Shortbus is a 2006 comedy-drama film written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, writer/director/star of the play and film Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

The plot revolves around a sexually diverse ensemble of emotionally challenged people trying desperately to connect in bohemian New York City. The characters converge on a weekly Brooklyn artistic/sexual salon loosely inspired by various underground NYC gatherings that took place in the early 2000s. According to Mitchell, the film attempts to "employ sex in new cinematic ways", and it includes a variety of explicit scenes of sexuality.

It was released in North America on October 13, 2006, distributed by THINKFilm, after premiering in May at the Cannes Film Festival, and it played in over 25 countries, winning multiple awards at the Athens, Zurich, and Gijon film festivals. Howard Gertler and Tim Perell received an Independent Spirit Award as Producers of the Year. The film was released to DVD in North America on March 13, 2007.

On the 1st of January in 1900, Danny Boodmann (Bill Nunn), the mechanic of the transatlantic liner Virginian bound for America, finds an abandoned baby on board and decides to keep him. Nicknamed Novecento (1900), the boy grows up on the ship hidden from everyone. His presence is revealed when Danny dies in an accident. The young '1900' manages to hide again despite threats from the captain. Discovering a passion for music, he teaches himself to play the piano without being able to read the notes, and he soon becomes a virtuoso whose reputation spreads beyond the confines of the ship.

Like their hometown of Las Vegas, the Killers have a flair for anything supersize, sparkly and over-the-top: soaring synth-pop operas, multipart arena-rock anthems, "Bohemian Rhapsody"-style choirs. So it makes sense that, after 2006's massively ambitious Sam's Town, their third studio album expands their scope even further, adding subtle world-music accents to their glittery New Wave anthems — fitting for a band bent on international megastardom. Produced by dance maven Stuart Price, Day & Age broadens the Killers' sound with dub-inflected grooves ("Joyride"), Caribbean-style steel drums ("I Can't Stay") and a chanted intro that recalls South Africa's Lady­smith Black Mambazo ("This Is Your Life") — though it's performed by the band itself.

While Meat Loaf's previous anthology, 1984's HITS OUT OF HELL, contained most of the radio hits you'd expect from the first part of his career, it obviously didn't contain any selections from his mid-'90s "second coming" (with BAT OUT HELLII and the monster hit I Would Do Anything For Love). 1998's double disc THE VERY BEST OF corrects this, containing more extensive track listing than its predecessor and clocking in at nearly two hours with a more expansive 18 tracks. If you're an aficionado of '70s arena rock (Queen, Elton John, Styx, etc.), then Meat Loaf's THE VERY BEST OF will likely become a permanent denizen of your CD player. Standouts include such early classics as Two Out of Three Ain't Bad and Paradise by the Dashboard Light, as well as oft-overlooked mid-career standouts Dead Ringer For Love and Midnightat the Lost and Found, and of course the '90s "comeback" tracks I Would Do Anything For Love and Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through.

This is the album that made Sepultura famous all over the world. Though still accused of being Slayer clones in some circles (a situation aggravated further by Sepultura's use of long-time Slayer mix-man Andy Wallace), the songs on Arise showcase a newfound maturity and solid songwriting quality that was missing from tepid earlier albums like 'Morbid Visions'. What's great is that Sepultura employ the use of gentle guitar acoustics as a prelude to their ferociously aggressive thrash numbers; hence adding greater creativity and depth to the songs here. Contains many thrash classics such as 'Dead Embryonic Cells', 'Under Siege' and the title track. Also, similar to 'Beneath The Remains'; there's a cool cover sleeve by acclaimed fantasy artist Michael Whelan.

Review by Ken, all-reviews.com

The advent of stereo brought forth two competing Gilbert and Sullivan cycles that retain their classic status in divergent ways.
Seasoned Savoyards lean towards Decca's D'Oyly Carte recordings, where the use of singing actors and inclusion of dialogue add up to a palpable theatrical experience. By contrast, EMI's competing cycle featured some of Britain's finest operatic singers of the 1950s and '60s, who largely command both music and text on equal terms. The nine operettas in this series conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent–Trial by Jury, HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, Patience, Iolanthe, The Mikado, Ruddigore, The Yeomen of the Guard, and The Gondoliers–are repackaged in a budget-priced, space-saving box. True, some might contend that Sargent's stoutly moderate tempos downplay the authors' irreverent bite, but at least you can make out every blasted word. And that's important, since EMI includes no librettos, just a synopsis of each work. As a bonus, Sullivan's orchestral forays outside comic opera fill out the discs, including incidental music to The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice, the touching Overture in C ("In Memoriam"), an attractively tuneful Symphony in E, and a fascinating reconstruction of a Cello Concerto, whose autograph and parts perished in a 1964 fire. You simply cannot find a more comprehensive Gilbert and Sullivan bargain than this highly enticing set. Grab it while you can.

Jed Distler (Amazon.com)