-acquainted with using glorious Hetch Hetchy water in the brewing process — and a wide variety of presentations to intrigue both casual coffee drinkers and connoisseurs....
The main character in Simon Savelyev's short film won the heart of his co-star - and later the hearts of America - with a meow. Savelyev, a graduate student in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, won first prize in the Fresh Step Catdance Film Festival, a contest for cat-inspired films. "Ricky" documents the unlikely and slow-to-start relationship between a recently adopted, flea-infested cat and Romy the dog.
For those music aficionados who are already stuck in a spring quarter slump on the first day or whose well-deserved Coachella wristbands will be noticeably absent from their wrists come mid-April, this season's new releases will keep their disgruntled feelings at bay.
The title track on Sarah Summers' debut album, "Lovely Little Things," was almost relegated to the same forlorn fate as the archaic flip phone she originally recorded it on. "I wrote it when I was 15," Summers said. "It was the first time I got a banjo, and I was like, 'Oh, I just want to play around with this.'