Director Seth Gordon and a quartet of screenwriters seem uninterested in dosing this course comedy with even a trace of empathy or feeling. The trio of one-note, caricatured bosses fare worst of all. But that's not to say that 'Horrible Bosses' isn’t sporadically hilarious. Grade: C.  

Fifteen years after the publication of the powerful Push and two years after its successful screen adaptation, the Oscar-nominated Precious, Sapphire is back with a new novel, The Kid. A sequel of sorts to Push, The Kid gives voice to Abdul Jones, the son of Precious.  

The tennis tournament now known as the Western & Southern Masters and Women’s Open has existed in Cincinnati in one form or another for 112 years, which makes it the oldest tennis tournament  

Jennifer Thompson helped send Ronald Cotton to prison for a crime he didn't commit. And it wasn't just any crime — Thompson testified that Cotton had entered her dorm room as she slept and brutally raped her. After 11 years in prison, Cotton was released when DNA evidence proved his innocence. Most curious of all was Cotton and Thompson's collaboration on a moving memoir called Picking Cotton, in which the two to tell their harrowing stories of victimization.  

Somewhere’s simple setup centers on Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), a self-involved movie star suffering from an existential malaise. Marco lives at Chateau Marmont (the height of Hollywood decadence) and spends his listless days falling in and out of bed with women when not promoting his latest movie.  

Michael Griffith’s singular new novel, Trophy, opens with this succinct sentence: “Vada Prickett is a corpse.” What follows is not nearly as blunt or immediately discernible — a wild, meta-licious ride rife with puns, crafty word play, digressions, metaphors, tangents and puzzles, all of which eventually lead back to Vada, a 29-year-old “Hose Associate” at a car wash in South Carolina.  

The National is finally coming home. The Brooklyn-based band of Cincinnati natives are headlining this year’s MusicNOW festival, which, like The National’s slow, steady rise to prominence, has evolved into one of the more unique and anticipated musical events in the Midwest.  

The National are finally coming home. The Brooklyn-based band of Cincinnati natives — guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner, bassist Scott Devendorf, drummer Bryan Devendorf and singer Matt Berninger — are headlining this year's MusicNOW festival, which, like The National's slow, steady rise to prominence, has evolved into one of the more unique and anticipated musical events in the Midwest.  

Two of our area's best musical exports come home on back-to-back nights this week: Brooklyn-based The National headlines MusicNOW Sunday (see feature here), and Greg Dulli brings his Twilight Singers to the Southgate House Monday. Dulli, the now-46-year-old Hamilton native, founded/fronted The Afghan Whigs in late '80s.  

The Mercantile Library continues its impressive track record of guests by inviting Nicholson Baker to read and discuss his work. The author has tackled a number of topics and genres in a writing career marked by his playful use of language and biting humor. Since he'll be speaking at a revered library, look for Baker to mention 'Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper,' his 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award winner about the American library system.