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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

Power Play: Brian Williams, Leonard Cohen, and "First We Take Manhattan"

In "First We Take Manhattan", Leonard Cohen recognized the shared appeal of extremism in politics and art as the allure of power.

Music

“One in a million, that is you”: 'Device 6' and the Decentralization of Player Identity

Games seem like the medium that might best challenge the authority of the author, given as they are to allowing the player to manipulate their “texts", to build within their systems, and potentially to break, rearrange, or reorder them in some personally satisfying way. Games seem like that.

Games

Moving Pixels Podcast: Paths and Parables

This week we explore the branching narratives of The Stanley Parable to see if there can be a singular and straightforward way of understanding Stanley's plight.

Games

Stranger Than Zombies: Power, Privilege & Lesbian Subtext in 'The Walking Dead'

The premise of The Walking Dead provides many opportunities to study privilege. Who lives on the farm vs. who lives in the RV? Who sleeps in the woods vs. who drinks the Woodbury tea? Who can two women love, if not each other?

Television

Laying Bare the Protagonist: The Hypersexualization of Bayonetta and Dante

Strip her down. Dress him up.

Games

From Safety to Where: The Factory Years of New Order

The full sweep and glory of New Order's accomplishment -- from the static gloom of Movement and “In a Lonely Place" to the happy, confident likes of Technique and “Run” -- cannot be underestimated.

Music

P-1's Box of Surprises

Chicago/NYC's P-1 would rather let their songs define them than any one style, which is probably necessary considering the cross-pollination of influences and sound incorporated in their mix. And his refusal to be pigeonholed might just be the thing that expands their audiences even further as they release their second album.

PM Pick

Top Spin

Unlike other sports games and America's sports pages, Top Spin doesn't completely erase women from its sports world. Yet their presence is to fulfill male fantasies as sexualized commodities.

David Leonard

Games

Pop Ten

The 25 Best Classic Progressive Rock Albums

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

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

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 4: 40 - 21

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Mixed Media

Collapse Expand Mixed Media

PM Picks

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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.

Power Play: Brian Williams, Leonard Cohen, and "First We Take Manhattan"

In "First We Take Manhattan", Leonard Cohen recognized the shared appeal of extremism in politics and art as the allure of power.

“One in a million, that is you”: 'Device 6' and the Decentralization of Player Identity

Games seem like the medium that might best challenge the authority of the author, given as they are to allowing the player to manipulate their “texts", to build within their systems, and potentially to break, rearrange, or reorder them in some personally satisfying way. Games seem like that.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Paths and Parables

This week we explore the branching narratives of The Stanley Parable to see if there can be a singular and straightforward way of understanding Stanley's plight.

Stranger Than Zombies: Power, Privilege & Lesbian Subtext in 'The Walking Dead'

The premise of The Walking Dead provides many opportunities to study privilege. Who lives on the farm vs. who lives in the RV? Who sleeps in the woods vs. who drinks the Woodbury tea? Who can two women love, if not each other?

Laying Bare the Protagonist: The Hypersexualization of Bayonetta and Dante

Strip her down. Dress him up.

From Safety to Where: The Factory Years of New Order

The full sweep and glory of New Order's accomplishment -- from the static gloom of Movement and “In a Lonely Place" to the happy, confident likes of Technique and “Run” -- cannot be underestimated.

Power, Faith, and Fantasy by Michael B. Oren

After 9/11, many Americans acted as though this region of the Middle East, with its Arab people and some religion called Islam had sprung up out of the sandy soil to surprise us all.

P-1's Box of Surprises

Q and Not U: Power

Top Spin

Unlike other sports games and America's sports pages, Top Spin doesn't completely erase women from its sports world. Yet their presence is to fulfill male fantasies as sexualized commodities.

Blues-Cruising Samantha Fish Takes Joy Ride of Her Life on 'Kill or Be Kind' (album premiere + interview)

Liam Gallagher Shows His Vulnerable Side on 'Why Me? Why Not.'

Slayyyter's Love For 'Blackout' Era Britney Spears Informs Her Debut Mixtape

M83 Is Ambitious But Inert 'Digital Shades Vol. 2' Underwhelms

'Ad Astra' Says Goodbye to the Great White God

Sonic Youth Founder Thurston Moore Asks Why a Song Can't Be an Hour Long

British Electronic Duo Brook Release Debut 'Built You for Thought' (album stream) (premiere)

Norwegian/Welsh Duo Firewoodisland Deliver Exquisite Chamber Pop Positivity on "Hollow Coves" (premiere)

Blues-Cruising Samantha Fish Takes Joy Ride of Her Life on 'Kill or Be Kind' (album premiere + interview)

Costa Rica's Las Robertas Celebrate the "Thunder Rider" (premiere)

HEAZZA Delivers a Soulful, Transformative Performance on "The Dark" (premiere + interview)

Timelost Give Marilyn Manson's "Cryptorchid" a New Lease on Life (premiere + interview)

Justin Wade Tam Goes Outside His Humming House to Reveal "Colors of My Mind" (premiere + interview)

Experimental Ensemble Thor & Friends Share Latest Video "As Above So Below" (premiere)

Ley Line Blends Brazilian, West African, and North American Folk Traditions on "Oxum" (premiere)