Top Picks: Craig Finn's 'We All Want the Same Things,' the movie 'Rogue One,' and more
Mining the heartland
You may recognize Craig Finn from his enviable gig as The Hold Steady鈥檚 frontman. The popular band has been compared to Bruce Springsteen鈥檚, mining the American heartland for stories populated with lost souls barely muddling through, but with upbeat choruses. Finn鈥檚 third solo outing, , empathetically illuminates the everyday, gray-sky struggles and minimal comforts of his motley cast of characters, without the release of the anthemic endings of his day-job band. But Finn鈥檚 matter-of-fact delivery belies a real tenderness for his subjects, transforming the mundane to the profound. Check out the stirring 鈥淕od in Chicago.鈥�
A look at lives
The podcast , which is hosted by Matt Smith, discusses not only famous people such as Mohandas Gandhi but also tackles the lives of lesser-known figures such as Australian suffragette Vida Goldstein. Smith鈥檚 podcast is available in iTunes.
Exit guidance
Yes, the sign says you can find gas and lunch at that highway exit. But how far will you have to drive to get there? The app will tell you exactly where a restaurant is and where you can find Wi-Fi, among other information, taking the guesswork out of pit stops. The app is free for iOS and Android.
A very long time ago
The 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� movie fills in the story fans think they know, with the film depicting how rebels made the events of the classic movie 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� possible. Felicity Jones and Diego Luna star in 鈥淩ogue One,鈥� which is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.聽聽
Revealing history
There鈥檚 plenty to like about Ike in , David A. Nichols鈥檚 readable and revealing look at how President Dwight Eisenhower toiled to snuff out the Communist witch hunt led by Sen. Joseph McCarthy. While Eisenhower鈥檚 record as a defender of American values at this time isn鈥檛 spotless, Nichols insightfully uncovers how Ike showed much more backbone than history remembers. The president frequently criticized McCarthy in public while purposefully refusing to ever say his name. Even more effectively, Ike secretly plotted his archenemy鈥檚 political destruction.
