Contributor: Plugged In Staff

They’ve performed “live” as holograms on stage with Madonna and enjoyed worldwide success as a “virtual band.” Now Gorillaz returns with an album full of stream-of-consciousness ruminations on environmental themes.

The concept of privacy is, um, really, really different in China. Over there, it seems, everyone has a right to know just about anything they want to know about you. Even the Mandarin word for privacy—yinsi—implies a menacing selfishness among those wh …

Lifehouse burst onto the scene with a loud clang in 2001, but subsequent releases have been more mellow—and haven’t sold as well. So is the L.A. band returning to its rockin’ roots?

If I touch an actual newspaper nowadays, it’s usually because I’m waiting a) in a doctor’s office, b) for my car’s oil to be changed or c) for a restaurant table. Last week it was “a.” And as I lamented my sore throat and killed time—why is it that doc …

I have surprising news and I have bad news. (This isn’t a fun way to start a Tuesday. I’ll make it up to you later.) Let’s start with the surprising: A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study found that, on average, kids spend seven and a half hours a da …

It’s been several days since Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks sang their infamous duet at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards—a duet in which Swift sounded, um, a little off-key. But people are still talking about the performance—and whether all the ensuing neg …

High school is hard enough without discovering you’re the son of Poseidon. And when Uncle Zeus falsely accuses you of stealing his lightning bolt and Uncle Hades shows up for dinner, well, it’s more than Percy can stand.

Remember when Hollywood could tell us a great story? When more movies were heavier on plot than explosives, car chases, zombies, and scantily clad women? When storylines could dawdle a bit but still swept us up in their slow, meaningful pace? Me too. B …

With $32.4 million worth of box-office receipts, Dear John officially toppled Avatar after seven weeks at No. 1. Why was it Dear John and not last weekend’s Edge of Darkness? Maybe it’s the alluring power of Kleenex. A Nicholas Sparks novel-turned-movi …

Sometimes I enjoy Facebook. I’ll admit it. Social networking can enhance our regular face-to-face friendships and provide a way to stay in contact with friends who live overseas or out of state. Facebook’s fun because friendship is fun—and research eve …

Boredom. We don’t often talk about it unless we’re, say, standing in line to get sci-fi convention tickets. (I haven’t experienced this, but a friend just went through a lot of rigmarole to get them for her fiancé. In my book, that is primo, divorce-pr …

One of my friends e-mailed the other day and said, “So … you the one who gets to review Conveyor Belt of Love?” (I could almost see her grin and chuckle at me.) Nope, I’m not reviewing it.  But she did alert me to it, so of course, I watched—and l …

I can carry a tune in a bucket, but not far. One of my great-grandmothers was an opera singer (without the cool spear and Valkyrie horns on her head, unfortunately). Her range was upward of four octaves. My range, however, is probably a measly five or …

Fifteen years in the making, James Cameron’s latest creation is an eye-popping spectacle of conflict between idyllic aliens and greedy humans—saturated with environmental and spiritual themes.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of The Simpsons. Whether you like the Fox show or hate it, you can’t deny that it’s infiltrated our culture. And thus, our language. D’oh! Maybe it’s because I’m the resident geek who’s collected dictionaries since she …