Patrick Schabe is an editor, writer, graphic designer, freelance copyeditor, and digital content manager, depending on the time of day. He has also worked in a gas station, at a smoothie bar, as a low-level accountant, taught college courses online, and cleaned offices, so he considers his current employment a success. Under his unassumed identity, Patrick holds a BA in English—Creative Writing from Metropolitan State College of Denver and a Master of Social Science with an emphasis in Popular Culture Studies from the University of Colorado. He’s currently at work on a first novel and a non-fiction piece on cultural theory. Patrick lives in Littleton, Colorado, with his wife, Jessica, who makes everything worthwhile.
Features
Tuesday, October 20 2009
Celebrating the Celebration: Music's Timeless Captivation
We will always create it, always embrace it, and always find new ways to harness its power.
Monday, October 19 2009
Why Does PopMatters Matter?
Pop matters because it is a reflection of how we collectively assign meaning and develop cultural responses to that meaning. Magazines like PopMatters give voice to those meanings and explore the natures of those cultural responses, allowing us all to share in them, and we open the doors for all who have the talent to express those ideas.
Friday, March 13 2009
The Joy of Sex: An Endless Smorgasbord
‘Ingredients’, ‘Appetizers’, ‘Main Courses’, ‘Sauces and Pickles’ and yet more modernized recipes. Yes, there is another brand new edition of that 1970s classic, The Joy of Sex.
Tuesday, November 13 2007
After the Silicon Rush
In the 20-plus years since cyberpunk threw down a gauntlet to science fiction and stormed the cultural gates, its vision has been praised, criticized, absorbed, and integrated into the mainstream. Does post-cyberpunk have something new to offer?
Tuesday, July 31 2007
The Boy Who Lives On: Harry Potter's Place in Popular Culture
Harry Potter flew so high in popular cultural consciousness not by some force of magic, but by the simple, sometimes thrilling machinations of pop culture.
Columns
Monday, May 29 2000
It's All About the Pentiums
It's getting to the point where you can't enjoy a simple hamburger these days.
Friday, March 31 2000
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Globalization?
: It's getting to the point where you can't enjoy a simple hamburger these days.
Tuesday, February 15 2000
In Loving Memory of the Car
: In my last two columns, I have come dangerously close to setting a trend in which I consistently attack the 'hick' culture. Not wanting to make enemies among people I don't hate, this time I'm turning the microscope on a general suburban blight of conspicuous consumption: the SUV.
Saturday, January 1 2000
As Cool as Calvin
: I owe a great debt to Bill Watterson for bringing a seven-year-old boy and his stuffed tiger into my life. Calvin and Hobbes may be the best comic strip ever drawn, and even if that's debatable to the world at large, it holds true for me.
Reviews
Monday, April 13 2009
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
Baker's story doesn't race towards a tense conclusion, but instead telegraphs its punches and eases into the inevitable.
Wednesday, December 17 2008
The Crow Road by Iain Banks
Banks allows images of the Scottish countryside to breathe, adding detailed colors, flowers, smells, and other textures without ever over-painting the scene.
Friday, October 3 2008
The Wonder Singer by George Rabasa
There's something particularly pathetic about a desperate man in the throes of an existential mid-life crisis.
Thursday, August 28 2008
The Cambridge Curry Club by Saumya Balsari
Balsari's debut novel is gratefully returned to print, allowing its diaspora tale of intertwined lives to spread out around the world.
Thursday, June 19 2008
Lady Lazarus by Andrew Foster Altschul
Lady Lazarus is a naked lunch. The circuit is closed. The simulacrum ironically, paradoxically, signifies everything.
