US – Sunday, March 14
The Grid
The week's releases
Metro staff reviews the latest CDs, DVDs and books for your reading pleasure.
 
Music
Run this town
No living man but Jay-Z could get a sold out Boston arena so excited about New York City. But for two hours last night, the sold out crowd at the Garden was in an Empire State of Mind, as “The Blueprint 3” tour rolled into town.
 
My Television
Back in the trenches
Steven Spielberg makes strikingly vivid, breathtakingly poetic movies about some of the most terrifying conflicts in the history of man. The filmmaking aesthetic he pioneered with “Saving Private Ryan” — and continues to perfect in HBO’s new WWII miniseries, “The Pacific” — was born out of a desire to translate as honestly as possible his conversations with veterans on their combat experience.
 
The Word
Is nothing in her life real anymore?
When we first read that Heidi Pratt was firing husband Spencer Pratt as her manager, we thought, “Yay! Heidi’s new face is finally doing something right!” But then we found out that although she did fire Spencer, it seems like she’s replacing him with psychic Aiden Chase to take the reigns on her “career” — and then we got scared.
 
Movies
Pattinson: A vampire in Brooklyn
Robert Pattinson has been playing Americans so often that he has forgotten how to talk like a Brit. In his latest, “Remember Me,” the “Twilight” heartthrob stars as a soulful young New Yorker attending NYU, but he insists he didn’t need any help sounding like a native. “I’ve never had a dialect coach or anything,” Pattinson says. “Ironically, I’ve only had a dialect coach for this film I’m doing now, which I’m doing in an English accent. I guess I’ve forgotten how to do an English accent.”
 
Published 17:55, July the 20th, 2009
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‘Philly Fiction’ is back for round two of local tales

PROFILE. For all the stories Philadelphians have — and will stop you on the street to tell you — it’s surprisingly rare to read a book or watch a movie set here. It’s a situation Josh McIlvain had on his mind as he compiled “Philly Fiction 2” (Don Ron Books, $12), a new collection of short stories to follow-up 2006’s “Philly Fiction.”

“I grew up in Philadelphia and always thought it was such a cool setting — each neighborhood is a little village of its own,” says McIlvain, who co-edited the book along with Christopher Munden, Greg November, and Tracy Parker.  “But there aren’t many stories set here. If you set something in New York City or the Midwest, for some reason, you don’t have to explain why.”

A collection of 19 tales, “Philly Fiction 2” is as varied as the city it’s set in: Elise Juska pays quiet tribute to some of the most exotic residents in “Northeast Philly Girls”; Kelly McQuain’s “Erasing Sonny” explores sexuality in South  Philly; and Justin St. Germain rightfully claims the Shore in “Atlantic City.”

“That’s what makes it rich — you have very different experiences,” says McIlvain. “Things that happen in Roxborough only happen in Roxborough.”
  
‘Philly Fiction 2’ launch party
Tomorrow, 7 to 9 p.m.
Skylight 307, 307 Market St.
www.phillyfiction.com

Monica Weymouth
 
 
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Music
MMMpod
The March MMMpod features conversation and music from Surfer Blood and The Allman Brothers Band (There's a double-bill you're not too likely to see. However, Gregg Allman does mention Hannah Montana!). We also speak with Vampire Weekend and the Dropkick Murphys.
 
 
 
Metro Life Panel
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