Baise-Moi, for those of you not into a clash of the G-rated titans, offers throbbing cocks and gaping vaginas with an art-film aura that removes the hard-core taint for more reticent filmgoers. The French film, whose title is translated as Rape Me in the film's advertising, concerns two women — Manu (Raffaula Anderson), a porn actress, and Nadine (Karen Bach), a prostitute — who react to being raped by going on a fucking and killing spree. Virginie Despentes, who adapted the film from her 1995 novel and co-directed with porn actress Coralie Trinh Thi, claims to be dealing with female empowerment. Her film is certainly blunt, and since Anderson and Bach are veterans of the porn trade, there is no skimping on the sex. The violence is equally blunt — against both men and women. Baise-Moi intends to be more than Thelma and Louise with actual penetration, but as Despentes lets the brutality overwhelm the relationship between the women, the film loses its core, and the shock loses its value.

“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.