Idlermag.com

February 21-27, 2011

Kevin Mattison falls just short of seeing every best picture Oscar nominee within a three week time frame. He provides his picks nonetheless in “Stumbling across the finish line: Oscar picks part 1” and “Stumbling across the finish line: Oscar picks part 2”

Mike Vincent has witnessed three big things since he became a music listener. The first was Nirvana. The second was the boy band wave. To find out the third, read “Discovery”

Who has time to watch the Oscar nominees? Kevin Mattison, that’s who, and he’s hooking you up with the Cliffs Notes. He continues this week with “True friends stab you in the front” (The Social Network), “He who acts most kingly is king” (The King’s Speech), “The house does not rest upon the ground, but upon a woman (two, actually)” (The Kids Are All Right) and “One must put away childish things” (Toy Story 3)

You may look at Questionable Content and see another web comic about directionless young non-professionals, but Kate Sloan sees a nice reminder that we don’t have careers, we have lives. Read “A field guide to Questionable Content

Need something to do on your break now that you’ve quit smoking? (And good for you, by the way.) Andrew Simone is happy to oblige with a list of desktop flash games worthy of your brief but engaged attention. Read “Bored at work?”

The Gamers’ Club is playing Final Fantasy VII, or at least they’re supposed to be. Read “El Cid and the end of disc 1” by Daniel J. Hogan

Ana Holguin’s trip to the museums becomes an opportunity to confront her phobias, in all their terror and beauty, which turns out to be an excellent segue into the captivating, uncanny work of Alexis Rockman. Read “Nightmares on F Street, or, Archival horrors”

Fairy tales are great for kids, especially if what you want to do is deliver a lesson in pure, unadulterated evil. Lindsey Malta shows how an innocent musical production of a classic fairy tale like 1987’s Rumpelstiltskin is really a primer on “The 7 deadly sins for children”

Miguel Cabrera is a gifted ballplayer with a swing that is nothing less than a thing of beauty. He’s a leader and mentor to his teammates, and he’s a man who has a problem. Read Angela Vasquez-Giroux’s “In which Miguel Cabrera breaks my motherfucking heart”

Fast food, is bad, evil, and we all eat it at least once in a while. Jill Kolongowski offers some hints on making your fast food choices count when you really have to (or just really want to) in “The lesser of many evils: a guide to fast food”