Author Archives: Donnell Gavin

Let’s say you loved Man Man’s 2006 release, “Six Demon Bag.” You listened to it obsessively, went to their concerts, tapped your feet to its frantic, antic rhythms under your desk at work, hummed it’s sneakily catchy melodies as you walked down the street. Let’s say you loved it so much that you committed it »

First-time listeners of Destroyer will probably have one of two reactions to “Trouble in Dreams,” largely depending on their frame of cultural reference. Reaction one: David Bowie, slightly bored and peculiarly subdued, has recorded another rock album. Reaction two: Dr. Evil, slightly bored and peculiarly subdued, has recorded a rock album. Trading Bowie’s typically fast-paced, »

Google the words “Dan Deacon Interview/Ohio.” Then watch the YouTube video. Go ahead, do it. I’ll wait. In the footage a younger, thinner Dan — sporting a Tweety Bird T-shirt and what appear to be ski goggles with the lenses popped out — endures the well-meaning questions of a Georgia talk show host. Then he »

Historically, Xiu Xiu has not been a band that’s easy to listen to. In fact, their music is often difficult and, occasionally, downright painful. Take, for example, their cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” off of 2003’s “A Promise.” On this version, the band trades the jaunty syncopation and gritty, soulful vocals of Chapman’s recording »

On the wall of the Yale Women’s Center hangs a brightly colored painting, paid for by the Center’s 1969 fund. It depicts a woman kneeling, breasts and arms raised to the sky. She is naked. She is jubilant. In front of the painting stands a 20-something Yale student, breasts and arms raised to a roof »

There is a certain kind of person who expects a new Wes Anderson movie to change his life. And if you are not part of this elite group of Anderson enthusiasts, you might really enjoy the director’s latest release, “The Darjeeling Limited.” The film follows three brothers — Francis and Jack, played respectively by Anderson »

Until recently, when it came to finding Mexican food in the Elm City, if you didn’t want to spring for Roomba you were left with the likes of Bulldog Burrito, El Amigo’s and Viva’s (and then, only if you could fight your way through the frat boys, all vying for the attention of one overworked »

Remember Ryan Gosling? That pretty boy who starred as Noah Calhoun in 2004’s “The Notebook?” Well, a seemingly completely transformed actor by the same name stars in “Half Nelson,” a film directed by Ryan Fleck about a middle school teacher and cocaine addict who forms an unlikely friendship with one of his students. Gone is »

Winston Churchill is credited with saying, “Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.” On the surface, at least, it seems that Yalies are holding up their end of the bleeding-heart bargain. From opposing »

In “The Illusionist,” director and screenwriter Neil Burger ’85 adapts a Steven Millhauser short story for the big screen. The resulting film, though beautiful, displays some of the pitfalls that might result from adapting a five-page short story into an almost two-hour feature film for middle America. The film is set in a gorgeous turn-of-the-century »

Many theatergoers will approach Paul Weitz’s newest production with mixed dread: the director’s past work promises the gag-ridden slapstick of the now passe “American Pie” dynasty, while recent installments in the genre of political satire have been painfully predictable. But “American Dreamz” erases these fears with a dose of well-crafted and well-cast fun. Weitz makes »

“Basic Instinct” catapulted Sharon Stone — and her casually exposed private parts — into the realm of teenage fantasy. But that was fourteen years ago, when Stone was 34 and uncrossing your legs in a miniskirt was still shocking. Now, perhaps hoping to jump start a stalled career, Stone has squeezed into a few more »