50 Shades of Grey Movie Cast, Star Trek Into Darkness, and the Top Culture Stories This Week

Culture

Another incredible week at PolicyMic, and contrary to popular belief the presidential debate was not the only thing that went down. Check out the top Culture stories, reviews, and interviews of the week. 

Top Feature Stories in Culture:

Ai Weiwei Exhibition: Most Powerful Artists in the World Banned from Attending Own US Show (Lena Kheir) – "“According to What?” is the first survey of Ai’s work to open in North America. The exhibition is a combination of old as well as new work. Some of the more controversial pieces on display are made of real Chinese artifacts that were painted over or deconstructed. Ai’s work demonstrates his irreverence for history."

 

Adele, Laura Marling, and the Relevance of Love Song in the Age of Hipsterism (Anna Storm) – "Marling, and Brel and Garland and Adele, are all fully shucked and raw peas in a pod for the way in which they let their vulnerabilities show for our listening pleasure – and for the way in which they let their vulnerabilities show as a means of exacting revenge against those who’ve driven them to lyricize. Because the torch-singing tradition that continues to endure 70 years after Garland first put chin to palm in front of a picture of Clark Gable, is, essentially, a form of emotional hari kari."

New “Red Dawn” Film Thinks All Asians Are One Thing: Our Enemy (Laura Hankin) – "Worried that a movie motivated by fear of the Russians would seem strange and anachronistic, the producers of this remake initially decided to make the invaders Chinese. Turns out that Chinese audiences, which often account for a large percentage of an action film’s international box office, didn’t love seeing their country portrayed as horribly evil and yet weirdly ineffectual when faced with a bunch of photogenic teenagers. So, because apparently all Asians look the same to the movie’s producers, the Chinese bad guys were changed to North Koreans in post-production through some digital magic and a whole lot of strategic dubbing."

October Playlist: 12 Songs to Stave Off the Post Summer Musical Malaise (Alex Kapelman) – "The music industry might be dying, but smart bands have innovated to get their music out there. That's exactly what MS MR did for the release of Candy Bar Creep Show. Each track on the record — paired with music videos that definitely reflect the title of the EP — was debuted on Tumblr over the period of four weeks. Did it work? According to Wired, they scored over 9,000 reblogs."

 

Reviews of the Week:

Movies

TV

Books

Video Games

Interview of the Week:

People Around the Web are Talking About:

The New Star Trek Movie: Star Trek Into Darkness is hitting theaters in 2013 and all the details have been kept surprisingly mum. Trekkies are storming the web with guesses as to who will star and what to expect. 

Adele's James Bond Theme Song: Does it rock? Does it suck? You decide: 

New York Comic Con: You thought Comic Con was over? Think again. From Oct. 11-14 the pop culture convention Comic Con will take New York City. 

Teen Dramas: Tween fans rejoice as this week seems to be the designated week of teen TV drama premieres. Fans can tune in for premieres of Gossip Girl, 90210, Beauty and the Beast or Vampire Diaries. It's ok, you don't have to tell anyone you watched. 

50 Shades of ... : Try as I may to escape this 50 Shades of Grey pandemonium it seems to get bigger and bigger with each passing day. Now, the phenomenon only interesting to women, but this week the men of the world got excited by the prospect of Emma Watson starring in the role ... truth be told, she won't. It's all rumor. But it's still pretty fun to watch dudes get pumped about 50 Shades.