Idlermag.com

April 24-27, 2012

“The unintended implication of Mass Effect‘s episodic but non-sequential narrative architecture may be that the truly moral choice would be for Shepard to fly from system to system but never actually land. Each of the distress calls would continue to beckon, preserved in a stasis where some existential danger has been comprehended, but eternally delayed. I like to imagine entire generations living their whole lives on that ship, passing the story of the hero who will come to save them to their children and their children’s children. It’s an appealing counternarrative to the adolescent fantasy of an individual hero whose labors succeed where armies, scientists, and politicians have failed. It would also save the player from having to wait for all of those loading screens.” Read “The world doesn’t end” by Gavin Craig

“It doesn’t matter how many issues of the Justice League I read — none of them are going to feel as innocently perfect as the ones I was reading and swapping with friends at 12 years old. Cynicism takes root in familiarity. It’s why the superhero genre in comics is so focused on recreating that initial joy through reinvention, and why so many readers are often so disappointed in the effort. Like lost childhood toys we still mourn or petty rivalries we never quite let go, we instinctively want to protect and re-experience our most formative memories. To take characters so beloved and attempt to reignite them respectfully for the same (or new) audience is no easy task. But Starman proves it can be done.” Read “Recreating the Golden Age” by Matt Santori-Griffith

“Somewhere in me I knew what I was about, but I was always so terrified that being myself — my own weird, silly, smart, and nerdy self — would never be enough for others. Though I’ve outgrown this sad state quite a bit with time and painful real life experience, presenting myself authentically (whatever that means) remains difficult. Ironically, I find that Facebook, this internet non-place, becomes a useful tool for pushing toward realness.” Read “Being myselves: A Facebook story” by Ana Holguin

“Was fiction not outstanding this year? I’m sure that sometimes it’s difficult to pick a winner from a selection of books you aren’t impressed with, but doesn’t there have to be a winner? Can’t they just pick the best of the nominees? Also, who are ‘they’?” Read “No prize for the Pulitzer board” by Kelly Hannon

April 16-20, 2012

Rogert Ebert has a problem with lists — too often, they’re just a crutch for a lazy writer or critic. He, however, has been known to make a list of his own from time to time, and so has Kevin Mattison, who tries to figure out what a conscientious critic can and can’t do with lists in “Checking the lists”

The Flyers/Penguins first-round playoff series this year has been particularly bruising, and it’s pushing forward the conversation over whether the NHL needs to change its rules governing fighting, or even ban fighting outright. Yael Borofsky considers the pros and cons in “To fight, or not to fight”

Sometimes, it’s just too much trouble to decide what to watch next, so Sarah Werner asks the Netflix recommendation system to decide for her, with mixed results. Read “If you liked”

Suzanne Fischer tracks down a hard-to-find book by one of her favorite authors, The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones. It was a book she found once at a library but never saw again and, having forgot the title, began think that she dreamed it rather than read it. Rediscover the book in “Walking the bounds”

Jill Kolongowski has been making life decisions lately, which has had her under a lot of stress, but happily she’s found that she’s not a stress eater. Find out what and how she eats when the pressure’s on in “On eating your feelings”