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Top 10 Films of 2003
by Elbert Ventura
The movies were as dismal as the times. A year clouded by a slumping economy, lost jobs, broken alliances, a new war, reconstruction blues, SARS, and the very real prospect of an inconsequential U.S. election in '04 was hardly brightened by Hollywood.
[9 January 2004]

Repetition and Revenge: Top Films of 2003
by Cynthia Fuchs
The year's cinematic output had everything to do with the complex cultural climate.
[9 January 2004]

Top 10 Films of 2003
by Jesse Hassenger
It's curious that something as seemingly random as a year's worth of movies can somehow take on its own semi-coherent themes.
[9 January 2004]

Top 10 Films of 2003
by Lucas Hilderbrand
In a year of blockbuster sequels, self-important prestige pics, and uninspired indies, the real film finds were few and far between.
[9 January 2004]

Top 10 Horror Films of 2003
by Marco Lanzagorta
Judging by the horror films released in theaters and on video in the U.S. during 2003, the genre is undergoing yet another renaissance.
[9 January 2004]

Top 10 DVDs of 2003
by Bill Gibron
The past year's output was mostly predictable. The list below is a mixed bag, representing major studio releases and off-brand surprises.
[9 January 2004]

Top 10 Films of 2003
by Daniel Mudie Cunningham
Living in Australia means that many of the films I saw this year (like Far From Heaven and Talk to Her) are now too dated to include in this Top 10.
[9 January 2004]

Top 10 Movie Moments of 2003
by Nikki Tranter
With the nearest cinema more than half an hour from my house, I have to really want to see a movie to make the journey.
[9 January 2004]

Systems and Stereotypes
by David Leonard
Any game that has players choosing among a malt liquor bottle, a basketball, or an Uzi for playing pieces is certainly harmful.
[4 December 2003]

Why Hypocrisy Matters
by Terry Sawyer
Where Goldberg and Coulter see failed idealists, I can't help but see people wielding beliefs like bludgeons that they'll gladly drop once the bloodwork is done.
[24 November 2003]

CMJ Music Marathon: Do It Yourself (And With the Help of Your Licensing, Marketing and Publicity Team)
by Christine Di Bella
Associate Concert Editor Christine Di Bella takes a look back at what CMJ really had to offer its participants -- and the answer might be a redefinition of the DIY ethos.
[12 November 2003]

Burying Lester Bangs
by Brian James
R. Kelly is no Marvin Gaye, nor should he be. But R. Kelly is a Soul Dead at 33, Bangs has risen, Christ-like, from the pens and keyboards of hundreds or maybe thousands (what feels like millions) of rock scribes from sea to shining sea, all spewing their paltry imitations of Bangs's 'speedflight wordsperm bullshit.'
[5 November 2003]

The Tortured Soul of Marvin Gaye and R. Kelly
BY MARK ANTHONY NEAL
R. Kelly is no Marvin Gaye, nor should he be. But R. Kelly is a Soul Man, who seemingly for lack of any other recourse, has chosen to share his demons with us through his music as so many tortured Soul Men of the past have.
[3 November 2003]

Elliott Smith: A Fond Farewell
BY MARC HOGAN
Elliott Smith's art was an articulation of his soul -- his 'figurative self', if you prefer -- coming to terms with its inherently, inescapably flawed corporeal frame. This inner turmoil made for great music. And in the end, it probably killed him.
[28 October 2003]

Elliott Smith: 1969-2003
BY DAVID MEDSKER
Smith wrote beautiful, brutally honest and touching music, but his songs were most effective while he was still among the living. In the end, he didn't cheat death; he only cheated us.
[28 October 2003]

CMJ Music Marathon: Day Four: Sick of Rock
BY DEVON POWERS
Can rock and roll make you sick? And should we want it to? Day four of PopMatters CMJ Festival coverage.
[27 October 2003]

CMJ Music Marathon: Day Three: Where My Girls At?
BY DEVON POWERS
Day Three's coverage of CMJ seeks to find out where the girls are.
[27 October 2003]

Dizzee Rascal: The End of Garage's Beginning
BY DAVID MORRIS
Like The Streets' Mike Skinner, Dizzee approaches UK Garage with a seriousness that elevates it from dancefloor juice to art.
[24 October 2003]

Days One and Two: CMJ on the Free
BY CHRISTINE DI BELLA
Strapped for cash? Day two of our CMJ coverage is a lesson in doing the festival on the cheap.
[24 October 2003]

CMJ Music Marathon: Day Two: Revenge of the Singer/Songwriter
BY DEVON POWERS
More coverage of Day Two, including run-ins with the sensitive side of CMJ.
[24 October 2003]

CMJ Music Marathon: Day One: Travis vs. CMJ
BY DEVON POWERS
Day One of our coverage of the New York-based new music festival, including pit stops with Travis, the Killers, Menlo Park, and the Prosaics.
[23 October 2003]

Rush to Judgment: America's Mishandling of the Donovan McNabb-Rush Limbaugh Controversy
BY MARC L. HILL
True to form, Rush Limbaugh had managed to rile up the nation and draw attention to himself while boosting Sunday NFL Countdown viewership to the tune of a 10 point ratings increase.
[22 October 2003]

The Times 47th London Film Festival: 22nd October - 6th November 2003
BY THOMAS PATTERSON
It's October. The dying days of 2003 loom on the horizon, heralding chilly fronts, wind-stripped trees and lashings of rain. Thankfully it's not all bad news, however, because October also ushers in this year's London Film Festival.
[20 October 2003]

An Energetic and Imaginative Four-Year-Old: PopMatters is Four!
BY KAREN ZARKER
Energetic and imaginative best describes four-year-olds. They are able to learn new words quickly, and use them in chatting with you, telling you jokes and wild stories.
[9 October 2003]

The World According to Shorts
BY JOCELYN SZCZEPANIAK-GILLECE
What makes the "World According to Shorts" Festival so satisfying year after year is the variety and excitement of the program.
[9 October 2003]

Afterbirth: Me'shell Ndegeocello
BY MARK ANTHONY NEAL
Conceived in the months after the September 11th attacks, Me'shell Ndegeocello's new release Comfort Woman finds the artist reflecting on life, death and the everyday struggles of surviving a world seemingly coming apart at the seams.
[7 October 2003]

Stephen Gould's Evolution: Iconoclast Popularizer to Pop Icon
BY DOUG POND
The most fascinating issue on which Gould took his colleagues to task was adaptation, and whether evolution is progressive. Does natural selection work to improve living things? The Dawkins gang said yes; Gould said no.
[26 September 2003]

Uncertain Verdict
BY LAUREL HARRIS
The American Effect follows an important trend in contemporary visual art exhibitions, fusing visual representation with research on global realities.
[25 September 2003]

The Emperor and the Gangster
BY JOSH JONES
As much influenced by Shakespeare and Dostoevsky as by the art and literature of his native land, Kurosawa used conventions of both Japan and the West to critique post-war Japanese society.
[22 September 2003]

The Whip of Time: Leni Riefenstahl
BY ANTONIO PASOLINI
Had she not outlived all her peers, would she have remained so controversial and unforgiven, yet also admired?
[18 September 2003]

We've a Lovable Space that Needs Your Face: A Tribute to John Ritter
BY DEVON POWERS
When John Ritter died, in my grief, I felt like a very special oddball.
[16 September 2003]

The Man in Black
BY HANK KALET
It would be too easy to call him an everyman, too cliché, too trite. And yet, that is what he was, an everyman, a singer and songwriter who plumbed our souls and made each of us real and alive in his music.
[15 September 2003]

Johnny Cash Made the Most Punk-Rock Album Ever. In 1969.
BY MATT CIBULA
What Johnny Cash did on At San Quentin defies belief. He made the angriest, balliest, toughest, most punk rock album of all time.
[15 September 2003]

The Last Great Rebel
BY MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER
Johnny Cash pushed insurgent separatism to the hilt. He cemented his iconoclastic status in 1965 when he showed up wearing all black and a scowl at the usually pastel and buoyant church of county music, the Grand Ole Opry.
[15 September 2003]

"Everyone I Know Goes Away in the End": A Tribute to Johnny Cash
BY DAVID ANTROBUS
Not a great lover or follower of country music -- hey, what could a bunch of twangy bejeweled cowpokes say to me, a snotty punk brat from Manchester, England, right?
[15 September 2003]

Johnny Cash 1932-2003
BY JOHN DOUGAN
Johnny Cash was, to me, as complex as America itself. He wrote songs about bad men, good women, and hard times, but was never seduced by nor succumbed to cynicism, true men of faith are not like that.
[15 September 2003]

Sometimes the Good Guys Wear Black
BY STEPHEN RAUCH
After all, the man fed on adversity. It fueled his work throughout his career.
[15 September 2003]

Calling Names
BY MICHAEL ABERNETHY
Ann Coulter doesn't like to be bothered with facts. And besides, she's always right. Just ask her.
[12 September 2003]

Racing Sports
BY DAVID LEONARD
I began to think of the 'race card' as a real collector's item.
[11 September 2003]

Shhhhhhh . . . Warren Zevon's sleeping
BY WILL HARRIS
Warren Zevon outlived his doctor's diagnosis by several months. Originally, all he claimed he wanted to do was live to see the next James Bond film; instead, he turned 'four months left to live' into an entire year.
[9 September 2003]

Tying Knots by Tying Knots
BY TERRY SAWYER
It's not illegal to be gay anymore. Schwoo! Just as marijuana is supposed to be the gateway drug, I was beginning to think that my criminalized sex life would soon lead me to armed robbery.
[2 September 2003]

100 FROM 1977 - 2003
BY POPMATTERS WRITERS
PopMatters' diverse band of merry critics are pleased to bring you their ideas of songs that have influenced whole genres and generations. Indeed, everyone of these songs is a 'classic' in some fashion, and therefore deserving an entry into our hallowed list.
[22 August 2003]

Wimps of America
BY KRISTEN KIDDER
Although Michael Burdick's $10,000 safaris were fake, the publicity generated by the "Hunting for Bambi" stories wasn't, and the controversy clearly boosted sales of the company's video.
[20 August 2003]

The Last Song and Dance Man: Gregory Hines
BY MARK ANTHONY NEAL
When Gregory Hines died on 9 August, he left a legacy of artistic accomplishment in the fields of pop music, film, stage, and, of course, "hoofing."
[13 August 2003]

Hip-Hop's Holy Trinity
BY LYNNE D JOHNSON
In Eminem (née Marshall Mathers), Andre "Dr. Dre" Young, found what most music critics deem as hip-hop's great white hope, and together, in 50 Cent, they found the next Biggie and Tupac rolled into one. Their Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit stronghold in the music industry positions them as a certified holy trinity.
[8 August 2003]

He Shot the Boss
BY NICOLE PENSIERO
"Springsteen was my guinea pig," Ceccola told me in a 1999 interview. "He was how I really learned to take a decent picture."
[7 August 2003]

Bottom Feed
BY TERRY SAWYER
Imagining The Jerry Springer Show as the radical vanguard is unspeakably ludicrous. What politics does it address or challenge?
[4 August 2003]

Mocking Pretension: Buddy Ebsen
BY SAM A. HIEB
"People would lay down their money and laugh and you'd see them walk out happy."
[4 August 2003]

Internet Ethics
BY MICHAEL ABERNETHY
As our society is increasingly computer-dependent, the number of unethical persons seeking to encroach upon our personal computing life rises as well.
[28 July 2003]

You Gotta Work Your Jelly
BY CYNTHIA FUCHS
The newest video, for "Crazy in Love", begins with a hailing by Jay: "History in the making." Again, the process of work comes into focus, and again, Beyoncé's body becomes its undeniable emblem.
[24 July 2003]

Rising Son
BY S. RENEE DECHERT
First, let's get one thing straight: The Drive-by Truckers are not breaking up.
[17 July 2003]

Business As Usual
BY KRISTEN KIDDER
While Spike TV's philosophy may seem abrasive to some viewers, its content hardly deviates from standard television fare.
[14 July 2003]

Into the Wild Blue Yonder: Adventures with the Blue Man Group
BY ANDY HERMANN
The Blue Man Group's greatest talent is for making thrilling visual and sonic mayhem out of the act of banging on things, from their trademark PVC tubes to barrels filled with paint to, well, just big-ass, loud drums.
[9 July 2003]

Love Unlimited: In Memory of Barry White
BY MAURICE BOTTOMLEY
From Barry White's heyday in the mid-1970s to his recent reincarnation, courtesy of Ally MacBeal, the deep-voiced one has been the most instantly recognisable and most loved representative of unapologetic aural seduction in the music's history.
[7 July 2003]

Color Me Blind: The Affirmative Action Debate
BY JOSH JONES
In truth, literal (if not legal) 'color-blindness' is impossible. Racism might ultimately be conquered, but that will take conscious effort.
[3 July 2003]

The House of the Scorpion and More: Summer Reading List for Ages 8-15
BY VALERIE MACEWAN
Now, six years later, things are quite different: George W. is our president, Laura Bush is the First Lady, and the Texas Book Festival has morphed into one of the premier literary events in the country.
[3 July 2003]

Smarts Sold Better Then: Katharine Hepburn
BY JAMES OLIPHANT
Katharine Hepburn was self-reliant, headstrong, ambitious. She did what she wanted to do regardless of what the men in her life preferred, whether it was babysitting a leopard in Baby or interviewing foreign heads of state in Woman of the Year.
[1 July 2003]

Light and Shadows: Conrad Hall
BY A.E. SOUZIS
The camera pans to reveal the famous shot of a Christ-like Luke, naked except for shorts, bloated and spread-eagled on a bed of eggshells.
[23 June 2003]

An Admirable Account of Himself
BY LESLEY SMITH
Gregory Peck was enthralled with the process of becoming someone else, and worked at perfecting it until the very end of his motion picture career.
[17 June 2003]

"It's customary for the boy to have his father's watch": Gregory Peck 1916-2003
BY SCOTT THILL
Gregory Peck's Oscar-winning turn as Atticus was that powerful; it overwhelmed cinema, literature, reality itself.
[17 June 2003]

A Brief Reign of Terror
BY DAVID SANJEK
At a time when the English horror film was too often content to revel in exaggeration for its own sake, Gordon Hessler brought a measure of craft and intelligence to material that might otherwise have been hackneyed.
[17 June 2003]

Now Hear This!
BY POPMATTERS WRITERS
The revival has slaughtered garage rock. Pop continues to eat itself. What is a respectable music fan to do? Take a listen to our critics, of course, who weigh in on what joyful noises you may be missing.
[11 June 2003]

Burning Alive Never Felt So Perfect
BY RYAN POTTS
[The Blood Brothers'] dichotomy of bone-breaking screaming and jittery pop shrieking is like nothing rock or any of its inert subgenres has ever heard.
[2 June 2003]

Rebel Yawn
BY TERRY SAWYER
Madonna's American Life maligns our generally antiseptic representations of the people we kill.
[29 May 2003]

Tony James and the ArgonautSSS
BY PATRICK SCHABE
[Tony James] suffered a great number of years being a pariah of the music industry while his vision withered away before him. However, in [Sigue Sigue] Sputnik's Internet rebirth, we have one of the great stories of rock and roll made even greater.
[29 May 2003]

The Last American Authentic: A Meditation on Billy Joe Shaver
BY TEDDY MACKER
What to make of all these tragic and colorful experiences? They imbue Billy Joe Shaver with that most holy and elusive of artistic qualities: authenticity. Authenticity has been the holy grail for artists, particularly country musicians, for ages.
[28 May 2003]

Shaolin Soccer, Miramax, and the Question of Subtitles
BY ERICH KUERSTEN
Stephen Chow is a comic genius whose films have never seen mainstream release in the U.S.
[22 May 2003]

17th Annual Washington, D.C. International Film Festival
BY ELBERT VENTURA
Less a curated collection than an eclectic grab bag, the films defied audience expectations and easy categories, even the ones its organizers devised.
[22 May 2003]

It Was a Good Gangsta Career
BY SCOTT THILL
No one could deny that Ice Cube not only had his pulse on the state of L.A.'s civic affairs long before they erupted into violence, but that he also concretized a vocal resistance to entrenched racism and oppression more capably than anyone in hip-hop at the time, including Public Enemy.
[13 May 2003]

How Come Elmo Isn't a Girl?
BY HILDIE S. BLOCK
We expect more from PBS. The competition is too stiff now, with four other networks showing commercial-free preschool programming. PBS Kids: It's time for really new ideas.
[12 May 2003]

Serious Business: 12th Philadelphia Film Festival, 3-16 April 2003
BY MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER
It may not be "The East Coast Sundance", but the Philadelphia Film Festival is on its way to becoming one of the most respected festivals on the circuit.
[8 May 2003]

Leslie Cheung, 1956-2003
BY STEPHEN KELLY
A veteran of some 60 films, Leslie Cheung showed astonishing versatility.
[8 May 2003]

The Creepy, Campy Stylings of Mario Bava
BY JOSH JONES
A master illusionist, Mario Bava repeatedly made films about deceptive appearances.
[8 May 2003]

Paving Their Own Way: An Interview with Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler, Jr. of Outsports.com
BY BYRON MCRAE
About three years ago, Jim and Cyd created Outsports.com, an on-line community for gay athletes and sports fans. Their lives, and the lives of gay men and women who love sports, haven’t been the same since.
[5 May 2003]

She Put a Spell on Us (for Nina Simone)
BY MARK ANTHONY NEAL
She was the voice of a movement. Deep blues, even darker hues, from the Delta to Dakar. This woman, Black woman, was the voice of a people.
[1 May 2003]

That's Entertainment
BY MICHAEL WEINREB
I don't know about you, but I don't want my athletes to act like foot soldiers. I have foot soldiers to do that nowadays.
[18 April 2003]

Criminal (Critical) Accomplice: Writing About R. Kelly
BY MARK ANTHONY NEAL
What if Kelly had been Justin Timberlake or Eminem? Would the conversation fall back so easily into one where a white man mistreated and exploited (raped?) a young black girl because of his racist views of black women?
[8 April 2003]

South by Southwest 2003: A Field Journal: Final Weekend/ Music: Best of Show
BY TOBIAS PETERSON AND TERRY SAWYER
From the Stones to the Stone Roses, there is something about someone who has the goods and isn't afraid to tell you loudly that makes me want to put posters on my wall and send prayers through them.
[2 April 2003]

South by Southwest 2003: A Field Journal: Final Weekend/ Music: Of Redemption and Round-Trip Tickets
BY TOBIAS PETERSON AND TERRY SAWYER
No Studio 54 gauntlets, no more starfucker buffets, and no more "sponsored-by" cheap beer. After all, only the burlap sacks on the slide to hell are truly free.
[2 April 2003]

South by Southwest 2003: A Field Journal: Final Weekend/ Film: Bucking the System, One Documentary at a Time
BY TOBIAS PETERSON AND TERRY SAWYER
The final weekend of SXSW is most visibly the musical half of the festival.
[2 April 2003]

World Without Parents
BY HILDIE S. BLOCK
Tell me the Tubby home doesn't resemble a bomb shelter.
[31 March 2003]

A Plague by Depraved Opponents of Civilization Itself
BY MIKE WARD
"Terrorism," according to the Army, is "the calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to attain political, religious, or ideological goals through intimidation, coercion, or instilling fear." In other words: shock and awe.
[28 March 2003]

Not Everyone's Opinion Counts
BY NIKKI TRANTER
Halle Berry has said she will wear "something that would reflect an homage to the troops." Let's see, whatever will she choose?
[28 March 2003]

Root, Root, Root for the Home Team
BY ROBERT RUE
The illogic of sports fanaticism extends to the rest of our lives, encouraging absurd debates in which each side must support the unsupportable.
[28 March 2003]

Making the World Safe for Plutocracy
BY JOHN G. NETTLES
Even the most casual look at the profit motive behind the war against Iraq is appalling in its brutal logic.
[28 March 2003]

"Real, Compared to What": Anti-War Soul
BY MARK ANTHONY NEAL
The original version of "Compared to What" is a powerful example of black pop that wasn't afraid, echoing Audre Lorde, to speak truth to power.
[28 March 2003]

Killing the Primitive
BY MARCO LANZAGORTA
As this first war of the 21st century accelerates, it's important to recall that the confrontation between primitive and civilized cultures is not new.
[28 March 2003]

Road to Baghdad - Two Days in Washington
BY MIKE WARD
They sign Vs with their hands, cheer at the cars driving by, and gesture at their biggest banner, which reads, "Neanderthal President."
[24 March 2003]

Wear a Button All the Time!
BY JOCELYN SZCZEPANIAK-GILLECE
Towards the end of the march, some onlookers chanted, "The whole world is watching!"
[24 March 2003]

God's Englishman
BY MICHAEL S. SMITH
To Blair, the campaign against Iraq is the right war. It's his moral mission.
[24 March 2003]

Road to Baghdad - In Freedom's Name
BY JOSH KUN
Bush's reliance on freedom as a last-ditch rhetorical smoke screen for dangerous imperial ideology began in the wake of 9/11.
[24 March 2003]

Rally Round the Flag!
BY JOSH JONES
The flag is also the symbol of a nation bitterly divided over a foreign war.
[24 March 2003]

Embedded TV
BY CYNTHIA FUCHS
When war happens live on tv, it's not only the self-declared enemy who gets mad for the camera.
[24 March 2003]

The New York Underground Film Festival (March 5-11, 2003)
BY JOCELYN SZCZEPANIAK-GILLECE
The Weather Underground makes this story relevant now; is it the '60s we're watching on screen, or is that the peace march this past 15 February in New York City?
[20 March 2003]

Democracy Or Death
BY MICHAEL STEPHENS
The idea that America is poised to ride into Iraq on a white charger, spreading democracy like fairy dust, is the popular conservative version of the oncoming war in Iraq.
[18 March 2003]

Material Breach: Against an Absurd War
BY MARK DESROSIERS
The idea of a war against Iraq is an absurdity, a blatant and even slightly comical repudiation of the very idea of the "just war".
[18 March 2003]

The Iraqis and the Madman
BY SAM VAKNIN
It is the war of the sated against the famished, the obese against the emaciated, the affluent against the impoverished, the democracies against tyranny, perhaps Christianity against Islam and definitely the West against the Orient.
[18 March 2003]

Beating Around with Bush
BY TJM HOLDEN
And now Ronald Reagan's former number two's number one son wants to attack Iraq again, this time for oil or to salvage his old man's pride or possibly even to combat terrorism -- the motivation is about as clear as it has been persuasively articulated.
[18 March 2003]

Iraq and Roll
BY ADAM WILLIAMS
The United States has become so preoccupied with fighting by The Marquis of Queensberry Rules that it has lost the ability to exhibit ruthlessness and elicit fear in times of combat.
[18 March 2003]

South by Southwest 2003: A Field Journal: Day Five / Film: Disconnect
BY TOBIAS PETERSON AND TERRY SAWYER
Though director Joel Schumacher's introductory summary of his latest film, Phone Booth was less than auspicious, you wouldn't know it by the packed house in attendance, buzzing with anticipation.
[18 March 2003]

South by Southwest 2003: A Field Journal: Day Five / Music: You Down With V.I.P.?
BY TOBIAS PETERSON AND TERRY SAWYER
During the tradeshow there were tons of hip-ly dressed people doing what I call the cell phone airstrike.
[18 March 2003]

South by Southwest 2003: A Field Journal: SXSW vs. American Idol
BY TOBIAS PETERSON AND TERRY SAWYER
A festival like SXSW is a thorny field of contradictions. On the one hand, it is wonderful for Austin to be spotlighted as a city that fosters a thriving music culture. On the other hand, what makes this city so great is that anyone can go see great music for next to nothing on any given night.
[13 March 2003]

South by Southwest 2003: A Field Journal: Of Hippies, Mummies, and Boys in the Closet
BY TOBIAS PETERSON AND TERRY SAWYER
On tap was the latest in a long line of documentaries to screen at the festival, The Weather Underground.
[13 March 2003]

South by Southwest 2003: A Field Journal: Day Two: Hype vs. Buzz
BY TOBIAS PETERSON AND TERRY SAWYER
Day Two of our daily coverage of SXSW 2003 looks at the buzz-worthy film highlights, the Robert Duvall vehicle Assassination Tango and an Australian caper film entitled The Hard Word.
[11 March 2003]

South by Southwest 2003: A Field Journal 1
BY TOBIAS PETERSON AND TERRY SAWYER
PopMatters kicks off its daily coverage of South By Southwest 2003 with a look at day one of the film festival, the highlights of which are Ron Mann's latest documentary Go Further and The Revolution Will Not Be Televised documenting the efforts of a revolutionary opposed by powerful forces.
[10 March 2003]

It's Such a Good Feeling: Fred Rogers 1928 - 2003
BY MARK DESROSIERS
I remember as a toddler being damn near being reduced to tears of relief and exhilaration when Mr. Rogers looked me in the eye and recognized my own inner dramas. Through the course of an episode he gently untied all the psychic knots that get twisted in the mind of a troubled childhood.
[3 March 2003]

Not My Neighborhood
BY MARK ANTHONY NEAL
I didn't live in Mister Rogers' neighborhood. In fact the South Bronx was far removed from the white-bred and sanitized world where Rogers existed.
[3 March 2003]

The Unfathomable Goodness of Fred Rogers
BY ALLISON M. FELUS
Fred Rogers was in a class all his own.
[3 March 2003]

My Black Male Feminist Heroes
BY MARK ANTHONY NEAL
It is much more difficult for black men to own up to their backward-ass gender politics, particularly in public, but this is the stance that longtime writer and journalist Kevin Powell took in his brilliantly brave essay "The Sexist in Me."
[26 February 2003]

Uprooted
BY MICHAEL WEINREB
The more Augusta National Golf Club hangs on to outdated principles, the more it lets go of its future.
[24 February 2003]

When Fashion Throws Back
BY MICHAEL CALDERONE
Not since shaggy haired, indie rockers stormed their local thrift shops for ironic ringer tees and mesh hats has a retro fashion hit the streets with such a force.
[13 February 2003]

And Now He's Got the Stubble
BY CYNTHIA FUCHS
When Michael Jackson calls Tony Mottola 'devilish' or dangles his baby, the media grind into high gear for weeks.
[10 February 2003]

Same Old, Same Old
BY NIKKI TRANTER
Martin Bashir's effort to catch Jackson out, to expose even the slightest craziness, was evident from the outset.
[10 February 2003]

Covering Columbia
BY CHRIS ELLIOT
When it comes to major events, the dedicated news channels have become increasingly reliant on centering their broadcasts on provocative imagery.
[10 February 2003]

The Weird Trilogy: Iggy Pop's Arista Recordings
BY CHARLOTTE ROBINSON
The chance to revisit these albums is not likely to result in any critical reevaluation, but at least it's a chance to enjoy a boldly experimental phase in the career of one of rock's most intriguing artists.
[5 February 2003]

Bulls on Parade
BY TOBIAS PETERSON
The Super Bowl exemplified the star-spangled ethos of a nation, glossed over and wrapped up in a monumental production.
[4 February 2003]

"Can't you see what you mean to me?": A Tribute to Nell Carter
BY MICHAEL ABERNETHY
Nell Carter, who died January 23 at age 54, will be remembered by many for her tough-as-nails, but also motherly and loving housekeeper, Nell Harper on the NBC sitcom Gimme a Break!.
[4 February 2003]

The Globalized Association
BY LUKE PETERSON
The NBA is becoming less insular, resembling much more closely the face of international soccer for the ease with which players cross national boundaries to play for 'foreign' nations.
[28 January 2003]

Meet Stew, the Best Songwriter in America, and His Negro Problem
BY MATT CIBULA
I'm not really sure if the critical neglect of Stew has anything to do with his being black . . . it's pretty clear that he's just not doing fashionable music.
[23 January 2003]

Reflections: A Tribute to Maurice Gibb
BY NIKKI TRANTER
Maurice Gibb, as a part of the Bee Gees, had a significant hand in writing some of the most popular and well-known songs of all time
[23 January 2003]

Male Bashing on TV
BY MICHAEL ABERNETHY
Welcome to the new comic image of men on TV: incompetence at its worst.
[9 January 2003]

Post-Fab: Scores, Scandals, and Stigmas in College Athletics
BY MICHAEL CALDERONE
Pessimists argue that this bygone role of college sports can no longer exist, yet students and educators can decide to wrest their teams away from negative outside influences.
[9 January 2003]

Viagra: The New Image of Baseball
BY ADAM DLUGACZ
Baseball needs a new marketing campaign and fast, or it really is in danger of becoming a relic of another era.
[9 January 2003]