Kraftwerk
Last week I trawled through the YouTube and found a few clips that in no way shed a wide light on the subgenre of music that folks like me call, Krautrock. I left off clips from one band, a band that I assume anybody who hears the term Krautrock would think of: Kraftwerk. Kraftwerk, in … Continue reading
My desperate search
Remember the days of yore? When you were still watching cartoons on a TV without a remote. Summers meant no school, poison ivy, scraped knees, and Super Soakers. The simpler times when Yars’ Revenge still blew your mind. But some time, after hundreds (who am I kidding?) thousands of hours of gaming, if you are … Continue reading
Interview with John Arcudi
John Arcudi penned his first comic book script in 1986. Since then, his writing has filled the comic-shop shelves on such titles as Aquaman, Doom Patrol, Gen-13, Aliens, RoboCop and Batman. In the nineties, he was known for his work on the original comic book series The Mask and Barb Wire—both adapted into motion pictures—and … Continue reading
Color me weird?
Throughout my life I have often had the thought, “Hey, what if the color I perceive as blue is actually the color green for you? We’d have no idea how to figure that out! How weird would it be to see all the color inversions?” While I’ve had that talk with many friends, I only … Continue reading
Bad-assery and petty crime: risotto without a recipe
I had a grand plan for this weekend. At work, I’ve started my summer schedule, which means I get to leave the office at 12:30 on Friday afternoons. Instead of being the 24-year-old that I am and going out for debauchery and bad decisions, I’ve started making big dinners for myself on Friday nights. It … Continue reading
June 6-11, 2011
You’ve read the Harry Potter books, you’ve seen the movies, you know all about what happens at the end. Except you’ve got it all wrong. J. K. Rowling says that Harry becomes an auror, but Gavin Craig lets you in on what really happens in “After the end: a Harry Potter counterfictional”
Mike Vincent proves that Krautrock is more than just Kraftewerk in his “Krautrock YouTube sampler” (Don’t worry he’ll get to Kraftewerk next week.)
Comics make everything better, even and especially book reviews. Kate Sloan shows you how in “Book reviews for the comic lover’s soul”
What list includes both Jared Leto and David Letterman? There can be only one, and it’s Ana Holguin’s “The Catalano factor—TV boys who look good but aren’t good for you”
Angela Vasquez-Giroux takes a look at the struggles, past and present, of Tigers second baseman Ryan Raburn. The man has been through more than you may be aware of. Read “Five ways of looking at Ryan Raburn”
Jill Kolongowski’s Vegetable Challenge continues with skillet gnocchi with chard and white beans. Read “Vegetable Challenge: (What the h is) chard?”
After the end: a Harry Potter counterfictional
[What exactly is a counterfictional? You can find the answer (and more examples) here.] J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is a masterwork of young adult fiction, one that is at least as rich and will be just as enduring as C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. (Also, it made better movies. Just sayin’.) It … Continue reading
Krautrock YouTube sampler
Hello again. I’ve been gone, now I’m back. (No that’s not a Morrissey song lyric nor is it a mission statement.) In-between coming to grips with the end of my teaching year and a strange newfound interest in planting seeds in the ground and watching them grow, music has felt very far from my mind. … Continue reading
Book reviews for the comic lover’s soul
I’ve been noticing things getting more graphic. I see comics everywhere—on billboards and the subway and nerdy girls’ Adrian Tomine tote bags. There’s an entire section in a local comic shop devoted to graphic versions of the classics. You can read Jane Erye in word bubbles, friends. That shit has been drawn and paneled. Suddenly … Continue reading
The Catalano factor—TV boys who look good but aren’t good for you
1. Jordan Catalano Mysterious, floppy-haired, droopy-jeaned, an excellent leaner, Jordan Catalano of My So-Called Life is the archetypal irresistible slacker bad boy of your dreams. He seems perfect because (besides being beautiful) he is quiet and deep, soulful, full of longing. He plays guitar, wears vintage/thrift store clothes (or is he poor?! Sad puppy!) and … Continue reading
