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Frank Warren, 44, lives in a nice brick house in Germantown, Maryland. Most days, like the rest of his neighbors in the Washington, D.C., suburb, he walks out his front door to see what the mail carrier left for him. But unlike his neighbors, Warren consistently pulls out a fat stack of postcards from all over the world. He gets about 1000 per week . . . from strangers.... Read more

When civilization breaks down, where will you stand? With the folks trying to reknit the social fabric, or with the ones tearing it to shreds and welcoming back the law of the jungle? There’s nothing new in this scenario — we all had to read Lord of the Flies. But movies about social collapse seem to be coming thick and fast these days, from Children of Men to The Mist to The Happening to large parts of The Dark Knight. (An adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s apocalyptic The Road hits theaters next month.)... Read more

This year’s model of the David and Goliath Hollywood melodrama is a lemon. Flash of Genius has been marketed as the inspirational true story of a little guy who stood up to big auto makers when they ripped him off. But such a small percentage of what the movie depicts is true — or, for that matter, compellingly presented — that audiences are likely to leave theaters feeling similarly conned.... Read more

Visiting a museum can be inspiring, but it doesn’t cause most people to launch a magazine. However, just over a year ago, Vermonters Adam DeMartino, a.k.a. Demo, a Burlington DJ, and graphic designer Guy Derry were at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City when “Guy saw this piece of metal that kind of looked like a claw,” recalls Demo. “So we decided to call it ‘futureclaw.’” That enigmatic name soon became the catalyst for creativity.... Read more

From the woolly nether regions of northwestern Vermont, experimental-folk trio Farm return with their highly anticipated third album, The Cave. Local music critics, rejoice! Following last year’s excellent, if somewhat unwieldy, Gray Birds, the disc defies easy categorization — local music critics, grumble! It’s possible to identify influences on a track-by-track basis, but as a whole the album is a stunning and diverse collection of tunes exhibiting a marked evolution in both style and scope.... Read more

Ever wonder what Belle & Sebastian eat after a show?... Read more

New Ethic Café has been a long time coming. First scheduled to open nearly a year ago, it faced delay after delay, but the buzz kept growing. The eatery finally started serving at the end of September in a multipurpose building on the corner of North Street and North Winooski Avenue, smack dab in the middle of the Old North End’s growing restaurant district.... Read more

The origins of knitting are shrouded by the mists of time, but an old pair of red socks has shed some light on the subject. They were left in an Egyptian tomb — fortunately, not on someone’s feet — about 1500 years ago, which makes them the oldest known example of knitting. The stitch looks surprisingly modern.... Read more

It has been almost 10 years since the demise of wildly popular soft-core rockers Bedhead. I think its safe to say that brothers Matt and Bubba Kandane have aptly assuaged the bewails of their fans with their not-so-new, new band, The New Year.... Read more

British playwright Alan Bennett has a gift for creating intriguing characters. Most widely known on this side of the pond is his fascinating (and sympathetic) portrait of England’s George III, the monarch American history so roundly demonizes, in a play filmed in 1994 as The Madness of King George. In Bennett’s Talking Heads (1988), monologues from unassuming Englishmen and women unfold with startling poignancy. Simple characters yield complex, moving studies of the human condition.... Read more