Cornell’s Promise Works to Protect Human Rights
Few artists have soundtracked my life like Chris Cornell. Now, from beyond an early, tragic grave, he warns Earth to rid itself of war before it is too late.
Cli-Fi: Coral Vs. Ice, We Lose
We are slaves to fossil fuels, Chasing Ice director Jeff Orlowski once told me. His new film, Chasing Coral, may find that we have also broken our (food) chains.
It’s Hard To Be A Utopian!
When I first learned that Matthew Rankin was crafting a surreal short about Nikola Tesla, I knew I soon would be picking his fertile brain about free energy, bird love, and why dystopians are marching to the sixth mass extinction.
Cli-Fi: Ron Finley Rewilds South Central
My latest piece for Civil Eats chronicles the victory of sanity over nonsense, Earth over concrete, regeneration over regression. It was an honor to write, and even more brilliant to witness in person.
I’m Sorry, Chris Cornell
Today, I sit here stunned, sifting through press releases telling me what Chris — and Soundgarden, and Temple of the Dog, and Audioslave, and every other artist that Cornell’s widening influence deeply touched — have been doing for the last several years.
Cli-Fi: The Breadwinner Patiently Arrives
The debut trailer of Cartoon Saloon’s newest animated exploration has come at last.
An international collaboration directed by the gifted Nora Twomey, who I’ll interview later this year, and co-produced by Angelina Jolie, whom you may have heard of, The Breadwinner examines the terror and terraformation of Afghanistan through a gender-fluid prism quite rare for animation.
Mulatu Astatke’s Eternal Return
Few have sequenced the genes of future music as much as Mulatu Astatke, whose dizzying sonic explorations have skillfully skipped across jazz, soul, funk and much more. Those new to Mulatu of Ethiopia seeking a launch window might as well start with a new reissue of … Mulatu of Ethiopia.
Cli-Fi: Tesla, Reanimated
The National Film Board of Canada is responsible for some of the finest animation the world has ever seen. It has also created world-changing documentaries exploring and analyzing how and why our world changes as it does, for better and worse.
GreenBiz Gets My Solar Farming
Another great perk writing for the conscientious Civil Eats? Greens from across the sociocultural spectrum sharing my data.
Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth to Power
Al Gore once famously asked, “Well, what can you do?”
Here’s what.
Capitalizing, Commemorating Wonder Woman
In our world of perpetual war, creator William Moulton Marston’s subversive, aspirational Amazonian intertext has returned to the battlefront, with mainstream audiences and Wall Street earnings in mind.
Solar Farming For Everyone!
One of the great things about writing for Civil Eats is that I get a chance to explore several existential concerns at once. For my second piece, I was lucky enough to analyze and evangelize solarization, decarbonization and an agricultural infrastructure with a future.
Cartoon Saloon Schools St. Patrick’s Day
From director Tomm Moore’s Oscar-nominated masterpieces The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea, to director Nora Twomey’s The Breadwinner and beyond into the great unknown, the indie studio that was once international animation’s best-kept secret is a secret no longer.
Cli-Fi: Seed Takes Root In The Sixth Mass Extinction
Earth seeds itself. Then we get involved. Then you get what we have, right now: An extinction. From the makers of Queen of the Sun: What are the Bees Telling Us?, another exploration of an apocalypse we manufactured with our own hearts and minds.
Underwater Welder Goes Transmedia With Ryan Gosling
Jeff Lemire has been creating some of the most unique comics of the last decade. Just ask Ryan Gosling, whose interest in Lemire’s recent stunner, Underwater Welder, may bear cinematic fruit.
Trans Am Checks Into California Hotel
Nathan Means of Trans Am has been a friend to Morphizm for many years now, as a contributor as well as an interviewee. Plus, his power trio shreds. Speaking of…
Sleater-Kinney and REM Make Filthy Friends
Members from two of my favorite bands of all time, from two of the most influential bands of all time, in a new band. Yes, please.
Getting Civil About Sustainable Eats, Starting With California
I am honored to explore the entire University of California system’s sustainable food efforts for my first piece at Civil Eats. Greening these influential universities will upgrade our state’s profile and power, especially if we can reach full sustainability in the short term, which is no easy feat.
Consequence of Sound and New Musical Express Dig My Jello (Biafra)
It’s always a surreal blast when the past arrives in the present, especially if it’s my interview with the defiantly principled punk pioneer, Jello Biafra.
Marvel Comics: (Captain) America Is a Double Agent
Marvel Comics may be trying to say something about how far America has fallen, post-Obama. But it’s hard to tell from the money.
Dark Or Light, Batman Is Our Mythic Cipher
Batman is more than capable of meeting demand across social, economic, political and cultural divides.
Shaun the Sheep Hits the Streets
A wordless wonder in the tradition of Chaplin, with an eye to rural labor and love, Aardman’s stop-motion masterpiece is for everyone, everywhere.
At Last, Samurai Jack Returns
Last year, I once again interviewed Samurai Jack creator and animation auteur, Genndy Tartakovsky, who told me the samurai’s arrival was imminent. Now here he is, in all of his glory and wonder, when we need him most.
Sleater-Kinney Brings Power, Life to Paris
There aren’t enough ways for me to thank Sleater-Kinney for returning from hiatus, even if it was to a sleepy hyperreality still needing to be shaken awake with punk power and poetics.
Cli-Fi: Paco Roca Goes To The Lighthouse
Paco Roca’s Wrinkles was one of the most moving graphic novels, and animated films, in recent memory. His promising new comic charts a path through the destabilizing territories of war and healing properties of the natural world.