Jan 1, 2019 My Favorite Songs of 2018: Fine China, Damien Jurado, Khruangbin, Low, The Mary Onettes, Ride, Silk Demon & more I listened to a lot of music this year; these 21 tracks were the ones I kept coming back to with each passing month.
Dec 22, 2018 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and the Exhilaration of Representation (Review) Easily one of the most exhilarating and entertaining superhero movies I’ve ever seen, and all the moreso for its inclusivity.
Dec 18, 2018 Pastor Wang Yi’s Declaration of Faithful Disobedience The pastor was arrested along with his wife and parishioners by the Chinese government.
Nov 16, 2018 Your Language Affects What You Can See We all have epistemic blind spots of which we are completely unaware.
Oct 25, 2018 Internet Memories and Battle of the Bands ‘93 For better or worse, the internet has become a big collective memory organ.
Oct 17, 2018 Howard Pyle’s Men of Iron: A Fanciful Coming of Age Story in the Middle Ages (Review) A rousing, strongly principled adventure story that I would’ve loved to read back in 5th grade (but I still enjoyed it as an adult).
Sep 23, 2018 Low Tear Their Music Apart on Double Negative, with Stunning Results (Review) Some of the most challenging music of Low’s career, but also some of the most daring, intriguing, and rewarding.
Aug 25, 2018 Old-School Christian Goth & Industrial: The Children of Power, Christian Image, and New Society (Review) These albums are a fascinating glimpse into a realm of Christian music that most people probably never even knew existed.
Jul 4, 2018 The Boundless Optimism of Japan’s “City Pop” The music of artists like Toshiki Kadomatsu sounds utterly disposable but I can’t get enough of it these days.
May 1, 2018 Random Thoughts About Avengers: Infinity War and the Future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Review) The Marvel Cinematic Universe reaches an apocalyptic milestone ten years in the making.
Apr 2, 2018 Exploring the Strange, Ultra-Futuristic World of Tsutomu Nihei’s Blame! Tsutomu Nihei’s manga masterpiece is a journey through a bizarre world filled with nightmarish technology run amok.
Feb 8, 2018 Soaring Through the Spaceways With the Silver Surfer (Review) Dan Slott and Mike Allred’s take on the Silver Surfer is a far cry from the comics of my youth — for better and worse.
Jan 1, 2018 My Favorite Songs of 2017, Featuring Cloakroom, Grails, Lingua Ignota, Mount Eerie, Slowdive & more This mix is a collection of songs that helped me get through the year — that encouraged, uplifted, challenged, and yes, moved me.
Dec 30, 2017 The Last Jedi Challenges the Star Wars Status Quo to Go Beyond Mere Nostalgia (Review) By striking it down, Rian Johnson helped ensure that Star Wars could become more powerful than we can possibly imagine.
Dec 18, 2017 Should Netflix care how much you watched A Christmas Prince? We need to get over any notion we might have that online services like Netflix are neutral platforms, or platforms that care about us.
Nov 13, 2017 What keeps us from falling down? Once again, the moral failure at the heart of American Christianity is exposed for all to see.
Oct 31, 2017 Stranger Things 2 Is a (Mostly) Satisfying Return to Hawkins, Indiana Also, let’s talk about what’ll happen in season 3 and why the series is so affecting to begin with.
Oct 3, 2017 Let’s Be Honest About Hugh Hefner’s Legacy In light of his death, some have examined Hugh Hefner’s legacy and found it deeply wanting.
Sep 19, 2017 From Industrial Noise to Serene Ambience: Exploring vidnaObmana’s Early Years Dirk Serries’ acclaimed ambient project underwent some pretty dramatic shifts as evidenced by these early recordings.
Aug 27, 2017 Ingmar Bergman vs. The Spirit of Our Age What happens when we make ourselves the highest goal of our own existence?