This week in the Phoenix: Dark fiber, tween murderers, and spectral surf rock

Another week at the Phoenix, another issue crammed with information -- specifically, The Information (but not that The Information).Plus, Carly Carioli explains net neutrality in a way that you can totally steal and use to impress your friends at (deeply nerdy) parties.

By, hopefully your It's another lazy Sunday evening -- so feed your mind. Just leave room for some brain desert ... which might include films about child assassins who can outrun caribou (but not Peter Keough's withering ambivalence, alas) and pet advice from the non-fat-cats at Batter Blaster. Bon appetit!

[media reform] Net neutrality has become the biggest free speech issue of the 21st century. Is it doomed to failure?
A field guide the megafauna of data transmission -- and how it affects ... pretty much everything you do these days. And if you like that, you might like our interview with net neutrality rock star Tim Wu.

[media reform] Interview with James Gleick (author of The Information)
"Let me finish, because I'm very enthusiastic about the Internet." Information theorist (and futurist?) Gleick talks Newton's chill-ness, the fallacy of cyber-utopias, and Google's vast repository of illegally stored books. Look for Gleick's next book, "I Tooooold You!", to be released sometime in the next 10 years.

[copyright brawl] The Royally Screwed Tenenbaum
Meet the guy who's been battling the RIAA since he was a teenager. They want him to pay $67,000. He wants to pay nothing. And unfortunately, one of his judges is 77 years old and has no idea what's going on.

[music] Toro Y Moi
The finest laptop noodler around explores new territory with his most recent album Underneath the Pine, which incorporates traditional rock instrumentation. He admits "I knew from the moment I got out there with the laptop that I was uncomfortable."

[film] Hanna
Saoirse Ronan kicks some ass and takes some names as the title character. But can her performance save a movie riddled with Hollywood neo-action cliches? Doubtful. But maybe the soundtrack by the Chemical Brothers can.

[poltergeistabilly] Beware the Dangers of a Ghost Scorpion!
Bringing surf back... from the dead! Some say this band bears an uncanny resemblance to 4 guys who died in a car accident many a year ago. Some believe they've come back to teach the living a thing or two about rockin'. The next haunting is April 14th at Middle East Upstairs.

[big hurt] Spray-pancake-batter 'fat cats' strike back!
Batter Blaster chops-buster beset with blistering bluster.