In his latest novel, Dave Eggers undertakes a bold task, presenting a lightly fictionalized account of Sudanese refuge Valentino Achak Deng. Fortunately, Eggers proves himself to be up to the task.

Deng’s wild, tragic journey across Sudan and into refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya is framed around a tale of suffering induced in the one place Deng should allegedly feel safe–the United States. He tells his life story to the audience while lying on the floor of his own apartment, bound and gagged by robbers claiming to teach him a valuable lesson.

The stories of Deng’s hardships in both his native Africa and in America become a compelling–if emotionally draining–yarn in Eggers’ hands. He manages to mix in a measure of lightness into the heavy meditations on death and torment, keeping the book from becoming unbearable.

Eggers successfully presents a picture of the very real suffering of individuals in war-torn Sudan, and he does it without hitting a strident or preachy note. His honesty and earnestness give this novelized autobiography an unimpeachably authoritative voice. “Read this” isn’t quite strong enough a request.

–nc

Modest Mouse are an unlikely success story–quirky band on a tiny label, gains a following, gets picked up on a large label, has a hit record, doesn’t alter sound too much in the process, still together after nearly 15 years.

We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank–their fifth full-length album–shows the band tweaking their approach, if only slightly. While the lyrics are hued with nautical tones, the music is a juggling act between the radio-friendly (”Dashboard”), the challenging-yet-hummable (”Fire It Up”), and a few riveting tunes that might only appeal to the adventurous (”Spitting Venom”).

But even with the addition of legendary Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to the line-up, We Were Dead… is missing a lot of bite. It’s a good album, with brine-soaked instrumentation and bluntly introspective lyrics. But as good as it is, the band could’ve done a little better.

–jp

So here’s the thing about whipped cream: it’s very difficult to develop a strong reaction to it, either positive or negative. Sometimes that added bit of white froth makes an otherwise mundane hot drink just perfect. Other times, the bit of additional sweetness is cloying and unnecessary. But ultimately, the cream is just a bit of white foam, and not really worth getting worked up over.

Hello Goodbye has created a bit of whipped cream with their album, Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! As the title lets on, it seems that these guys had a lot of fun creating these songs. The album is light fare, full of bright-eyed love songs, exploding with positivity and optimism. The electronic music buoys the tracks along quite nicely, keeping the pace bubbly and discouraging the listener from looking at the generic lyrics too closely. Ultimately the album is sugary fluff, pleasant enough to listen to, but not filling or deeply satisfying.

--nc

Going back to the ’90s for a TV show that didn’t even air a complete season isn’t always the best idea, but in some rare occasions it’s worth it. Freak & Geeks is the reason I came up with that ridiculous sentence in the first place.

Freaks & Geeks is about teen angst and whole lot more. The show centers around Lindsay and Sam Weir, two high school kids who fall into two specific categories in their high school: the freaks and the geeks (yeah, that only happens in high school). Their two parents, Harold and Jean, stereotypically cannot understand either of their kids, yet at times are just what they need (Harold: “She’s hanging with a bad crowd. She’s lying and cheating and next thing you know, she’s Patty Hearst with a gun to our heads”).

The topics range everywhere from friendship to just trying to fit in (Lindsay: “All my new friends think I’m a goody-two-shoe and all my old friends think I’m throwing my life away. What am I supposed to do?”), but no matter what the show covers, there’s bound to be something hilarious in every episode, and something very descriptive about life even beyond the high school years.

The show was canceled for who-knows-what-reason (TV shows I watch have a habit of doing that), but you can pick up the complete first season on DVD from Netflix or from the store.

–cc

This film is about originality of dialogue and story structure–OK, I can’t say that with a straight face. This film could not be further from it. Most of the lines are cliches and or slightly plagiarized from other works (there are actual clips from Gladiator in this film!…almost). However, this film is a cgi marvel, allowing the viewer to enter into a fantastical ancient culture, where gods, men and wild beasts struggle for survival and honor.

Former DC Talk member Toby Mac is dropping his sixth solo effort. He has been a solo artist since 2001. Toby albums are full of diverse elements and mixes of pop, hip hop, rock and gospel music.

–js