In Taiji, Japan, fishermen lure dolphins, about 23,000 a year, into a hidden cove and brutally harpoon them to sell their often-contaminated flesh as whale meat. Director Louie Psihoyos, aided by Richard O'Barry, a former dolphin trainer (he worked on the TV series Flipper), joins with other advocates (Heroes actress Hayden Panettiere included) to stop this barbaric slaughter of innocents. But first they have to risk jail to install hidden cameras and expose the atrocity to the world. The Cove plays like a thriller. It has the breathless pace of a Bourne movie, but none of the comfort of fiction. This is documentary filmmaking at its most exciting and purposeful.

“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.