Top Picks: 'Rostam: Half-Light,' the SkySafari 5 app, and more
Critically acclaimed superhero box-office hit 'Wonder Woman' is now available on DVD and Blu-ray, the iHandy Carpenter app is a valuable companion if you’re looking to take care of some home improvement projects, and more top picks.
Rich and varied pop
As a founding member of the New York band Vampire Weekend, Rostam Batmanglij played a huge role in the group’s great success. But he soon began working on other projects with artists such as Solange and Frank Ocean and has left the band. All of those experiences seem to inform his spectacularly beautiful debut solo album, Rostam: Half-Light. From the Beatlesque, sitar- and tabla-driven “Wood” to the swirly, layered pop of “Half-Light” and “Bike Dream,” “Rostam” captivates and pulls you into the artist’s rich and varied dreamworld. It’s an album for music lovers with open ears and minds.
Carpentry helper
The iHandy Carpenter app is a valuable companion if you’re looking to take care of some home improvement projects. It includes a surface level, a plumb line, and a virtual ruler, among other tools, making it easy to make measurements and ensure that your picture is straight. It’s $1.99 for iOS and Android.
Sky past and future
Check out the SkySafari 5 app to learn more about what you’re seeing in the sky. In addition to showing you what the sky looked like 10,000 years ago or what it may look like in the future, the app features photos from NASA missions and will help you figure out which planet or star you’re gazing at. It’s $2.99 for iOS and Android.
Story of a life
A Woman’s Life stars Judith Chemla as Jeanne, who lives in 19th-century France and marries a man (Swann Arlaud) who turns out to be adulterous. Monitor film critic Peter Rainer notes that Jeanne’s story is not all tragedy: Jeanne “may be stripped of her innocence in an indifferent universe, but the film provides, in its way, a happy ending of sorts.” The movie is available on DVD and Blu-ray.
Popular superhero
Critically acclaimed superhero box-office hit Wonder Woman is now available on DVD and Blu-ray. It tells the origin story of Diana (Gal Gadot), daughter of Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons, who encounters American pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine). Together, they travel to England during World War I to help stop the war. The film is rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action and some suggestive content.