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'When All Else Fails', Rely Upon Your Wit

Rayyan Al-Shawaf's When All Else Fails is politically complex, and its humor is razor-sharp.

Books

Nora Krug's 'Belonging' Could Serve as a Model for Understanding Collective Responsibility

In graphic novel Belonging, Nora Krug takes a single idea – her family's involvement in the Second World War and Nazi Germany – and pursues it with relentless, forensic determination.

Books

Loss of Memory and Divided Identities in Psychological Thriller 'I Know My Name'

It's risky to build the success of a genre psychological thriller on the incorporation of psychological therapeutic techniques. But in Cooke's hands, it works.

Books

How the Nobel Committee and the Great American Read (Among Others) Got Philip Roth Wrong

A sense of bitterness remains for those of us mourning the loss of this final great literary lion of the 20th century.

Books

The Deconstructive Irony of Ortberg's 'The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror'

This collection gives us Ortberg's trademark gender-swapping, flipping of accepted norms of good vs evil even while blurring the line between them, and startling backstories that do not always reveal underlying motivations but definitely add dark, ironic humor.

Books

Do We Dream of Electric Sheep Like Blade Runner's Corporate-produced Replicants?

The isolation of Blade Runner 2049's inhabitants continually reinforces and enlivens their deep need for genuine connection, communal relationships, which the divisive effects of global capitalism actively undermines.

Film

Male Sexual Fluidity and Undue Complexity in Mostly Straight

Mostly Straight is a mostly inadequate answer to the question of male sexual fluidity.

Books

Film and Reality in Flux: Interview With A Fantastic Woman's Sebastián Lelio

"... (I)n a way we are all trans, we are not fixed beings, we are not one thing, we are constantly changing."

Film

'Yellow Negroes' Draws the Plight of Undocumented Lives

The liminal state between immigrant and citizen becomes the permanent experience of undocumented people.

Books

'What Is Sex?'

Psychoanalytic theorist and philosopher Alenka Zupančič provides a brief, difficult, yet ultimately rewarding look at the "otherness" of sex as an act, as identity, as communication.

Books

'1997' Explores Laying the Groundwork for Brexit and Beyond

Richard Power Sayeed's fascinating look at the optimism of New Labour and Cool Britannia in 1997, and the subsequent agony which followed.

Books

Coming-out Narratives in Comics

My Brother's Husband, My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, and Generations illustrate how comics artists continue to excel at depicting complex, meaningful coming-out narratives.

Comics

Literary reactions to cultural implosion

After Ireland considers the changing culture, the changing identity, and a fast-changing Ireland in the varied voices and languages of its literature.

Books

For People of Color, 'Real American' Is a Memoir with Big Questions

Julie Lythcott-Haims gives a voice to the internal dialogue—the self-loathing, really—of living a life as a biracial woman who, for most of her life, wasn't quite sure if she was allowed to call herself black.

Books

Personal Identity and Gaming in Today's Political Landscape

Video games have made me used to inhabiting the skin of others. For many of us, this is one of the biggest reasons we play games.

Games

Pop Ten

The 25 Best Classic Progressive Rock Albums

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 1: 100 - 81

Jackie Chan's 10 Best Films

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 5: 20 - 1

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 2: 80 - 61

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Collapse Expand Mixed Media

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'When All Else Fails', Rely Upon Your Wit

Rayyan Al-Shawaf's When All Else Fails is politically complex, and its humor is razor-sharp.

Nora Krug's 'Belonging' Could Serve as a Model for Understanding Collective Responsibility

In graphic novel Belonging, Nora Krug takes a single idea – her family's involvement in the Second World War and Nazi Germany – and pursues it with relentless, forensic determination.

Loss of Memory and Divided Identities in Psychological Thriller 'I Know My Name'

It's risky to build the success of a genre psychological thriller on the incorporation of psychological therapeutic techniques. But in Cooke's hands, it works.

How the Nobel Committee and the Great American Read (Among Others) Got Philip Roth Wrong

A sense of bitterness remains for those of us mourning the loss of this final great literary lion of the 20th century.

The Deconstructive Irony of Ortberg's 'The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror'

This collection gives us Ortberg's trademark gender-swapping, flipping of accepted norms of good vs evil even while blurring the line between them, and startling backstories that do not always reveal underlying motivations but definitely add dark, ironic humor.

Do We Dream of Electric Sheep Like Blade Runner's Corporate-produced Replicants?

The isolation of Blade Runner 2049's inhabitants continually reinforces and enlivens their deep need for genuine connection, communal relationships, which the divisive effects of global capitalism actively undermines.

Male Sexual Fluidity and Undue Complexity in Mostly Straight

Mostly Straight is a mostly inadequate answer to the question of male sexual fluidity.

Film and Reality in Flux: Interview With A Fantastic Woman's Sebastián Lelio

"... (I)n a way we are all trans, we are not fixed beings, we are not one thing, we are constantly changing."

'Yellow Negroes' Draws the Plight of Undocumented Lives

The liminal state between immigrant and citizen becomes the permanent experience of undocumented people.

'What Is Sex?'

Psychoanalytic theorist and philosopher Alenka Zupančič provides a brief, difficult, yet ultimately rewarding look at the "otherness" of sex as an act, as identity, as communication.

'1997' Explores Laying the Groundwork for Brexit and Beyond

Richard Power Sayeed's fascinating look at the optimism of New Labour and Cool Britannia in 1997, and the subsequent agony which followed.

Coming-out Narratives in Comics

My Brother's Husband, My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, and Generations illustrate how comics artists continue to excel at depicting complex, meaningful coming-out narratives.

Literary reactions to cultural implosion

After Ireland considers the changing culture, the changing identity, and a fast-changing Ireland in the varied voices and languages of its literature.

For People of Color, 'Real American' Is a Memoir with Big Questions

Julie Lythcott-Haims gives a voice to the internal dialogue—the self-loathing, really—of living a life as a biracial woman who, for most of her life, wasn't quite sure if she was allowed to call herself black.

Personal Identity and Gaming in Today's Political Landscape

Video games have made me used to inhabiting the skin of others. For many of us, this is one of the biggest reasons we play games.

On Making Sense of the World at Jack Kerouac's Directive

Mark Erelli's Infectious New Single, "Her Town Now" Echoes Tom Petty and John Prine (premiere + interview)

Art Pop's Elk City Explores Truth and Beauty With "Pity of a Rose" (premiere + interview)

Sarah Peacock's "Lady MacGyver" Celebrates Female Ingenuity (premiere)

Mike Zito Taps Walter Trout For Cover of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" (premiere)

Brother Hawk Bring Southern Rock Into the Next Century With "Like Water" (premiere)

Kae Astra Celebrates Letting Go With "Grow" (premiere)

Punk Rock's V98 Channel Their Fury Stunningly on "Conversation Killer" (premiere)

Americana's Midnight North Take the "Long View" with New Single (premiere)

Rayyan Al-Shawaf's When All Else Fails is politically complex, and its humor is razor-sharp.

In graphic novel Belonging, Nora Krug takes a single idea – her family's involvement in the Second World War and Nazi Germany – and pursues it with relentless, forensic determination.

Rather than moralize, critique, or make grandiose statements about "digital natives", writer-director-wunderkind Bo Burnham brilliantly visualizes what it means to live in a world in which social media is omnipresent.

It's risky to build the success of a genre psychological thriller on the incorporation of psychological therapeutic techniques. But in Cooke's hands, it works.

A sense of bitterness remains for those of us mourning the loss of this final great literary lion of the 20th century.

This collection gives us Ortberg's trademark gender-swapping, flipping of accepted norms of good vs evil even while blurring the line between them, and startling backstories that do not always reveal underlying motivations but definitely add dark, ironic humor.

The isolation of Blade Runner 2049's inhabitants continually reinforces and enlivens their deep need for genuine connection, communal relationships, which the divisive effects of global capitalism actively undermines.

Mostly Straight is a mostly inadequate answer to the question of male sexual fluidity.

"... (I)n a way we are all trans, we are not fixed beings, we are not one thing, we are constantly changing."

The liminal state between immigrant and citizen becomes the permanent experience of undocumented people.

Psychoanalytic theorist and philosopher Alenka Zupančič provides a brief, difficult, yet ultimately rewarding look at the "otherness" of sex as an act, as identity, as communication.

Richard Power Sayeed's fascinating look at the optimism of New Labour and Cool Britannia in 1997, and the subsequent agony which followed.

My Brother's Husband, My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, and Generations illustrate how comics artists continue to excel at depicting complex, meaningful coming-out narratives.

After Ireland considers the changing culture, the changing identity, and a fast-changing Ireland in the varied voices and languages of its literature.

Julie Lythcott-Haims gives a voice to the internal dialogue—the self-loathing, really—of living a life as a biracial woman who, for most of her life, wasn't quite sure if she was allowed to call herself black.

Video games have made me used to inhabiting the skin of others. For many of us, this is one of the biggest reasons we play games.