How Great Is That?

Cat Power's new disc lives up to its title, plus more media picks

January 24, 2006

MUSIC: Chan Marshall (a.k.a. Cat Power) has an uncanny ability to shirk the spotlight while collaborating with high-profile rock stars like Dave Grohl and Eddie Vedder. But her brilliant, R&B-inflected seventh disc, The Greatest, on which she hooks up with Al Green's band, should make it impossible for her to stay under the radar any longer. Almost as soulful is Rabbit Fur Coat from Rilo Kiley singer Jenny Lewis and her band, The Watson Twins.

FILM: After bombing with Ocean's Twelve, Steven Soderbergh has gone back to his indie roots with Bubble, the first of six media-blitzing flicks the Oscar-winning director plans to release simultaneously via theaters, DVD, and HD cable. Hard to believe, but the movie (a turgid love story set in a Midwestern doll factory and featuring nonprofessional actors) almost makes you yearn for smug old Pitt and Clooney. Also out is Manderlay (Friday in New York), the second installment in Dogville director Lars von Trier's "USA–Land of Opportunities" trilogy. Warning: Don't expect Nicole Kidman, who backed out "due to conflicting schedules."

BOOKS: Outside the dollhouse, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy offers up a more cogent view of small-town USA in American Vertigo. After spending six months on the trail blazed by the original rock star philosophe, Alexis de Tocqueville, BHL delivers a frightening but fun report on the modern American landscape, from ghettoized retirement communities in Arizona to Rikers Island. (And if you haven't already, pick up Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape. Written by American Scientist reporter Brian Hayes, it will provide you with enough wicked bar trivia to last a lifetime.)

WEB: In what is either a stroke of sheer genius or self-promotion gone haywire, Bill Maher and Amazon.com have teamed up for a 12-episode Web-based show. Featuring musicians, writers, and actors whose products you can purchase on the site after watching, Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher starts airing in June, but you can catch a sneak preview (Bill interviews Stephen King at Sundance!) today.

DVD: With The Aristocrats DVD hitting stores today, you finally get to have Sarah Silverman talk dirty to you in the privacy of your own home. Or if you'd rather hear a burly, middle-aged man go on about his "Schwetty Balls," The Best of Alec Baldwin, a compilation of the actor's finest SNL moments, is also out.