Academia

‘Uncomfortable Television’ and the Postmillennial Spectator

‘Uncomfortable Television’ and the Postmillennial Spectator

Academic Hunter Hargraves’ Uncomfortable Television considers the postmillennial spectator an active participant and contributor to the neoliberal society that is shaped by today’s television.

Philosophy and Pop Harmonize on Scritti Politti’s ‘Songs to Remember’

Philosophy and Pop Harmonize on Scritti Politti’s ‘Songs to Remember’

In Scritti Politti’s Songs to Remember, Green Gartside comically challenges hegemonic structures in a perfect harmony of philosophy and pop.

How Pokémon and Japanese Media Created a Generation of ‘Monster Kids’

How Pokémon and Japanese Media Created a Generation of ‘Monster Kids’

In Daniel Dockery’s Monster Kids Pikachus usher the pandemonium of Pokémania into the US, but his account of the phenomenon leaves readers wanting more.

Cultural Self-Aggrandizement Has Us ‘Playing Oppression’

Cultural Self-Aggrandizement Has Us ‘Playing Oppression’

In Playing Oppression, scholars Mary Flanagan and Mikael Jakobsson lay bare the colonialist origins of board games.

McKenzie Wark’s ‘Raving’ and the Need to Dissociate from the Body and Self

McKenzie Wark’s ‘Raving’ and the Need to Dissociate from the Body and Self

McKenzie Wark’s understanding of ravespace as a constructed situation in nonlinear ketamine-time comports with my experience raving on weekends as a freshman in college.

How to Read Lauren Berlant: ‘On The Inconvenience of Other People’

How to Read Lauren Berlant: ‘On The Inconvenience of Other People’

Lauren Berlant’s oeuvre provokes ambivalence. As with their posthumous collection On The Inconvenience of Other People I consume Berlant, and Berlant consumes me.

The Follies and Potentials of Higher Education: ‘The Real World of College’ 

The Follies and Potentials of Higher Education: ‘The Real World of College’ 

The Real World of College offers a research-backed, level-headed, non-political assessment of higher education. It’s a breath of fresh air let in stuffy rooms.

Punk Literature 101: Recommended Readings

Punk Literature 101: Recommended Readings

Stimulated by, then stimulating, certain writings, punk has been a change agent of literature, injecting energy and disruption into multiple genres.

Diana Ross Explored Black Music’s Rich History  on ‘Red Hot Rhythm & Blues’

Diana Ross Explored Black Music’s Rich History on ‘Red Hot Rhythm & Blues’

Thirty-five years ago, Red Hot Rhythm & Blues saw Diana Ross ambitiously and affectionately placing herself within the history of Black music.

Punk in the Classroom: Question Everything

Punk in the Classroom: Question Everything

Punk’s “question everything” attitude has always been suited to education, despite the forces that seek to contain its rabble-rousing trouble-making from the classroom.

The British ‘Idea of Europe’ Is Still a Mess

The British ‘Idea of Europe’ Is Still a Mess

Shane Weller’s The Idea of Europe, hampered by an unconscious form of Euroscepticism, suggests that British critics are still not ready to listen to their neighbors.

Judge – or Let the Market Be the Judge

Judge – or Let the Market Be the Judge

Michael W. Clune argues that a popular mantra about art – everyone’s judgment is equal – impedes our ability to imagine a world outside of the capitalist marketplace.