Call for Columnists: Brainy, Artful Generalists, Rejoice!

About|Submissions|Advertising|Staff||||
Features
Features Home
Special Sections
Columns
Columns Home
Blogs
Blogs Home
Music
Music Home
Film
Film Home
Television
Television Home
DVDs
DVDs Home
Books
Books Home
Comics
Comics Home
Multimedia
Multimedia Home
Events
Events Home
News
Catherine Ramsdell
Home>Staff>Catherine Ramsdell
Catherine Ramsdell

Features

Tuesday, June 16 2009

The Power of Story in the Digital Age

In an age where Twitter and Google seem to be taking over the world, how do people communicate information in a meaningful and memorable manner? They tell a story.


Reviews

Friday, April 5 2013

Not Even Bugs in Booze Can Diminish 'The Drunken Botanist’s' Charm and Wit

From the agave that makes our tequila to the lime we use to garnish said tequila, Amy Stewart’s beautifully styled and written book provides history, facts, and (perhaps most importantly) recipes for all things potent and potable.


Friday, March 29 2013

The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman

The Teleportation Accident is a book with a lot going on, and it almost defies summation. At its core—it’s a stylish, weird, witty, innovative, head-shaking kind of book.


Tuesday, March 19 2013

The 'Call the Midwife' Series Makes for a Vivid and Rich Telling of Social and Medical History

Why aren't there more literary midwives like Jennifer Worth? Here's hoping the Call the Midwife series will change that.


Monday, February 25 2013

On Suffering from a Strange Blood Disorder: 'Children of the Night'

Dan Simmons' vampires need blood -- but not for the reasons you might think.


Tuesday, February 12 2013

Imagine a Caution Signal in White Instead of Yellow: 'The Color Revolution'

This book takes me from thinking that I’m going to grab that dark green sweater because it’s clean or because someone told me green looks good on me to wondering why I was even able to buy a dark green sweater to begin with.


Detailed and Memorable, the Middle Ages Are Brought to Life in 'Illuminations' [2.Jan.13]
Why Wouldn't One Hang One's Christmas Tree from the Ceiling? 'Inventing the Christmas Tree' [17.Dec.12]
His Mouth Wrote a Check His Ass Couldn't Cash: 'A Nation of Deadbeats' [30.Nov.12]
'From the Forest' Is as Magical as the Fairytales It Discusses [13.Nov.12]
On the Line Between Legitimate Biography and Gossipy Tell-All: 'The Great Charles Dickens Scandal' [31.Oct.12]
Helen Dunmore's 'The Greatcoat' Is Beautifully Haunting [17.Oct.12]
Imagine Oscar Wild, Scandalous and Daring: 'The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray' [8.Oct.12]
Nick Hornby Goes from Inspirational to Wickedly Funny in 'More Baths Less Talking' [4.Oct.12]
Even the Scientifically Challenged, Thanks to Their DNA, Will Enjoy 'The Violinist's Thumb' [2.Oct.12]
In 'Hellbender', Is He Speeding Away from Trouble? Or Toward It? [26.Sep.12]
'Grimm's Household Tales' [17.Sep.12]
'Poison, Detection, and the Victorian Imagination' Asks, Is Poison the Poetry of Homicide? [31.Aug.12]
One Wishes That Masha Gessen's 'The Man Without a Face' Were Fiction [13.Aug.12]
Unhappy? 'Satisfaction Not Guaranteed' Might Be Able to Explain Why [8.Aug.12]
Which Way the Wind Blows: 'The Battle for the Arab Spring' [2.Jul.12]
The Pleasures of Delving Into Another Time and Place: Lloyd Shepherd's 'The English Monster' [21.Jun.12]
Teenage Angst and Real World Concerns: 'The Testament of Jessie Lamb' [8.Jun.12]
Demystifying the Internet: 'Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet ' [7.Jun.12]
What Was She Without Charles Dickens? 'The Other Dickens: A Life of Catherine Hogarth' [16.May.12]
What Do You Get When You Mix Yeast & Flame Retardant? 'White Bread' [15.May.12]
A Dream for a War-Torn Nation: Fawzia Koofi's 'The Favored Daughter' [27.Apr.12]
'Food and the City' Just Might Make You Want to Own an Outlaw Urban Chicken or Two [17.Apr.12]
Much Like Ree Drummond's Recipes, 'The Pioneer Woman' is Simple, Yummy Fun [4.Apr.12]
Girl Talk: 'You Are What You Wear' [27.Mar.12]
Self-Reflection is Encouraged in: 'Survival of the Beautiful: Art, Science, and Evolution' [12.Mar.12]
A Different Kind of Horror: Stig Dagerman's 'Island of the Doomed' [2.Mar.12]
'Below Stairs' Proves One Doesn't Have to be a Good Maid or Cook to be a Good Observer [22.Feb.12]
Tom Brokaw's Quiet Sanity: 'The Time of Our Lives' [26.Jan.12]
'Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman' Is a Magical Journey About an Amazing Woman [13.Jan.12]
Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy by Josef Steiff [12.Dec.11]
The First True Celebrity of the Arts: Jane Smiley's 'Charles Dickens: A Life' [7.Dec.11]
America's Past Is a Haunted House: 'Monsters in America' [6.Dec.11]
'Soldiers' Stories' Delves Into the Notion of Heroines First, but Women Always [1.Nov.11]
'Sweet Invention' Is Rich and Dense, Much Like the Food It Describes [19.Oct.11]
'Future Media': Recommended for Anyone Who Has a Smartphone, Watches TV, or Uses the Internet [14.Oct.11]
'The Dog Park Club' Isn’t One of Those Super Cutesy Animal Stories [29.Sep.11]
Growing Old is Cool in 'The Postmortal' [21.Sep.11]
'Coyote at the Kitchen Door' Provides a Different Way to View Progress [10.Aug.11]
'The Murder of the Century' Marks the Start of the Tabloid Wars [8.Aug.11]
Resounding Echoes of the Great Depression in 'Someplace Like America' [18.Jul.11]
Beautifully Crafted and Strangely Beautiful: 'Miss Peregine's Home for Peculiar Children' [18.Jul.11]
Drowning in Lies: James B. Stewart's 'Tangled Webs' [16.Jun.11]
'Don't Breathe a Word' Is Kinda Creepy [2.Jun.11]
'The Art of Immersion' Tells the Story of Storytelling Rather Well [12.May.11]
'Nerds' Is More Entertaining than a Book about Bullying, Stereotypes & Teenage Angst Should Be [29.Apr.11]
In Alexis Madrigal's 'Powering the Dream', Much Needed Optimism Shines Through [20.Apr.11]
'Imagining Mars': A Literary History from Planet Earth [29.Mar.11]
'American Plastic', or Mother/Daughter Double-Date Boob Jobs [3.Mar.11]
Happily, 'The Science of Kissing' Does Not Diminish the Magic of Kissing [24.Feb.11]
'Empty Pleasures' Provides Substantial Food for Thought [21.Jan.11]
In 'Whiter Shades of Pale', the Humor is Vivid [20.Jan.11]
'Doonesbury and the Art of G.B. Trudeau' Makes Me Miss Newspapers [24.Dec.10]
Trom AJAX and AOL to WWW and X.25: 'A History of the Internet and the Digital Future' [8.Dec.10]
In 'Gush', No One Can Accuse Hemmi of Creating Uninteresting Analogies [27.Oct.10]
The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten by Harrison Geillor [21.Oct.10]
'In the Valley of the Kings' Is Rich With Lyrical Beauty [6.Oct.10]
'Six Suspects' Has That Professor In the Library With a Candlestick Kind of Feeling [23.Sep.10]
The Best Technology Writing 2010 [21.Sep.10]
The Most Enduring Propoganda of All: 'Books as Weapons' [8.Sep.10]
The 'Dreamers of a New Day' Made Most of Their Dreams Reality, To Our Benefit [12.Aug.10]
'The Poacher's Son' is Pure, Unadulterated Literary Suspense [5.Aug.10]
'Dismantled' Peels Away Multiple Layers of Lliterary Spookiness [29.Jul.10]
'The Starlet': Wishing, Fervently, for a World Without Fanny Packs [21.Jul.10]
'A Fierce Radiance': Thank Goodness For Mold [19.Jul.10]
Eleanor the Queen Was One Helluva Woman [22.Jun.10]
Underdogs Unite: 'Girl in Translation' [16.Jun.10]
'The Affinity Bridge' Is an Enormously Fun Steampunk Novel [24.May.10]
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook [21.May.10]
The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson by Jerome Charyn [4.May.10]
The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi [23.Apr.10]
Invisible by Hugues De Montalembert [8.Apr.10]
Plato's Podcasts: The Ancients' Guide to Modern Living by Mark Vernon [24.Mar.10]
The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee [8.Mar.10]
Veracity by Laura Bynum [1.Mar.10]
Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper [18.Feb.10]
Bubble Gum and Hula Hoops by Harry Oliver [8.Feb.10]

Blogs

Monday, August 15 2011

What a Kindle / Nook / iPad Can't Do: 'Ex Libris: The Art of Bookplates'

Books -- real, print, physical books -- say something about their owners and so, as the book Ex Libris makes clear, do bookplates.


Wednesday, September 15 2010

'Black Cats and Four-Leaf Clovers' and a Lot of Other Crazy Superstitions

Sin, death, and the devil appear to be popular themes in the world of superstitions and old wives tales.


Tuesday, April 20 2010

I'm in a New York State of Mind

New York City is all about having a dream -- even if you're aren't quite certain what it is.


Tuesday, March 23 2010

The Rockabillies


Thursday, February 4 2010

Twitterature


Seasonal Reads (Re:Print) [1.Feb.10]
Genre Wars: Fiction Vs. Memoir (Re:Print) [8.Jan.10]
Now on PopMatters
Today • Popular
Features
Is Corporate Sponsorship Now Long-Form Journalism’s Last Hope?
Drawn Back Into Dreaming: Spotlight on Neil Gaiman's "Sandman"
Mojo Hand: The Life and Music of Lightnin' Hopkins
Columns
Ragnarök: Latitudes and Longitudes of Darkness: Four Remarkable 2013 Black Metal Albums
Blogs
Mixed Media: Mr Carmack – Birth Control / Hopscotch / Pay (For What) (streams)
Short Ends and Leader: '33 Postcards' Is a Classic Coming-of-Age Tale
Graphic Novelties: Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness
Sound Affects: Counterbalance No. 129: 'Saturday Night Fever'
Moving Pixels: Rectangles Are People Too in 'Thomas Was Alone'
Music
The Breeders: LSXX (Last Splash 20th Anniversary Reissue)
Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood: Black Pudding
Joshua Redman: Walking Shadows
Little Boots: Nocturnes
Alex Calder: Time
Whitechapel: The Somatic Defilement
Film
'Stories We Tell': Sarah Polley Ponders Movies and Truths
The Pleasures of Collecting and... Grafting: 'The Fruit Hunters'
'Erased': A Father's Past is Inescapable, or Is It?
DVDs
Capitalism’s Self-Corrections: 'Repo Man'
'Shanghai Noon' / 'Shanghai Knights'
Books
'A Delicate Truth', An Ugly Business
Multimedia
Papo & Yo
  1. We Aren't the Mods and Other Sorry Tales of a Fashion Slave (Columns)
  2. From Thinking Steaks to TITANic Mistakes: The 'Star Trek' Films They Almost Made (Features)
  3. Pink Floyd: The Prog Rock Archetype (Columns)
  4. 'Arrested Development' Season 4 Trailer & Banana Stand Pics (Mixed Media)
  5. De-Loused in the Discography: A Look Back at the Mars Volta (Features)
  6. Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City (Reviews)
  7. 'Spring Breakers', 'Pain & Gain' and Postmodern Folly at the Movies (Columns)
  8. Five Reasons Remaking 'The Great Gatsby' in 2013 Was a Great Idea (Short Ends and Leader)
  9. Queensryche: 21 April 2013 - San Francisco, CA (Reviews)
  10. PR, Paramount, and the 'Star Trek' Disaster (Short Ends and Leader)
  11. Dead Island: Riptide (Reviews)
  12. Anti-Flag Rages on Against the Machine in 2013 (Features)
  13. Democracy of Sound: Music Piracy and the Remaking of American Copyright in the Twentieth Century (Features)
  14. Savages: Silence Yourself (Reviews)
  15. How Do Film Adaptations of Books, Such As 'The Great Gatsby', Affect an Author's Literary Status? (Columns)
  16. The 10 Best Early Billy Bragg Songs (Sound Affects)
  17. R.E.M.: Green (25th Anniversary Edition) (Reviews)
  18. Rod Stewart: Time (Reviews)
  19. Various Artists: The Great Gatsby Soundtrack (Reviews)
  20. She & Him: Volume 3 (Reviews)
PM Picks
Announcements
Call for Columnists: Brainy, Artful Generalists, Rejoice!
Call for Feature Essays About Any Aspect of Popular Culture, Present or Past
Call for Electronic Music Critics and Bloggers
Call for UK-Based DVD and Music Critics
Open Call for Submissions for Popular Flashpoints Series
Call for Book Reviewers and Bloggers
Call for Papers: PopMatters Celebrates The Jam in Massive Special Section
Call for Papers: Director Spotlight: Orson Welles
Call for Papers: Dickens 200: Readings and Re-readings
Call for Blah, Blah Bloggers
Call for DVD Critics and TV Bloggers
Pop Past – It's 'Past', But It's Never 'Over'

© 1999-2013 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of Spin Music, a division of SpinMedia, an advertising network.

About|RSS|Submissions|Advertising|Staff|Book Series|Privacy Policy