Unhappy Halloween: COP26, DOOM
Hip hop legend MF DOOM passed away on a holiday that our superpowers would later converge upon a conference implementing an agreement to stop destroying Earth.
RIP
RIP: The One and Only Shock G
Devastating. A visionary, a disciple, a legend. Cali’s finest. A heartbreaking year for hip hop. #RIPShockG
Rest In Peace, Richard Williams
While so many of us may remember the pathbreaking Who Framed Roger Rabbit, how many of us remember the relentless Richard Williams himself, the iconoclastic animator who influenced so many, while somehow remaining a secret?
Isao Takahata: 1935-2018
A towering influence.
And yet he still left so much to be discovered.
I watch his art each night before dreaming.
Rest in peace, dear influential.
Cli-Fi: Soundgarden’s Fourth of July
For me, there’s only one song that explains the United States of America falling apart in the 21st century, and it is probably no cosmological accident that it is written by the late, great Chris Cornell and Soundgarden.
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.
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.
R.I.P. Gene Wilder: 1933 – 2016
The Man Who Broke My Brain
I Will Stand 4 Prince. So Should You.
Who stood for art and beauty and sex and expression, long after public judgment?
Rest in Peace, Prince Among Aliens
If these thankfully human Aliens cannot bring us together, then Earth is without hope.
John Lennon’s Assassination Simulations
Unable to shoulder the burden, reality splintered and began to virally replicate the assassination and its effects across media, slowly replacing that reality along the way.
John Lennon, Working Class Mythmaker
Because he is unfairly lost to us now, all we have are mounting media replications to inform and console us.
Dennis Hopper, On the Occasion of Receiving a Star on Hollywood Boulevard
[Viggo Mortensen, Perceval Press] Dennis Hopper has come to be considered by many a legendary and legendarily-eccentric director and actor in the movie business. In the short attention spans of […]
Kvetcher in the Rye
[Greg Palast, Morphizm] In the sixth grade, the Boys’ Vice-Principal threatened to suspend me from school unless I stopped carrying around The Catcher in the Rye I think because it […]
R.I.P. Howard Zinn, Historian of the People
[Viggo Mortensen, Perceval Press] Thank you, Howard. It is an honour to have read you, heard you, learned from you, known you at least a little. You will always be […]
The Prisoner: An All-Star Appreciation
Its revolutionary mix of geopolitics, sci-fi and psychedelia has influenced not just television, but also music, comics, film and more.
Rest in Peace, Les Paul (1915-2009)
A rock and tech legend passed away today. I charted his influence in short form on Wired, mostly because words can’t express one man or woman’s influence, especially one like […]
R.I.P. Patrick McGoohan, Television Visionary
Be seeing you.
R.I.P. Ron Asheton, Rock Influential
Shining lights of the world are leaving us at what feels like an exponential rate. It seems like I’ve been covering a death or burial almost every day. Today I […]
First Lady of Star Trek, Memorialized On Earth
Still feeling strange tremors from my grandmother’s passing, especially today. I reported on the burial of Star Trek‘s Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, wife of creator Gene Roddenberry for Wired, which felt weird […]
Goodbye Grandma. I Miss You So Much.
EDWINA THILL 1917-2008 WATCH: “The North Platte Canteen”
Rest in Pieces, Gravediggaz
Long before popcorn torture porn owned the mallrats or the Pentagon started contracting packs of robots to hunt down non-cooperative humans, Gravediggaz owned horrorcore.
Underwired! Comedy Pays Tribute to Visionary George Carlin
Welcome to Morphizm’s latest category, pals. I’ve been hired to spiel on the entertainment machine for Wired, who also retain me to spiel on music as well, which is where […]
R.I.P. Camu Tao, 1977-2008
“He was an almost uncategorizable force of nature,” said El-P. “Wild, hilarious, proud, loving, tough, outspoken, spontaneous and brilliant.”
It’s Customary To Have The Father’s Watch: Rest In Peace, Gregory Peck
Who among his sons — or daughters — will execute that watch so capably, so persistently, so quietly?