The first offering from Silo Theatre's second-cousin programme emphatically delivers on its promise of edgy and engaging theatre.

When, in 1946, Bobby Troup wrote what became his classic song, Route 66, he could hardly have anticipated how popular it would become.

I realise I am a bear of little brain who doesn't grasp the subtle smartness of post-modern personality-driven television. I need things spelled out to me in simple, non-ironic terms.

Just like the US in World War II, Captain America is the last to get in on the act, but still does more than enough to end the season with a bang.

He could have turned up and played some records - or whatever they scratch and mash-up tunes on these days.

The prolific and weird beat conductor Amon Tobin is back to wrestle and toy with your mind on album number seven. Since starting out in the mid-90s he's gone from using samples, to field recordings, and on ISAM he takes another bold new step.

The raw material of this based-on-fact film is political and emotional dynamite, but the drama doesn't translate on to the screen and the result is more earnest than engaging.

African Cats is a wonderfully filmed animal documentary aimed at a young audience.

A basement bar in Karangahape Rd provides an appropriate venue for a highly original variation on the classic "man walks into a bar" scenario.

Vivienne Plumb's new collection of poetry - beautifully designed by poet and publisher Helen Rickerby - reminds me that poetry books can feel so good in the hand. Plumb's poems have a chance to breathe on the page.

After years of failing to front at shows and hurling abuse at their supporters, Aussie band the Vines have channelled their raucous energy in this, their fifth album.

A debut album that establishes this Louisiana-based five-piece as a more chaotic version of bands like Vampire Weekend.

Split between Britain and the USl, seven studio albums into their career and with songwriters Ian Ball and Ben Ottewell having released solo albums hardly seems to have damaged this band.

There's nothing remotely horrible or terrifying about British band the Horrors. Not any more. Now their palette blends pastels and aerated emotion to create the sort of smooth, rousing pop-rock heard around London in the 1980s.

A confession: I've never really "got" Chekhov. I have seen productions of three of the four "great" plays and all seemed remote and unapproachable.

As the ritualistic rumblings of Spectrum escalate, so begins the latest, and one of the best, chapters in the hard, pummelling and heavy Sepultura story.

The last appearance of Texas' Okkervil River was them providing emotional support and the musical context for damaged cult figure Roky Erickson on his exceptional, moving True Love Cast Out All Evil.

Not content with just conjuring up stylish grooves and skanking reggae lounge music, the dynamically dressed duo of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton have injected more overt political and social messages into their music in recent years.

It's been 10 years since the great Australian documentarian Bob Connolly made a movie. Probably his silence has had something to do with the untimely death of his wife to cancer, just after the release of 'Facing the Music.'

Sarajevo, in Bosnia, was the perfect city for a siege. Nestled in a valley surrounded by hills, the people below became easy targets.

Award-winning Sunday Times columnist Danny Danziger made the inspired decision not to write a book about British soldiers, but to let the soldiers tell their own stories.

Franz Hasenohrl's transcription of Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel turned out to be a witty frolic.