Tuesday, November 1 2011
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or Shame?
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recently announced its 15 nominees for its 2012 induction class. Once again, that means the blogosphere is abuzz with complaints about the Hall's irrelevancy. Are they legitimate?
Tuesday, June 14 2011
Electronic Empire Expo: The First World Problem of E3
There is a far larger system of class bias at work with games, namely the one that has to be engaged in just to facilitate the existence of this article.
Friday, April 29 2011
Dancing Till the World Ends: Why Does Contemporary Pop Love War?
The Europop renaissance in Top 40 music has ushered in a peculiar fascination with the sounds, smells and visions of war. Seeing pop as a kind of warfare, or warfare in pop, provides a psychic escape for the listener.
Tuesday, February 15 2011
PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
Recorded in a 19th century Dorset church, Polly Jean's latest focuses heavily on nationalism, warfare, and the use and abuse of the autoharp.
Monday, February 7 2011
‘Prophets of War’: The Real Halliburton
William D. Hartung’s Lockheed Martin exposé uncovers reams of data about the company’s vast scope of influence, but doesn’t make the argument why this should be frightening.
Thursday, June 10 2010
The Crusades: A Mammoth Study of the Clash Between the Armies of Europe and the Middle East
Thomas Asbridge gives a comprehensive look at 200 years of military, political, and religious maneuvering in the crucible of the Holy Land.
Monday, March 29 2010
Moving Pixels Podcast: War Stories in Video Games, or Lovin’ the Battlefield
With a focus on combat and bloodshed, many games find themselves telling stories about human struggle of the most calamitous kind. This week the Moving Pixels podcast discusses war stories told in video games.
Monday, March 8 2010
The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee
This is a meaningful, moving story. It left me quiet and saddened, with a mental image of a young Korean girl who just wanted the things most want: someone to love and a place to belong.
Monday, January 4 2010
This New Year’s Eve Really Did End with a Bang
Nothing like spending New Year's Eve with couple of white guys pretending to be black guys during a war-time year worthy of blowing its own brains out.
Wednesday, February 25 2009
Many Will See and Hear: U2’s Prescient Youth
U2's first three albums are an opportunity to try and remember what their youth was like, to contemplate how they grew into mega-mega-mega-superstars, with action-figure-ready personas and their own blockbuster-sized iconography.
