Word: pop
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Ballast is not an attribute commonly attributed to pop stars. Bono, 45, spends his evenings lifting people to their feet, but offstage, he can be almost aggressively grounded. One morning a few days before the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death, Bono stands on the balcony of his New York City apartment overlooking Central Park. "You know what my least favorite John Lennon song is?" he says. "Imagine. At the root of it is some rigorous thinking about the way things could be, but people have stolen the idea and made it an anthem for wishful thinking...
...briefly with leaders from Canadian NGOs. Then he is led to a lectern and hit with the obvious: How does he feel about Martin's refusal to commit to boosting Canadian aid? Bono riffs a bit, hoping to stumble onto something inspirational. Then he says, "I'm crushed." Flashbulbs pop. "Crushed makes it personal," Drummond whispers in agony. "And it's past tense, like we've failed. It takes the air out of the room." In minutes the quote is on Canadian news websites. On the way out, Bono shakes his head. "Crushed. That was shite." A few days later...
Verily, then, Jessica Simpson traveled to Kenya not for her sins but for mine. When a pop star inserts herself into weighty world matters, she may seem ridiculous, but only because we are too--because she has reminded us that we spend so much time on trivia that we ignore matters of life and death to other people. Even matters of our own life and death. We think about stem-cell research because Michael J. Fox or Nancy Reagan talks about it. We put off colon-cancer checkups or mammograms, and then get them because Katie Couric reminds...
...future--is a distraction; what stands out is the crackling dialogue and rapport among the ensemble cast. (When Neal Patrick Harris isn't slipping the show into his tailored breast pocket, Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan are so cute you could sprinkle powdered sugar on them and pop them in your mouth.) Mother feels like it's been on for years, and I mean that in a good way; you sense that, just a few epsiodes into the show's run, the writers know these characters inside and out. I can't pretend this is anything but a well-executed...
...self-proclaimed Blind Couple of Mali, might not seem the likeliest candidates to rock the boat. But a) they wear the coolest shades in the history of sightlessness, and b) they have partnered with Spanish-French producer Manu Chao, whose interest in multiculturalism stops at every country's best pop hooks. Listening to the fusion of Amadou & Mariam's polyrhythmic blues with Chao's exuberant rip-offs is like watching another nation's most hysterically bad TV; you feel as if you're learning something, even though you're enjoying yourself. Best Tracks: Senegal Fast Food, Taxi Bamako...