PROVIDENCE

Is there 'hope' in Hollywood?
Three controversial (and sure to be Oscar-nominated) films tackle race in the age of Obama - BY PETER KEOUGH

A wake-up call

Ranting about money and media; musical musings; and notes from the road
Some months back, Judge Richard Posner, a prolific author and longtime leading figure in the laissez-faire-oriented Chicago school of economics published his latest tome, a little bit of conservative heresy titled A Failure of Capitalism .

By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | January 27, 2010

A nation hooked on cars

Vroom! Vroom!
The car is at the center of many of our troubles — our addiction to oil, the warming of the planet. Car accidents do incalculable damage.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 27, 2010

In Pawtucket, a Haitian-American family anxiously waits

Dispatches
Their roof is a blanket held up by sticks, their bed is dirt. Every morning, they wake — the grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews — and begin their journey on foot to search for something to eat and drink.

By ELIZABETH RAU | January 27, 2010

Trying times for Obama

Tough times for the nation
It was only a matter of time before President Barack Obama turned into a deficit hawk. But it is a measure of the desperation sparked by Scott Brown's election to Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat that Obama hatched before the conclusion of the 2010 congressional elections and unveiled a spending freeze.

By EDITORIAL | January 27, 2010

A memoir, a tour, and a state coming to grips with slavery

History Dept.
The latest turn in Rhode Island's complicated dialogue with its slaveholding past: a yearlong project encouraging locals to read a memoir by the son of a freed slave.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 27, 2010

What if John McCain had become president?

Idiot Box
Straight talk takes time

By MATT BORS | January 29, 2010

Bring on the major leagues

Fairhaven are officially on the hunt
There ain't enough lighter fluid in your Bic to keep pace with Fairhaven's piano-driven anthems on their full-length debut Origins.

By CHRIS CONTI | January 27, 2010

Cabin Fever

Elemental’s ‘the father, the son and the holy go.go’
Sometimes a solitary cabin in the woods is just a solitary cabin in the woods, Freud might have said, but sometimes it's epitomizing psychological isolation and yearning for human connection.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 27, 2010

Heart keeps beating

Novelist (and RIC professor) Thomas Cobb recalls the origins of Bad Blake
Storytelling is largely about character, and writer Thomas Cobb came up with a doozy when he conceived Bad Blake.

By JIM MACNIE | January 27, 2010

The Village Haven

Traditional (and bountiful) fare in Forestdale
We were headed to a concert in Cumberland and we thought we'd make a slight detour to North Smithfield — the village of Forestdale, to be precise.

By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | January 26, 2010

Oscar predictions 2010

With 10 Best Picture noms, is Oscar up in the air? Our critic predicts.
After years of shrinking audiences and low-grossing Best Picture nominees, the Academy this year is hedging its bets.

By PETER KEOUGH | January 29, 2010

The Big Hurt: Billboard Top Hip-Hop and R and B songs

Who charted?
This week, a jolly traipse through one of Billboard 's most artistically fecund charts: "Top Hip-Hop and R&B Songs." What wonders await?

By DAVID THORPE | January 26, 2010

Interview: Ozzy Osbourne

The belles lettrist tells all
Long before he bit the heads off bats and doves, Ozzy Osbourne worked in a cheerless abattoir in the hardscrabble Aston section of Birmingham, England, where for 18 months he held such titles as "cow killer," "tripe hanger," "hoof puller," and "pig stunner."

By LANCE GOULD | January 29, 2010

Review: Army of Two: The 40th Day

One step forward, but Army of Two steps back
When I reviewed the original Army of Two , I found myself in the unfamiliar position of being the guy who liked something everybody else hated (as opposed the guy who hated something everybody else liked).

By MITCH KRPATA | January 27, 2010

Lonely island

Michael Emerson sheds some light on Lost
This Tuesday, the sixth and final season of Lost will launch onto home screens (ABC; February 2 at 9 pm). When the show last left us, you'll recall, it appeared to have killed off one of the Island's main string pullers, Jacob (Mark Pellegrino), in 2007 while simultaneously detonating a nuclear bomb underneath the Island in 1977.

By RYAN STEWART | January 29, 2010