Words have more power than we sometimes realize. We tend to think of words as being a means of communication, but there is something more to words than just getting a message across. Words are much larger than a few letters on the page. The four letter word that starts with "F" and rhymes with "puck" is much larger than it might seem to someone who came across it without understanding its cultural (and personal) connotations. At a poetry reading I attended once, the poet Li-Young Lee described poetry (and the words that make up a poem) like the walls of a building. What's important to us about a building are not necessarily the walls, but the empty space that the walls create. When I say, "this is a nice room," I am not talking about the walls, but rather about the empty space that is divided off by the walls. The walls exist to create a larger, empty space, which we call a "room."

First a disclaimer. I like Don Cheadle. Think he's a great actor. The flawed detective in Crash . His portrayal of the heroic hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda . Even as the yuppie dentist opposite Adam Sandler earlier this year in Reign Over Me . So expectations were high as I walked into the theatre by myself a week ago to see Talk to Me . Yeah, by myself. I told you I like Don Cheadle.

Talk to Me is the story of Ralph Waldo 'Petey' Green, a former convict and real-life DJ at WOL-AM in Washington DC. DC in the mid 60's experienced much the same racial and social tension as many other U.S. cities. One of the most heartbreaking scenes in the film takes place when Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis. As citizens respond to the news by rioting in the streets, the distraught and angry Petey Green decides to go on the air and plead for people to honor the memory of Dr King. Cheadle absolutely nails the moment, capturing Green's rage at those who killed King and compassion for his people, his city.

I have a confession. I went to see Superbad. Actually, I went to see it opening night.

More confession. I laughed. Okay... I laughed a lot.

So, why the confession? Well, I'm guessing that half of the readers of this site have already seen it and publicly (or secretly) loved it. I am also guessing that at least half have refrained from seeing it due to its expected crude subject matter and vulgar language.

It's no secret Seth Rogen ("Knocked Up" and "40 Year-Old Virgin") and crew pushed the lines with this generation's coming-of-age high school flick. In fact, I'm not sure they even tried to get the PG-13 rating, which ironically would have bolstered the subjected age group's box office numbers. Whatever the reason, the majority of the adolescent population will see this movie. If adolescents don't add to the $68 million 2 week total, they will certainly see it on DVD.

Music has always astounded me. As long as I can remember music has moved me, and I didn't really know why, even the cheesy pop songs with lyrics like, "my lip gloss is cool, my lip gloss be poppin'" held my attention for some reason. There is something indescribable about music that moves me. But recently I got my hands on this article by Caroline Desmond. Desmond sheds some light on how and why music might move us and argues that our listening experience may well be a cultural experience.

Why do we love music? Why does it move us? Why do some chords, melodies, rhythms cause us to mourn, dance, weep, reflect, and sing along? I've often wondered why there are some artists who tap into my soul and why some artists are better at getting me to empathize with them than others. Perhaps it's them-they have felt what I have felt, or at least can empathize with me. Or maybe the reason lies in what culture has made of music.