Last night I saw a movie. It was U2 3D, it was on the giant IMAX screen at a local museum, and it was SO GREAT. I'm a huge U2 fan, so my love for U2 3D has nothing to do with the fact, which I must mention, that National Geographic is distributing it. But I don't think you have to be a rabid U2 fan (or NG employee) to rock out to U2 3D.

The film brings a whole show to life, from the fans' arrival at the stadium to the encore. Rather than feeling gimmicky, the 3D feels like a perfectly natural way to watch a concert, even when lead singer Bono reaches out of the screen right at you. And it's so realistic that once or twice I thought the woman in the seat in front of me was waving her arms - but it was a fan in the stadium. The film uses footage from several 2006 shows in Latin America, shot in 3D with side-by-side cameras. (Watch closely and you'll see fans holding flags from the different countries where the movie was recorded.)

U2 is famous for putting on rousing, stadium-pleasing shows. Their anthemic rock music fills a big venue, as fans jump up and down and sing along. No comment on whether I sang along in the theater. On the 2005-2006 Vertigo tour, the band used a huge bank of screens to project animations, live videos of the band members, and other accompaniments to the music. In the movie, the animations sometimes come off the backdrop, hovering in front of the action or surrounding the band members. U2 shows are also famous for Bono's between-song lectures about poverty and world peace and the like, which did not make the cut. The focus stays on the music, which includes old favorites like "Where the Streets Have No Name" and material from their latest album.

The film gives you a view of the concert you'd never get as one person among thousands, from the box of tissues on a table next to drummer Larry Mullen Jr. to the set list taped on the Edge's keyboard. It's also exciting to see the show the way the band sees it - when a stadium lights up with tens of thousands of cell phones, it looks cool from the audience, but even more magical from the stage.

Unlike the old 3D movies, which caused many a headache, this one uses newer technology that doesn't strain the eyes. You still have to wear glasses, but they look like sunglasses instead of those goofy red-and-blue jobs. Ok, they still look goofy, but they do it with one lens color.

U2 3D is on IMAX screens now and opens at regular theaters next month.

—Helen Fields

The buzzword of the year, according to Time magazine, is cougar. No, not the powerful cat that lives throughout the Western Hemisphere and dines largely on large mammals. The new definition of cougar, says Time, is: “older woman who romantically pursues younger men; offensive to some, the term is considered by others a positive acknowledgment of these women’s sex appeal.” If this were a spelling bee and you wanted us to use it in a sentence, we’d say, “The hot older women on ABC’s reality dating show Age of Love were called cougars.” And then we’d add, please don’t call us sexist for using the adjective “hot.”

Now cougars are excellent predators in the wild. But really, is this the best term to describe foxy older women on the prowl for young himbos? We think not – and here’s why:

1.    Real cougars live only 8 to 10 years in the wild (though 20 years or more in captivity). Yet human cougars are said to be in their late 30s or 40s. Discuss amongst yourselves.
2.    Cougars like to be alone except when mating. So, no cougars at crowded singles bars.
3.    Cougars know how to swim but don’t like to get wet. At a pool party, then, cougars would be at a clear disadvantage.
4.    Cougars catch their prey by stalking, then jumping on the back of the intended victim, holding the animal down with their claws, and sinking their teeth into its neck. This is rarely an effective way to land a date.

Pop Omnivore’s choice of buzzword of the year, in case you were wondering:  canary. Because just about every story we’re read (or written) about a suffering animal uses the term “canary in a coal mine.”  Whether they’re suffering because of climate change, habitat loss, pollution, or depression because the TV writers' strike will mean no new episodes of Desperate Housepets, they’re all just like lil’ yellow tweety birds facing extinction in the Giant Coal Mine that is Planet Earth these days. And a word of warning to all of Earth’s canaries: Watch out for cougars!

But really, what do we know? Pop Omnivore readers – what’s your pick for the best buzzword of 2007?

-Marc Silver

I'm from Albany, NY, where they don't have anything I'd call "local" in the way of food. Growing up, I ate things like spaghetti, steak, pot roast, and chicken hearts (a foodie from the start, I think I'm the only one who ate this last item), and no matter where I went in the USA, these things - ok, not the hearts -  were always on the menu.

But when I started researching my story on regional foods for the September issue, I was surprised at how differently (at least from a gastronomical standpoint) other folks were raised. A friend from Maine told me she remembered her disappointment when, as a little girl, she discovered that they don't sell lobster rolls at every McDonald's. And, while I was busy eating routine chocolate ice cream cones, I had no idea other kids were getting exciting-sounding things like buckeye candies in Ohio and gooey cake in St. Louis. 

So now I know that there's more than one way to eat ravioli and there's more than one word for ground-up pig parts. What was on the table where you grew up? Remember how you felt when you realized that you couldn't find it once you left home? Is it still hard to find, or is it everywhere now? What do you think is the proper way to make it, and eat it?

— Catherine Barker