I started this column figuring hoping I’d write entries in it building up to election day, then use it to look back at the reality we narrowly avoided. That didn’t exactly go as planned. Instead, I’ve had to come to grips with the fact that I now live in a dystopia and decide whether it’s […]
Archives for 2016
Play It Loud is a Delightfully No-Frills History of the Electric Guitar
Few instruments are as symbolic of revolution as the electric guitar– visually, sonically, conceptually, the electric guitar is a riot in your hands, capable of beauty and destruction, chaos and structure. But if you go looking for reading on the instrument itself rather than on its most iconic wielders, you’ll soon be buried in dry […]
Girls Lost is Alexandra-Therese Keining’s Ode to Magical Realism
Girls Lost opens slowly, taking time first to establish the motifs and vibe that drive the film, before we meet any of the characters or setting. Its dreamy opening sequence emphasizes transformative imagery — water, fire, masks, growing things — on top of the kind of synth track that’s everywhere in indie cinema right now. […]
Poetry: My God, My World
My God, My World Ben Boruff I like to spend my time on long car rides repurposing pop lyrics as evangelical sermons imagining every “baby” in a manger and every “I love you” as a prayer. my Synthpop God pulsing under my skin to the beats of top-charted idols tempts me to worship, tells me […]
On Elaine Welteroth, Teen Vogue and Editorial Voice in New Media
Even if you’ve never picked up a single issue of Teen Vogue in your life, chances are you’ve recently seen its content getting shared around, usually in juxtaposition to immature content from a more “reputable” publication, like this: The first time you encounter Teen Vogue in this way, it’s hard not to go along, to turn […]
Greg Lake was Distinctly of His Era and That Deserves to be Celebrated
There are a few things we need to acknowledge now that Greg Lake and Keith Emerson have passed away, in this same year in which we lost Bowie, in which we lost Prince and Phife Dawg and Merle Haggard and Leonard Cohen. You don’t care about the first two guys at all, much less as […]
Violent Delights: Westworld’s Finale and the Cycle of Abuse
Warning: this essay has spoilers for Westworld throughout Throughout its first season, Westworld reveled in the cyclical nature of storytelling (whether it did this effectively is up for debate), from the connections between the parallel timelines that split its narrative to meta elements like the literal loops the hosts are on and the “maze” some of the […]
Don’t Think Twice is a Powerful Examination of Creative Strife
Contemplative, deliberately paced small scale dramas seem to be having a moment here in 2016, so while it’s not surprising that Mike Birbiglia’s new feature Don’t Think Twice mostly fell under the radar, it is unfortunate since the film is both a standout in its genre and a clear sign that Birbiglia is truly coming into his own […]
Questionable Comics: Alex Paknadel and Danny Djeljosevic
Questionable Comics is a series where Dan Hill surveys professionals from every corner of the comics industry about their methods and experience. This week Dan spoke to two people who are very close to us at Loser City (one of whom co-publishes our site, even). Up first is Alex Paknadel, a dear friend of Loser City who […]
Outrageously Unfunny: Abrams’ Bad Little Children’s Books and the Death of Satire
If 2016 has been about anything, it’s been about the power of shouting down criticisms with angry untruths and using the defenses of the disenfranchised against them. On the macrolevel, you see it with the ascent of Trump, who donned a teflon coating of mock outrage and bigotry marketed as “truth” and rode it all the […]
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