Broken Promise

A smorgasbord of pop, Formula 1 gets artsy, and more picks

July 24, 2007

MUSIC: In addition to starring in and soundtracking the indie film Mutual Appreciation, New York rockers Bishop Allen released an EP a month last year. They've rerecorded the best of those tunes for The Broken String, an offbeat pop smorgasbord. Speaking of EPs, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs drop Is Is and Broken Social Scene alum Emily Haines offers the Feist-y What Is Free to a Good Home? Elsewhere, Prince's humdrum Planet Earth offers annoyingly cute abbreviations ("The One U Wanna C") minus the groove.

TV: Remember that whiny eighties show thirtysomething? VH1's new sitcom I Hate My 30's, premiering Thursday, is nothing like that. (For better and worse.) Also on Thursday, Bravo premieres Welcome to the Parker, a reality series set at a five-star resort (more exciting than it sounds), while on Sunday, Corey Feldman and Corey Haim duke it out on A&E's The Two Coreys. And tonight FX debuts the promising legal drama Damages.

MOVIES: In I Know Who Killed Me, Lindsay Lohan shows off her acting chops as an amnesiac party girl. More depressing (and more satisfying) is Iraq War doc (and Sundance standout) No End in Sight. Oh, and this Friday Simpsons fans finally get to hear Homer say "D'oh!" on the big screen.

DVD: Some will undoubtedly be wishing that Weeds' pot-peddling protagonist—Season 2 is finally available—would pay them a visit this week, both because of the show's cliffhanger finale and three stoner-friendly new releases: David Fincher's Zodiac, Korean monster movie The Host, and John Woo's formerly out-of-print classic Hard-Boiled.

BOOKS: Daniel Silva's The Secret Servant is a textured espionage novel in the tradition of John le Carré, while former Avedon assistant Mikael Jansson makes beautiful car porn with his Formula 1 monograph Speed of Life. Your opinion of Stephen F. Hayes' Cheney will probably depend on your opinion of its subject.