Word: pop
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...Although it's set in the present day, Monsters vs Aliens functions as a visual encyclopedia of antique pop culture. It assumes that viewers of all ages are so steeped in the '50s B-movie ethos that they'll laugh familiarly at references to The Fly, The Blob, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Mothra and the 3-D paddleball effect from House of Wax. And, of course, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, of which Susan represents the absolutely cutest version...
...buzz elsewhere, besides shortening her name to the punchier Ida Maria (pronounced Ee-dah Muh-ree-uh), is a reputation for staggeringly drunk live performances and rumors, often whispered for effect, that she has one of those voices. I can't speak to her stage persona--she cites Iggy Pop as an influence, though eyewitnesses report Dudley Moore--but Maria's voice will stop you in your earbuds. At 24, she sings with a mad, husky vulnerability, twirling her subjects on a string while she completely falls apart. Maria can indeed carry a tune, usually over the edge...
...hopeful that the meltdown and resulting reset might jar the culture in deeper ways. For three decades, too much of art and design and entertainment has seemed caught in a cul-de-sac, almost compulsively reviving styles and remixing the greatest hits of the past. (Think: post-Modern architecture, pop music based on sampling, '60s-style shift dresses, pseudo-midcentury home décor.) Since we're now finished with a 25- or 30-year-long era in both politics and economics, maybe a new cultural epoch will emerge as well. Maybe more of the next big things will...
...would you rate the South Korean pop singer Rain on the TIME 100 poll? Cast your vote...
...King and I), nostalgic (The Music Man) or contemporary but cartoonish (Guys and Dolls). Here, instead, was an effort to use the musical form to explore serious contemporary social issues: urban slums, race prejudice, the scourge (ah, the '50s!) of "juvenile delinquency." It was also a groundbreaking marriage of pop entertainment and "high culture": choreography that featured classical ballet moves, a score with elements of modernist art music, and a story whose tragic arc was as close to grand opera as the American musical had come. (See the top 10 theater productions of the past year...