Friday, August 21 2009
Vinyl Dependent: The Needle and the Damage Done
The independent record store lives another day. But how long can the vinyl lifeline continue to keep them afloat?
Tuesday, August 11 2009
TIE Fighter: A Post 9/11 Parable
As the only Star Wars game that has you serving under the Empire without remorse, TIE Fighter lets you experience being a servant to a massive government just after a terrorist attack.
Friday, August 7 2009
‘Green Onions’—The Greatest Single of All Time
Booker T. & the MGs found themselves together, in a city of segregation, in a time of severe racial tension, and recorded a progressive, utopian party song.
Friday, May 1 2009
Like Movies—with Buttons
Like Edwin S. Porter realizing that a series of shots was how you structured a film, games have to abandon the presumption that they need to obey a linear narrative or controlled message and just let the player loose.
Wednesday, March 11 2009
Kids Listen to the Darndest Things
Like these kids, my enjoyment level has never been as high as it was for the crap I loved when I was 13.
Friday, February 20 2009
Oscar Nominated Short Films 2009
Unlike stiff features like The Reader or even the wildly uneven Curious Case of Benjamin Button, this year's Oscar-nominated shorts program is pretty much a risk-free venture.
Thursday, February 12 2009
Beyond the Bubble of the Grammys
The Grammys suffer from the same problem as the rest of the recording industry: thinking America defines culture.
Friday, January 30 2009
A Perverted Perception of Movies
The success or failure of The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema hinges greatly on what one thinks of Slavoj Zizek's free-range associations on desire, blood, human waste, castration, and social control in films.
Friday, January 16 2009
Slumdog Millionaire: All Eyes East
Slumdog Millionaire's Golden Globe win for Best Motion Picture/Drama is like a flare warning Hollywood about its future in cinema.
