THIS is a CLOSE-UP?

When a movie that was made for just over $11,000 in 2007 has a $20 million weekend in a limited amount of packed theaters just before Halloween 2009, you have the makings of a story that bobs above the sea of pop culture static, and Paranormal Activity is just that story. It's deceptively simple -- a couple (one of whom has conveniently purchased a new video camera) finds themselves beset with possible contact from the spirit world beyond this physical plane. And in a fashion that's both captivating and incremental, the camera captures the evidence that, well, something is going on in the dead of night. What happens next is a snowball of dread and fright that gains momentum until it smacks you in the chest at the very end, as all good horror films should. But the real story is why this film took so long to make it to the mainstream, given that it's been killing at film festivals for the past two years. Better late than never, I guess, because this is the best horror phe...

Have you seen this ghost? He usually is in the company of a pink Frankenstein and a mocha Count. But this year, he and his Berry friend are quite hard to find. (Count Chocula, not so much. That shit seems to be everywhere.) So if someone can point me in the (local) direction of this sugary spirit, I would be grateful...FROM BEYOND THE CEREAL GRAVE!!!

They haven't toured America in a decade, and the show was 1/3 full at best. But leave it to Manic Street Preachers to give the Majestic Theater a full stadium energy in a small club, rocking the pubes off of the Detroit faithful. Their new album Journal For Plague Lovers is the first to feature lyrics from their presumed dead bandmate Richey Edwards (who vanished near a notorious suicide spot in 1996) culled from his notebooks. Produced with austere power by Steve Albini, Journal For Plague Lovers continues their late-career resurgence first sparked on Send Away The Tigers from '07, with a renewed rock vim and vigor that had all but vanished from their recorded output for years prior. In other words, if you want rock and roll, you got it. Here's the set list from the recent Detroit show: Motorcycle Emptiness No Surface All Feeling Peeled Apples Your Love Alone La Tristessa Durera Jackie Collins Existential Question Time Let Robeson Sing Faster Enola/Alone Marlon J.D....

I can't recall what I looked like in 1994, but I know that one of the biggest things to hit me was a car upgrade, going from a silver Geo Metro (the kind of car so small, I liked to joke, that it came with a pop-up tombstone instead of air bags in the event of an accident) to a burgundy Chevy Corsica, which I held on to until the fall of 2000. And I went to some shows as well: Morphine [St. Andrew's Hall, Detroit 3.7] Cocteau Twins [State Theater, Detroit 3.18] The Brand New Heavies [Industry, Pontiac 5.13] Elvis Costello / Crash Test Dummies [Pine Knob, Clarkston 6.6] Tori Amos [State Theatre, Detroit 7.2] Depeche Mode / Primal Scream [Pine Knob, Clarkston 7.4] Lush / Weezer [St. Andrew’s Hall, Detroit 7.30] Steely Dan [Pine Knob, Clarkston 8.27] Nine Inch Nails / Hole [Pine Knob, Clarkston 9.2] Tori Amos [Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor 10.15;Wharton Center, East Lansing 10.16] The Jesus & Mary Chain / Mazzy Star [State Theatre, Detroit 11.7] Boyz II Men / Babyfa...