The Best New Books, Movies, And Albums In iTunes This Week

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Rather than slogging through a lake of reviews to find something you’re just going to put down after 30 minutes, Cult of Mac has once again waded through the iTunes store to compile a list of the best new movies, albums and books to come out this week.

Enjoy!

Best Movies

Lee Daniels’ The Butler

Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of 20th-century America, Lee Daniels’ The Butler stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines who served as the White House butler during seven presidential administrations between 1957-1986. Through the eyes of Gaines and his family the film follows some of the biggest events that changed the country – the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., the Freedom Riders, Black Panthers, Watergate – as seen from an insider, family man, and father of an anti-establishment son.

iTunes – $14.99

Enough Said

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Enough Said has two great things going for it. The first is Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ portrayal of Eva is her first film appearance in over 15 years and she kills it by coming across sweet, funny, and endearing. And it’s one of James Gandolfini’s final performances but also one of his most touching, as a sweet slob trying to win over Eva who’s also friends with his ex-wife.

iTunes – $14.99

Best Books

On Such a Full Sea
by Chang-rae Lee

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On Such A Full Sea follows the life of Fan, a female fish-tank diver who leaves her home in Baltimore (renamed B-More) when the man she loves mysteriously disappears. There’s more to the story than that though of course. Like the fact that the book is set in a future America suffering from a long decline and stratified classes. In Lee’s vision of declining America, abandoned urban neighborhoods have been repurposed into high-walled labor colonies, populated by members of the labor class comprised mostly of descendants of Chinese immigrants who came to America en masse thanks to devastating environmental damage.

The workers provide produce and fish to the small, elite, satellite charter villages that ring the labor settlement, but Fan’s journey takes her away from the safety of B-More and into the anarchic Open Counties where crime is everywhere and governmental oversight is scarce supply.

Ping-Pong Diplomacy
by Nicholas Griffin

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Ping-pong is regularly mocked as the least physically demanding “sport” in the world – except maybe curling – yet despite its pitiful stature in the U.S. ping-pong was the catalyst that heralded the greatest geopolitical realignment in a generation – China and the U.S. suddenly moved toward a détente.

Ping-Pong Diplomacy traces the intersection of sports and society and how the tabletop game was manipulated at the highest levels; how the Chinese government helped cover up the death of 36 million peasants by holding the World Table Tennis Championships during the Great Famine; how championship players were driven to their deaths during the Cultural Revolution; and, finally, how the survivors were reconvened in 1971 and ordered to reach out to their American counterparts.

Radiance of Tomorrow

by Ishmael Beah

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Ishmael Beah shot up the bestseller charts with his haunting account of Sierra Leone’s civil war and the child soldiers who powered it back in 2007. He’s been quiet since but has just released his first novel, Radiance of Tomorrow, that follows two longtime friends, Benjamin and Bockarie, who return to their hometown after the civil war. The two friends attempt to forge a new community out their village ruins but are met with obstacles such as faminine, murders, and rape, not to mention the foreign mining company intent on ruining the towns’ water supply.

Best Albums

This week’s new album releases are devastatingly disappointing – unless you’re a fan of Lucky Luciano’s crude jams. Rather than shower you with recommendations of new stuff we know you’ll hate, here are three older albums I’ve been spinning a lot lately you’ll enjoy much more than Samantha Marinaro’s “hot” new release.
You’re welcome.

Fleetwood MacRumours

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Maybe I’m just super jazzed to see Fleetwood Mac live this week in Vegas, but Rumours has been in my Rdio heavy rotation for the past few weeks, pumping me full of happiness thanks to the interplay of Stevie Nicks’ singing with the other two vocalists. It’s a classic for damn good reasons.

iTunes – $10.99

Wu-Tang ClanEnter The Wu-Tang

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Minimalist production is the new thing in hip-hop thanks to the acclaim of Yeezus, but when it comes to raw, minimalist “street” rap its hard to top RZA’s masterpiece of Wu-tang’s debut album Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Prince Rakeem created the sound of the album by utilizing eerie, heavy beats, martial-arts movie clips, and soul music samples. Combined with the groups’ theatrical vocals, the tracks on 36 Chambers are both harsh and comical, making it one of the best rap albums ever. If losing weight is your 2014 resolution,  listen to this to get yourself in the calorie-destroying mood.

iTunes – $7.99

The Strokes – Is This It

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The early 2000s were a dark time for rock and roll thanks to the popularity of groups like Limp Bizkit, Creed, Linkin Park, Kid Rock, Papa Roach and more. There were a few bright spots worth holding on too though and I’d put The Strokes’ Is This It near the top of that list thanks to its punky, brief, simple songs that implode and crash into your ears.

iTunes – $9.99

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