Recent Culture Columns

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Friday, November 20 2009

We All Know the Way to Sesame Street

By Michael Brett

In the 2008 presidential election, America crossed the Henson Point -- the point where we are a post-Baby Boomer society. The Rockist calls for a champagne toast.

(more The Rockist)

Tuesday, November 10 2009

Nobel Prizes and Nobel Promises

By George Reisch

President Obama probably rattled and hummed in disbelief when he got his Nobel Prize. Ask Bono.

(more Pop Goes Philosophy)

Thursday, November 5 2009

Neil Patrick Harris: The Other Sort

By Michael Abernethy

Neil Patrick Harris is riding high these days. But in years past, if the average person sitting in his or her Barcalounger knew a TV star was gay, it would have been disastrous for both series and star.

(more Queer, Isn't It?)

Tuesday, November 3 2009

After the Rapture: Passing the Saving on to You

By Jennifer Byrne

The Rapture may whisk the Saved up to Heaven ... leaving all of their corporeal assets untended. For the business-minded, earth-bound heathen, there’s money to be had in the leavings.

(more Pop Osmosis)

Friday, October 30 2009

Can Tyler Perry’s ‘For Colored Girls’ Resurrect BAM?

By Roland Laird

Film adaptations from black masterpieces -- and the Chitlin Circuit -- are rejuvenating America's Black Arts Movement.

(more Write Black at You)

Monday, October 19 2009

Nobody Puts Twitter in a Curation Corner

By Liz Colville

Twitter has fast become a land of curators. But where does curation go from here, and do we really want it to go there?

(more Backslash)

Thursday, October 15 2009

Sitting on the Mountaintop

By Michael Abernethy

Did Obama calm the rash of criticism regarding his inaction on gay rights with his recent speech to the Human Rights Campaign?

(more Queer, Isn't It?)

Tuesday, October 13 2009

Are Comics Like Reading with Training Wheels?

By Shaun Huston

Reading a comic requires multiple forms of literacy and levels of interpretation. Every movement from word to image and back again so as to create a coherent, narrative whole engages the reader’s brain in distinct ways.

(more Worlds in Panels)

Tuesday, October 6 2009

Tools for the Job: Asserting Femininity in Super Metroid

By L.B. Jeffries

Super Metroid is unique in that it is the only game in the series that addresses something distinctly female about Samus besides her looks: motherhood.

(more Moving Pixels)

Monday, October 5 2009

Sharing: The New Imposition

By Rob Horning

Twitter is less about disseminating information than it is about subjects trying to make themselves feel more real, ontologically speaking, in a increasingly mediated world.

(more Marginal Utility)

Friday, October 2 2009

On the Sixth Day God Created Man…Chester: Part Three

By Iain Ellis

Manchester's working class population showed the world that trade unions can resist authority. Such solidarity and class consciousness is heard in the arrogant sneers of the Stone Roses and Oasis.

(more Alternative Rock Cultures)

Thursday, October 1 2009

Kris Kristofferson: Leonard Cohen-esque

By Bob Proehl

Kristofferson at times evokes Leonard Cohen, with a voice that pulls the listener into the depths of darkened barrooms, whether to share a sob story or a bit of tongue-in-cheek sagacity. His 20th album is out soon.

(more Pickin' Down the Line)

Tuesday, September 29 2009

Jay-Z: The Journey of an Icon

By Roland Laird

We can debate this greatest rapper business from now until the end of time. Let's just say Jay-Z is the greatest hip-hop icon ever, and call it a day.

(more Write Black at You)

Monday, September 21 2009

Horrifyingly Close to Reality

By Marco Lanzagorta

Western culture’s perspective of torture is complex and paradoxical; it's considered immoral, illegal, primitive, and indecent, yet it's shocking to see that torture methods continue to be used in the interrogation of prisoners of war.

(more Dread Reckoning)

Thursday, September 17 2009

Football v. Football: the NFL v. the Premiership

By Michael Brett

Like US football, English soccer fans observe their own ritual every weekend. I spent a weekend with fans of both sports to get a taste of exactly what drives and defines these most profitable of cultural endeavors.

(more The Rockist)

Wednesday, September 16 2009

Jazz Cellist Peggy Lee’s ‘Fever’

By Will Layman

Peggy Lee—the cellist, not the late singer—is nevertheless all about singing of a sort. She talks to PopMatters about creativity and collaboration in the beautiful city of Vancouver.

(more Jazz Today)

Monday, September 14 2009

Deconstructing the Clap

By Bill Reagan

Rock music is the only art form that invites amateurs to perform along with the professionals – like an oversize version of Kumbaya -- and with predictable results.

(more Rabble Without a Cause)

Wednesday, September 2 2009

Just Eat It

By Ben Rubenstein

I'll take the wasabi potato croquettes that came with the lamb racks in the "Sheep in Wolf's Clothing" dish (inspired by TV on the Radio's "Wolf Like Me") over Hard Rock's seasoned fries any day.

(more Mixtape Confessions)

Tuesday, September 1 2009

He’s Just Not That Into Anyone

By Jennifer Byrne

Asexuals, also known as “aces”, have begun to assert their place as a valid and healthy sexual orientation; even SpongeBob is in on the (lack of) action.

(more Pop Osmosis)

Monday, August 31 2009

The (Indie) Music Industry Is All Right

By Liz Colville

The media is too preoccupied with the funeral arrangements of the mainstream music industry to celebrate the life that is happening elsewhere.

(more Backslash)

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