GLASVEGAS

The last time Scottish rockers Glasvegas tried to play here, singer James Allan nearly got deported. "We missed Boston last time because James didn't have his visa," bassist Paul Donoghue recalled. "The night before the appointment [to renew his visa], he went out and didn't get there.

Cotton Candy

Music Notables

Dead Cats Dead Rats is not only the best-named band in the city, they're also the creators of a gloriously rockin' and rambling S/T debut.

X-MASHUP

LOCAL PICK | X-MASHUP VARIOUS ARTISTS | SANTASTIC FOUR

DJ BC has been doing the mashup thing for as long as we remember.

Heartless Economy

Budget cuts close senior health center on Christmas Eve

Through thick prescription lenses, the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) resembles Scrooge to some patients of the Oliver Farnum Senior Health Center, which closes on Christmas Eve.

DEATH RACE

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS | 12.21.08

Inspired by the cult classic Death Race 2000 from 1975, this is much worse than that ridiculously campy original.

MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE

With all due respect, John Hodgman's second installment of "complete world knowledge" was written strictly for bathroom consumption. Considered on its own, the book's musings on all things philosophical and practical are too ridiculous to be seriously considered.

Developing a headache

In a he-said/she-said City Council hearing last Tuesday, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) pitted itself against Elma Lewis Partners, the development team tapped for the Parcel P-3 development in Roxbury. And while the dispute focused on a proposed complex of commercial, housing, office, education and art centers on 8 acres of open land on Columbus Avenue between Ruggles and Roxbury Community College, it reflected a fallout in development that's being felt all over the city with the slumping economy.

SILENT HILL HOMECOMING

KONAMI | 9.30.08

So here it is: my first crack at the Silent Hill series. I avoid these "survival horror" games because they're never scary and usually constricted by odd and unnecessary genre hallmarks like horrible controls, embarrassing imagery and storytelling—and ridiculous difficulty spikes.

THE SPIRIT

Classic comic book fare from a comic book auteur

Author and illustrator Frank Miller, the man behind the visions of Sin City and 300, had not sat alone in the director's chair of a film until after attending comic god Will Eisner's memorial service, he was asked to helm The Spirit.