RoadTrip A New York Avenue State of Mind

SOURCE 03-04-07 DC EE M8 CMYK

M8CMYK

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M8 Sunday, March 4, 2007 K The Washington PostK x

MediaMix A Quick Take on New Releases

Sonic and the Secret RingsNintendo Wii

Rated Everyone

Sega

$49.95

BO

OK

BO

OK

CD

CD

DV

DD

VD

GA

ME

GA

ME

B+

C

A-

B-

TITLE BASIC STORY SAMPLE GRAB GRADEWHAT YOU’LL LOVE

BORAT BY ALEXANDRA LAMBRINIDIS — 20TH CENTURY FOX

“He was struck by the clammy

coldness of the nylon [sheet]; it

had a human feel, like a loose,

chill cowl of bloodless skin.”

— In Quirke’s morgue-centric world, evenbedding has morbid associations

Banville has a poet’s ear

for an illuminating turn of

phrase and an intuitive

sense of suspense that

transcends some credulity-

straining plot twists.

The best-selling author

of “My Sister’s Keeper”

spins a suspenseful

small-town drama out of

a horrifi c shooting at a

school committed by a

long-suffering student.

Husband-and-wife singers Win Butler

and Régine Chassagne sound great

weaving in and out of these

rich, well-developed

tunes.

“I don’t want to fi ght

in a holy war/I don’t

want the salesmen

knocking at my door/

I don’t want to live in

America no more.”

— “Windowsill”

The harder the band tries to re-create Fela’s

sublime sound, the more it feels like tiresome

idol worship.— C.R.

Seeing the hatred that

lies just beneath

American politesse is a

little disturbing. And there’s a

good chance that some viewers

will be plenty offended. — Greg Zinman

There really isn’t enough danger to make

the game truly compelling.— Evan Narcisse

The punishingly long and

tedious tutorial will have you

thoroughly bored by the time

the adventure really begins. — Christopher Healy

Gamers tired of sit-and-think puzzlers

will be refreshed by the dizzyingly

high-speed, nonstop motion.

The experimental design, immersive fl uidity

and spare, haunting music combine for a

hypnotic experience.

A dynamite cast

picks up the slack

storytelling, and

Linklater and Schlosser

provide an excellent com-

mentary track.

Sacha Baron Cohen, far

right, brings his horrifi cally

naive Kazakh journalist Borat

Sagdiyev to the States for a little cultural

fact-fi nding and the chance to meet

Pamela Anderson.

After nearly a decade

together, the umpteen-

piece Brooklyn ensemble

continues in the footsteps

of late Afrobeat

pioneer Fela Kuti.

This downloadable PS3 game

allows players to guide a

microorganism that has to

survive, grow and evolve in a

watery world.

Big band (eight

members) meets big

expectations (its last

album was an indie smash) by combining

big hooks (Springsteenesque) with a big sound

(orchestral arrangements galore).

Neon BibleArcade Fire

Merge

$14.98

Nineteen Minutes By Jodi Picoult

Atria

$26.95

The debut crime novel from the Booker Prize

winner fi nds alcohol-sodden Dublin pathologist

Quirke in the middle of a

Catholic Church conspiracy.

Christine Falls By Benjamin Black

(a.k.a. John Banville)

Henry Holt

$25

The fi lm’s naked wres-

tling match is one of

the most outrageous

sequences in recent

cinema. The disc also

has a host of funny

deleted scenes.

“Suffer for your

righteous mind/Suffer, suffer for your

intelligence/Suffer, suffer for your

proud impatience.”

— “Sanctuary”

Despite Antibalas’s peacenik

platitudes, the dynamite horn

arrangements on “Beaten Metal”

sound like the score from some epic

Hollywood battle scene.

“This isn’t about good people versus bad

people. It’s about the machine that’s takin’

over this country. . . . That’s all it cares

about: a few more pennies a pound.”

— A rancher (Kris Kristofferson)sets a burger advertising exec

(Greg Kinnear) straight

The game makes innovative use of

PS3’s motion-sensing technology

by having players twist and turn

the controller to navigate.

Picoult approaches

the troubled (and

troubling) psyche

of the high school students with

empathy and respect.

Richard Linklater’s fi ctional

take on Eric Schlosser’s

fast-food exposé sutures

together animal rights,

the horrors of late capital-

ism and immigrant

worker woes.

The long-running (and recently lagging) Sonic

series gets a boost from the motion-sensitive

controls of the Wii; players will be physically

bobbing and weaving throughout.

B

B-

B+

Some may not be

able to stomach a

harrowing and very explicit

slaughterhouse sequence.— G.Z.

The book’s momentum wanes after the violent

fi rst act, and the mostly thin cautionary tale that

follows feels a bit like an after-school special.— Sara Cardace

At times, Butler apes the Boss so hard you have

to wonder if Courteney Cox will jump onstage to

join him for a shimmy.— Chris Richards

Though the pages do fl y by, this is one thriller to

read and savor more for its evocative whole than

for any blockbuster payoff.— Reviewed by Adriana Leshko

“He imagined what it would have been

like to start running at the sound of the

gunshots, to feel people pushing behind

you like a tide ... to realize too late you were

trapped, like a spider’s prey.”

— Detective Patrick DuCharme surveys the crime scene

“May George Bush drink the blood of

every man, woman and child in Iraq!”

— Borat goes a little overboard while addressing a rodeo crowd

The little blue type-A hedgehog zips into the

world of “Arabian Nights” to stop an evil genie

who’s planning to erase the book’s famous tales.

B-

BoratRated R

20th Century Fox

$29.99

Fast Food Nation Rated R

20th Century Fox

$27.98

SecurityAntibalas

Anti-

$16.98

Flow PlayStation 3

Rated Everyone

Sony

$7.99

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WHAT YOU WON’T

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Driver beware: Seventy-one accidents occurred at New York Avenue

and Bladensburg Road NE in 2004.

A mini-Mall: The National Capitol Columns standon Ellipse Meadow at the U.S. National Arboretum.

Feast on Moroccan fare and watch belly

dancing at Marrakesh Restaurant.

DJs spin hip-hop, reggae and Afrobeat atAvenue club and lounge.

Abe Lincoln prayed in his own

pew at the New York Avenue

Presbyterian Church.

(Look for the plaque.)

395

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Driver’s route

Start hereHecht’s is gone, butthe company’s art decowarehouse lives on asa historical landmark.

The National Museum of Women inthe Arts, now in its 20th year, celebratesachievers in film, music, literature and more.

Inspired by the masterpieces at the Corcoran Galleryof Art? Then take a class at its College of Art and Design.

The flapjack jazz breakfast at UnitedCerebral Palsy of Washington and NorthernVirginia serves a different specialty pancakeeach month. The next breakfast is April 7.

What’s inside this hulking warehouse?Celebrities and other beautiful peopleclubbing at the posh Love.

Drink if you like the Capitol CityBrewing Company, the first brewpub in Washington after Prohibition.

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MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE

Potomac River Tidal Basin

SOUTH DAKOTA AVENUE

NEW YORK AVENUE

The WhiteHouse

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WHERE: New York Avenue in Washington.

WHY: The art of women, meals that sing and Capitol ruins.

HOW FAR: 5.5 miles.

O ften it’s hard to say, “I W New York Avenue.”Commuters headed into the city from Marylandpass through a gantlet of auto repair shops andfast-food restaurants. If the grease doesn’t pro-vide enough danger, there’s always the intersec-

tion at Bladensburg Road NE. The crossroad was the city’smost crash-prone in a D.C. government study. But once youget past that tough New York reputation, culture and beautyawait.

The street, which starts just outside the District at the Bal-timore-Washington Parkway and ends by 18th Street NW, ishome to a museum dedicated to female artists. The NationalMuseum of Women in the Arts features works by nearly 800women, including Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo.

For another unique cultural experience, try live music withbreakfast. Gospel choirs rouse diners at the Corcoran Gallery

of Art’s Sunday brunch. And saxophones jam at the flapjackjazz breakfast at United Cerebral Palsy of Washington andNorthern Virginia.

New York Avenue even has its own version of Central Park.The 440-acre U.S. National Arboretum is an oasis of gardensand woods, where the rush of cars becomes a distant memory.D.C.’s Stonehenge — 22 towering sandstone columns —stands in a meadow in the center of the arboretum. The pillarsare a testament to the city’s early civilization, circa 1800. TheNational Capitol Columns were originally part of the East Por-tico of the U.S. Capitol but were removed when additions wereconstructed on the building in 1958. The columns sat in stor-age for three decades and were moved to the gardens in 1990.

Stone ruins have often been the last vestiges of long-gonesocieties, but New York Avenue doesn’t seem to be going awayanytime soon. — Phuong Ly

Road Trip maps are available online at www.washingtonpost.com/roadtrip, as are addresses and

hours of operation (be sure to check before you go). Havean idea for a trip? E-mail roadtrip@washpost.com.

MAP BY JEROME COOKSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST; PHOTOS BY PHUONG LY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST AND BY JAICEE PHOTOGRAPHY

WEDNESDAY IN STYLE Escapes goes shopping in Frederick.

Proofed by: phadkep Time: 10:20 - 03-02-2007 Separation: C M Y K HIGH-RES PROOF. IMAGES ARE RIPPED. FULL PROOF INTEGRITY.Product: SOURCE LayoutDesk: SOU PubDate: 03-04-07 Zone: DC Edition: EE Page: RDTRIP