Recent Columns

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Wednesday, February 10 2010

For Your Consideration: Trophies for Queers

Latins have the ALMAs, African-Americans the NAACP Image Awards, Christians the Dove Awards, so why isn't there a serious awards show given by the LGBT community for LGBT artists?

Tuesday, February 9 2010

Electronic Music: The Invader and Infiltrator

Deemed music that is “not real”, electronic sounds have come to occupy and permeate spaces focused on alterity, from the fringes of academia to the disposal heap of exotica.

Monday, February 8 2010

Willie Nelson in the Twilight Glow

At 77, Willie's hair is now down to his tailbone, and you can see his trademark red locks fade to gray about midway up his back -- it's like examining the rings of a tree.

Friday, February 5 2010

Orson Welles: A Man of a Certain Ego

“The chief proof of a man’s real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness. It argues... a power of comparison and of appreciation which is in itself proof of nobility.”

Hollywood’s New Dimension: ‘Avatar’ in 3D

The Rockist visits James Cameron's Pandora in search of stone obelisks but finds only Ewoks.

Thursday, February 4 2010

The Simpsons, ‘Radio Bart’ Part 1: Floyd Collins and Kathy Fiscus

'Radio Bart' draws on 70 years of media history to position itself in that uneasy mix of altruism, morbid curiosity and callous self-interest.

Mix #1: Vancouver

Welcome to the new Soundscape Mixtape Series where we step beyond criticism. In the great tradition of the mixtape, we are going to present these explorations with their actual sound.

Wednesday, February 3 2010

Plenty of Bang for the Buck

An economic survey of a decade of concert-going yields an average of positive returns for my dollar. Yeah, Bob Dylan was worth every penny and more.

A Case for Comics in College

My name is (insert name here) and I am a visual learner -- and other reasons why comics is a relevant subject for the college curriculum.

Tuesday, February 2 2010

The Art of Place in Hitman: Blood Money

A game isn’t just its content or game design alone, but rather, the space created when all these pieces come together.

Monday, February 1 2010

The Lives of Others

There's a higher ratio of disposable schlock in the memoir than in other literary genres, but the best memoirs permit access to lives strange, twisted, wasted, brave, and glorious -- lives, in short, other than our own.

Friday, January 29 2010

Chameleon Comedian: David Bowie 1967-1970

As innovative and eclectic as his music has been, Bowie’s means and methods of articulation also reveal an artist finely attuned to the subversive potential of humor.

Indie Ambition: Hold Steady

Can Craig Finn pull his bandmates with him and lift them up to his arena tour in the sky? The Rockist ponders the future of the Hold Steady.

Thursday, January 28 2010

The Ice Storm: America Out in the Cold

Ang Lee captures the '70s on film the way Rick Moody captures the era in the book The Ice Storm. It's the midst of the sexual revolution, the Watergate scandal is erupting, and the country's social consciousness is changing.

A Little Human Magic in Recent DVDs

Either by coincidence or because I just happened to watch these all on a cold day when I needed a little warmth, the magic of the human condition emerged as a trend in these new DVD releases.

Wednesday, January 27 2010

Just Drawn that Way

Like their straight counterparts, LGBT comics offer a wide range of world-views. Were they to gain more attention in traditional media, they could help convince that there is no such thing as a "typical" gay or lesbian.

Tuesday, January 26 2010

Allen Iverson 101

Unlike athletes like Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson never 'used' the media to project an image of himself as a flawless human being.

Apologies to James Cameron: ‘Avatar’ a Sign of Changing Cinema

'Avatar' is pop culture at its most popular. It captured the world immediately, and I never saw it coming. I predicted all hype but didn't think Cameron could do it. Again.

Monday, January 25 2010

Barrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary

Without this guide "jack stropper" (someone who's trying to steal your woman), "dead cat on the line" (a problem from the past), or "my stomach thinks my throat's been cut" (powerful hunger) can leave you scratching your head.

Friday, January 22 2010

Designing Consent

Industrial design aspires to the commanding heights of consumer society, building its policy prescriptions and dogmatic assumptions about what makes us happy directly into the objects available to us.

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